Unlock Financial Flexibility
Commercial vehicles, including Class 8 tractors, are expensive capital assets. Purchasing equipment requires a substantial upfront investment and comes with unknown and hidden costs, such as taxes, ongoing maintenance and repairs, towing, licensing and acquiring substitute vehicles in the event of a failure.
Having predictable, monthly costs can help fleets budget. Plus, lease payments are typically tax-deductible as business expenses and, at the end of a lease term, fleets can return the equipment and upgrade it without having to handle a resale or disposal of the asset. This cost certainty makes leasing a strategic option for businesses looking to control expenses and future proof their operations.
Our leases include preventive maintenance and repair services, shielding businesses from unexpected breakdowns and costs. In the event of a failure, we offer replacement units to keep freight moving, minimizing downtime and preserving customer commitments. Customers can also access a nationwide network of service locations and 24/7 roadside assistance.
Draw on Data To Future Proof Your Decisions
As fleets navigate an increasingly complex and uncertain operating environment, data-driven decisions are more important than ever. Analyzing data can help fleets make smarter, faster decisions that strengthen their operations. Benchmarking data, for example, can help fleets improve fuel economy, optimize routes, minimize empty miles and reduce idle time. It can also help fleets streamline workflows and improve overall productivity.
Through Fleet Insight™, all customers can access the AI-driven Comparative Insights feature, powered by Catalyst AI™. The Catalyst AI fleet benchmarking tool allows fleets to benchmark their performance internally and against similar operations. Catalyst AI goes beyond basic reporting to create customized performance benchmarks explicitly tailored to their equipment, usage patterns and operating environments. Catalyst AI can also get incredibly granular, pinpointing the performance of specific assets or certain regions.
One of the challenges with benchmarking within the trucking industry is the wide range of equipment, applications and other variables that can affect operating conditions, but Catalyst AI finds similar fleets, giving customers an apples-to-apples comparison. This level of insight supports data-backed decision-making that helps future proof supply chains.
Build the Best Performing Fleet
Every penny counts in fleet management, and tracking and comparing real-world operating information, including utilization and MPG, at the vehicle level can help fleets identify which equipment performs the best within their operations. The data we collect, along with benchmarking data from Catalyst AI, allows fleets to view their vehicles and compare their performance to similar vehicles. They can also access a data-driven “fantasy fleet” that is composed of the top-performing vehicles most similar to each of their vehicles. The “fantasy fleet” can be used to inform spec’ing decisions and strategic investments that will improve efficiency and profitability across the fleet.
These performance insights are key to building a resilient fleet strategy that supports your goal to future proof your business.
Access Newer Equipment
Vehicle technology is evolving faster than ever, and leasing enables faster trade cycles, allowing companies to upgrade equipment more frequently. According to the 2024 National Private Truck Council Benchmarking Survey, fleets that lease tend to trade in vehicles at 4.8 years on average, compared to 6.7 years for ownership models. The average age of equipment is 2.81 years for lease equipment and 4.24 years for owned equipment. This helps ensure better uptime, fuel efficiency and compliance. In the survey, for example, fleets with leased equipment enjoy a fuel economy of 7.2 mpg versus the 6.8 mpg average that owned fleets report.
Late-model equipment also provides access to the newest safety and driver-comfort features, making attracting and retaining quality drivers easier. Full-service leases also include preventive maintenance, which ensures that lighting, brakes, tires and reflectors are regularly inspected and compliant, reducing the risk of over-the-road safety issues, violations and fines. We track and monitor repair information, performance reporting, maintenance records and scheduling, and fleet managers have one-click online access to fleet information.
Leasing gives fleets the agility to stay ahead of evolving technology and compliance requirements — another way to future proof your supply chain.
Minimize Downtime and Future Proof Your Uptime Strategy
Downtime disrupts operations and can impact service. Dynamic PM® is a data-driven preventive maintenance service that analyzes specifications and trends unique to each customer’s fleet and specific equipment for proactive preventive maintenance. The system analyzes huge amounts of data, including remote diagnostics, fault codes and historical repair data, to understand when specific components may fail on each vehicle type and trigger alerts or interventions.
The level of detail enables maintenance teams to determine when an issue requires immediate attention or if it can be addressed during the next scheduled maintenance interval, thereby improving uptime.
If an over-the-road breakdown happens, our 24/7 roadside assistance team can use remote diagnostics to accurately locate the equipment and triage potential issues based on live fault-code data. Leasing customers also have access to replacement vehicles. By improving reliability and reducing unplanned downtime, leasing helps ensure operational continuity — critical for businesses that want to future-proof operations.
Lease With Penske To Future Proof Your Fleet
Leasing presents a practical alternative to ownership that allows fleets to focus on their business model and core competencies rather than obtaining, maintaining and disposing of equipment.
We have light-, medium- and heavy-duty equipment available, and our team of experts will examine your operations to understand your routes, capacity, drivers and freight. Then we’ll work with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to find the most efficient and cost-effective transportation solutions for your business.
In addition to vehicles, we have 48- and 53-foot dry van trailers, 53-foot refrigerated trailers and flatbed trailers, which include trailer maintenance and roadside support.
