February 2009, Work Truck - Feature
Truck Accident Management Prices Pose Challenges
By Lauren Fletcher
Over the past year, truck fleets have been hit by a triple whammy: declining revenues, fuel prices soaring to record high-levels, and higher prices for collision repair parts and related services. As a result, fleet managers have been scrambling — with some success — to find ways to put a lid on repair expenses.
The net result is actual accident management expenditures have risen only slightly. Meanwhile, uncertainty over the economy and the future of fuel prices is keeping the pressure on truck fleets to discover ever-more creative ways to cut accident-related expenses, including lowering accident rates through a greater emphasis on safety and outsourcing.
That’s the outlook from CEI and PHH Arval, two companies that provide outsourced accident management services to truck fleets across the country.
Rising Material & Delivery Costs Passed On
According to John Wolford, CEI’s senior manager of provider network services, the biggest culprits have been the price of key commodities, which hit record highs in 2008, before backing off in the face of a sharp slowdown in the global economy.
"It was the rising costs of oil and metals that drove up repair prices in 2007," he said. "Parts manufacturers were hit with higher costs for materials and delivery and passed them on to repair shops. In some places, shops saw parts prices rise by as much as 100 percent."
In addition, Wolford said prices for repair-related services such as towing and replacement vehicle rentals zoomed. "Since commodities prices have come down since the fall, these kinds of price pressures have leveled off," he said. "But prices are still higher now than they were at the end of 2006."