Personal-Use Charges Rise as Vehicle Values Fall | AF News Recap

Personal use of company vehicles remains a common fleet benefit, but more employers are charging employees for it.

According to Automotive Fleet’s 2026 Personal Use Survey, 79% of responding fleets allow employees to use company vehicles for personal travel, up from 72% in 2024. Among respondents answering the personal-use charge question, 54% assess a fee, compared with 48% in the previous survey.

We’re also looking at how traditional fleet management is becoming part of autonomous vehicle operations.

Element Fleet Management is expanding its partnership with Waymo to support the autonomous vehicle company’s planned launch in Toronto, its first Canadian market.

Through its Element Mobility division, Element will oversee fleet operations, including maintenance, charging, energy management, infrastructure, and vehicle readiness. The company will also help coordinate the personnel and facilities needed to keep vehicles cleaned, maintained, charged, and available for service.

Waymo plans to begin with manually driven vehicles collecting mapping data and evaluating local road conditions before progressing to autonomous testing. Public passenger service is targeted for 2028.

Meanwhile, wholesale used-vehicle values declined in September, prompting Cox Automotive to lower its forecast for the remainder of 2026.

The Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index fell to 205.9, down 1.1% from August and 0.6% from a year earlier after adjustments for vehicle mix, mileage, and seasonality.

Cox Automotive now expects the index to finish 2026 approximately 0.2% above its year-earlier level, down from its previous forecast of 2% growth.

And finally, commercial fleet sales remain ahead of last year, although growth has moderated.

September sales were nearly unchanged from a year earlier, following a 2.3% increase in August and a 9.6% increase in July.

That brought year-to-date growth down from 7.1% through July to 5.8% through September.

Commercial fleets remain the largest contributor to year-to-date growth among commercial, rental, and government fleet segments. However, monthly sales can fluctuate because of production schedules, vehicle availability, replacement cycles, and the timing of large orders.

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