ALG: Honda, Mercedes-Benz Tops in Quality Perception
Brand perception now plays a vital role in new vehicle sales growth and used vehicle value retention. Honda and Mercedes-Benz deliver the highest quality vehicles, according to ALG’s Brand Perception of Quality (BPQ) study. Honda had the highest Mainstream brand ratings, followed by Toyota and Volkswagen. Mercedes-Benz led Premium brands, followed by Lexus and BMW. European automakers took six of the top seven Mainstream brands.
NAFA Issues Call For Presentations for 2015 Institute & Expo
The numbers are in and NAFA's 2014 Institute & Expo (I&E) was a huge success, with nearly 700 fleet managers choosing it as the "must attend" fleet event of the year. Held April 8-11 in Minneapolis, MN, the I&E had nearly 3,000 people in attendance. But just as fleet keeps moving forward, so does NAFA, which is already looking towards next year's conference in Orlando, FL. The Association is accepting presentations for educational sessions at the 2015 I&E until June 16.
Each year, NAFA reaches out to the fleet management community to identify the most vital topics and issues facing fleet professionals today to use as the base for the conference's educational sessions. All NAFA Members and Affiliates are encouraged to recommend ideas for topics or suggest speakers and panelists for consideration.
NAFA Moves 2014 International Fleet Academy to November 5-7
NAFA Fleet Management Association has announced a change in dates for their 2014 International Fleet Academy (IFA). Originally scheduled for July 14-16 at Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando, Florida, NAFA’s IFA will now take place November 5-7, 2014 at the same hotel.
In announcing the change in dates, NAFA’s Chief Executive Officer Phillip E. Russo, CAE, noted that a large event in Orlando is causing sold-out situations at NAFA’s hotel as well as surrounding facilities.
AmeriFleet Embraces Customer Experience
By Mike Sheldrick, Senior Editor
AmeriFleet Transportation president John Norris says, "Customer experience, in its essence, is the feeling a client has through every interaction with your organization, throughout their 'journey' with you. In some businesses that journey may be simply a one-off transaction. In our case, the journey is over many, many, many years.
"We build customer experience, not just through the customer service reps that are a component of customer experience, not just through the billing department, not just through the order entry folks, but at every touch point throughout the journey."
We visited AmeriFleet's newly-opened Customer Experience Center this spring and talked with many of the folks who are responsible for building and delivering that customer experience; we were excited to hear how they do it.
Element to Buy PHH Arval for $1.4 Billion
Toronto-based equipment finance company Element Financial Corporation has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the assets and operations of PHH Arval for approximately $1.4 billion.
“This transformative acquisition achieves all of the strategic and financial objectives that we established when we set out to expand our domestic fleet management business into the U.S. market,” said Steven K. Hudson, Element’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “It provides us with a fully integrated North American fleet management offering that complements our other three business verticals at the same time that it is accretive to our shareholders and immediately improves our capital efficiency,” added Mr. Hudson.
