Donlen recently announced that the company has brought on a new vice president of client relations to lead its team of national account executives.
Chosen for the position is Roger Setzke, who has more than 12 years of previous experience at Donlen and over 25 years of extensive sales leadership experience.
“Donlen continues to invest in high-performing fleet professionals,” Donlen senior vice president of sales and client relations Rachel Hands said in a news release. “Roger returns to Donlen with a wealth of experience and knowledge that will allow us to keep servicing our valued clients with a high degree of attentive service,” she said.
Setzke’s past roles include vice president of customer service at Union Leasing, Midwest sales manager for both BMW and Pep Boys and account executive at PHH, according to Donlen.
“I’m so excited to return to Donlen” Setzke said. “I feel like this is the opportunity of a lifetime and I look forward to again being a part of a technology focused company committed to providing industry leading fleet solutions for its customers.”
Additionally, Setzke is a member of the National Automotive Fleet Association and the Automotive Fleet Leasing Association.
“We look forward to the expertise, and leadership that Roger will provide to our National Account Executives,” added Hands.
Car Keys Express has expanded the company’s international footprint further with the opening of its first European office, which will be in London.
“This year, we pushed well beyond our core markets in the U.S. and, with the successful move into Canada, London is a natural first step to introducing our service to the overseas market,” Car Keys Express vice president of sales and marketing Michael Bliss said in a news release.
“It's clear there’s demand for our services worldwide. We were approached by a number of European businesses, at a variety of industry events, commenting on their need for a service like ours,” Bliss said.
Car Keys Express’ initial rollout of service within its new market will begin in early 2018; logistical planning for the London office is in progress.
“While there are slight differences in the automotive security technologies used in Europe, it’s all basically the same,” said Mark Lanwehr, owner and founder of Car Keys Express. “Our engineers specialize in understanding these subtle differences, making us a perfect fit for expansion in the UK and beyond.”
Additionally, Car Keys Express said it will also form a European research and development division.
Currently, the company offers services in 48 U.S. states and five Canadian provinces, covering over 1,700 cities.
LeasePlan USA has appointed a new senior vice president of operations to oversee the company’s teams that manage the lifecycle of its vehicles.
Chosen for the position is Juan Perez, whose leadership and management experience in logistics spans more than 25 years, according to LeasePlan.
“Juan is a true leader dedicated to our client’s successes,” LeasePlan USA president and chief executive officer Jeff Schlesinger said in a news release. “His attention to detail and dedication to operational efficiencies will launch LeasePlan and our clients even further into what’s next.”
In addition to the top-level operations leadership positions Perez has held previously, he also served in the United States Air Force for 20 years.
“Our aim as an operations team will be to advance innovation while maintaining the client experience that sets LeasePlan apart,” added Perez. “Our team is committed to delivering the promise to each and every client we serve.”
For the third year in a row, Donlen has been recognized by the National Association for Business Resources (NABR) as one of Chicago's Best and Brightest Companies to Work For, the company recently announced.
Dolen and other winners will be honored at a symposium and awards celebration on July 17 at the Chicago Marriott Southwest at Burr Ridge.
"Employee satisfaction and development drives our award-winning culture here at Donlen," the company’s human resources business partner Kelly Elliott said in a news release. "We promote an empowering environment that gives our employees the resources and opportunities they need to find success, grow, and contribute to the exceptional fleet experience that Donlen provides our customers.
“We are honored to be recognized by the Chicago’s Best and Brightest organization and we thank our employees for their dedication and efforts to make Donlen a desirable and productive workplace.”
NABR selected this year's winning companies using an independent research firm that evaluates each company's entry in the following categories, according to Donlen:
—Compensation, benefits and employee solutions
—Employee enrichment, engagement and retention
—Employee education and development
—Recruitment, selection and orientation
—Employee achievement and recognition
—Communication and shared vision
—Diversity and inclusion
—Work-life balance
—Community initiatives
—Strategic company performance
—Best of the Best Small Business, Medium Business and Large Business.
