JUST REDUCING FUEL CONSUMPTION 10% TRANSLATES TO THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS IN SAVINGS EACH YEAR PER TRUCK!

The Isuzu Fuel Economy Challenge teaches how drivers can dramatically improve their fuel economy with hands on training and classroom teaching.

Putting the techniques from Isuzu's Fuel Economy Challenge to work:

• Reduce vehicle highway speed
• Maintain consistent highway speed
• Accelerate gradually from stops
• Limit use of exhaust brake
• Decelerate gradually using engine braking
• Reduce unnecessary idling

Used together, these fuel-conscious driving tips can translate into substantial savings for your business. In fact, tests have shown that a single truck averaging 35,000 miles annually could reduce fuel consumption by over 1,200 gallons per year by implementing these techniques.

At $4 per gallon, this would translate into a savings of $4,800 per truck. For a fleet of 50 trucks, it means a savings of $240,000 per year!

Stress the importance of these driving techniques to your drivers and motivate them to incorporate these techniques into their everyday driving habits.

With today’s skyrocketing fuel bills, Isuzu truck owners can achieve dramatic savings by implementing driving practices from the Isuzu Fuel Economy Challenge.

Let’s focus on specific areas that have proven to reduce fuel consumption an average of 33% during Isuzu Fuel Economy Challenges held across the U.S.

Driving Speed

When traveling on a highway, drivers can improve their fuel economy by 12% or more each time speed is reduced between 5 to 10 miles per hour.

Acceleration

From a full stop, drivers should gradually depress the accelerator pedal, allowing the transmission to shift into the next gear. This can dramatically reduce fuel consumption in stop-and-go situations.

Maintaining a consistent highway speed is another way to increase fuel economy. By keeping an adequate distance between your truck and the next vehicle, your drivers can reduce the need for frequent acceleration and deceleration, which increases fuel consumption.

Deceleration

How your drivers use engine braking and the exhaust brake can have a noticeable effect on fuel consumption. To increase your truck’s fuel economy, set the exhaust brake to OFF and plan your decelerations in advance, whenever possible.

Using engine braking alone requires a longer distance to slow the truck, but does not consume fuel. Using the exhaust brake together with engine braking shortens the braking distance, but also increases fuel consumption.

Drivers should always use their best judgment to utilize the most effective and safe method of braking, based on road grade, vehicle load and other road conditions.

Idling

Your drivers may be getting out of their trucks frequently, and idling may seem like a good idea. However, engine idling, especially if the air conditioning is left on, negatively affects fuel economy and is very costly.

Ask your drivers to cut unnecessary idling at service stations, making pick-ups & deliveries, and at other destinations.

How does the Isuzu Gas Crew Cab stack up against the Ford F450 Gas Crew Cab?

• The Isuzu LCF truck with a shorter wheelbase of 176” handles a body length up to 16,’ versus the Ford with a 200” wheelbase that can handle a body length up to only 12’.
• Even with Isuzu accommodating a longer body, the Isuzu truck offers a curb-to-curb turning radius 6’ shorter than the Ford.
• Although the Isuzu truck is rated at 14,500 lbs and the Ford at 15,000 lbs, the Ford weighs about 1200 lbs more. This provides Isuzu with 700 lb. greater payload.
• The Isuzu Gas Crew Cab features the dependable 6.0 Liter Gas Engine and 4L80 Automatic Transmission. The Ford comes with a V-10 (20% more parts) and the Ford Automatic transmission. Although the Ford has more horsepower, for a vehicle that is static most of the day, this offers no value!

These great vehicles are ready now, and have aggressive pricing with competitive finance and lease terms!

The next meeting began with a recap of the existing vehicles, routes, drivers, fuel usage, and remaining balance. She also informed me that, based on her transportation survey of the current fleet, it would cost a minimum of $18,000 to bring the trucks up to basic DOT standards, and only if no major repairs were required. In addition, it looked like four trucks might need major work and would need to be replaced in the next six to twelve months. These four vehicles had eighteen to twenty-four payments remaining. The other four vehicles, although not as bad, were all from manufacturers that had discontinued operation. Their values were “toast”. I then put my foot in my mouth by telling her about what a good deal I had received.

First she said, you need to get your house in order for your delivery operation. Some areas that, in her opinion, would improve my transportation situation and reduce costs:

• A preventive maintenance program which will lower the operational cost per mile, improve fuel economy, and decrease down time from unexpected repairs.
• Tire management, with proper rotation and inflation, will extend the life of the tires based on repair orders by 50% or more.
• Driver training and a routing system. In the half day riding the route, she saw two of my other trucks in the same geographic area. Although I route by zip code, the zip method is not always efficient.
• I could shave five minutes off every delivery by getting a body with a Step Saver side door. Based on thirty deliveries per day, that could potentially save sixteen man hours per day, all in overtime.
• Drivers spend thirty minutes every day fueling. If the vehicles had dual tanks, and/or contract for on site fueling, this would save another four hours per day in overtime.
• Based on the condition of the fleet and amount owed on the vehicles, the value of the fleet was about $30,000 in the hole.

