Fleet-ing Thoughts

Podcast with Scott Mayo, Director of Fleet, Wendy’s International, Inc., the Winner of Automotive Fleet’s 2006 Fleet Manager of the Year Award

As I mentioned yesterday, Scott manages a fleet of 1,100 vehicles, supervises a fleet staff of four and has been involved in the fleet end of the automotive business for more than 21 years. His fleet department operates like a leasing company, in managing every aspect of Wendy’s “unbundled” fleet. He operates the fleet for Wendy’s in the U.S. & Canada, the U.S. operations of Tim Hortons, and two recent acquisitions: Baja Fresh and Café Express. Scott and his team handled negotiations with ordering dealers and manufacturers, and are responsible structuring and implementing all services for Wendy’s drivers, including maintenance and fuel programs. Scott also is an active member of NAFA and a Board member of AFLA.

We were fortunate to tape a podcast with Scott just after NAFA, so check it out for yourself by clicking on the podcast link at the top of this blog.

Technorati Tags: Driveitaway, upstream remarketing, fleet sales, fleet manager, John Possumato, National Association of Fleet Managers, Scott Mayo

Vol. 2 No. 21

NAFA Conference 2006: Part II
“A World of Possibilities – Inspiring Excellence”

“A World of Possibilities – Inspiring Excellence” was the theme of the 2006 National Association of Fleet Administrators (NAFA) annual conference May 6-9th at the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, and, once again it didn’t disappoint. Led by NAFA president Charles A. Gibbens, Fleet Manager for the County of Henrico, Virginia, it was quite an event, kicked off by keynote speaker, columnist, humorist and Pulitzer Prize winner Dave Barry.

NAFA, with 90 hours of fleet education and professional development seminars, offers more education than any other fleet conference. The convention floor is pretty full as well, with 225 exhibitors. And as usual, there were numerous nighttime events for networking and socializing (and we, of course, added our own little party to the mix).


So You Want to Know Something about Fleet Management?

The days were packed with seminars and workshops, with topics both specific to fleet management, such as, “Reducing the Losses of Motor Vehicle Crashes: Human, Vehicle and Environmental Factors,” to more general business topics, such as, “Strategic Operating and Business Plans.” There were seminars as specific as, “Medium and Heavy Duty Truck Technologies,” to “Canadian Truck Legislation,” to “Why is Doing Business with the Government so Confusing?” The manufacturers, General Motors, Ford, and Daimler Chrysler, all made presentations on product updates for law enforcement vehicles, and there were sector-specific workshops for corporate, utility, pharmaceutical and public service fleets, to name a few. Of course, vehicle remarketing (my favorite fleet topic) was included with a presentation entitled, “Remarketing in the 21st Century: Do You Have the Best Data, Tools, and Strategies to Minimize Depreciation?”

On the Convention floor, the official NAFA booth displayed a wide range of products and services including their new publication, “Fleet Acquisition and Disposal Guide,” crammed full of the latest remarketing information and the best resource of its kind. [Of course, I may be a bit biased here, as this publication was produced jointly with the International Automotive Remarketers Alliance (IARA), and yours truly wrote the section on Upstream Remarketing.]

The nighttime networking events at NAFA are also an educational experience, in more ways than one. As usual, the Affiliates and Manufacturers organized a great nighttime event to open NAFA, a Beach Party befitting the surroundings. NAFA hosted “Tropical Elegance,” a semi-formal closing reception and dinner (fondly referred to as the “prom”). In between, one night is always left open for the large corporate lessors to host individual receptions and dinners for their clients. This year, I was very pleased to be invited to LeasePlan USA’s special dinner event, held at SeaWorld in Orlando (see picture of invitation) where we were treated to the new show, “Believe,” and then to a special dinner where we sat right next to a pool filled with performing whales…now that was a first (at least for me).


…And there were really smart people there…

Every year at the NAFA Convention, a number of annual awards are given to the best and the brightest in the fleet industry. NAFA honors its membership with its own Larry Goill Award for Quality Fleet Management Ideas. This year Gregg Hodgdon, CAFM, Director of Fleet Operations with E.A. Sween Company, Eden Prairie, Minnesota, was a winner for his entry, “Vintage Chart Provides Long-Range Capital Planning for E.A. Sween Company.” Hodgdon developed his “vintage chart” to provide a long-range view of the amount of capital that would be needed to operate his fleet through 2015, based on current operating criteria. The creative construct also provided a spreadsheet that displayed the effects of business expansion, vehicle/box cycle times, box recycling expenses, and vehicle losses.


