Today’s used-vehicle market is the best it’s been in the history of fleet management and my anecdotal forecast is for it to remain strong through the balance of 2021 and into calendar-year 2022. As a result of these favorable market conditions, some fleets have begun shortcycling some of fleet vehicles.
According to a mobility report by Avis Budget Group, 82% of respondents said owning a car was still important, but 54% said they are prepared to give up car ownership and rely on long-term rental, on-demand, or subscription services in the future.
Strong demand for light- and medium-duty trucks in the 2018 model-year increased order-to-delivery (OTD) times, resulting in widespread upfitter backlogs despite reduced fleet allocation availability due to competing strong retail demand for trucks.
For the past three years, everyone has been a remarketing genius. The low inventory of used vehicles in the wholesale market helped inflate resale values by about 10 percent. However, as greater volumes of used vehicles begin to enter the wholesale market, vehicle supply will start to meet buyer demand, which will put downward pressure on resale values. In many ways, the new used-vehicle market will demand returning to the basics, namely recognizing the seasonality of the used-vehicle market.
There is ongoing upward pressure on operating costs for medium-duty truck fleets. Factors impacting operating costs are volatile diesel prices, replacement tire costs, and longer service lives, which are increasing maintenance expenses due to component failures, escalating parts prices, and higher labor rates. Here are 10 strategies fleets are employing to mitigate these cost increases.
TORRANCE, CA – Fleet managers were interested in a wide range of topics covered in Automotive Fleet's Editor Mike Antich's Market Trends blog this year, from reimbursement to fleet management practices globally.
All good things eventually come to an end. So, too, will today’s abnormally high used-vehicle prices. Today's resale values are an anomaly caused by a decrease in used-vehicle inventory in the wholesale market, resulting from the extremely low sales of new vehicles from 2009-2011. You need to educate management that today’s resale values will decline. Otherwise, you run the risk of being management’s future scapegoat for declining resale values due to their misperceptions of the market.
Eighteen states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical cannabis (marijuana) or have decriminalized it. What are the fleet ramifications of drivers operating a company-provided vehicle while using medical marijuana under the care of a physician? What are the corporate liability issues if a driver with a medical marijuana prescription is involved in a preventable accident? Let's address these questions and determine what you can do to minimize your corporate liability exposure.
A one-size-fits-all approach to truck specifications is an ergonomic minefield, which could have litigious consequences. In addition, there are increased field complaints about “less-than-ergonomic” upfit decisions. Besides health issues, poor ergonomics is also a key contributor to preventable accidents. Proactively resolving ergonomic issues can have a significant impact in reducing workers’ comp costs, improving productivity, and decreasing fatigue-induced driver errors.
The recent breathtaking increase in gasoline and diesel prices gives us a reality check as to how quickly fuel can dramatically increase fleet operating expenses. With fuel prices at a near all-time high and ongoing strong resale values decreasing depreciation costs, will fuel costs overtake depreciation as the No. 1 fleet expense in 2012, as it almost did in 2006?
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