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Market Trends

Mike Antich

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.

Market Trendsby Mike AntichMarch 12, 2007

High Fuel Costs are Prompting Fleets to Tighten Employee Eligibility for Company Vehicles

If you ask fleet managers what is their greatest challenge, the overwhelming majority will tell you it is managing fuel costs and identifying ways to decrease this expense. This is especially the case with fleet managers who manage fleets with heavy concentrations of diesel equipment.

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Market Trendsby Mike AntichMarch 5, 2007

Transcending Day-to-Day Fleet Management

Each year, Automotive Fleet identifies the nation’s Top 300 commercial fleets. Typically, the focus is on the “hardware” – the total number of units managed. But the key to these successful fleets is the “software” – the fleet manager. Being a fleet manager of a Top 300 fleet is not an easy job. Throughout corporate America, fleet managers are under constant and ever-greater pressure to reduce expenses, make their fleet operations more efficient, and maximize driver productivity at the lo

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Market Trendsby Mike AntichFebruary 27, 2007

Upfit Specs Can Reduce Workers Comp Claims

Workers comp claims resulting from use of upfitted equipment is on the rise. Poor upfitting decisions often result in expensive litigation to defend against alleged negligence. The average workers’ comp cost for a pushing/pulling injury is $10,175, while the average cost for a lifting/bending incident is $8,989. Under OSHA regs, an employer must provide a workplace (which includes upfitted work vehicles) free from recognized hazards.

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Market Trendsby Mike AntichFebruary 13, 2007

Fleet Hit With $4.1 Million Payment for Accident Caused by Distracted Driver Using a BlackBerry

A 71-year-old woman was awarded $4.1 million in December 2006 because a company driver ran a red light while he was looking down at his BlackBerry and crashed into her. The employee, driving a Berry Electric Contracting Co. vehicle, was lost and was using his BlackBerry’s navigation device to find his destination.

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Market Trendsby Mike AntichJanuary 30, 2007

Are the Benefits of Telematics Worth the Expense?

Currently, there are more than 2.5 million telematic units in service managing fleet vehicles, mobile workers, trailers, heavy equipment and other assets. The market is expected to expand to 5.8 million units by 2009, with revenues growing to more than $2 billion.

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Market Trendsby Mike AntichJanuary 23, 2007

Is Fleet Management Devolving to Crisis Management?

Since the start of the 21st century, seven short years ago, fleet managers have been buffeted by one major crisis after another. Following 9-11, there was an overnight meltdown in residual values. Then, Hurricane Katrina triggered fuel prices to skyrocket to $3 a gallon, literally overnight. If someone told us in 1999 that resale values would plummet 30 percent in the space of months and that fuel prices would exceed $3 a gallon, we would have dismissed these predictions as Chicken Little hyster

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