Accounting and parts tracking can be some of the most challenging chores for fleet managers.
To help, Fleetio added new inventory valuation methods to its list of offerings on Tuesday — LIFO / FIFO (Last-In First-Out, First-In First-Out) — which is an accounting method that Fleetio customers can use to determine their organization’s inventory costs.
The fleet maintenance software company highlighted this addition will help Fleetio customers accurately account for parts and inventory used for fleet repairs, gaining visibility into the full cost of in-house maintenance, while also resulting in a more organized and efficient fleet.
Fleetio explained any organization that buys and resells units can use inventory valuation methods like LIFO / FIFO to attribute when parts came in and when they left.
The LIFO method assumes that the last or most-recent unit to arrive in inventory is sold or used first, with the older inventory left over at the end of the accounting period.
The FIFO method assumes that the first unit making its way into inventory, or the oldest inventory, is sold or used first.
With LIFO / FIFO, Fleetio said a fleet that keeps parts available for vehicle repair or performs in-house maintenance can now attribute the cost of parts to specific vehicles, providing a full view of the total cost of ownership.
The company added that technicians now have the ability to account for costs on work orders accurately based on the price of the part at the time of purchase, which can fluctuate. This results in better alignment with accounting teams regarding the allocation of part costs on work orders.
Fleetio currently offers more than 25 key features, including parts and inventory management, inspections, VIN decoding, work orders and more within the cloud-based software and mobile app, Fleetio Go.
With the addition of new inventory valuation methods to parts and inventory management, Fleetio is adding another layer to its library of features that can help organization track, analyze and improve their fleet operations across the globe.
“We want to make sure our customers have all the information they need to make smart decisions about their fleets. This new feature is one more way we're helping them do that,” Fleetio product marketer Shay Misra said.
Robin Patterson is deputy director of fleet services for Harris County in Texas.
“The FIFO/LIFO inventory valuation feature is necessary to track the value for financial reporting purposes and internal controls over the assets. It is easy to track and the valuation feature works well,” Patterson said in the news release.
To learn more about Fleetio’s new inventory valuation methods, visit https://www.fleetio.com/inventory-valuation or watch this video.
In addition to sharing a few milestones reached in 2022, on-demand car care, tech and services company Spiffy announced a new chief financial officer on Thursday.
Hired for the CFO role is Brad Schomber, whose background includes 16 years of financial and accounting experience and two initial public offerings.
“I am thrilled to welcome Brad as our new chief financial officer here at Spiffy," Spiffy CEO and co-founder Scot Wingo said in a news release.
“His proven track record scaling growth-stage businesses as well as his experience navigating fund-raising and taking companies public make him the perfect fit as we continue to build a world-class company,” Wingo said.
Schomber added: “I am excited to join Spiffy and become part of such a dynamic team that is rapidly scaling across multiple very large TAM opportunities. It's truly unique to find such an innovative company that offers solutions so perfectly tailored for today's environment."
The company expansion continues what was a year of milestones for Spiffy in 2022.
Early in the year, the company extended its Series B funding round to $32 million, and would go on to celebrate several expansions throughout 2022.
That included the addition of 30 new markets last year, most of which were through the company’s franchising program, and the launches of Spiffy Brakes and the Smart Tumbler odor elimination product for fleets.
Spiffy also reached its 1 millionth customer early in the year, and had delivered roughly 850,000 additional services before 2022 was through.
The company averaged between 3,000-4,000 services a day, it said.
“After a tremendous 2022, our 2023 plan is to continue to focus on going deeper across our growth drivers of geographies, services, and lines of business,” Wingo said. “It’s an exciting time to continue leading on-demand complete car care and providing a 10x better customer experience for fleets and individuals across the country.”
ServiceUp, an autotech startup in the car repair space, has launched a new service line to help fleet managers called ServiceUp for Fleets.
The company aims to make the tasks of vehicle maintenance/repair, repair order status/tracking and repair order approvals more efficient for fleet managers.
“We are proud to launch ServiceUp for Fleets to meet a significant pain point for fleet managers. By bringing our all-in-one app repair experience to fleet managers, we are able to deliver immediate and ongoing cost savings,” ServiceUp co-founder and CEO Brett Carlson said in a news release. “On average, we save 4-6 hours per service, which is a game changer for fleet managers.”
Craig Radley is the owner of Citrus Plus. He adds in the news release: “The biggest appeal of ServiceUp is the convenience and the time savings. Before them, I would have to take hours out of my work day, or take one of my staff out of rotation to handle van repair for me, which was a huge cost to my business.
“Now when I have an issue with one of my five vehicles, I make a couple clicks and get an appointment scheduled usually within the day. It saves my business hours, sometimes days of productivity with every repair.”
ServiceUp currently operates in four markets: San Francisco Bay Area, West Los Angeles, Denver and Phoenix.
The company landed a $14.5 million Series A funding round in September led by Tiger Global, with participation from Hearst Ventures and Chaos Ventures.