“Profitability and stability is essential for businesses in today’s economic climate. Companies that recognize that their employees are the key to their success achieve staying power,” said Jennifer Kluge, president and chief executive officer of MBPA, an affiliate of NABR. “Our 2017 winners create their human resource standards to ensure employee satisfaction and they set standards for every business to aspire toward. We are proud to honor this year’s winners.”
For more information about the Best and Brightest Companies to Work For organization, visit www.101bestandbrightest.com.
Donlen has named the recipients of the company’s annual Top Auction Awards, which honor top performing auto auction partners that work closely with Donlen’s remarketing program.
“Donlen is fortunate to have so many strong auction partners. The decision to honor a select group was difficult, in that all are such integral contributors to our success,” Donlen director of vehicle remarketing Dan Powers said in a news release. “We applaud and congratulate our award winners and look forward to another year of providing best-in-class remarketing support to fleets.”
According to Donlen, the selection process for choosing award finalists includes measuring each auction house’s ability to ensure the highest level of service delivery.
“Donlen takes great pride in ensuring that its remarketing program is unsurpassed,” the company said.
The financing and fleet management solutions provider said it uses both internal and external audits to manage its remarketing program.
This year’s Donlen Top Auction Awards winners include the following:
• Auction of the Year – Manheim Mississippi
• Central/Northeast Region – ABC Detroit Toledo
• South/Southeast Region – Carolina Auto Auction
• West Region – Adesa Portland
• Best Days to Condition Report – Orlando Longwood Auto Auction
• Best Retention Dollars – Adesa Golden Gate
• Best Days To Sell – Adesa Atlanta
• Best Expense Control – Manheim Ft. Lauderdale
On Monday, Element Fleet Management Corp. announced several recent changes to its North American senior leadership team.
They include the retirement of Tom Keilty, who served the company for over 20 years, along with new and expanded leadership roles in operations, fleet partnership solutions and strategic consulting.
“These are skilled leaders who are focused on our customers and advancing the customer experience. This is an important time in Element’s journey and I am extremely pleased with each of these appointments,” Element North America president and chief executive officer Kristi Webb said in a news release.
“First, I want to thank Tom Keilty for his many contributions to our business. Tom has played an invaluable role in bringing together our operations teams, and providing his expertise, guidance and customer focus to the Element leadership team.”
Filling Keilty’s former senior vice president of operations role is Ken Johnson, who most recently led Element’s fleet partnership solution.
Johnson brings in-depth knowledge and understanding in the areas of Six Sigma, sales and the customer experience to the operations team, according to Element.
Chosen to take on Johnson’s former role as leader of fleet partnership solutions is Joe Cuccia.
Element said Cuccia has been vital to its operations and will bring his extensive operations knowledge and finance background to the company’s fleet management team.
Meanwhile, the fleet-management company named Mary Sticha senior vice president of operational excellence. She most recently served as senior vice president of integration.
As the company shifts from integration to innovation, Element said in her new role; Sticha will continue to assist customers and the company’s team by sharing her comprehensive understanding of fleet management.
Additionally, Tom Peterson, managing director of the Midwest region, will now lead Element’s strategic consulting team in conjunction with the responsibilities of his current role.
Element said Peterson’s sales and account leadership will strengthen the company's strategic consulting team.
JMN Transportation recently announced that as a result of increased growth, the company created a transportation manager position that has been filled by Alex Vedder, who transitioned from his previous role as regional manager of JMN’s Georgia locations.
In his new role as transportation manager, Vedder will be tasked with overseeing the operational and financial elements of the JMN’s fleet division and directly connecting with the company’s customers to build and maintain positive working relations, according to JMN.
“Alex has demonstrated his ability to get the job done year in and year out,” JMN owner and chief executive officer Jon Nuckolls said. “His loyalty and dedication, coupled with his extensive knowledge should acclimate Alex into his new role quickly.”
Vedder has more than 25 years of experience within the transportation industry and has spent 9 with JMN. Throughout his career, he has held positions such as regional inventory manager and operations manager with various auto hauler companies.
Additionally, JMN has had a recent uptick in recruiting and adopted several other new positions. The company said the recent opening of multiple Drive Away locations has generated more than 150 new employees since this past August.
