January 7, 2020

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Editor’s Analysis & Top Industry News

A New Year, A New Decade

FMW publishes our first newsletter of the New Year featuring some of our favorite friends and contributors.

Our stats tell us that Ed Pierce’s archived fleet marketing articles are a popular browsing spot. Ed’s focus this week is content marketing, which he calls “the foundation of your marketing tactical calendar.”

We thank Natalie Middleton, Fleet World editor, for her timely article: 15 Predictions for 2020 for UK Fleets.

In New Year, Safer Fleet, eDriving’s Ed Dubens sagely remarks: “What interests the boss, fascinates and engages the workers!” We like his 10-point checklist for a safe and successful new year!

The FMW team wishes you a safe, successful and joyful New Year!

Janice Sutton
Editor in Chief


VIDEO: Data Visualization: 3 Flavors of Reporting

PARS offers some innovative reporting that’s based around data visualization – which makes it easy to see and understand what’s happening with your vehicles.

VIDEO: The Most Convenient Maintenance


 On-Demand Maintenance, Without the Downtime
 

On-demand maintenance from Wrench was born out of consumer frustration, and now many fleets are taking advantage of the convenience, and the ability to greatly minimize vehicle downtime.


VIDEO: Fleet and Procurement

 You Can’t Just Turn Fleet into a Procurement Category
 

Fleet departments and Procurement departments are working more closely than ever these days, and it’s important to realize that they generally require different measurements for success.


The Fleet Spot

2020 FLEXY Award Nominations Now Open

As you know, the FLEXYs are a true fleet management industry award.

Every fleet management professional is welcome to submit an entry for the Fleet Excellence Awards, regardless of where their fleet is based in the world. Nominees are not required to be Members of NAFA Fleet Management Association and are not required to have a CAFM® certification. Further, there is no cost for submissions.

The Fleet Excellence Award winners are chosen from a blind voting process. FLEXY submissions depend solely on the quality of fleet-related accomplishments. Each submission contains a summary of the registrant’s work in 500 words or less. Winners will be honored at NAFA’s 2020 Institute & Expo. in Indianapolis, IN.

Sofico Celebrates a Year of Global Success

Global automotive finance, leasing, fleet and mobility management software provider, Sofico, can look back on a year of global success.

In terms of key market trends, Sofico sees the provision of a wider choice of mobility options through a managed mobility budget becoming more commonplace throughout Europe, a trend which it believes could gather pace throughout key EU markets in 2020.

“This doesn’t mean the company car is dead,” said Gémar Hompes, Managing Director. “Far from it, with cars becoming ever more sophisticated and low emission with each new generation. But there is a growth in multi-modal means of corporate transport that are more about getting the employee from A to B in the most cost-effective way, rather than providing them with a car as a matter of course.

READ MORE

Remarketers Forecast the 2020 Used Market

Merchants Fleet

The outlook for the 2020 used market is positive, at least according to three remarketers from three fleet management companies.

Brian Garner, manager, ARI Remarketing Solutions; Jeff Krogen, assistant vice president of fleet strategy for Enterprise Fleet Management; and John Wuich, vice president strategic consulting services at Donlen provided their insight.

Garner said that he and his team expect the used market to continue to be mostly healthy in 2020, but he does predict a slight downturn compared to 2019.

Read the article at Merchants Fleet.

AFLA Canada 2020 Registration Now Open

Registration is now open for the AFLA Canada 2020 Fleet Summit, which is focusing on North American Best Practices & Benchmarking for anyone who has responsibilities within the Canadian fleet marketplace.

The preliminary program is outlined on the AFLA website here, and you’ll see that they are covering topics such as Understanding the Differences Between the Canadian and U.S. Fleet Markets, Achieving Sustainability Using Fleet Electrification without Breaking the Bank, and Order-to-Delivering Issues – just to name a few.

Register now to attend AFLA Canada 2020 Fleet Summit from February 12-13, 2020!