Automotive Fleet’s 2006 Fleet Manager of the Year: Scott Mayo

Finally, although Automotive Fleet Magazine’s Fleet Manager of the Year and Fleet Financials Magazine’s Fleet Executive of the Year awards are not part of the official NAFA schedule, it is a fact that these annual awards, always a surprise to everyone (including the recipients) until revealed at a Sunday morning brunch during NAFA, are indeed the most anticipated and revered honors in the industry. This year was no exception, as the Fleet Manager of the Year was chosen from 15 candidates, which, in turn where whittled down to four finalists before the final award recipient was selected. It should be noted that the winners of these awards are chosen by a truly esteemed panel of 33 judges including 11 past Fleet Manager of the Year winners, five manufacturer fleet manager representatives, three auto auction representatives, 10 fleet management services representatives, three auto dealer fleet representatives, and one media representative.

So, it is quite an honor, and my hat is off to Scott Mayo, Director of Fleet, Wendy’s International, Inc., Automotive Fleet’s 2006 Fleet Manager of the Year.


Scott Mayo, Director of Fleet, Wendy’s International, Inc., accepts the Fleet Manager of the Year award. From L to R: Ed Bobit, editor and publisher, Bobit Business Media (BBM); Sherb Brown, vice president and group publisher, BBM; Mayo; Dan Frank, general manager of Four Wheels; and Jim Frank, president of Wheels, Inc.








Scott manages a fleet of 1,100 vehicles, supervises a fleet staff of four and has been involved in the fleet end of the automotive business for more than 21 years. His fleet department operates like a leasing company, in managing every aspect of Wendy’s “unbundled” fleet. He operates the fleet for Wendy’s in the U.S. & Canada, the U.S. operations of Tim Hortons, and two recent acquisitions: Baja Fresh and Café Express. Scott and his team handled negotiations with ordering dealers and manufacturers, and are responsible structuring and implementing all services for Wendy’s drivers, including maintenance and fuel programs. Scott also is an active member of NAFA and a Board member of AFLA.


Fleet Financial’s 2006 Fleet Executive of the Year: Theresa Ragozine

Congratulations are also in order for Theresa Ragozine, Worldwide Director, Travel and Fleet, Johnson & Johnson, for winning Fleet Financial’s 2006 Fleet Executive of the Year award. Theresa manages a fleet of 30,000 vehicles, supervises a fleet staff of 10, and has been involved in fleet for the past nine years. Remarketing innovation (an area I’m particularly keen on, in case you haven’t noticed) is one of her many fleet accomplishments, having initiated “Deals on Wheels,” a multi-national employee Intranet site contributing to nearly $25 million in fleet savings to date. Theresa also utilized a total cost of ownership analysis and reverse auction to gain a full understanding of the annual buy strategy with the auto manufacturers and developed a European leasing platform.

Theresa Ragozine, Worldwide Director, Travel and Fleet, Johnson & Johnson, accepts the award for Fleet Executive of the Year in Orlando, Florida.












And DIA’s Own Special Recognition for the Winners and Nominees…it’s Party Time…

We at Driveitaway wanted to honor the winners, finalists and nominees of the Fleet Manager of the Year and Fleet Executive of the Year Awards, and thought it was a bit too early to end the night after the Affiliates’ and Manufacturers’ Beach Party on Sunday, so we threw our own “after hours” party in celebration. The 2006 Fleet Manager of the Year, awarded to Scott Mayo, had three additional finalists for the award, Lynda Dinwiddie, Director of Fleet and Travel, Laboratory Corp. of America; Joe LaRosa, Associate Director of Worldwide Fleet Administration, Bristol-Myers Squibb; and Kathy Schultz, Fleet Manager, Progressive Corp., as well as 11 additional original nominees.

The 2006 Fleet Executive of the Year, awarded to Theresa Ragozine, had five finalists: Douglas Baldy, Manager, Corporate Travel Services and Fleet, Eastman Kodak; Don Schaefer, Director, Safety and Fleet Operations, USG Corp.; Vic Stewart, Vice President of Corporate Purchasing, Advance Auto Parts; and Joe Winarski, Director of Real Estate and Corporate Services, Textron, Inc. So just in nominees and finalists alone we had a great group to begin festivities.

Thanks to the award winners, the folks at Bobit Business Media, and everyone else who came up to our suite that night and shared in the festivities. A few pictures from our party follow, including one with the award winners and our specially constructed ice sculpture created for the occasion. [Not only did the ice look nice but it lasted long after the party was over…so what are you supposed to do with a big block of ice that takes three days to melt in a hotel suite?]


Scott Mayo, Director of Fleet, Wendy’s International, Inc., and Theresa Ragozine, Worldwide Director, Travel and Fleet, Johnson & Johnson, in front of the Driveitaway party ice sculpture. From L to R: John Possumato, founder and vice chairman, Driveitaway; Ragozine; Mayo; Sherb Brown, vice president and group publisher, Bobit Business Media (BBM).





