By Ed Pierce, Contributing Editor
Fleet Management Weekly had the opportunity to speak with LeasePlan’s Greg Buckland, Chief Information Officer (CIO), to learn more about how LeasePlan is applying technology to enhance its services and to gain his perspective on what fleet managers can expect from future AI applications.
Buckland says, "Traditionally, when you consider a change in technology, you do it to make something more secure, faster, automate a process or eliminate obsolete technology. Our changes are being made through the eye of the customer and their experience. Any technological change is intended to provide what the client needs in a frictionless way with the greatest level of scalability and efficiency.
We not only look at how we deliver services, but which services our clients really need and ask ourselves if a completely different product or model can better solve the problem. This requires not only a technology change, but also a mindset change."
June 15, 2022 - When choosing a car or truck, the buyer often considers the vehicle’s color. It’s only natural. But the color a consumer chooses will affect its resale value, according to an extensive analysis by iSeeCars.com.
The results were surprising. White, black, and silver may be the most common colors on the lot but they may not be the most desirable. In the depreciation analysis, vehicles painted black lost 16.1% of their value. White cars depreciated by 15.5%. Silver wasn’t much better, shedding 14.8% of its value. On the other hand, a yellow car lost only 4.5% of its value.
Yellow is among the least popular car colors with the lowest vehicle share, but because yellow cars are so rare, some people are willing to pay a premium when they find one. After yellow, orange ranks second as the color that holds its value best, for much the same reason – there aren’t that many of them.
June 17, 2022 - A new state law could jump-start the conversion of much of Virginia’s government vehicle fleet from gas-powered to electric cars by asking state officials to look at a vehicle’s lifetime costs rather than just its sticker price before buying.
“We believe this will drive more electric vehicles out there,” Sen. Monty Mason, D-Williamsburg and the law’s patron, told a Senate panel this winter. “We believe it will save money for governments.”
Virginia lawmakers remain divided on party lines when it comes to incentivizing electric vehicle purchases or adopting California-developed vehicle standards that aim to push manufacturers away from the internal combustion engine. While vehicles will only be replaced as needed, the law is poised to put thousands more electric cars on Virginia roads.
What does fleet success actually mean? That’s what folks at RTA were asking themselves when they came up with the Four Pillars of Fleet Success.
First, congratulations to the City of Tampa Fleet Team, honored by the mayor for going above and beyond to keep the city’s critical vehicles ready to provide essential services!
Steve Bender, who says that he grew up to be a used car dealer, tells an engaging story about what inspired him to launch his newest business: CarvantageEdge.
Ed Pierce writes about how the partnership of Car IQ and EverWash simplifies and offers a payment solution for fleets to manage car washes.
And keeping with our theme, in his video clip, CEI’s Brian Kinniry reveals two distinct solutions to keep your drivers safe.
There is much more to enjoy in this week's newsletter. For daily updates, check in Fleet Management Weekly.com.
Janice Sutton
Editor in Chief