Saving Money on Collision Repairs with Alternative Parts
By Greg Neuman, Senior Manager of Quality Control, CEI
Fleets can save money on collision repairs by using alternatives to parts made by the vehicle’s manufacturer, or “OEM” (Original Equipment Maker). On average, the alternatives can be 10% to 30% cheaper than OEM parts.
While parts are just one component of a collision repair, the savings can add up to hundreds of dollars when more than one alternative part is used in a single repair , and substantial dollar amounts for fleets in the course of a year.
But for a variety of reasons, fleets need to exercise caution when using these kinds of parts.
The Fleet User Experience
Because all aspects of the fleet business center around the experience of the end user, we are especially pleased to introduce a new monthly feature in Fleet Management Weekly. This week, User Experience (UX) Strategist Wendy Eichenbaum debuts a new column: "The Fleet CX Toolkit.” A companion piece to author Jeof Bean’s Fleet Customer Experience column, the articles will provide the next steps to implement and improve CX within a company. Each article will discuss a critical customer data point and introduce a tool to gather and analyze that data.
Highly skilled in her field, Wendy started her own UX consulting firm in 2008, Ucentric design, and is an adjunct professor at Cal State University, Fullerton. There she teaches a class that she created, User-Centered Design for Web and Mobile Interfaces.
We have decades-long experience in the realm of customer service and thoroughly appreciated Wendy’s first article in the series: “Pain Point Interviews: Customers Know What They Don’t Need.” Indeed they do.
Janice Sutton
Executive Editor
NETS Offers Free Global Road Safety Guide
The NETS’ Comprehensive Guide to ROAD SAFETY™ is now available, free of charge, in 21 languages at www.trafficsafety.org.
The Guide was initially launched in English last year as part of the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety’s (NETS) mission to assist employers in advancing global road safety. The document is designed to aid employers with fleets of any size at various stages of road safety program development, including those who are preparing to initiate a program, in the early stages of policy and program development or managing more mature road safety management systems and interventions.
ARI Named Among Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For® for a Third Consecutive Year
The company’s emphasis on professional development as well as its collaborative culture and atmosphere of teamwork were recognized.
ARI® was named to Fortune’s 2015 100 Best Companies to Work For® list for the third year in a row, coming in at Number 36. ARI continues to be the only fleet management company, the highest among the companies located in New Jersey and only one of two companies headquartered in the Philadelphia region named to this annual list that recognizes companies that have exceptional workplace cultures.
Oregon’s OReGO Program Gives Drivers An Option: Pay Gas Tax Or Pay By The Mile
Our roads are in terrible shape, and we are largely to blame.
Things wouldn't be so bad if our elected officials had occasionally increased the federal gas tax, which funds road repair and construction at the national, state, and local levels. Unfortunately, that tax hasn't been raised in 22 years, forcing the government to maintain 2015's roads with 1993's budget.
All that could soon change -- not at the federal level, where partisan politics are perhaps at their worst, but at the state level. As Auto News reports, this summer, Oregon will launch a program called OReGO that allows residents to choose between paying a state gas tax or paying a fee based on the number of miles they drive.
HOW DOES THIS WORK?
Beginning July 1, up to 5,000 volunteers will have the option of paying a 1.5-cents-per-mile tax instead of Oregon's 30-cents-per gallon gas tax. To participate in OReGO, drivers will have to equip their cars with a device manufactured by Canada's Intelligent Mechatronic Systems. The device isn't too different from the ones used by insurance companies like Progressive: it plugs into the onboard diagnostics port below the dashboard and tracks miles traveled as well as fuel added.
For simplicity's sake, OReGO participants will continue to pay gas tax when they fill up, but at the end of each month, their mileage will be tallied to see how their 1.5-cent travel tax compares to the taxes they paid on gasoline. If drivers overspent at the pump, they'll be issued rebate checks. If, on the other hand, their mileage tax works out to be higher than what they paid in gas taxes, they'll be sent a bill.
By the way, this isn't a novelty: similar programs are now being considered in more than 10 other states. Yours could be next.
