“Additionally, cost pressures and ever-changing, stringent regulations are making it all the more challenging for businesses to focus on their core competencies,” Barlow says.
When leasing with a third party provider like Ryder, the customer has access to a network of maintenance facilities, which guarantees consistency as well as gives the customer peace of mind that their vehicles will be covered no matter where in the country they are traveling.
“Ryder’s facilities offer a variety of benefits including maintenance, fueling, and washing,” Barlow says. “Customers benefit from competitive labor rates when they enter into one of our lease agreements. The more maintenance they commit to, the better those rates are on labor and parts. As Ryder maintains the vehicle, we are also able to keep detailed records and handle the laborious administrative tasks of compliance through back-end systems and resources. Compliance regulations are only growing more and more complex, making it that much more difficult for fleet operators to manage on their own. At Ryder, we relieve the customer of that responsibility and help them to improve their CSA scores.”
As referenced earlier, no two businesses or the unique needs for their commercial vehicles are the same. Each situation is different and needs to be analyzed as such. Ryder uses the company’s proprietary total cost of ownership (TCO) model to help walk customers through what makes sense for them. A variety of factors come in to play including purchase price, the application the vehicle will be used for, the asset management strategy of the organization, the running cost of the vehicle(s), and much more.
From a cost perspective is it typically more expensive to have in-house maintenance operations versus going through the leasing company.
“We do find in almost all of our TCO analyses and case studies that it is more expensive for a company to have their own in-house maintenance operation versus utilizing Ryder,” Barlow says. Here’s why:
Let’s says a company believes they can conduct the maintenance operation better and cheaper. Ryder has over 5,900 technicians that receive some of the best training in the industry.
“In addition, our technicians have one of the highest tenures in the industry and are constantly up to date on the latest technologies,” Barlow says. “With access to over 230,000 vehicles in our fleet, we have become experts second to none in the maintenance of commercial vehicles. In most cases we can save a company anywhere from 15 to 25 percent on their cost structure when it comes to leasing and maintaining their vehicles.”
Also, many companies simply do not want to commit for too long to a maintenance vendor. This is why Ryder launched its portfolio of flexible lease and maintenance options—ChoiceLease and SelectCare.
“Because we heard the market and responded with a portfolio of products that can be tailored and are not a one size fits all model,” Barlow says.
When it comes to evaluating whether to lease or buy trucks, Walden often sees companies make the mistake of doing whatever they did before without considering all the options available to them.
“It is easy to say ‘we own our trucks,’ but when we dig deeper, we oftentimes find out that the monthly expenses are significantly higher than if they were to lease their equipment,” Walden says. “With the cost of compliance ever increasing and the complexity of today’s technology having such an impact on the transportation sector, full-service leasing offers many benefits that customers may not be aware of.”
Spending time with a lease professional to discuss the needs, options available, total cost of ownership and best fit for the organization can help avoid this mistake.
