September 5, 2023

Supply Chain Hurdles to Inflation: 15 Trends Impacting Fleet Managers in 2023

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The 139th State of the Fleet Industry video produced by Automotive Fleet offers insights into the state of the fleet market as presented by AF Editor Mike Antich.

🎙Today's topics include:

One of the top trends impacting fleet managers is ongoing sourcing constraints to acquire replacement vehicles amplified by logistics delays throughout the entire order-to-delivery process.
The average age of fleet vehicles is increasing. The limited availability of replacement vehicles has forced fleets to extend the service lives of those vehicles currently in service. This has resulted in fleet managers being forced to operate older vehicles in a high-mileage fleet environment, resulting in the inevitable uptick in unscheduled maintenance.
The difficulty in sourcing replacement vehicles has caused fleet managers to use multiple OEMs or to compromise and settle for vehicles that may not be their first choice but are a secondary choice to fulfill the fleet application. This creates complexity in maintenance schedules due to the diversity in models in operation.
Inflationary price pressures and higher interest rates are putting upward pressure on total fleet costs, such as fleet acquisition expenses aggravated by lower or no fleet incentives, higher repair expenses, higher labor rates, and the ongoing price increases of replacement parts.

This episode is sponsored by U.S. Bank.