Why Fleet Spec Reviews Matter: Expert Advice from Lee Scafidi on Avoiding Costly Order Mistakes

Welcome to National Fleet Services: Ask an Expert

I’m your host, Larry Wyatt. In this episode, we’ll be discussing the spec review and why it can be critical. Joining me is our expert, Lee Scafidi, Executive Director of Operations at National Fleet Services.

Larry: Lee Scafidi came to the company in 2017 from Ford where he spent most of his time leading their vehicle special order process for commercial and fleet vehicles. At National Fleet Services, Lee manages vehicle upfit operations and oversees all their locations.

Lee, thank you so much for joining us.

Lee: Thank you Larry, for having me today.

Larry: Well, let’s dive right in. Lee, why is a spec review important before ordering the first vehicles?

Lee: Well, first of all, on the spec review, everybody has an opportunity to put their input in. You definitely don’t want to have all the units built or even the first unit built, and then you find out that something’s wrong. We need all three key parties involved. That would be the customer, the dealer, the fleet management company, and then the upfitter or modifier. And that’s important also, so that it’s not afterwards where one person hears one thing at a meeting, another person hears another thing.

Larry: All right, Lee, let’s get to the nuts and bolts of this. What does an upfitter need to know in order to hold a successful spec review?

Lee: The most important thing is vehicle application, that is key to the whole spec review. We can leverage all our knowledge on upfitting as far as the drive cycles, and also the duty cycles, or vehicle lifecycles. Some of the accounts keep their vehicles for a long period of time, whereas other ones take them to auction after 18 months.

In addition to that, the content – we glean a lot of knowledge (NFS as an upfitter) from other accounts that we can actually bring up at the time of a spec review and say “have you ever thought of this option, or this innovation? Or, would you like this?”

The most important part is also the wheelbase, because accounts either want to modify the wheelbase, or they want to extend the wheelbase. We have worked with all the OEMs (Ford, Stellantis, GM) and they all have their own nuances. So, we are very professional in offering up different configurations for the vehicles that we modify.

Larry: So what should the fleet customer expect from the upfitter during the spec review?

Lee: The upfitter will bring quite a bit of knowledge base to the spec review and has different innovations that may be used for other customers, and can share that with them, and then they can decide whether they want to bring that in or not.

Larry: Are there any other things that need to be considered?

Lee: Yes, the thing that you definitely want to review is the OEM ordering guide because that has all the changes from one model year to the other. That’s very critical, because some of the options have either gone standard with the vehicle, or some of the standard vehicle options have gone to the optional side of the vehicle.

Larry: Well, let me ask you this. A lot of people wonder what is a DORA, and why is it important?

Lee: Well, Larry, the Dealer Order Receipt Acknowledgement or DORA, as Ford has it, is all the content that was actually ordered on the vehicle. The order is submitted via CONCEPS and this is a verification that all the content was exactly what the customer wanted.

The DORA is very critical to check after the order is submitted so that we can go ahead and verify all the content. You definitely don’t want that vehicle to show up with something missing on the order.

Larry: Alright, well let’s finish up with this. What can go wrong if the spec and order acknowledgement review step is skipped?

Lee: The DORA itself is reviewed, and if there is something missed, you can make a spec change to the order prior to it getting locked in for the “two week lock-in” before production. Otherwise, it’s awful embarrassing for a unit to show up and it’s not built to the specifications that the customer requested.

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

Lee: Well Larry, it was a pleasure talking with you, and a pleasure being here to talk about the spec review and the DORA.

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

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