Profile
Small Fleet
Goes Big
with Ford
Transit
P
Part of keeping your business
up-to-date includes modernizing your
fleet vehicles. By upgrading to newer
vehicles, fleets can take advantage of
new technology features and more
fuel-efficient engines.
Matt Tieva, co-owner of Northland
Mechanical Contractors, updated
more than half of his fleet with one order: 15 brand-new 2015 Ford Transit
cargo vans.
Running a fleet of 25 service vehicles in the Twin Cities market, Tieva’s
fleet mainly consisted of Ford E-350
vans — 21 out of 25 vans were 2008
model year or older.
“We needed to modernize our fleet,”
says Tieva. “We held off buying new
vehicles post the Great Recession. We
were waiting for more economic certainty.”
The Ford Transit first caught Tieva’s attention for its fuel savings, especially since each of his fleet vehicles
puts on at least 30,000 miles per year.
While Transit models are more expensive than E-Series models, Tieva figures he’ll make it up in fuel savings,
an expected 25% gain over the outgoing E-Series vans.
One Dealer
With the help of his local Ford dealer
(New Brighton Ford), Tieva signed up
for a Ford fleet account, which provid18
In need of updated service vans for his 25-vehicle fleet,
this small fleet owner purchased 15 brand-new Ford
Transit vans to replace his E-Series vans.
By A m y W inter
ed him fleet incentives that resulted in
better pricing than he received in the
past through buying retail.
New Brighton Ford is part of Ford’s
Business Preferred Network, which
helps dealers address the needs of
small fleet customers. For Tieva, his
dealer’s commercial fleet sales team
was able to answer all of his fleet-related questions.
By factory ordering through a fleet
dealer, fleets do need to think ahead
— but only have to pay for the options
they want. For his Transits, Tieva added Ford’s Sync for hands-free calling
and a backup camera for safety considerations.
In addition to purchasing the vans
through a dealer, Tieva has found it
more convenient and cost-effective to
align maintenance services with the
Ford dealer network.
Because Northland’s technicians
drive the vehicles home at night, it is
easier for them to go to their nearest
Ford dealer for maintenance appointments. Tieva also mentions the convenience of Ford dealers’ longer service
hours to work around his technicians’
schedules.
“We try to run a satellite fleet,” says
Tieva. “Because we don’t garage the
vehicles at night, it’s too hard to have
an in-house mechanic at the company.
We would spend more time and mon-
BUSINESS FLEET SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2014
ey to get the vehicles back into our location for maintenance checks.”
Up and Running
After receiving all 15 Transits in July,
Northland had 10 up and running as of
mid-August. With the help of Stonebrooke Equipment, each van has been
upfitted with shelving, racks and bins
and a slide-down ladder.
So far, the technicians have been
pleased with the new vans — from the
extra 12 to 16 inches of head room to
the EcoBoost engine to the smoother
driving experience, according to Matt
Peterson, Northland’s warehouse
manager.
Compared to the smaller E-350s,
the Transit’s extra cargo space has
led to a more organized storage area
where technicians can stand up and
walk around. “It’s like being in a
store,” says Peterson. “With more
shelves and compartments, technicians can find their tools faster.”
Not only does the extra space allow
for more organization, but now the
technicians can carry everything they
need in their Transit vans. This means
fewer trips to the warehouse looking
for the right part, says Peterson.
Peterson says the Transits are like
walking billboards. “It will help get
our company name out there,” he says.
“It’s a beautiful-looking van.” BF
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