The American International Automobile Dealers Association reported that average length of time a new model sat on a dealer’s lot hit 70 days in March — the longest stretch of time since July 2009. Edmunds contends current new-vehicle inventory levels haven’t been this high since 2004.
Cox Automotive chief economist Tom Webb sees the assertions from AIADA and Edmunds stemming from franchised dealers starting both February and March with more than 4 million new units in stock as a headwind for both used- and new-vehicle sales.
Webb explained that hefty incentives were applied to that new-model inventory — a move that eventually places pressure on used-vehicle values — and the industry achieved a seasonally adjusted annual selling rate (SAAR) of 17.5 million in February. The strategy repeated in March, but the new-model SAAR fell to 16.5 million — the lowest reading since February 2015.
“Last month’s weak sales pace, plus less-than-needed production cuts, has left dealers with still too much new metal on the ground,” Webb said.
During his last quarterly conference call, Webb elaborated about where he thinks a healthy new-vehicle sales pace can be that leaves the used-vehicle segment with plenty of retail room to maneuver.
“I think if you look at it from a very long, long trend what you might term the underlying demand for new vehicles — the current vehicles in operation plus scrappage — I don’t think it’s that much north of 16 million going longer term. So the SAAR at some point has to move down below 17 million. But again it’s dependent upon what real retail demand there is out there,” Webb said.
“The fact that dealers have 4-plus million new vehicles in stock is the pressure on used-vehicle values. Obviously that’s too many,” he reiterated.
While used-vehicle production certainly can be attributed to situations such as trade-ins and off-lease returns, Webb acknowledged automakers have difficult challenges in managing factory production.
“A production adjustment has to be made with the sales pace in March being a disappointment,” Webb said. “We didn’t make a lot of the progress in terms of getting new-vehicle inventories in line. There’s still an overhang. To the extent the manufacturers produce to demand, then you don’t have that downward pressure on used-vehicle values. To a certain extent, I’m still hopeful that is what they will do.
“I’m somewhat surprised they’ve left their dealers holding that much inventory for such an extended period of time now rather than adjust,” he went on to say. “I know some of it has to do with imbalances and production schedules etc. But still, it is not a good thing for them since they also hold the residual values on 10 million leases out there.
“It’s not good for the manufacturers and it’s certainly not good for the dealers,” Webb added.
Update on rental-risk prices & volume
Manheim reported the average price for rental risk units sold at auction in March remained down 3 percent year-over-year. Webb explained prices were up relative to February, but less than the normal seasonal pattern would indicate.
Webb went on to note that a straight average of auction pricing for rental risk units in March represented a 3.5-percent rise from a year ago, “reflecting a better mix of market classes and lower mileage.” He added that SUVs and CUVs accounted for 33 percent of rental risk sales in March of this year versus only 25 percent last March. The share accounted for by compact cars fell from 29 percent to 25 percent.
Manheim also pointed out that average mileage for rental risk units in March (36,800 miles) decreased by 10 versus a year ago.
“Rental risk volumes sold at auction in the first quarter were up considerably, even compared to last year’s high level,” Webb said. “Unlike last year when dispositions were being driven by a high number of new units’ entering the fleet, this year’s off-rental volume was more the result of fleet rationalization. As such, off-rental auction volumes may weaken later in the year.”
Webb also touched on how the best of off-rental units aren’t necessary being skimmed off by rental car companies and being wholesaled other places than having those units come down the lanes.
“There was fear as the rental car companies used non-auction channels — direct to dealer sales and retail customers — that the auctions would end up with the higher mileage poor condition vehicles, the less desirable vehicles. But that has not been the case,” Webb said.
“I watch it very closely with the types of vehicles that come through our auctions and the condition levels. We’re not skewed in any way along those lines so that’s heartening,” he continued.
Meanwhile as those new-vehicle inventories pile up, Webb pointed out that OEMs aren’t falling back into previous practices by sending more units into the fleet space. Manheim determined that the combined rental, commercial fleet and government purchases of new vehicles decreased by 13 percent year-over-year in March, with the “all-important” rental segment down the most at a 14 percent decline.
“Granted, that was relative to a very high level a year ago,” Webb interjected.
“Certainly in the way past, basically when you had a lot of program cars, that was an avenue,” he continued. “Even when the manufacturers had ownerships in the rental car companies, you could use that as an avenue to keep factories open.
