By Bill Bishop, SVP of Sales and Marketing for FLD Remarketing
June 14, 2023
Over the years, I’ve often been asked why FLD is the only provider that can completely eliminate a fleet’s remarketing risk by purchasing its assets up front. And every time I’m asked this question, I give the same simple, straightforward answer:
The reason FLD is the only remarketer who purchases assets up front is because of a little known group of three professionals we call our “CR” – or condition report – team. This is a highly experienced group that folks around our office fondly refer to as the “most powerful team in remarketing.” They are the heartbeat of our already tight knit organization, and the reason we’re the only remarketer who can completely eliminate our customer’s remarketing risk, so they can get back to focusing on running the best fleet they know how.
What Makes FLD So Different and Why We Need a Condition Report Team
For most remarketers, there simply is no reason to have a CR team because they aren’t taking an ownership stake in the assets they’re remarketing. Instead, they’re simply sending their customer’s vehicles or equipment to an auction or dealer, waiting for them to sell, and then giving their customers a cut of the action weeks – and sometimes months – after a transaction settles.
In the case of FMCs that remarket their customers’ vehicles, there’s even less of a reason to move the process along quickly. That’s because the longer it takes to sell the vehicle, the more money the FMC makes in the form of lease payments and expenses that pile up by the day, cutting into a fleet’s ROI and often leading to a mountain of hassles along the way.
But at FLD, we take a different approach to remarketing. We purchase used assets up front, assuming all of the risk, and leave our customers free to move on to more important things with a seamless, simple process that takes less than a week. Customers can even manage the whole process on our OVRVue app from any computer, tablet, or cell phone, anytime they want, anywhere in the world.
Given that we put our money where our mouth is by giving this one of a kind, upfront offer – the only one in the industry – our CR team is vitally important to the success of our company.
Rockstars by Another Name
Started by our founders over 30 years ago, FLD’s CR team is a unique group of individuals with expert level understanding of the automotive, auction and aftermarket industries, and more than 75 years of combined industry experience. They are also the only FLD employees that work with our customers’ assets through the entire remarketing process, ensuring that every step is handled with meticulous precision.
Here’s How They Do It
Every time FLD is asked to give an offer on one of our customer’s assets, that asset is assigned to one of our experienced CR specialists to be assessed.
If we purchase the asset, the CRS takes personal responsibility for ensuring it sells for the highest price, which in turn allows us to continue making top dollar offers, and frequently resulting in revenue share with to our customers. This includes repairing the asset, evaluating the aftermarket equipment and upfitting, and determining the best time of year – and auction location – for selling the asset.
When it comes time to sell the vehicle, the CR specialist accompanies it to the sale, partnering with auction staff to determine the best sales strategy, and actively working the lanes to ensure the highest sales price.
In addition to being experts at their jobs, our CR team is highly versed in the intricacies of class 1-8 work vehicles, a notoriously hard class of vehicles to price and sell. This experience gives our customers the peace of mind that they’re getting top dollar not only for the asset, but for expensive upfitting that generally has little or no value unless actively marketed in the lane, a hallmark of our CR team.
Best of all, FLD’s CR team has been working together for nearly a decade and have learned how to optimize all aspects of the FLD remarketing process, a white glove that ensures our customers get a better return on investment than if they simply sent their assets to an auction or dealer.
FLD’s CR Team – The Cure for Common Fleet Disruption
For their part, FLD’s CR’s – as one might expect – take great pride in their unique roles in our company. Especially at a time when so many fleets are dealing with industry disruption caused by vehicle shortages, inflation, EV integration and a host of challenging issues likely to stay around awhile.
For Shari Sikes, who has over 20 years of auction experience, the vehicles she ushers through the remarketing process are like her “babies,” and she takes great pride “nurturing” them through the system.
Scott Zahn, who works sales channels throughout the southeast, said he especially likes working in tandem with auction execs, dealers, and even other remarketers as they work the auction “lanes” in symphony.
“The people we deal with at auction definitely know who we (FLD) are and what we can do,” said Zahn, who works the Florida region. “I feel like they all know we really hustle to get things done because the one thing I hear most is that you guys (FLD) are everywhere!”
Our auction expert, Paul Ritzau, has been with FLD for just over 10 years and brings a whopping 32 years of experience to his duties. Well known throughout the industry, Ritzau says the best thing about being a part of FLD’s CR team is “the autonomy we’re given to get results.”
“Being able to make decisions in a split second makes all the difference,” said Ritzau. “It helps make us a small company that gets big company results.”
Find Out for Yourself!
As a business development manager at FLD for over 10 years, I always take both comfort and great pride in knowing our CR team is working hard so we can give our customers the very best remarketing experience possible (and given this remarkable team, I know in fact that we do.)
Bill Bishop is SVP of Sales and Marketing for FLD Remarketing. With over 30 years of experience, he is a recognized expert on white metal and all things fleet. To ask him a question or to get a free 5-minute assessment of your company’s remarketing needs or fleet vehicles, email him at [email protected].
