The University of Alabama Office of Fleet Management has received national recognition for its innovation methods in providing excellent service to UA through its fleet of vehicles.
Fleet Management was the recipient of the 2024 Fleet Innovation Award from the National Alliance of State and University Fleets. The award honors member fleet managers who demonstrate sustained efforts to improve the efficiency of their fleet in terms of measurable cost reductions, safety enhancements or improved customer service.
After a review of UA’s fleet of vehicles in 2020, Fleet Management was created to address numerous issues that included older vehicle models, lack of maintenance and upkeep, and excessive repair costs, among others. The office quickly got to work researching and analyzing how it could implement improvements.
“We greatly appreciate the UA administration’s support throughout the process because we couldn’t have done it without them,” said Tony Johnson, director of Fleet Management. “As this program was a change in the way of thinking, our communication to all stakeholders was a priority. Explaining the benefits compared to what was going on, especially the cost to repair vehicles and showing the lifetime maintenance cost on current vehicles.”
One initiative was the creation of an in-house auction website in July 2020 to sell UA’s pre-owned vehicles that were older or less used. Currently, UA auction sales of fleet vehicles is approaching $8 million.
Fleet Management also developed a vehicle lease program for departments across campus. The program allows Fleet Management to own all vehicles and set a replacement schedule for three to four years. The monthly lease includes preventative maintenance services, physical coverage insurance and complex repairs covered under manufacturer warranty, among others. Since 2020, the number of leased vehicles has increased from 33 to 509.
Fleet Management has seen numerous benefits which include:
- Complex repairs reduced by 60%.
- A newer fleet with the average vehicle year model going from 2006 to 2020.
- Reduction in preventative maintenance non-compliance.
- Reduction in vehicle repair time.
Additional benefits include a boost in employee morale and an increase in UA’s brand reputation since vehicles include the University logo.