Congratulatory banners and posters for the event…


















Not to mention a big block of ice…















Technorati Tags: Driveitaway, upstream remarketing, fleet sales, fleet manager, John Possumato, National Association of Fleet Managers, Charles Gibbens, Dave Barry, International Automotive Remarketers Alliance, Larry Goill Award for Quality Fleet Management Ideas, Gregg Hodgdon, E.A. Sween Company, Scott Mayo, 2006 Fleet Manager of the Year, Wendy's International, Inc., Theresa Ragozine, Johnson & Johnson, 2006 Fleet Executive of the Year, Bobit Business Media

Vol. 2 No. 20

NAFA Conference 2006: Part I:
Pre-Conference Meetings Take on the Big Questions

In the spring of 1987, I attended my first National Association of Fleet Administrators (NAFA) annual conference, and I don’t think I’ve missed one since (that seems a long time ago, I must have been underage at the first one…). In fact, I’m one of those who get in a day early and organize my company’s activities around the conference, just because I like the people and the event. This year was no exception. The 2006 NAFA FMI-LEG (Fleet Management Institute – Law Enforcement Group) was held in Orlando from May 6-9, but I was there May 5th , ready to go...


How Much is that Car in the Window?:
Our Second Remarketing Advisory Panel Convenes in Orlando

The annual NAFA conference probably has the most corporate fleet managers in attendance of any event throughout the year, so we took the opportunity to gather those who arrived early on Saturday for the second meeting of our own, industry- first, Remarketing Advisory Panel. We had some returning members to the panel and one new guest, and concentrated this session on an advanced discussion of pricing, continuing the conversation from our March meeting.

As expected, even with a smaller group we had a full range of opinions and insights. Participants this time included: (Clockwise, from lower left:)

• Patsy Brownson, CAFM, Fleet Director, Cox Enterprises, Inc.
• Shirley Roberts, Fleet Manager, 3M Company
• Yours truly
• Elsie Lucia, Manager, Fleet Services, The Estee Lauder Companies, Inc.
• Frank Memolo, Fleet Manager, Panasonic Corporation of America


First on the Agenda: Vehicle Pricing

I think it’s fair to say that the commercial fleet industry is struggling to transition from a single guidebook that, frankly, has not reflected accurate pricing for a long time, to a more accurate and consistent pricing tool and benchmark. Although the old book’s accuracy had been in question for a while, its utility as a benchmark standard was not questioned for more than 30 years, giving it a certain level of consistency in comparisons that kept things somewhat understandable, if not accurate. For this panel discussion, we prepared a spreadsheet of a representative sample of vehicles of the same make, model and condition, and reflecting the suggested prices using many different guidebooks spread out in comparison. In addition, we included the suggested price using Driveitaway’s proprietary pricing model, and a comparison of the range of values for the same vehicles provided the basis for our first discussion topic.

The more that comprehensive, easy-to-evaluate information and price comparison guides are made available for specific vehicles as a basis for decision making, the more comfortable fleet managers and others responsible for corporate remarketing will be in replacing the old benchmark with something more accurate. In the meantime, I think it will be a while before a single standard pricing tool is used, because a uniform benchmark pricing tool is not yet agreed upon by a critical mass of industry players. Because this issue is so central to the remarketing industry, we at Driveitaway are devoting a lot of company resources not only to developing an accurate pricing tool, but to providing comparison metrics on pricing accuracy both before and after the sale.





Frank Memolo of Panasonic Corp. makes a point while Patsy Brownson of Cox Enterprises looks on.







Second on the Agenda: Condition Reporting


Our panel discussion also veered off into the related topic of condition reporting and condition-based pricing. From our own data of thousands of vehicle inspections and underlying sales results, we presented some thought-provoking charts of how time and mileage typically affect condition, and how these factors translate to the ultimate price received for the remarketed unit. We separated condition evaluations into four major category sections and then charted how time/mileage affects the overall condition/costs in each of these areas. The purpose here, in addition to gathering opinions and direction on the usefulness of this data, was to hear how accurate vehicle condition and estimated damage information might affect price and the timing of turn-ins. This type of information has never before been available upstream, but with an upstream sales program, becomes available for practical use.

In conclusion, the second installment of the Remarketing Advisory Panel was another valuable experience that could have stretched on for hours. I look forward to hosting the next one, probably at the Automotive Fleet and Leasing Association’s annual conference, September 13-15, in Rancho Mirage, California.


An AFLA Meeting before NAFA…why not?

Right after we held our second Remarketing Advisory Panel meeting, we hosted the Automotive Fleet and Leasing Association Board of Director’s meeting in the same spot, right in our suite. A more knowledgeable and affable Board group you couldn’t assemble in this business, led by current President Patsy Brownson from Cox Communications; Immediate Past President Rick Nicoletti from Napelton Fleet Group; Executive Vice President Mark Conroy from LeasePlan USA; and Vice President Elsie Lucia from Estee Lauder (okay, a few of us didn’t get out of our seats for the entire afternoon…).

