Reduce Risk
The business world is full of unknowns. But there are several ways leasing can help operators minimize transportation-related risks so they can focus on their core competencies. Penske Truck Leasing provides a range of services, including helping customers spec the right vehicles and maintaining them throughout the life of the lease. Here are eight ways leasing vehicles helps companies minimize risk.
- Control Costs
- Improve Safety
- Protect CSA Scores
- Increase Uptime
- Obtain the Correct Equipment
- Focus on Your Core Competency
- Gain Fleet Visibility
- Safeguard Your Data
Control Costs
Leasing provides a lower upfront capital investment and predictable monthly payments. You also can establish what the financing costs are so there will be no surprises.
A lease provides increased visibility into maintenance costs along with greater predictability. The hidden costs can be hard to measure, but they make a difference. Leasing means you'll have to budget for one less thing.
Leases also free up capital for use in a company's core business. Many fleets track their leases as operating leases, thus keeping the debt off of the balance sheet. When the new FASB Lease Accounting Standard goes into effect in 2018, operating leases will no longer be completely off-balance sheet; however, the lease liability will not be considered debt.
The FASB's Accounting Standards Update will require lessees to recognize most leases on their balance sheets as leased liabilities with corresponding right-of-use assets. Penske believes customers will still benefit from an operating lease for all of the traditional reasons, such as:
- No residual risk
- No obsolescence risk
- No effect on debt ratios
- Budget certainty
- Reduction of risk and volatility
Improve Safety
Running a safe fleet protects your brand, reduces reputational risk and can limit liability. Leasing from Penske can help you improve safety in several ways, including:
Penske Maintenance — As part of a lease, Penske Truck Leasing provides maintenance throughout the lease's life. A thorough preventive maintenance program keeps trucks on the road and ensures they are operating properly. That, in turn, improves safety.
In addition to maintaining leased vehicles, Penske offers a contract maintenance solution for other vehicles within a company's fleet.
Vehicle Safety Options — Technologies like Collision Mitigation Systems (CMS) and Air Disc Brakes (ADB) can help mitigate an accident, reduce driver risk and ensure your fleet will continue to keep your business moving forward. Penske offers Class 8 tractors with the latest safety technology, including CMS and ADB. By using radar and cameras, these innovations can potentially help your drivers prevent an accident, reduce injuries and even save lives. In addition, they may help lower your risk for costly insurance claims.
For more information about safety technology available on leased vehicles, view vehicle options.
Protect CSA Scores
About 4 million commercial motor vehicle inspections are conducted every year throughout North America, according to the Commercial Vehicle Safety Administration. A well-maintained vehicle minimizes the risk of a violation at a roadside inspection. This helps companies maintain their scores as part of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's (FMCSA) Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) program, which calculates fleets' safety ratings and determines which fleets warrant intervention.
Not only is an intervention time consuming and potentially costly, but also a large portion of CSA data is public and can be viewed by customers, shippers and potential employees.
CSA scores are becoming more important to drivers, as inspections now follow drivers for three years as part of the FMCSA's Pre-Employment Screening Program. While a number of violations are ultimately the drivers' responsibility, some are dependent on the carrier, which is making some drivers more selective on potential employers. Fleet operators with the best maintenance ratings are more likely to attract drivers while also improving their CSA scores.
Increase Uptime
If a truck isn't properly maintained, a carrier runs the risk of breakdowns, which can result in missed delivery windows and poor service. In addition to fees for late deliveries, a missed deadline can result in long-term consequences, and ultimately, lost customers.
If a breakdown occurs, Penske Truck Leasing provides roadside service and a replacement vehicle if needed.
Obtain the Correct Equipment
To optimize operations and efficiency, it is important to spec the right vehicle for the application. Penske has the experience and expertise in multiple industries to find the right equipment for the job.
Leases also can provide flexibility in the number of vehicles a company keeps. Whether it's new customers and unexpected growth, or just your busy season, you can easily and cost-effectively supplement your fleet with Penske rental trucks. Penske lease and contract maintenance customers enjoy discounted rates on Penske truck rentals.
Penske Truck Leasing also monitors regulations, which helps companies ensure the equipment they are running is in compliance with state and federal regulations.
Focus on Your Core Competency
For many businesses, transportation is not their core focus. Utilizing a lease helps them minimize the amount of time they spend managing and monitoring the transportation side of the business. Penske Truck Leasing can do what we do best: take care of your fleet.
Gain Fleet Visibility
Fleet Insight™ is Penske's proprietary online tool that's designed to save you time and give you visibility and control of your fleet. Our tool allows you to effectively manage your fleet with 24/7 online access to all your information such as preventive maintenance appointments, repair notifications, 24/7 roadside assistance, invoices, fuel planning, and safety and compliance.
With Fleet Insight you can easily view and download information about any of your trucks, at any time. We take all the information that's important to you, put it in one place ─ and let you take control. Learn more about Online Fleet Management here.
Safeguard Your Data
A data breach can be extremely costly with direct and indirect repercussions that could result in monetary outlay, customer turnover and a tarnished reputation for your brand.
Penske's technology meets or exceeds industry standards and best practices to keep information secure, reduce the risk of security breaches and provide data recovery. Our data security solutions monitor its systems, the information moving back and forth between them, and the associates that access and view the data.
To protect your data 24/7, our technology gives you near real-time disaster recovery, malware detection, filtering and protection from intrusion, vulnerability scanning and patching, routine auditing and more.