Fleet Marketing


By Ed Pierce, Fleet Industry Marketer

As a regular “Call to Action” column reader, you have seen my oft-times mentions of investing in content marketing. It is the foundation of your marketing tactical calendar!

Yes, many professionals these days think of content marketing only in terms of a digital program, but “content” provides fodder for promotional and branding messaging in any marketing effort. Public relations, media relations, direct marketing, email marketing, sales presentations, seminars and webinars, and so on depend on strategic messaging.

Here are some characteristics of a compelling content marketing program to consider:

READ MORE

 

Safety in the New Year


What interests the boss, fascinates and engages the workers!

By Ed Dubens, CEO/Founder of eDriving

Happy, healthy and successful New Year best wishes to all FMW readers! I hope you have entered 2020 well-rested and ready for an exciting year ahead.

The start of a new year is the ideal time to take check of the policies, standards and programs you have in place to help protect your employees who drive for work, and look at the ways you can improve your risk management approach in anticipation of your business plans for the new year.

Here’s my 10-point checklist to help ensure you and your drivers are on track for a safe and successful 2020.

READ MORE

 

Fleet Spectator


In the end, all-electric and plug-hybrids are both more expensive than pure hybrids and traditional gasoline-powered sedans

By Mark Boada, Executive Editor

Washington Post columnist Charles Lane ignited a bit of a firestorm among some readers with a December 30th piece that bore the headline, “Why electric cars still don’t live up to the hype.”

Lane opened by noting that “For the past 10 years, I’ve waged a quixotic counteroffensive against electric-car boosterism, raining skepticism on the vehicles’ potential to cure climate change, much less to be the clean, green wave of the transportation future.”

Make no mistake, we at Fleet Management Weekly are convinced that global warming is a critical issue and that one part of the solution involves dramatically increasing the fuel efficiency of all vehicles. But the question is, are fully electric vehicles the right choice for now or the near-term for the sedan components of fleets? It appears to this writer that for many if not most, the answer is no.

READ MORE


Fleet Trends & Issues

Top Car Trends To Watch In 2020

CNET

Without much doubt, the automotive story of 2020 will be the avalanche of new full electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles coming to showrooms.

With lower electric incentives, 2020 will put car buyers in the awkward position of finding one electric car much more attractive than its competitor due to regulation timing rather than just the vehicles’ attributes and MSRP.

Tesla buyers no longer have IRS tax credits available, and GM is approaching that situation as well. California just reduced its plug-in incentives across the board, lowering rebate amounts, limiting them to cars that cost no more than $60,000, and excluding plug-in hybrids that can’t do at least 35 miles on a charge.

Read the article at CNET.

Inside Documents Show How Amazon Chose Speed Over Safety in Building Its Delivery Network

ProPublica

In just a few years, Amazon has built a delivery system that has disrupted a decades-old business dominated by FedEx and United Parcel Service.

Time after time, internal documents and interviews with company insiders show, Amazon officials have ignored or overlooked signs that the company was overloading its fast-growing delivery network while eschewing the expansive sort of training and oversight provided by a legacy carrier like UPS.

One such incident hit particularly close to home. Just as the company began to build its delivery network six years ago, a delivery van carrying Amazon packages struck a cyclist in a San Francisco suburb. The cyclist was Joy Covey, Amazon’s first chief financial officer. She was killed, leaving behind a young son.

Read the article at ProPublica.

VW’s Robots and ‘Battery Wagons’ Could Turn Every Garage Parking Space Into An EV Charging Station

Photo credit: Volkswagen

Forbes

Volkswagen is working on an electric vehicle charging solution that uses autonomous robots and portable batteries that bring the charging equipment to the vehicle instead of depending on dedicated parking spaces.

The process begins with the driver starting the service using an app that communicates to the robot the position of the vehicle.