This was a closed Board meeting, but I don’t think anyone would mind my mentioning one topic of conversation, that is, the annual AFLA Conference coming up September 13-15, in Rancho Mirage, California. Organized by the abovementioned Elsie Lucia, (not only our Remarketing Panel member but also VP of the Association and in charge of the conference), the conference is packed with presentations and panel discussions by key industry leaders, and includes a keynote presentation by John Davis, the producer, host and creator of MotorWeek, one of television’s most popular and original automotive programs. I’ll offer more event details in a later blog, but let me tell you, at a $365 registration fee, this conference is the best bargain in the industry.

So, if you are remotely interested in this area of the fleet industry, I strongly encourage you to go to sign up for the AFLA Conference at http://www.aflaonline.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=4
I don’t think I ever met anyone I encouraged to go who didn’t thank me afterward and become an AFLA regular.


Next Time: NAFA Part II (including the newly awarded “Fleet Manager of the Year” and “Fleet Executive of the Year” for 2006 and a few pictures from the late night party we gave in honor of the winners and nominees for these prestigious awards…)

Technorati Tags: Driveitaway, upstream remarketing, fleet sales, fleet manager, John Possumato,National Association of Fleet Administrators, Automotive Fleet and Leasing Association, John Davis, MotorWeek

Vol. 2 No. 19

A Visit to NADC: Getting in Touch with My Legal Side

Since this is a “travelogue” of sorts, I know it’s kind of lame to say the reason I haven’t written a new entry in a while is because I’ve been “on the road,” but, having traveled to seven different cities in the past 16 days, the pace has been time consuming even for me…Now, on a plane from Orlando to Nashville, I have a few moments to catch up, so barring excessive turbulence or this plane arriving early, I’ll get started.

One of the unique, recently formed organizations I belong to is the National Association of Dealer Counsel (NADC), essentially a group of attorneys that focus their practice (either in a firm or as in-house counsel) on automotive retailing and wholesaling matters. I joined this group about a year and half ago and just attended their second annual meeting, April 23-25, this time in Chicago. In my opinion, there has been a need for a group like this from the time I entered the car business as a young attorney, and judging from both the high powered presentations and the overall attendance, many others in the legal end of the car business feel the same way.

Most of the seminars dealt with the retailing issues, with such topic headings as: “What’s Hot in the FTC that Affects Auto Dealerships,” “Franchise Litigation,” “Developments in the Labor Law World,” “Vehicle Standards and Conditions,” & “Privacy, Security Breaches and Information Safeguards.” And, of course, being primarily a legal conference, the pounds of written materials corresponding to these seminars alone filled an entire suitcase.

Notwithstanding the many attorney jokes (not to mention “automotive” attorneys), I have to say that once again the best part of this annual gathering is the socializing receptions, where I see old friends and meet new ones. While there, I got to catch up with my old friend Tom Hudson and some of the other attorneys at Hudson Cook, a law firm that has built a national reputation serving the special needs of automotive retailers, both with physical and online business; Tom is clearly one of the icons on the legal side of the car business, and as always, it’s good to see him again. There was also presenting attorney Steve Maskiewicz from the Bob Baker Auto Group in San Diego, whom I had never met previously. Bob has quite a unique background, starting life as dealership lot attendant, then working as a body shop technician and a body shop manager before working himself through law school and ultimately becoming the parent company’s legal counsel – quite a path (who says attorneys don’t know how to do anything besides push paper?).

Back to Las Vegas…
That same week, wrapping up the NADC, I flew back to Las Vegas for the Budget Licensee’s annual meeting, April 26th – 29th, at my favorite Vegas hotel, Caesar’s Palace. This is the third annual car rental meeting I’ve attended in the last six weeks or so, and I have to say my enthusiasm for this crowd, especially in working with them to satisfy remarketing needs with our upstream program, just grows stronger with every contact. These car rental licensee gatherings remind me why I like working with entrepreneurs, especially car industry entrepreneurs. So as long as I’m invited, I’ll continue to attend.

I rounded out the weekend with a business stopover in Phoenix, and then spent the beginning of last week in Los Angeles, only to stay in Philly a couple of days and then run down to Orlando last Friday, May 5, to attend the National Association of Fleet Administrators annual convention and exposition… But more on that next entry (including pictures), as the nice airline lady is now telling me to shut down all electronic devices…

Technorati Tags: Driveitaway, upstream remarketing, fleet sales, fleet manager, John Possumato, National Association of Dealer Counsel, National Association of Fleet Adminstrators