Fleet Advantage Industry Survey Shows How Companies with Transportation Fleets Made Rapid Adaptations To Truck Operations During COVID-19
Fleet Advantage Industry Survey Shows How Companies with Transportation Fleets Made Rapid Adaptations To Truck Operations During COVID-19
More Than Half of Executives Surveyed Are Still Not Utilizing Adequate Analytics Data for Fleets
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL (October 26, 2020) – Fleet Advantage, a leading innovator in truck fleet business analytics, equipment financing, and life cycle cost management (LCCM) announced today results of its latest industry survey which shows how companies in different industries had to modify and scale their truck operations because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Click here to see the complete results of the survey.
Fleet Advantage commissioned the online survey during August and found that 36% of the companies that responded had to change routes for as many as 40% of the trucks in their fleets, and 25% have had to change what their trucks are primarily hauling. Much of this shift was a result of the closing of many restaurants across the country, with fleets shifting their routes to handle increased demand for grocery items and retail/merchandise (non-food) delivery.
The survey also illustrated where roughly 50% of respondents used less than 30% of the typical miles accumulated in routes when the pandemic hit. This also meant that roughly four of every ten fleets were operating at 80% of normal utilization. As a result, along with the broader impact from the economy, 27% of organizations said they were forced to downsize their fleets.
Proper truck utilization data is critical today to help fleets make accurate, real-time decisions on their trucks, utilization patterns and maintenance and replacement schedules. According to the survey, fleet executives use analytics data to better understand miles driven (76%), maintenance data (68%), and fuel consumption (55%).
Despite the significant advancements in real-time analytics data available, as many as 51% of fleet executives admit they are not overly confident they have access to reporting information for properly analyzing their data during COVID-19. In fact, 74% of executives either agreed or strongly agreed with the notion that access to better reporting data would help them in their fleet decision-making.
In addition to business volume fluctuations (19%) and overall economic uncertainty (10%), many fleet executives commented that driver related issues such health concerns, staffing and morale (33%) were an immediate priority for them.
“This year has proved challenging for various organizations, their employees and families as they’ve had to navigate through rapid business adaptations as well as health and safety challenges,” said Katerina Jones, Sr. Director, Marketing and Business Development. “Clearly, many companies with fleets had to adapt quickly to drastically different truck utilization patterns, and illustrated the continued need for accurate, real-time data analytics fleet executives can quickly use in order to make proper decisions for their organizations.”
Click here to see the complete results of the survey.
About Fleet Advantage
Fleet Advantage has over $1 Billion of assets under its Life Cycle Cost Management (LCCM) program and serves America’s top corporate fleets. Fleet Advantage guarantees the absolute lowest cost of operation by providing truck and trailer financing with matching proprietary data driven IT processes and fleet analytics, using the latest equipment technology to achieve optimum vehicle productivity and maximum safety. Fleet Advantage is ranked as one of the fastest-growing privately held companies in the state of Florida and the fastest growing independent truck lessor in the U.S. In 2018, Fleet Advantage was ranked the 9th Top Private Independent from Monitor Daily; and in 2015 and 2013, the company was named to Inc. magazines’ 500|5000 list of fastest growing companies in the nation. In 2011, CEO John Flynn received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year® 2011 Florida – Emerging Category award.