Wheels, Inc. Tops 5,000 Vehicles Sold Via WheelsDirect Online Employee Sale Program

DES PLAINES, Ill., April 10 -- Wheels, Inc., a leader in the multi-billion-dollar fleet-leasing industry, today announced that more than 5,000 vehicles leased by Wheels clients have been sold via WheelsDirect, the company's online driver and employee sale program.

Wheels introduced the WheelsDirect program to meet ongoing requests to provide a Web-based tool that enables clients to provide employees with easy Web access to information about company vehicles that are going off-lease and are available for purchase. "WheelsDirect provides employees with all relevant data on the off-lease vehicles but also manages the administrative activities associated with an employee vehicle purchase," said Darrin Aiken, Assistant Vice President of Wheels Remarketing. "Clients and their employees view WheelsDirect as delivering major benefits throughout the enterprise," he added.

"Employees who are given the opportunity to purchase nice, well equipped vehicles that have been corporately maintained really embrace this program," stated Don Schaefer, Director Safety & Fleet Operations, at USG Corporation.

WheelsDirect also delivers major benefits directly to clients, according to Aiken. "These sales eliminate auction costs and are rapidly concluded. Wheels works with each organization to clearly identify resale goals and to develop an appropriate resale pricing strategy," he said. "As a result, the upstream selling through WheelsDirect maximizes results for our customers."

Designed to make the purchase process as easy as possible, WheelsDirect provides multiple online tools to support vehicle financing, servicing and relocation. All key aspects of the program, including the length of time that vehicles are available, information posted online about each vehicle, and all buyer- and driver-focused communications are customized to meet client- specific needs. "While offering off-lease vehicles to drivers and employees is a fairly universal concept in the fleet management sector, the requirements and objectives for each program can be very different," Aiken said. "We worked closely with our customers to create a program that supports client needs across a broad spectrum and that could be easily customized for client- specific needs. Reaching the 5,000 vehicle sale milestone is clear evidence that Wheels reached that objective," he added.

"It has been very exciting to function as a key driver behind the development of such a quality program," Schaefer said. "We came to Wheels with a need, and they built a solution for us that has been refined and enhanced to provide a world-class driver and employee sale program to many of their customers. With the growing popularity of this program," Schaefer continued, "USG is increasing vehicle sales to drivers and employees with every ordering cycle. We are proud to have been a contributor to Wheels reaching the 5,000- sale milestone."

About Wheels, Inc.

Wheels, Inc. ( http://www.wheels.com/ ), which pioneered the concept of auto leasing in 1939, provides a full range of specialized services to help corporations manage their vehicle fleets. Wheels has 550 employees and manages more than 240,000 vehicles. Its holding company, Frank Consolidated Enterprises, currently ranks as one of the largest private companies in North America, with nearly $2 billion in annual sales. For additional information, please contact info@wheels.com .