Top 13 Trends in Commercial Fleet Management

Top 13 Trends in Commercial Fleet Management

When reading reports about the national macro-economy, it is easy to be lulled into thinking everyone is experiencing the same business conditions; however, for many companies the economy continues to be sluggish and uncertain.This has a direct impact on company fleet operations with management cautious about allocating additional capital and exerting pressure to control expenditures — both internally and for outside services. To get a pulse of the commercial fleet market, AF surveyed a wide cross-section of fleet managers and industry suppliers.

Here’s what they told us:

Trend 1: Cost-Containment Mandates

While fuel costs have decreased, the costs for most other fleet categories have increased, resulting in upward pressure on a fleet’s total cost of ownership.

“Lower fuel prices may lull some into thinking that fuel efficiency is no longer important, but, as we all know, $2 gasoline today can easily become $4 gasoline with the wrong newspaper headline,” said Norman Din, VP - strategic sales at Wheels Inc. “Costs are rising. Vehicle technology, rising interest rates, and softening residual values will all contribute to a period of rising costs, despite some relief from fuel costs.”

One area where costs are rising is with vehicle acquisition. When budgets remain static, rising acquisition costs put constraints on a fleet manager’s ability to spec vehicles appropriate to the fleet application. Even with “fleet-equipped vehicles,” acquisition costs are trending upward due to the increase in standard equipment.

Read more : https://www.automotive-fleet.com/156668/top-13-trends-in-commercial-fleet-management