How to Choose the Right Upfit Partner for Your Fleet: Expert Insights from Dean Cerimeli

Welcome to National Fleet Services: Ask an Expert

I’m your host, Larry Wyatt. In this episode, we’ll be discussing selecting the right upfit partner.

Larry: Joining me is our expert Dean Cerimeli, Director of Manufacturing at National Fleet Services.

Dean joined the company in 2019 after an 18-year career with U-Haul as their Director of Truck Product. He also served on Ford’s Fleet Advisory Board for over 9 years, making him National Fleet Services greatest advocate for the customer.

Dean, thank you so much for joining us.

Dean: Thank you, Larry. Thanks for having me.

Larry: Dean, with all your years of experience purchasing trucks for one of the country’s largest commercial fleets, what should a fleet buyer consider when choosing an upfit partner?

Dean: Well, a fleet buyer really needs to consider a lot of things. But one thing I think is really, really important, is the upfitter a true partner? Is it a partnership? You really want to look for fleet expertise within the staff. You know, hopefully some of these staff members actually worked in the fleet world, whether it was at an OE or another fleet.

Maybe even understanding the fleet’s wants, their needs, always understanding what their issues have been and how you might be able to help them in continuous improvement. And then even understanding the type of vehicle that the upfit is going into, and that would be about the vehicle workload, you know, whether it’s the GVW or the payload or towing capacity, those would be some pretty important things.

And then you really want to understand maybe what the upfitters delivery records are, you know, are they able to maintain delivery so the customer’s not waiting for chassis where they were expecting it during one time and got it at a later date.

And then the number one thing is their quality standard. You want to make sure that they really truly respect the fact that each one of these vehicles have to have the highest standard of quality.

Larry: Dean, as we said earlier, you’ve had years of experience as a fleet director at U-Haul. Well, now that you’re an upfitter, how has that helped you with supporting fleet customers?

Dean: Well, Larry, it’s a great question. You know, being 18 years at U-Haul Technical Center, it really has given me a great perspective on what it takes to support fleet customers. One of the biggest things that I’ve really found from fleet managers is that they’re really, really busy, have a lot of added responsibility and they find themselves really needing to know a little about a lot.

So it really has helped me dive into the fleet’s requirements, things like design and durability. What, what do they really need?

You know, their production timing. It’s really helped me understand that production timing is very, very important. OEM modifications, what modifications does the OEM have done to their vehicles that would affect a fleet?

And then vehicle specifications,  the vehicles types of specifications, being at U-Haul has really helped me give a good understanding of those types of needs.

Larry: All right, let’s finish up with this. What does safety mean for an upfit partner?

Dean: Well, you know, Larry, safety can mean a number of different things. So, let’s start with maybe the working conditions at the upfit. You know, happy employees do really, really good work.

You know, maybe the second one that we could talk about is the upfit itself, the vehicle design, you know, are the grab handles in the right location? Does it have nonslip surfaces that need to be addressed? Does it have the right curbside access?

Are the weight limits of the vehicle, whether it’s the front or the rear weight limits, are they being addressed? And then there’s the quality of the upfit, you know, how is the fit of the components that the upfitter is installing? Are those components consistent for the upfitter? Are they installed right? And are they installed right to the customer specifications?

Larry: Dean, thank you so much for your time and your expertise.

Dean: Thank you, really appreciate it Larry, you have a great day.

Larry: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for watching, and be sure to join us for another episode of National Fleet Services: Ask an Expert.

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