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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.
I enjoy following the fleet management industry in the UK since it is among the most sophisticated in the world. Innovative trends often first appear in the UK, which makes for interesting conjecture as to whether they may be a prelude to what might emerge in the U.S. fleet market. One recent development was a controversial decision to test radio frequency identification (RFID) chips embedded in the license plates of vehicles. The UK Ministry of Transport gave the official go-ahead in August
Read More →The majority of fleet managers place new-vehicle orders with the expectation that these units will be built and shipped based on normal lead-times. However, a growing number of fleets, especially larger fleets, are using targeted production weeks (TPW) as a fleet planning tool when placing new-vehicle orders.
Read More →There is a renewed emphasis on maximizing remarketing dollars following the dramatic declines in resale values that have been occurring over the past three years. Although purchasing and negotiating skills are crucial, the skill that continues to set apart exceptional fleet managers is their remarketing expertise. One remarketing channel receiving increased attention is internal remarketing or the sale of company vehicles to employees.
Read More →The recently enacted Real ID Act requires states to verify that applicants for a driver’s license or renewal are who they say they are. Unless state-issued driver’s licenses meet these new federal standards by 2008, the federal government will not accept them as identification to board a plane, train, or other venue in which the federal government requires the presentation of a photo ID.
Read More →When a company adopts a driver reimbursement program, it shifts all costs to the employee. The problem, from a tax view-point, is that if not handled correctly, reimbursement payments to employees can be considered taxable income by the federal government and some states. For instance, a monthly vehicle allowance is taxable to the employee, and the company is subject to its portion of FICA tax. The net result is that the employee’s combined state and federal tax burden will increase, which, in t
Read More →In public sector fleet operations, the number-one cause of overloading is when a vehicle is not used for the spec’ed application. In other situations, overloading is intentional, as is sometimes the case with garbage trucks. In these instances, drivers overload vehicles to minimize the number of runs needed to offload the collected garbage. Overloading also occurs due to operator ignorance. For example, as parks and rec-reation truck may be spec’ed to haul a certain volume of grass cuttings, but
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