Large companies are not the only ones to have concluded that it is worth while letting those with the know how take care of the problems involved in acquiring and managing fleets of vehicles. Likewise, small and medium companies are increasingly contracting the services of car rental companies associated to ABLA.
Ample, general and unrestricted fleet outsourcing has been the key word. According to Peter Drucker, the business guru of gurus, as he stated in a recent interview published in Fortune magazine: "Most of the people see outsourcing from the point of view of cutting costs, which I judge as an error. What outsourcing enables is the improvement of the quality of the people who still work for you. I believe that companies should outsource all activities which do not offer employees a career plan that leads them to high management ". This is the case in most companies, as far as vehicle fleet management is concerned. Evidence is within everybody’s reach. In agreement with the International Data Corporation (IDC), outsourcing is the key word at the moment, both in Brazil and the rest of world. While the industry remained stagnant in 2003, the area of outsourced services continued growing: 11% as compared to 2002, reaching R$ 3.4 billion. One of the main reasons for such expansion is reduction of costs, the first result of any outsourcing plan. However, besides that urgent need, there is another reason and trend under way that promises to alter the way companies deal with the use of automobiles - and with their own business.
Car fleets, as well as water, light or the telephone, are increasingly regarded by companies as basic inputs, to be paid for in accordance with their use. The journalist and consultant Nicholas Carr, in an article published in the Harvard Business Review in 2003 states: "Today, no company elaborates its strategy centered on the use of electricity". We have arrived at the same point regarding management of vehicle fleets. Rather than using them strategically, the matter is to rely on the specialized support of car rental companies, who will manage the fleet focusing on reducing costs and risks.
The cost increase involved in maintaining an own vehicle fleet triggers the companies’ need to outsource. Hence, it is no surprise that statistics show the continuous growth of car fleet outsourcing in Brazil, as it already happens in the United States and the main countries of the European Union.
