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Mike Antich
Former Editor and Associate Publisher
Automotive Fleet's former editor, Mike Antich, shared his opinions and ideas on the overall commercial fleet industry and draws interesting comments from fleet managers and other industry professionals from across the country. Mike was inducted in the Fleet Hall of Fame in 2010.
Complacency. It is defined as self-satisfaction, especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies. Is this you? Complacency is a real danger to fleet operations, especially well-run fleets.
Read More →An average end-of-service fleet sedan is three years old with 60,000-plus miles. The resale market for these used vehicles encompasses diverse demographics. However, in most cases, the dealers who buy fleet vehicles at auction will ultimately resell them to someone of limited financial means. In many cases, these buyers have less than stellar credit and may only qualify for a subprime auto loan. Since the onset of the subprime crisis, loan approvals for these customers are more difficult.
Read More →For the first time ever, the price of diesel in many regions of the country exceeds $4 a gallon. Since Jan. 1, diesel prices have risen more than 19 percent. The American Trucking Associations (ATA) predicts that truck fleets will spend more than $135 billion on fuel in 2008. This compares to $112 billion in 2007.
Read More →The key reason for the increase was the cost of fuel, in particular, diesel fuel. This has also led to price increases for other oil-based products such as tires, which increased 4-7 percent in the past year. Other PM costs remained flat.
Read More →When resale prices soften, there is a pendulum-like resurgence in marketing used vehicles to employees. On the other hand, when the resale market is strong, fleets are complacent about employee sales (waiting for buyers come to them) and do not aggressively market the program to new buyers. The national average of vehicles sold to employees is 23 percent. However, by aggressively marketing employee sales, many fleets could sell as much as 50 percent of their vehicles in-house.
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Score one for our side! Recently, a Fortune 100 company gave (very) serious consideration to eliminating its company-provided vehicle fleet program and switching to driver reimbursement. Initially driving this initiative was senior management’s desire to cut cost by removing the vehicle assets from the books. The option to move to an operating lease was not viable since it violated the company’s accounting policies set by finance.
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