City of Wausau Improves Light-Duty Fleet and Saves More Than $487K Over 4-Years

BACKGROUND

Location: Wausau, WI

Industry: Municipal Government

Total vehicles: 64 vehicles

URL: https://www.ci.wausau.wi.us/

THE CHALLENGE

The City of Wausau’s light-duty fleet had an average age of 9 years. City mechanics were spending time reactively handling maintenance and repairs to keep the aging vehicles on the road. Maintenance and fuel expenses continually increased for the city as aged vehicles lost efficiency over time. The city’s budget for the fleet dictated when vehicles could be replaced. Once vehicles qualified for replacement by the city’s standards, they had very little resale value and were only being sold through public auction.

The Solution

Enterprise Fleet Management proposed a 4-year replacement strategy to help refresh the City’s Light-Duty Fleet. By leveraging a Government Equity Lease funding platform, they were able to replace vehicles each year to fit within their purchase budget. With a replacement strategy that had them cycling vehicles faster, the City has seen an increase in resale returns.

Additional benefits to the replacement strategy include a 35% improvement in fuel economy and an average of $30,000 in annual maintenance costs.

The decision to work with Enterprise Fleet Management to improve our light-duty fleet has been one of the best we've made. Not only are we seeing the financial savings, but our mechanics have been able to focus more of their time on more expensive, specialized equipment and machinery. Our employees also appreciate driving new, safer vehicles with better features to make doing their job easier.

Mark Hansen, Fleet & Facilities Manager, City of Wausau, WI

The City of Wausau, WI

THE RESULTS

The City of Wausau has experienced a $482,697 net budget savings over the past 4 years compared to the average budget prior to partnering with Enterprise Fleet Management. These savings were realized even as the total miles traveled by the City increased from 118,000 in 2015 to roughly 328,000 total annual miles in 2019 (177% increase). The partnership has also allowed the City of Wausau to reduce the average age of their vehicles down to 4 years, and presents creative opportunities, as in 2019, when the City was able to turn in 4 leases early for net cash return of $33,961.

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