Market Trends Blog for Construction Fleets

June 4, 2007

Thieves are targeting fleet vehicles parked overnight in secluded parking lots. Their target? Catalytic converters. The theft of catalytic converters is a growing crime trend happening throughout the country.

May 29, 2007

Web-based fleet management offered a vision of centralized global fleet management for multi-national companies. However, current (and possibly future) data privacy laws enacted by the European Union threaten to restrict the extent to which U.S. fleet managers can manage subsidiary fleets in Europe.

May 22, 2007

Web-based fleet management offered a vision of centralized global fleet management for multi-national companies. However, current (and possibly future) data privacy laws enacted by the European Union threaten to restrict the extent to which U.S. fleet managers can manage subsidiary fleets in Europe.

May 15, 2007

For most companies, it is less expensive to provide a company vehicle than to administer a driver reimbursement program. Why would a company want to reimburse an employee $600 per month for a vehicle they can operate at $500 per month? However, after attending the annual conference of the National Association of Fleet Administrators (NAFA) last month, I heard that reimbursement is re-emerging as an issue in reaction to the high cost of fuel.

April 24, 2007

Overloading creates an unsafe vehicle and increases liability exposure. When a vehicle is overloaded, its emergency handling capability is reduced, which can contribute to an accident. For instance, braking distance increases, which can cause drivers to misjudge stopping distances, and tire failure rates are higher because tires run hotter.

April 17, 2007

In March, Goodyear, Bridgestone-Firestone, Continental, and Yokohama, announced they will increase the prices of replacement tires by 4-7 percent. The reason for the price hike is the ongoing increases in the cost of raw materials and manufacturing and transportation costs to move product to tire dealers.

April 2, 2007

These include operating on a fixed budget in the midst of wild fluctuations in fuel prices, uncertainty about reliability of 2007 diesel engines, the dearth of technicians, and the ‘just one more year’ vehicle replacement battle.

March 27, 2007

These include operating on a fixed budget in the midst of wild fluctuations in fuel prices, uncertainty about reliability of 2007 diesel engines, the dearth of technicians, and the ‘just one more year’ vehicle replacement battle.

March 20, 2007

Key challenges facing fleet managers are managing the high cost of fuel, implementing safety programs to reduce preventable accidents, a relentless demand by management to cut costs, and a growing pressure to go “green.”

March 12, 2007

If you ask fleet managers what is their greatest challenge, the overwhelming majority will tell you it is managing fuel costs and identifying ways to decrease this expense. This is especially the case with fleet managers who manage fleets with heavy concentrations of diesel equipment.

March 5, 2007

Each year, Automotive Fleet identifies the nation’s Top 300 commercial fleets. Typically, the focus is on the “hardware” – the total number of units managed. But the key to these successful fleets is the “software” – the fleet manager. Being a fleet manager of a Top 300 fleet is not an easy job. Throughout corporate America, fleet managers are under constant and ever-greater pressure to reduce expenses, make their fleet operations more efficient, and maximize driver productivity at the lo

February 27, 2007

Workers comp claims resulting from use of upfitted equipment is on the rise. Poor upfitting decisions often result in expensive litigation to defend against alleged negligence. The average workers’ comp cost for a pushing/pulling injury is $10,175, while the average cost for a lifting/bending incident is $8,989. Under OSHA regs, an employer must provide a workplace (which includes upfitted work vehicles) free from recognized hazards.

February 13, 2007

A 71-year-old woman was awarded $4.1 million in December 2006 because a company driver ran a red light while he was looking down at his BlackBerry and crashed into her. The employee, driving a Berry Electric Contracting Co. vehicle, was lost and was using his BlackBerry’s navigation device to find his destination.

January 30, 2007

Currently, there are more than 2.5 million telematic units in service managing fleet vehicles, mobile workers, trailers, heavy equipment and other assets. The market is expected to expand to 5.8 million units by 2009, with revenues growing to more than $2 billion.

January 23, 2007

Since the start of the 21st century, seven short years ago, fleet managers have been buffeted by one major crisis after another. Following 9-11, there was an overnight meltdown in residual values. Then, Hurricane Katrina triggered fuel prices to skyrocket to $3 a gallon, literally overnight. If someone told us in 1999 that resale values would plummet 30 percent in the space of months and that fuel prices would exceed $3 a gallon, we would have dismissed these predictions as Chicken Little hyster

January 16, 2007

More and more fleet managers rank driver safety as either their number-one or number-two challenge (after the high cost of fuel). One reason for the heightened concern is that fleet managers are reporting an increase in preventable accidents, with the root cause driver distraction.

January 9, 2007

More and more fleet managers rank driver safety as either their number-one or number-two challenge (after the high cost of fuel). One reason for the heightened concern is that fleet managers are reporting an increase in preventable accidents, with the root cause driver distraction.

January 2, 2007

The U.S. is migrating to a self-serve economy. Interactive self-service technology permeates large swathes of our economy, with the retail, hospitality, banking, and travel industries being the early adopters. We utilize this technology with ATMs, online banking, pay-at-the-pump fuel stations, Web-based shopping, self-service retail checkout lanes, Internet-enabled travel reservation systems, and touch-screen kiosks to check-in at airports and hotels. Most of us don’t realize how huge this marke

December 26, 2006

The U.S. is migrating to a self-serve economy. Interactive self-service technology permeates large swathes of our economy, with the retail, hospitality, banking, and travel industries being the early adopters. We utilize this technology with ATMs, online banking, pay-at-the-pump fuel stations, Web-based shopping, self-service retail checkout lanes, Internet-enabled travel reservation systems, and touch-screen kiosks to check-in at airports and hotels. Most of us don’t realize how huge this marke

December 5, 2006

Controlling fuel costs is the number one challenge facing fleet managers, and it has been for the past five years. Nowadays, fuel consumes 28-30 percent of the total fleet budget.

November 28, 2006

The use of telematics – the combination of global positioning systems (GPS) and remote diagnostics – in fleet continues to grow, providing fleet managers the ability to monitor vehicles and enhance driver productivity, thus saving money by controlling unnecessary idling and miles driven, fuel purchases, accidents, and other fleet functions.

November 21, 2006

Fleets were hit hard by the steady rise in fuel prices in 2006. In the past several years, some fleets have seen fuel expenses double or even go higher. Especially impacted were truck fleets as the cost of diesel rose at a faster rate than unleaded gas.

November 14, 2006

Nowadays, when RFPs are issued for accident management services, they are also including requests for driver risk management safety programs. This new emphasis is where the real savings potential is today.

November 7, 2006

When Social Security numbers were first issued in 1936, the federal government assured the public that use of the numbers would be limited to Social Security programs. Today, however, the Social Security number (SSN) is the most frequently used recordkeeping number in the U.S.

October 31, 2006

If you are driving while fatigued, you are impaired. Just like alcohol, fatigue affects your ability to drive by slowing reaction time, decreasing awareness, and impairing judgment. If you are overly tired and driving, it is the same as being drunk behind the wheel.