New Fleet Vehicle Order Date

Spoke with fleet admin: PPD still has not made a decision re ordering new vehicles. The fall cycle was obviously cancelled. Have talked to several reps with close to 100K on their cars. What's up? Can't remember the last time I had 3 sets of tires on a company car.

 

YA think maybe they are getting ready to layoff and dont want to issue new cars to reps who are going to get the boot? Duh.

 

Maybe they are getting ready to dump PHH and go with another vendor. Or, perhaps 100,000 is the new 65,000. Ha.

 

Bicycles for everyone. Huge announcement later in the week. Hang tight folks. Those in the snow belt get the wide tires, beach areas get a big front basket. Front lights and extra reflectors for everyone regardless of area or level.

 

Decision has been made to move to car allowance and do away with fleet. Huge cost savings

 

That sucks cuz it's taxed. So if they give us $750 per month, you will take home about half that. Where did you hear this? Reliable source?

 

My neighbor is the account executive with PHH that handles the Abbott Account. Done deal go buy a car.

 

Maybe leasing a car would be better. Tax write off benefits for whatever Abbott's car allowance won't cover.

 

When is this going to take effect? I already have a personal car and would be psyched to get a car allowance vs. company car. Makes complete sense for Abt from a cost perspective, I am surprised they haven't done it years ago.

 

You would be crazy to lease as you will go over the mileage and owe a boatload of money at the end of the lease. If it was your second car and you weren't going to drive it much, than leasing makes sense.

 

If it was such a huge cost savings, no pharma company would use company cars. Its only a cost savings for the small companies, as soon as they are big enough, company cars is much more cost effective. Though I too wish I could have a car allowance, drive the car I want instead of the crap they give us for choices.

 

just FYI - Had a car allowance in past it was great until my car flooded in one tropical storm and damaged in another and my insurance took the hit for a "comprehensive claim" Got a new car but huge insurance hit and my company surely did not increase the amount of the car allowance to cover it. Plus I had to take care of all of the details of fixing it etc etc It works great if you live in an area with reasonable weather and low insurance rates. It is so nice to have those issues taken care of by someone else!

 

its a cost savings measure...layoff, pool vehicles regionally, retire and reorganize the vehicles, then determine what the new fleet cost will be.

this is still my metric over any other.

 

This just in from a completely reliable in-house source:


Flight bookings for Vegas halted across the board.
EVERYONE is to drive their company vehicles to Vegas and surrender your car keys when you check in at the hotel and collect your nametag, lanyard, agenda, hotel map, and room key. Maybe a keychain or pen that says "All In" on it (haven't decided yet!) Probably no bottled water, sorry.

Flights home will be booked for those separated from company employment.
Everyone else will get to drive home in their own vehicle if it has below the 65,000/75,000 mile PHH Lease Term limit.

Those who are losing over-mile vehicles will be allowed to pick from those left behind by severed reps. Conflicts to be resolved by SF Level (1-4), seniority, height, age, IQ, wang size (if male), cup size (female and/or fat guys), who can hold their breath the longest, trivia knowledge, All Star rank, and in the case of remaining ties after all of the previous comparisons, Rock-Paper-Scissors.

You DO get to keep any crap they leave behind in their cars (sunglasses, CDs, mints, etc.) Cool!

 

There is no cost advantage to a company to switch to reimbursment and as a matter of fact, its only a transfer of cost from my source to another. On a 1 for 1 vehicle comparison, its actually more expensive for the driver to purchase (or lease a vehicle) than the Corp. There's in an increased amount of risk that also takes place because the corp can't monitor behavior of the vehicle etc...

 

wonder how many times a day the word "reliable" is posted on CP? too funny.

 

What about the administrative costs of having PHH manage the fleet/gas/maintenance. I'm sure that costs a pretty penny.

 

Bingo! That last statement is the whole reason big pharma will not get rid of company cars. They like to have all the control and don't want any risk. That is the bigger issue than cost!

 

no - hardly. Control what? Liability? Work effort? availability?

Eli Lilly just moved to this model - some reps like it, others do not. Is it fair? Are you a child because fair is a word children use.

Think about how you would manage your territory differently if it COST you for miles/maintenance to see low profit Dr far away. Would you put more thought into your business, be targeted and have a plan.

Damn straight.

Honestly, we do not need company cars. We do not transfer Drs between point a and b - they drive. We have vehicles for ourselves and our samples.

Turn the cars over to us and let us manage that bit of profitability. Device reps have that opportunity.

 

How about a shiny new camel?