Hertz Canceled Most New-Car Orders As Pandemic Shuts Down Travel
As Hertz Global Holdings Inc. works to stay out of bankruptcy, the company has canceled 90% of its new-car purchases for the 2020 model year, a move likely to further depress fleet sales by major automakers.
Chief Executive Officer Kathy Marinello revealed the cost-cutting move in a short 20-minute conference call Tuesday, one day after the company reported a larger-than-expected first-quarter net loss and said it may have difficulty continuing as a going concern. That signaled the company’s management doesn’t expect a quick rebound in demand for rental cars over the next 12 months.
“The coronavirus created a major disruption as global travel market and the used-car market effectively shut down,” Marinello said. “We have to be pragmatic about the timing of an economic rebound including a second wave of the virus in the fall. So we are focused on safeguarding liquidity.”
Read the article at The Detroit Bureau.
Fleet Logistics Offers Free Fleet Audits to Support Large Organizations with Pandemic Economics
Fleet Logistics Group, Europe's largest independent fleet management company, is making a free, high-level fleet audit offer to large fleets to support them through the current pandemic and with their financial recovery.
The fleet audit is available through Fleet Logistics’ website for a limited period, and is aimed at optimizing the fleet operations of large international fleets during this time of crisis. The QuickScan offer is available to all fleet operators with a minimum fleet size of 2,000 cars in Europe, and offers a scan of the existing fleet setup, looking at controlling fleet spend and identifying savings potential.
On a first come, first served basis, Fleet Logistics will analyze provided information covering areas of fleet operation such as existing agreements, policies, and spend data.
Living and Working in a COVID-19 World
By Ed Dubens, CEO/ Founder of eDriving
As countries around the world start discussing lockdown exit plans and businesses adjust to new ways of operating, are you prepared for living and working in a COVID-19 world?
It may feel like longer, but only a few weeks ago organizations around the world started taking drastic measures in response to the global coronavirus pandemic. Now, although day-to-day life for the majority of companies remains significantly affected, for many there is a feeling that we will soon be gradually edging back towards “normality”, but what will the new “normal” look like?
According to The Brookings Institution, up to half of American workers are currently working from home, more than double the number who worked from home (at least occasionally) in 2017-18. And, while some jobs can’t be carried out from home, it is expected that the coronavirus outbreak is “accelerating the trend toward telecommuting, possibly for the long term.”
Sofico Awarded ‘Investors in People’ Silver Accreditation
Sofico, global automotive finance, leasing, fleet and mobility management software provider, has been awarded Investors in People (IIP) Silver level accreditation, thanks to initiatives rolled out as part of the company’s ‘Learning Organization’ philosophy.
Sofico’s HR manager, Corinne Martens, said: “We are very proud to achieve IIP Silver accreditation which provides us with guidelines for the continuous improvement of our HR processes.
"The idea behind the learning organization is to encourage people to grow in their job role through continuous learning and to put people in control of their career by focusing them on future goals through their personal development plan."
NHTSA: Traffic Deaths Down Last Year for Third Year in a Row. But What Does It Mean?
By Mark Boada, Executive Editor
Eclipsed this month by wall-to-wall coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic was an encouraging bright spot of news about U.S. traffic fatalities.
In an early May report, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported that, according to an “early estimate,” in 2019 the number of highway deaths was down for the third straight year.
Specifically, NHTSA reported that data from the Federal Highway Administration shows a decline of 1.2 percent over the count for 2018. The 36,120 killed is still – what? – 36,120 too many, but marks a hopeful trend, or “trendlet,” if you will, since the end of 2016, when 37,806 people died on our roadways. That represented a stunning 6.5 percent over the number recorded in 2015 which, in turn, was a staggering 8.4 percent more than the 35,484 killed in 2014.
The prime suspect in that two-year increase was out-of-control growth in distracted driving, the focus being not just the normal daydreaming, eating, or fiddling with the A/C or radio, but talking and texting while behind the wheel. And you could also chalk the increase to the fact that we were nicely recovered from the Great Recession, which artificially deflated the highway fatality tolls by more than 9 percent each in 2008 and 2009, because so many people were unemployed and off the roads.