Her recommendations:

• Provide eight new Isuzu NPR’s with 16’ Supreme Van Bodies with curbside Step Saver doors. Drivers would no longer need to go to the back and open up the rear roll up door, but could simply step in and do 80% of their deliveries from the side. Also, this would be much safer, involve less climbing, and hence less chance of falling.
• Recommended a Telematics solution for routing. She included brochures and some preliminary pricing she secured that could be rolled in to the lease program. Also, to keep our mileages consistent on all vehicles, she drew up a flow chart to show us how to assign trucks weekly.
• Recommended we equip all the vehicles with TruckSkin where we could change graphics yearly and keep the trucks looking sharp.
• The big recommendation was the Priority Service Maintenance Program with tire and brake options that would guarantee the price of our scheduled maintenance, three sets of tires (18) and three brake jobs at today’s price with NO INCREASE.
• Recommended taking seven of the trucks in trade and keep one vehicle as a permanent back up at our location. She noticed we had $28,000 in rental bills last year that this could help eliminate.
• Furthermore, she would roll our deficiency balance over our eight new trucks put all the trucks on a sixty-month TRAC lease, with no money out of our pocket except the first month’s payment.
• All she needed was my signature and the first month’s payment to get them ordered!

What could I say? All the questions answered, no money out of pocket, new trucks, a preventive maintenance program and a dealer and sales person that really cared about my operation and a company I need to do business with!

Now, what was the total I needed for the check?

I was ready to spit nails as I got another phone call from a driver for the third time this week. This one was a deadlined truck at the scales, just about half way between Atlanta and Birmingham on I-20 near Heflin, Alabama. The marker lights were out and the State Police would not let it proceed until repaired. Although the route was completed, the driver was already on overtime, and by the time he found somebody to repair the lights and get back to the warehouse in Birmingham, it would be midnight. With the margins so tight these days, this was the last thing I needed.

I decided to look over my trucks the next morning and arrived at my warehouse at 5:00 AM. I tried to keep up on the vehicles, but with so much going on, it seemed that the vehicle maintenance was put off, but the trucks were not that old. After two hours on the lot, I went back into my office and was about as depressed as I had been in years! Although not a mechanic or “truck guy,” I realized I was in deep trouble. I had found bald tires, cupped tires, mismatched tread, PM stickers that were six months and 10,000 miles past due, lights not working, lift gates damaged, leaks, and these were just the minor issues. I even had a truck with tags that had expired two months ago! I also noticed that if I were a customer and I saw some of these vehicles come to my location, I would find another vendor. I went to the accounts payable file and pulled the billing to see what I owed, how many payments were remaining, and what was due. Look up ‘depressed’ in the dictionary and you would see my picture next to it! Eight vehicles from four manufacturers, no two vehicles alike, mileages from 65,000 to 125,000 and more payments remaining than I could count!

Recently, I had been contacted by a sales person from an Isuzu dealer, so I dug through my business card file. On one of her visits she had asked if I would mind if she sent some information by e-mail from time to time? Just to get her out the door, I had relented. I had received these e-mails, and they had mentioned some sort of preventive maintenance deal with pricing guarantee. I had really not paid much attention however, between her e-mails, phone follow up and brochures dropped off, it did tweak my interest.

I looked up the e-mail and gave her a call. On the second ring, I got a cheerful voice “Isuzu sales, may I help you?” I introduced myself, and she immediately remembered me, and asked how she could assist me? I condensed down my story to five minutes, and she calmly said that she would love to see what she could do. She wanted to look at the trucks, get some information on my operation, and statements on balances due to my numerous finance sources. I told her it would not be easy since the trucks leave at 6:00 AM, and some do not return until 8:00 PM. She immediately replied, “can we meet at 5:00 AM tomorrow?”

The next morning she arrived with Dunkin Donuts, coffee and orange juice. Clipboard in hand, she went over the vehicles and interviewed every driver. She then spent an hour with me, getting to know my business. She then startled me by asking if she could ride along on one of the local routes for a morning. She would have someone to pick her up about noon at a convenient location in town. Now I was mighty curious and agreed. She jumped up, shook my hand, thanked me and said she would see me in the morning.

The ride along completed. I received a few phone calls to confirm some items, several emails, and another visit with a gentleman from Supreme Body Company.

To be continued...