Rio Blanco County reviews Enterprise Fleet Management proposal to speed replacements and capture resale revenue

Rio Blanco County commissioners heard a presentation from Enterprise Fleet Management on July 22 outlining a municipal-lease model intended to let the county replace older vehicles more frequently while capturing resale revenue from sold units.

The county’s Fleet profile, updated with data from county staff, shows many vehicles have long service lives and rising maintenance costs. Andrew Leggett, an Enterprise representative, told commissioners the company’s model uses conservative reduced book values and its remarketing network to maximize resale proceeds that can be rolled back into replacement purchases. "If you turn around and sell that vehicle then to somebody else for $20,000, you have a $10,000 gain," Leggett said during the presentation.

Leggett presented a 10-year proof-of-concept based on replacing vehicles older than seven years or with roughly 100,000 miles. Using county-wide assumptions — including an industry-average operating cost of roughly $0.25 per mile and a current estimated capital and operating baseline of about $553,000 per year — Enterprise modeled two starter scenarios: replacing 10 vehicles in year one and replacing 21 vehicles. In a larger proof-of-concept that assumed 48 replacements in year one, Enterprise projected a near breakeven capital position in year one because of roughly $417,000 in expected resale equity from existing units.

Leggett said newer vehicles would reduce maintenance and fuel costs and allow the county to right-size the fleet in some cases. He recommended a typical government replacement term of five years (about 50,000 miles) for many light- and medium-duty vehicles, though he emphasized plans can be customized.

Commissioners asked for clarifications on which units were included, whether sheriff’s office vehicles were covered and how upfitting affects resale. Leggett said his fleet analysis excluded heavy equipment and that sheriff’s office vehicles could be included but upfitting (lights, radios, cages) is typically a sunk cost; outfitting generally does not add salvage value for remarketing. He also said resale values have stayed relatively strong and that Enterprise’s remarketing channels typically return about 10% above industry “black book” values on similar government vehicles.

Staff and commissioners discussed implementation options: a conservative pilot of top-priority vehicles for year one, or a larger phased rollout over five years. Leggett said Enterprise can work under the Sourcewell cooperative-contract pricing and will provide the contract interest and rate detail for county review.

County staff will receive the vehicle-level lists that informed the two starter budgets and follow up with additional data, including Sourcewell pricing and options for sheriff’s-upfit treatment. No county decision was made at the meeting; commissioners asked staff to continue vetting the proposal and to review a separate but related presentation from another vendor at a later date.