September 29, 2014

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Editor's Analysis & Top Industry News


The Risky Busines of Fleet Safety

Sev�eral years ago, we pub�lished a series of inter�views with John Cruick�shank, Senior Asso�ciate at a national lit�i�ga�tion and con�sult�ing law firm, deal�ing with the sub�ject of neg�li�gent entrust�ment. We ran into him again at a recent meet�ing of the NorCal-Northern Nevada Chap�ter of NAFA Fleet Man�age�ment Asso�ci�a�tion where he elo�quently spoke about legal risks fleet face with vehi�cle safety technologies.

A spe�cial�ist in lia�bil�ity eval�u�a�tion and mit�i�ga�tion, John co-authored a white paper: 'Man�ag�ing the Legal Risks of Vehi�cle Safety Tech�nolo�gies' - and it is excel�lent. He asks, "How does a com�pany bal�ance the need to imple�ment ade�quate lev�els of vehi�cle safety tech�nol�ogy to avoid a neg�li�gence find�ing while still try�ing to main�tain busi�ness and oper�a�tional efficiencies?"

His legal phi�los�o�phy is that the best way to win a law�suit is to avoid being sued in the first place. You'll find his white paper -- which will help you do just that -- in The Legal Cor�ner.

Want to fur�ther impress your boss? If you have been putting off reg�is�ter�ing for NAFA's Inter�na�tional Fleet Acad�emy -- Novem�ber 5-7 in Orlando -- do it by Tues�day and you'll save your com�pany a cool�$100!

Jan�ice Sut�ton
Exec�u�tive Editor


NAFA's International Fleet Academy Examines Complexities Of Modern Global Fleet

Reg�is�ter by Tues�day: NAFA is offer�ing early-bird pric�ing until Sep�tem�ber�30.

Inter�na�tional fleets are com�pli�cated and chal�leng�ing. In most cases the work is done by remote, and fleet man�agers with global fleet duties require spe�cial�ized knowl�edge, con�tin�ual updates on events and hap�pen�ings in their regions of assign�ment, and sen�si�tiv�ity to cul�tures that are not imme�di�ately present before them. To do the job well, one needs to take the next step and gain train�ing and expe�ri�ence that is valu�able to domes�tic fleets but absolutely crit�i�cal to inter�na�tional fleets.

LEARN how NAFA IFA can help you build the spe�cial�ized skills needed to man�age a global fleet.


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VIDEO: Providing Professional Fleet Advice & Counsel

Today's fleet busi�ness is more com�pli�cated than ever, espe�cially for pro�fes�sion�als who man�age fleets as just one seg�ment of their jobs. Luck�ily for them, there's advice and coun�sel that can make their lives easier.

VIDEO: NAFA Has Something for Everyone
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  NAFA Involvement Leads to Great Fleet Careers
 

Patti Ear�ley is appre�cia�tive of how NAFA involve�ment has helped to expand her knowl�edge of -- and oppor�tu�ni�ties in -- the fleet busi�ness, includ�ing land�ing her the posi�tion of Fleet Fuel�ing Oper�a�tions Super�vi�sor for Florida Power &�Light.


VIDEO: Making Training Easier
stapleton-jann
  Implementing Online Training for Your Drivers
 

Imple�ment�ing online dri�ver train�ing can be a rel�a�tively sim�ple process, because there are a lot of great part�ners out there -- and every acci�dent you can avoid is going to save your com�pany�money.





The Fleet Spot


Work-Smarter-Not-Harder-with-GPS-Fleet-Tracking GPS Tracking Helps Your Fleet Work Smarter, Not Harder

Do you know that your fleet may be work�ing harder than needed, and get�ting less done than pos�si�ble? This could be the case if you have not adopted GPS track�ing soft�ware to your fleet oper�a�tions. Uti�liz�ing a GPS track�ing solu�tion, like GPS Insight, can help your fleet be more pro�duc�tive in less time by automat�ing processes that use to make fleet man�age�ment more time con�sum�ing than necessary.

READ MORE

CEI I-Car class CEI Appraisers Learn Repair Techniques on New All-Aluminum Ford�F-150

Fif�teen mem�bers of the in-house Qual�ity Con�trol team from the CEI Group, Inc. (CEI) have com�pleted I-CAR's course in col�li�sion repairs on the new 2015 Ford F-150 pickup truck, which makes the most exten�sive use of alu�minum of any light-duty vehi�cle on the road, CEI announced today.

