Fleet Advantage is the largest independent lessor for heavy-duty Class-8 trucks, with over $4.3 Billion assets and over 30,000 units under its Asset Management. In 2008, a group of seasoned transportation professionals came together to create a company focused on using Big Data analytics to manage large private fleet costs. Since that time, Fleet Advantage has built a breakthrough business model t
hat captures the unstructured data associated with all aspects of highway transportation equipment. With the advent of electronic on-board computers (EOBRs), it's now possible to capture and organize this unstructured operating data and combine it with a keen understanding of the marketplace to enable better decision making and ultimately lower costs. For years fleet operators have attempted to rein in overall costs using the logic that operating a truck until it becomes functionally obsolete will avoid incurring the replacement cost of a new truck. There is a moment in each truck’s lifecycle where it reaches a point of economic obsolescence –a “tipping point” when the truck maintenance and fuel expenses are greater than the cost of replacing it with a new, more fuel efficient model that carries a new truck warranty and significantly reduces maintenance. Forward-thinking fleet operators are leveraging technology and data analytics to gain visibility into the total cost of ownership. By aggregating and analyzing real-time information, they can now prepare a cohesive profit and loss statement per vehicle and adjust their vehicle lifecycle strategy accordingly. Rather than continually purchasing new equipment and reselling used equipment, a well-planned lease structure will allow fleet operators to seamlessly exchange the older model for a new more efficient model. Although logic may tell you that a new truck will cost more, the reality is that it is much less costly when compared to the ever escalating maintenance, repair and fuel degradation costs of continuing to operate the older vehicles. At the heart of Fleet Advantage’s value proposition to private fleets is EXchangeITTM, helping fleets save millions of dollars annually in transportation costs. It incorporates cutting edge technology that precisely predicts the optimum transportation lifecycle to achieve continual improvements in fuel efficiency and significant reductions in maintenance and repair costs.
