Fuel Price Pressures

The recent surge in inflation has led fleet managers and executives to examine how inflationary pressures are affecting fleet expenses. Leveraging both internal and external resources, Holman's Consulting Services team has identified key pain points in the areas of acquisition and operating costs. This analysis highlights three of the largest fleet expense categories – depreciation, fuel, and maintenance – and how inflation is driving costs higher in these areas.

Key factors identified as causes for rising fleet costs include:

• Monthly lease payments increasing by 20% from 2020 to 2022
• Pandemic-related OEM factory shutdowns
• Computer chip and raw material shortages
• Increasing cost of funds
• Cost of fuel increasing over 100% since Q1 2021
• Maintenance parts prices increasing 20% and labor costs increasing 13% since 2020
• Extended vehicle lifecycles

Given these new challenges, it is vital that fleet managers understand the causes and budget accordingly.

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