By Steve Bender, President, Fleet Street Remarketing
October 9, 2024
I hope this finds everyone doing well and basking in the afterglow of last month’s amazing AFLA Conference in San Antonio. Such an awesome event, and as so many have pointed out, somewhat of a “family reunion” for the over 550 fleet professionals in attendance – even if 183 were first-time attendees!
Steve Bender
As many of you know, our team here at Fleet Street had big plans for this year’s conference and for the most part we achieved them in having the opportunity to spend quality time with customers, partners, and friends we hadn’t seen in a year.
In short, the whole three days were a blast!
Everyone on our team was in attendance in San Antonio, and we were especially excited to debut the final episode of the YouTube mini-series we had written, directed and produced as a lead up to this year’s conference.
The series marries my two greatest passions (outside of my amazing family of course!): My love of vehicle remarketing and all things fleet and my lifelong pursuit of treasure hunting – a side gig I’ve had for more than three decades.
Unfortunately, as often happens in life, our best laid plans ran into a few challenges – namely acoustics and logistics – on the night we planned to debut the final episode at AFLA. So, while we were unable to screen the nail-biting final cliffhanger of our 6-part series – or to award the priceless piece of treasure that we had found while making the series – we still had an amazing evening hanging out with our customers and friends in fleet.
For those of you who missed it, our YouTube series tells the story of a faded old map I find in a rusted out filing cabinet in the back of one of the warehouses built my predecessor and Fleet Street’s original owner Kevin McGrath. The map tells the story of six mysterious destinations and an ancient curse that’s been put on fleet.
To break the curse, my good friend and world-renowned treasure hunter Darrell Miklos and I were challenged to travel to each of these 6 destinations, all while fighting off the villainous “Mr. Big,” getting zapped through time warps, and having to employ a different “mission” word to accomplish each episode’s task. The series is filled with thrills, chills and hijinks beyond your wildest imagination – I’m hoping you’ll watch all 6 episodes, each is only about 5 minutes.
Jim Petrillo
And while our best laid plans for this year’s AFLA may have unfortunately hit a snag, we’re super proud to finally to premiere the exciting final episode. Click here to view! And to announce that the winner of the treasure we found will filming – a 15th century Spanish doubloon – is none other than 2022 Fleet Manager of the Year Jim Petrillo of Fuji Film, whose name was pulled from a pirate’s boot by a peg-legged parrot after the final panels wrapped at this year’s conference.
We’re also excited to let everyone know that we had so much fun writing, filming and presenting the series, that we’re planning to continue our efforts to tell the story of the terrible curse, the 6 mysterious destinations, and the hallowed “mission words” that guided our way. All of them – like expertise, perseverance and know-how – are representative of the hard work we do at Fleet Street to deliver the best remarketing experience to our world-class customers. Be sure to be on the lookout as we tell the story and flesh out the details of how our team is employing these words and principles every day.
On a personal note, as most of you know, my middle son Sean was struck and critically injured while looking for lobsters in the Florida Keys just a few days after we wrapped a jam-packed week filming this series. As a father, it was the most terrifying moment of my life, and I can’t begin to thank the first responders and everyone who worked to rescue Sean and get him to safety.
By the grace of God, the intervening weeks and months have seen Sean make amazing strides, and he is working hard every day to get his life back. That includes walking, talking and even giving his mother and me a hard time, just like any spirited 20-year-old should. His progress has been nothing short of miraculous, and we look forward to his continued improvement every day!
From the bottom of my heart, I can’t begin to thank our AFLA family for all that they have done to help Sean and my family through the last few months. From your incredible prayers to the amazing personal wishes to the fund started by AFLA friends, our family is truly humbled by the fleet world’s kindness. I can assure you, your prayers and support have made a world of difference, and that my entire family – and our family here at Fleet Street – can never begin to thank you for all that you have done.
That said, the business of life and the life of business goes on, and our entire team continues to look forward to serving you with the best possible remarketing experience we can. And to going the extra mile to earn your business every day.
I hope you enjoy our final episode: “Destination Tranquilia!” and that you watch it and the rest of our miniseries by going to www.YouTube.com/@fleetstreetremarketing. Thanks again for your outpouring of love and support. It was great to see so many friendly faces at AFLA. Here’s looking forward to seeing you all again next year when we reconvene in beautiful Marco Island, FL, right down the road from your good friends at Fleet Street!
About the Author
Steve Bender is President and owner of Fleet Street Remarketing, a leader in fleet vehicle remarketing for more than 35 years, and a past president of the Automotive Fleet Leasing Association (AFLA). He can be reached at [email protected].
