Corporate Fleet Management Survey Indicates A Promising 2012
The results of a recent corporate fleet management survey are in, compiled from a marketing research study conducted among fleet managers in the United States. The survey was commissioned by a prominent industry vendor to quantify any general trends in planning for fleet in the next twelve months, charting correlation to see if it may be an indicator of what the U.S. economy has in store and, if fleets expect to see growth, what concerns they have as they enter a new economic environment.
Among many of the findings, signs of corporate growth are apparent in 2012. Forty-three percent of fleet managers expect their fleets to increase in size during this New Year, although mostly by less than ten percent. The silver lining is that relatively few fleet managers expect a decline in the number of vehicles they manage.
Domestic fleets appear to be driving the increase in overall fleet size, with fifty-one percent indicating an increase is likely, thirty-eight percent believing they will stay the same, and only eleven percent feeling a decrease is on the horizon. Companies with international fleets were significantly less likely to say their company’s fleet size would increase at all during 2012, weighing in with only thirty-three percent holding this positive viewpoint.
Along with growth come several challenges. Fifty-nine percent cited reducing fleet costs as the single most important issue facing fleet in 2012, with the stability of the automaker supply chain pulling up a distant second at only seventeen percent. With continued high prices of fuel, it is not surprising that fleet managers report, at a decisive seventy-two percent, fuel costs are the most challenging expense to manage in the next year.