FleetWeek

The 15th annual Drive Safely Work Week (DSWW) campaign will take place from Monday, October 3 through Friday, October 7.

The campaign, sponsored each year by the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety (NETS), is aimed at helping employers encourage safe and responsible driving practices.  NETS provides a free toolkit on its website that features helpful safety tips for anyone who might be on the roadways (drivers, passengers, bicyclists, pedestrians, etc.), while stressing the importance of staying focused and avoiding distracted driving. 

We encourage clients to actively communicate with drivers about the importance of roadway safety, and keep in mind that Wheels is fully committed to helping you ensure that your drivers are taking the necessary precautions. For information on the Wheels SafetyFirst driver safety and risk management programs – including MVR screening, driver performance services, online training programs, and other tools to help your fleet reduce accidents and their impact on your business – please contact safetyfirst@wheels.com or a member of your account team.

For more information on DSWW, please visit the NETS website.

The FleetView report schedule gives fleets tools to help monitor activity and assist in making key strategic and tactical decisions. Based on the schedule, FleetView offers a number of reports we recommend reviewing in the month of October. These reports are listed below; for a copy of the complete report schedule, please contact a member of your account team.

Reports to run if you are on Wheels' services

Claim Activity Detail: Use as required to monitor collision claim activity (e.g. weekly or monthly).

Fuel Velocity: Run this report monthly a year to help you track fuel card utilization, exceptions and expenses.

Low Fuel Card Usage: Run this report twice a year to help identify under-utilized fuel cards or vehicles.

Maintenance by Category: Run quarterly to spot trends in maintenance costs.

Oil Change: Run quarterly to identify vehicles overdue for oil changes.

Enterprise Open Rental: Run quarterly to monitor open rentals, costs and days.

Fleet management reports to run

Combined Billing: Run each month to audit and monitor expenses.

Miscellaneous Billing: Run as needed to audit and monitor expenses.

Order Status: Run this report during the ordering cycle to follow progress of new vehicles on order, from order placement to unit at dealer.

Inventory by State: Run this report as required by your risk manager.

At least a half dozen auto assembly plants in North America have been forced to slow production as the result of a shortage in the supply of carpeting and floor mats. The shortage is due to flooding at a key supplier plant in Pennsylvania and is currently affecting North American vehicle deliveries across multiple manufacturers.

In last week’s issue of FleetWeek, we identified Chrysler, GM and Volkswagen models whose production has reportedly been affected by the shortage.  Information on those models is available here.

Ford has reported that shortage has affected production on the Ford Edge, Escape, Flex, Focus, and some F-150’s, as well as the Lincoln MKX and MKT.

Ford is currently building most vehicles without carpet or floor mats and holding them at the plant.  To help expedite production times, Ford has established arrangements with alternative suppliers to produce the carpet, and will be reworking vehicles as soon as possible. 

In addition, on some new units coming off the production line, Ford may install black carpet if it closely matches the original interior color (e.g. Charcoal).  Any vehicles with interior colors that are not close to black may be built without carpet and held at the plant until supplies improve.

Toyota has said that its models currently affected by the shortage are the Camry and Sequoia.  On both models, the CF option (Carpeted floor and trunk mat set) will not be available for ordering until further notice; at this time, Toyota will only be offering the C4 option (Carpeted Floor Mats) on new orders. 

All manufacturers affected by the shortage have indicated that they are working to resume normal production as soon as possible, but currently do not have a timetable for when carpeting and floor mat supplies will return to normal.  Please note that the manufacturers may not be able to provide updates on delivery timing or specific details regarding which orders are undergoing changes due to the shortage.

Wheels remains in constant communication with the manufacturers and will continue to keep clients informed as the situation unfolds and we obtain additional information.  Clients with orders identified by the manufacturers as being affected by the shortage will receive notification from a member of your Wheels account team.