Surprisingly, you will still see very old vehicles operating in fleet companies. This is still happening while government agencies are advocating for newer vehicles that are more fuel-efficient. For those who understand the operations of vehicles, what we see on the roads today is a combination of both old cars and new ones. As vehicles depreciate and get kicked off of the roads, they pave way for the new ones.
Now, let’s apply the same concept to fleet vehicles. Companies do away with the old vehicles and replace them with new, more fuel-efficient cars. This is what we call fleet vehicle turnover. Currently, the turnover is still slow, and this affects how quickly newer cars get into the stock of fleet vehicles in operation.
The Current Problem with Fleet Vehicle Turnover
Many companies have been observing all of the maintenance measures of the vehicles they use. This means that their lifespan is greatly improved. While this is good for the company, it slows down the introduction of the latest models of vehicles with fuel-saving options like eco-mode, I-stop, and other related technologies.
The other big problem is the addition of aftermarket fleet solutions to old vehicles. If you visit https://www.eyerideonline.com/, you will be surprised to find numerous fleet solutions that can be easily added to any car model that will work. So, instead of buying newer cars with all of these features, they just upgrade the older cars.
The Future of Fuel-Efficiency
It is a fact that almost every automaker increases fuel efficiency in every new model they make. So, the more current models the fleet buys, the more they will save on fuel. If it is possible, fleet owners should replace their vehicles every few years. But this is not happening as quickly as it should be. Fleet companies are not ready to spend on the cost of newer cars.
Although fleet companies will eventually get there, the process is taking longer than it should. In fact, private vehicle owners are having a higher vehicle turnover than fleet companies.
Recommendations to Increase Turnover
There is a lot that can be done to increase the vehicle turnover for fleets so that they can increase fuel-efficiency in the future. One of them is to have a plan for upgrading. Fleet companies that have this plan will see newer models get into their stock than those without such a plan.
Additionally, authorities should have policies that guide management on fleet vehicles. At any given time, they should have a certain percentage of new models and be retiring the old machines.
Lastly, automakers could work together with fleet companies to trade in the old vehicles for new ones of the same brand. Although this is yet to happen, it could be one of the best solutions because it eliminates the high costs of buying new vehicles.
Conclusion
Access to more fuel-efficient vehicles for fleet companies is being delayed by a low turnover caused by several factors. However, it is possible to eliminate this, as we have seen. Until this happens, we will still only see a few new vehicles get added to fleet companies.
