The fleet specialist has released a national survey of 409 executives at middle market companies (ranging from $10 million – <$1bn in sales) who have responsibility for their company’s vehicle fleets.

Other findings from the survey include:

• Only 4% of companies surveyed currently have alternative fuel vehicles in their fleet, but more than (55%) plan on adding AFVs in the coming years (up from 48% in Spring 2014). Diesel trucks are the most sought-after AFV addition for these companies (23% of fleets plan on adding), followed by plug-in electrics (14%), CNG (10%), and diesel cars (10%).
• 60% of fleets expect overall fleet costs to increase in the next 12 months; this is up from 51 percent in spring 2014. Fuel and maintenance costs/vehicle downtime were the top causes of increased costs (particularly the upkeep of older vehicles and unscheduled maintenance/repairs).
• 90% of fleets saw an increase in maintenance costs in the past 12 months, up from 83 percent in Spring 2014.
• Just 5% of fleets did not see an increase in overall costs, down from 17% in spring 2014.

The primary fleet-related objectives of companies’ executive leadership teams are limiting maintenance costs, reducing fuel costs via rightsizing/alternative fuel vehicles, and minimising downtime.

• A total of 29% expect to use a lease to obtain a new vehicle in the next 12 months and 28% will use cash on hand, which holds from spring 2014 (where these figures were 30% and 38%, respectively).