By Bill Bishop, Vice President, FLD
November 2020
As 2020 inches to conclusion, no one would argue that this has been perhaps the most challenging year not just for our industry, but for our existence. At a time like this, people in all walks of life – and business – are looking for ways to mitigate risks to ensure their ability to survive in a world of unknowns.
In fleet, perhaps no function is riskier than vehicle remarketing, a service with many moving parts. Executed flawlessly, it can add meaningful value, helping improve total cost of ownership while fulfilling the promise of vehicle leasing. Mishandled, it not only costs money, but wastes valuable time and company resources as well.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of third-party providers and preferred channel partners make the remarketing process not only cumbersome, but risky for sellers. With most of these providers, sellers assume all the risks of remarketing, forced to consign their vehicles, wait weeks for them to be recovered, and then stand helplessly by as they wind their way through the remarketing process. That usually takes weeks – and often even months – requiring sellers to make extra lease payments while driving up their cost of ownership.
At FLD, we take a different approach to vehicle remarketing that completely eliminates all risk to the seller. One honed over more than 40 years pioneering the remarketing space.
How?
Simply put – we put our money where our mouth is.
Instead of making sellers assume the inherent risks of remarketing a vehicle, we completely eliminate their risk by giving them a quote in hours and paying them quickly – usually in a few days – once they accept our offer.
With FLD, sellers don’t have to “hope” that their end of lease vehicle receives the best price from their remarketer’s network of auctions, dealers and private buyers. And they don’t have to waste valuable time, money and resources waiting for the remarketing process to unfold.
Instead, sellers stay in control by deciding whether or not to accept FLD’s cash offer, and – if they do – have essentially completed the sales process on the very same day they started. By partnering with FLD, sellers get paid quickly for the full price they agree to, allowing them to move on to more important aspects of running the best fleets they know how.
Of course, we realize these are unprecedented times, and – as we have in the past – FLD is leading the way to help customers reduce risk.
This includes developing solutions that keep customers, associates and partners safe during COVID, like our “contactless” vehicle recovery and delivery system. It also includes upgrading our industry-first WebAccess solution – an online tool that helps fleet professionals conduct the entire remarketing process in real time from the safety of any smartphone, tablet or computer.
Heading in to 2021, we are optimistic of our ability to find new ways to help customers continue to reduce risk throughout the remarketing experience. This will include continuing to optimize our digital solutions to ensure customers can work from anywhere, anytime, as well as improving our ability to more quickly and efficiently meet changing customer needs – and fluctuating market forces during the continuing pandemic. We’ll also be debuting a new website that will enhance the customer experience while making it easier for vehicle sellers to find the tools they need to remarket quickly and easily.
As always, we encourage fleets looking to reduce their risk to reach out to our team of remarketing professionals at [email protected], or by calling us at 1-800-754-1522 any time.
Bill Bishop is Vice President at FLD, and a recognized remarketing expert. Every quarter, he publishes the White Metal Market Report, an in-depth look at the forces at play in the medium duty resale market. To sign up for the report or to contact Bill, please reach out to [email protected].
