A telematics-based pay-as-you-drive program from Daimler Trucks Financial could help trucking firms on the financial brink because of high lease payments and insurance premiums.
“Sometimes it will make or break a medium-size fleet,” said Tobias Waldeck, Daimler Truck Financial head of brand.
The Dynamic Lease program revealed at the North American Commercial Vehicles Show in Atlanta on October 28 begins in March 2020. Leasees would pay a minimum monthly fee based on vehicle depreciation.
The Detroit Connect telematics platform tracks billable miles driven, allowing drivers to pay for what they use instead of a flat monthly lease price. That could ease cash-flow issues that have led to hundreds of small and medium-size fleets surrendering their U.S. Department of Transportation authority this year.
Initially, the program is available only on 48- to 60-month leases on Freightliner’s flagship Cascadia heavy-duty over-the-road truck in the United States. Medium-duty models could be added later, Waldeck said.
Daimler Financial tested the telematics-based program with C.R. England, a Salt Lake City, Utah-based refrigerated transportation company.
“Their reaction was that it led to operational improvement,” Waldeck said.
As long-haul miles driven annually continues to drop with a shift to more regional haul trips and hub-and-spoke operations, Waldeck said Daimler Financial will adjust the Dynamic Lease program.
Early discussions are underway with insurance companies to gauge their support. Access to the trove of driving data collected by the telematics system is appealing to insurers, Waldeck said.
“This won’t solve the multimillion-dollar settlements problem” from trucks involved in crashes, he said. “But there has been some receptiveness from insurers.”
Noble1
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“Daimler Trucks Financial could help trucking firms on the financial brink because of high lease payments and insurance premiums.”
Perhaps what would really help trucking firms would be to deal with businesses they could trust . And if they can’t trust , then remove the business and or squeeze it into a shrewd hostile takeover .
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“Truck Makers Face Nearly $1 Billion in Price-Fixing Claims”
“Daimler AG, Volvo AB and other truck makers should be ordered to pay 867 million euro ($965 million) over a price-fixing cartel, according to lawyers in Germany for companies that were overcharged.
The case was brought by Financialright GmbH on behalf of more than 3,200 companies that say they paid too much for their trucks because prices were fixed. Lawyers for the truck makers argued that the suit should be dismissed because of the way Financialright acquired the claims. After two hours of arguments, the Munich court scheduled a ruling for Jan. 24.
Volvo, Daimler, VW’s MAN and Scania divisions, Paccar’s DAF and CNH Industrial’s Iveco are facing price-fixing claims across Europe that could amount to as much as $25 billion, according to Bloomberg Intelligence litigation analyst Aitor Ortiz.”
And in 2016
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“Truckmakers from Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands agreed Tuesday to pay the European Commission a whopping 2.9 billion euros ($3.2 billion) in penalties for fixing truck prices over 14 years.
Daimler AG will pay 1 billion euros, the EU’s executive body said – more than any of the other parties, which also included DAF Trucks (753 million euros), Volvo-Renault (670.4 million euros) and Iveco (494.6 million euros).
MAN SE, a truck producer owned by Volkswagen, escaped a fine because it informed authorities of the cartel.”
, If truck drivers united and created an Alliance , the Alliance would boycott your brands into bankruptcy while shorting your stock into history ! You would never be given an opportunity to take advantage of them again .
In my humble opinion …………