"Auto man�u�fac�tur�ers are start�ing to use more alu�minum because of its strength, lighter weight and greater cor�ro�sion resis�tance, but it requires a range of com�pletely dif�fer�ent repair tech�niques than steel," said Greg Neu�man, CEI's senior man�ager of qual�ity con�trol. For exam�ple, he said, dif�fer�ent weld�ing tools and pro�ce�dures are required, and repairs must be made in a totally sep�a�rate and con�tained area of a repair shop to keep the metal free from any con�tact with steel, which causes alu�minum to corrode.

READ MORE

Hans-Damen-and-Bart-Vanham-TCOPlus TCOPlus Performs Alternative Powertrain Scans for Company Fleets

TCOPlus, the Euro�pean mar�ket leader in inde�pen�dent tax�a�tion and fleet report�ing, has devel�oped a unique pow�er�train scan. The pro�gram com�bines the 3 key chal�lenges of alter�na�tive engines: dri�ver usage pat�terns, busi�ness case and the implementation.

The objec�tive of the scan is to eval�u�ate the fea�si�bil�ity to include alter�na�tive pow�er�trains in the fleet strat�egy of the com�pany match�ing the TCO, includ�ing all tax�a�tion effects, and the dif�fer�ent mobil�ity pat�terns of the employ�ees using the com�pany vehicles.

READ MORE to learn about the unique approach

The Legal Corner  

Every com�pany whose busi�ness depends upon large indus�trial vehi�cle fleets is wor�ried about vehi�cle acci�dents. Although the busi�ness cost of acci�dents is sub�stan�tial, it is the risk of law�suits and puni�tive dam�ages that keeps many fleet and risk man�agers up at nights. One need only drive down the inter�state and count the num�ber of bill�boards adver�tis�ing plain�tiffs' attor�neys and truck�ing acci�dents to have that idea reinforced.

This com�pre�hen�sive white paper, pre�sented by Hous�ton legal firm Alaniz Schraeder Linker Far�ries Mayes, answers the question:

'How does a com�pany bal�ance the need to imple�ment ade�quate lev�els of vehi�cle safety tech�nol�ogy to avoid a neg�li�gence find�ing while still try�ing to main�tain busi�ness and oper�a�tional efficiencies?'

Down�load the white paper to learn how you can build a Safety Tech�nol�ogy Inte�gra�tion Plan.

 
Traffic Enforcement Technology  

On the roads of the future, it's pos�si�ble that�speed�ing tick�ets�will be doled out by new auto�mated law enforce�ment sys�tems instead of by police offi�cers in patrol cars.

Sys�tems now being devel�oped by the fed�eral gov�ern�ment to han�dle vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure com�mu�ni�ca�tions in an upcom�ing connected-car era may have the capa�bil�ity to more pre�cisely track the loca�tions and speeds of indi�vid�ual motorists.

READ MORE about this technology

 
Vehicle Safety Technology  

Who gets access to the info in your vehicle's event data recorder? A black box, for�mally known as an event data recorder (EDR), and infor�mally known as a narc-in-the-box, logs a vari�ety of data regard�ing the oper�a�tion of the vehi�cle in which it's installed.

The good news is that EDRs do not (yet) track your loca�tion, nor do they beam real-time infor�ma�tion to feds, cops, car�mak�ers, or mothers-in-law. That's what your smart�phone is�for.

READ MORE about the�EDR




Fleet Trends & Issues


Big Savings by Increasing Insurance Deductibles

Amer�i�cans will drive a few miles out of their way to save a cou�ple of cents per gal�lon on gas and fas�tid�i�ously check the air pres�sure in their tires to improve mileage to save a buck or two, but many fail to take advan�tage of a sim�ple way to save money: raise the deductible on their car insur�ance from $500 to $1,000.

Car own�ers save an aver�age of 9% on their pre�mi�ums with that change, accord�ing to insuranceQuotes.com. The sav�ings jump to 16% if they change it from $500 to $2,000. The changes do vary by state: Mass�a�chu�setts gives the biggest break at 19% for mak�ing the $500 change while Michi�gan pro�vides the small�est cut at just�4%.

READ MORE to find out about�rates.

Return of the $3 Gallon? U.S Gas Prices Are Falling Fast

The national aver�age price of reg�u�lar unleaded, now at $3.38 a gal�lon,�is down 8 per�cent from the end of June. Tom Kloza, chief oil ana�lyst at GasBuddy.com, thinks this year will bring the cheap�est autumn gaso�line prices since�2010.

