Utilizing its “heritage” of working with large fleets to bring industry expertise and advantages of scale to small over-the-road carriers, Comdata has launched the MyFleet Program.
The offering is the result of extensive research, including Comdata surveys of more than 500 U.S. small fleet owners and managers, Terrence McCrossan, senior vice president and GM of Comdata North American Trucking, explained to American Trucker.
“All of conversations pointed back to three things small fleets were looking for help with,” McCrossan says. “The first was a very definitive request to help them control costs. Second, they’re looking for access to financing and capital to support their business; and third, they’re looking for help to stay compliant: A lot of the regulatory pressures that are a challenge for the industry tend to flow downhill, and the small fleets tend to have the most difficulty.”
Yet, even though fleets with 1 to 100 trucks make up 97% of interstate carriers, this market tends to be under-served due to a narrow set of offerings and the difficulty many service providers have in reaching this highly dispersed audience, according to Comadata.
And small fleets need such services: A typical small trucker spends 30 hours per week on non-driving compliance and administrative duties, McCrossan added.
In response, the Comdata MyFleet Program includes a blend of offerings directly from Comdata as well as through established partners. By accessing the MyFleet Program web portal, small fleet customers can take advantage of offerings in the following categories:
- Save Me Money: Pre-negotiated discounts and time savings on expenses such as fuel, hotel stays and scale weighs
- Find Me Capital: Flexible options for establishing credit, pre-funded, factoring and short-term micro-loan accounts to support OTR purchases; and
- Keep Me Compliant: Broad range of solutions address IFTA requirements, permitting, licensing services, IRS 2290 filings, pilot cars and more.
Utilizing Comdata’s portfolio and industry relationships, clients can expect member savings through in-house offers and partnerships with industry-leading fuel merchants, plus CLC Lodging (hotels),Crestmark Bank (factoring) and several others soon to be added.
“The Comdata Card is tremendously helpful in organizing and keeping track of our fuel expenses,” says Brandy Brownlee of D&B Transportation. “And if a truck breaks down, we have access to hotels. It really accounts for everything.”
The MyFleet Program also includes a fully administered fuel tax offering as well as preferred pre-funding and line of credit arrangements that help speed up access to cash. These customizable offerings have been well received by early customers.
“Comdata’s Fuel Tax service cuts down on what I have to manage and reduces the chance of us being audited. It has given me back some of my time by tracking the states that the trucks drove through. It’s a lot easier and less time consuming,” says Adam Danziger of Dock Dogs Transport.
Critically, McCrossan emphasized the “personal touch” focus of the program.
“In addition to three challenges, the thing that small fleets really focused on was ensuring that vendors had a solid approach to customer service,” he says. “These small fleets run their own businesses, and they value a neighborly-type fell. We’ve taken that to heart and added quite of manpower to support these small organizations—both from the sales side to help them find the best solutions, and to the service side.”
Additionally, Comdata is also investing in mobile apps and online support.
At a time when many providers are bundling new services—often unrelated to the basic business—to attract and keep customers, the ;MyFleet Program is “very much a core competency” for Comdata, McCrossan points out.
“Many owner-operators in the small fleet world are former large fleet drivers, and they expect the same level of service—and the same access to service—that they were used to,” McCrossan says. “Our intent is to provide good, quality services across the landscape. And one big opportunity that we see in the market is better service for these smaller folks.”
For additional details about Comdata’s MyFleet Program, visit www.smallfleetsolutions.com.