“Given the restructuring i.e. the bankruptcies that occurred during the recession, the manufacturers have a lot more flexibility in terms of production and in terms of making labor a more variable cost than a total fixed cost,” Webb went on to say. “To that extent, there’s less of a need to do that. Certainly they got burned in the past doing it. So to a large extent, most have not done that.”
And what about rental car companies working deals with the automakers?
“You look at the rental car companies and they’ll tell you they’re not getting that great of a deal in terms of the pricing,” Webb replied. “Certainly there’ll be a manufacturer of a particular model that will put a little pressure on the rental car company to take some of those units to even things out. But in the overall scene, they’re not overly pushing the market, which is a good thing.”
In-car Internet service provider Autonet Mobile recently improved the inventory monitoring capabilities of Dealer Connect, its year-old connected car technology platform built to support fleet and dealership operations, the company announced on Monday.
Dealer Connect’s new updates allow dealership and fleet management to now view all of their connected vehicles on a single map, track mileage in real-time and see driver behaviors, which include acceleration and braking habits.
“One of the many facets that dealers and consumers love about Dealer Connect is vehicle monitoring,” Autonet Mobile chief executive officer Greg O’Neill said. “In addition to service and sales opportunities for dealers, car owners who subscribe to Autonet Mobile will find it much easier to keep their cars in good running condition and track how their vehicles are driven.”
A total of three new Autonet Mobile Lot Tracker reports containing current inventory information is now available. Additionally, “consumers who choose to subscribe to Autonet Mobile in the F&I booth can immediately benefit from enhanced monitoring of their connected vehicles,” the company said.
The connected car technology can deliver the current location, vehicle speeds and driver habits of all of their connected cars. For example, it can alert parents if any of their vehicles cross any preset geozones and curfews that can be set by owners.
Autonet Mobile collects data via an easy-to-install OBD-II device that uses a companion app available on Apple’s App Store and Google Play.
“It offers a simple interface to learn about vehicle issues and schedule service at participating dealerships,” the company said. “[An] automated service appointment feature also offers the potential for increased service retention by allowing dealers to send notifications for deals, service reminders and recalls.”
Autonet Mobile launched the Dealer Connect platform in April last year.
For companies and individuals struggling to keep up with the time-consuming demands of fleet management while trying to grow their business, Mike Albert Fleet Solutions rolled out what it’s calling the Mike Albert Advantage — a solution designed to function like a concierge service for fleet.
Instead of having staff members serve as the main contact for day-to-day fleet management tasks like driver calls, fuel card administration, licensing and insurance, vehicle ordering and more, Mike Albert said it can handle all of those duties. All staff members involved with fleet can skip a step and go straight to a single source.
The service is geared to streamline fleet administration, reduce disruptions that take staff members away from their core responsibilities, and free up their time to focus on growing the company’s business.
“We understand a company’s most precious resource is their people’s time, and that’s why we created this program,” said Jeff Hart, president of Mike Albert. “We truly strive to be a great partner to our clients and we understand that fleet is much more than a financial transaction.
“There are a number of tasks, issues and management activities required to support a fleet to ensure the total cost of ownership is optimized. Therefore, Mike Albert Advantage was developed with our client’s business in mind,” Hart continued in a news release.
Employees are being tasked to do more with less these days, and when Mike Albert handles daily inquiries from drivers and manages administrative tasks it reduces the time and money spent on fleet.
Aligning with Mike Albert’s vision to make fleet easy for all clients, Mike Albert Advantage is available to businesses with anywhere from 20 vehicles to 2,000. With a unique toll-free number and a dedicated individual to field all incoming driver calls, implement fleet programs and recommendations, and provide reports to businesses, the potential result is a fleet that runs more efficiently and cost effectively, and a business focused on their core competencies.
A client already utilizing Mike Albert Advantage offered this perspective.
“Instead of us allocating resources, people, capital, time and space to this very important function, we can use those resources elsewhere — in the core activities of our business. That’s the value,” said Gregg Battaglia, chief financial officer of Storopack North America.
For more information, visit www.mikealbert.com.