The robot hitches itself to one of the multiple available “battery wagons,” and navigates autonomously to the vehicle’s parking space. Using V2X communication, the robot can open the vehicle’s charging port, and connect the battery to the socket. The robot can return to its station while the vehicle is being charged and position batteries to other autos in the garage.

Read the article at Forbes.

Dodge Ram Beats Chevy Silverado For First Time

Detroit Free Press

The pickup war escalated Friday when General Motors and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles reported fourth-quarter and year-end sales and, for the first time, the Ram pickup has outsold the Chevrolet Silverado for the year — by 10.1%.

“This is really quite a shake-up and it’s uncharted territory for the Ram because it’s never been No. 2,” just behind the best-selling Ford F-150, said Jeremy Acevedo, an analyst at Edmunds in Santa Monica, California.

Read the article at Detroit Free Press.

Globally Speaking


Fleet World

Natalie Middleton asks some of the UK’s major fleet suppliers for their outlook on the coming 12 months

Cross-currents are whipping the United Kingdom’s fleet industry, from the uncertain effects of Brexit to changes in taxes, a projected shortfall in supply to meet rising demand for electric vehicles, the potential for an accelerating shift away from company vehicles and long-term leases in favor of retail customized mobility solutions, and the spread of more city restrictions on fossil fuel vehicles.

Fifteen industry insiders share their views on why 2020 is shaping up to be an unprecedentedly turbulent year for UK fleets.

Read the article in Fleet World

 

Safe and New


NHTSA

Thanks to advanced engineering, in-depth research and analysis of crash data, newer vehicles are built better and have more safety features to protect you.

Most standard equipment in cars today wasn’t even an option decades ago. Depending on your age, you may remember when cars didn’t have seat belts, or when the belt just went over your lap.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, celebrating its 50th year in 2020, has been involved in vehicle safety improvements for decades. The New Car Assessment Program, NCAP, was expanded in 1993 to include the 5-Star Safety Ratings system. Here’s a look at some overall vehicle safety improvements that have made cars safer over the decades.

Read the article at NHTSA.

 

Avoiding Liability


By Trent Dressen, Director of Sales, SuperVison

March 1997, a 23 year-old man was driving his Chevy 4×4 pickup truck when he was hit by a semi-truck owned by a commercial trucking company.

The semi-truck crossed the centerline and hit the pickup truck head-on. The young man suffered a ruptured left anterior cruciate ligament in his knee, which required reconstructive surgery. He sued the trucking company for negligent hiring, retention, and supervision of its driver due to the truck drivers’ record.

Between 1978 and 1997, the driver had been convicted of 21 traffic violations, most of which involved speeding, a DUI, and he was driving with a suspended license at the time of the accident.

READ MORE





Fleet Management Resources

 

ACERTUS
Offering a nationwide vehicle delivery and relocation service; serving the corporate and commercial fleet industry.

eDriving
eDriving partners with its clients to engage with drivers and their managers to create a culture that supports lasting behavioral change to reduce collisions, injuries, license violations as well as a fleet’s total cost of ownership.

SuperVision
SuperVision is a fleet driver management solution for MVR & license monitoring, fleet management, fleet safety oversight and driver performance and retention.

The CEI Group Inc.
CEI is North America’s largest provider of fully integrated fleet accident management, driver safety and risk management services.

NAFA Fleet Management Association
NAFA is the association for the diverse vehicle fleet management profession regardless of organizational type, geographic location, or fleet composition.

WEX
WEX fuel cards and fleet management solutions give you powerful tools to reduce spending — for any business, any fleet, any size.

Driving Dynamics
Driving Dynamics was established to help corporate fleet drivers develop expert, safe driving skills using proven, advanced driving techniques.

PARS
PARS’ mission is to provide you with high-quality service at competitive prices for all of your transportation needs.

Wheels, Inc.
First in fleet for 80 years. Wheels helps you build tomorrow’s fleet today.




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