Last year dri�vers spent $40 bil�lion at the pump in Sep�tem�ber, and Kloza thinks that bill will be at least $2 bil�lion lower in 2014. The sav�ings at the pump should help stim�u�late con�sumer spend�ing in other parts of the economy.

READ MORE

Surveys Find 3PLs Hitting Their Stride Amid Economic Uncertainty

The 21st�Annual Sur�veys of Third-Party Logis�tics Provider CEOs, which this year included the CEOs of 27 of the world's largest 3PLs, found that approx�i�mately 75 per�cent of the com�pa�nies involved in the sur�veys were prof�itable in�2013.

The CEOs were also asked to project regional 3PL indus�try rev�enue growth rates for the next three years. North Amer�i�can CEOs pro�jected aver�age rev�enue growth rates of 6.54 per�cent; Euro�pean CEOs pro�jected aver�age rev�enue growth rates of 4.17 per�cent; and CEOs in the Asia-Pacific region pro�jected aver�age rev�enue growth rates of 10.4 percent.

READ MORE to get the details

Connected Fleets USA 2014 -- Atlanta, GA -- November 20-21

The scope of fleet con�nec�tiv�ity is broad�en�ing. While fuel effi�ciency, etc. remain at the core - how can these be improved by new con�nec�tiv�ity options such as V2X, autonomous vehi�cles or smart city initiatives?

Con�nected Fleets USA 2014 Con�fer�ence & Exhi�bi�tion (Nov 20 - 21, 2014, Westin Buck�head, Atlanta, GA) will not only dis�cuss advances in tra�di�tional fleet man�age�ment, but also assess these new opportunities.

READ MORE to check out the lat�est agenda and speaker line-up

Fleet Telematics  

Ford Telem�at�ics pow�ered by Tel�o�gis helps Ford's Euro�pean com�mer�cial cus�tomers run a safer, greener, more effi�cient mobile enterprise

Ford Motor Com�pany and Tel�o�gis are launch�ing Ford Telem�at�ics pow�ered by Tel�o�gis, pro�vid�ing action�able infor�ma�tion from Ford com�mer�cial vehi�cles that helps cus�tomers reduce fuel costs up to 20 per�cent*, reduce their envi�ron�men�tal impact and increase dri�ver safety.

Since 2011, Tel�o�gis has been the exclu�sive tech�nol�ogy provider to power Ford Crew Chief in North Amer�ica, the industry's most com�pre�hen�sive and scal�able telem�at�ics solu�tion for com�mer�cial cus�tomers. The Euro�pean expan�sion of the Telogis-Ford part�ner�ship lever�ages the suc�cess of Crew Chief and will meet the demand from cur�rent and new Ford cus�tomers for vis�i�bil�ity into day-to-day oper�a�tions includ�ing vehicle/driver loca�tion, vehi�cle and dri�ver per�for�mance and exclu�sive Ford vehi�cle diagnostics.

READ MORE

 
International Fleet Management  

Fleet Logis�tics' new oper�a�tion in Turkey has gone live with the imple�men�ta�tion of the first inter�na�tional fleet cus�tomer and the planned intro�duc�tion of a num�ber of new services.

Two months ago, Europe's largest inde�pen�dent fleet man�age�ment provider announced its con�tin�ued expan�sion across main�land Europe and the Near East with the open�ing of new fleet man�age�ment oper�a�tions in Istan�bul to ser�vice new and exist�ing fleet customers.

Fleet Logis�tics Chief Exec�u�tive Offi�cer, Rainer Laber, said: "The open�ing of our first oper�a�tion in Turkey, using the exist�ing T�V S�D net�work and infra�struc�ture, puts more pieces in the Fleet Logis�tics' jig�saw of main�land Europe and the Near�East.

"We do have other coun�tries in mind for fur�ther expan�sion, and more details will be made avail�able soon," he�added.

READ MORE

 
Fleet Vehicle Remarketing  

The CNW Sep�tem�ber Retail Auto�mo�tive Sum�mary is now available.

Here are some of the headlines:

♦ �Three Trends to Watch: Younger Buy�ers Return�ing; Used Leas�ing Grow�ing; Box-Store CPO Sat�is�fac�tion
♦ �Sep�tem�ber Lead�ing to monthly sales gain; Sub�Prime Rock�ets
♦ �Jit�ters down; Clos�ing Ratios up
♦ �Sep�tem�ber Used Sales Ahead of Year Ago
♦ �Used Diesels in Grow�ing Demand
♦ �NEW COLUMN: Jesse S: Socially Speak�ing -- Hash�tag as a Busi�ness�Tool





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