Now known as Holman, this well-respected fleet organization is poised to tackle the challenges of an ever-changing automotive landscape.

The ARI name has long stood for fleet management excellence. As our industry continues to change, and as customer needs and demands continue to shift, this well-known organization is evolving and leveraging the power of synergy in order to provide fleet customers with a truly unique value proposition.

In short, as of March, ARI is now known simply as Holman. More importantly, as Holman, they are drawing on the expertise, insight and experience of all the other businesses under the Holman umbrella in order to deliver next-level service to fleet customers.

Celebrating a century

Holman has been in business for almost a century, explains Chris Conroy, President and Chief Operating Officer, Holman. “In 2024, we will celebrate 100 years in business. Holman is made up of a number of automotive service divisions, including retail automotive, manufacturing and distribution, upfitting, and more. We also have our Fleet & Mobility division, which includes the former ARI fleet management business, and our consumer and commercial insurance brokerage business.”

Conroy adds that over the course of the history of the Holman organization, “we have delivered a lot of value in these individual business segments. Now, with all these disciplines branded as ‘Holman’ we are an integrated automotive services company.”

This synergy, and the ability for fleet customers to access the entire scope of Holman’s automotive expertise, is especially critical today as fleets strive to keep up with the shifting automotive landscape.

“In this evolving marketplace of connected, autonomous and electrified vehicles, everything Holman specializes in can be combined together to deliver value to each customer in a different way,” Conroy adds. “This is about all the resources of Holman rallying around the end consumer, whether that’s a retail service customer, or a fleet manager. We can now seamlessly access the wide range of competencies we possess to provide as concise or as broad an approach as needed for each of our customers.”

Holman customers can now take advantage of a truly unique collective of automotive competencies. “The reality is,” Conroy explains, “that we have resources available to us with over 6,500 employees who can deliver expertise, regardless of where we operate. We’re in five countries, we intend to continue to grow in those countries, and potentially expand all our disciplines, across our current footprint.”

With the automotive world changing so quickly and so dramatically, Geoff Seely, Vice President & General Manager, Canada, Holman says Canadian fleets can tap into resources from other parts of the globe.

“Being part of a big organization allows our Canadian clients to benefit from the subject matter expertise that exists with our employees, or with a different team in the U.S., or elsewhere,” Seely says. “And that really helps broaden the benefits we can bring to our clients in Canada.”

Conroy recalls a conversation he had recently with a customer that illustrates the benefits fleet customers will enjoy with Holman’s new structure.

“I was sitting in front of a customer who didn’t want standard fleet management services. They didn’t want to just lease, maintain, and fuel. Instead, they wanted to self-insure, and they had a program they wanted to run for non-corporately-owned assets. And I would tell them that Holman Insurance can do this, or that Auto Truck Group can help with that, while ARI can help with their other needs. But although they knew ARI, our other divisions were completely foreign to them.”

Now, with every discipline under a single Holman umbrella, fleet customers can become more familiar with the entire range of automotive services available to them. “We are one company, aligned under a singular brand, and we have an array of competencies that we can package in different ways to meet each customer’s needs,” Conroy says.

Supply chain benefits

One of the benefits fleet customers can count on is the simplification of their supply chains. “We have fully integrated our supply chain,” Conroy explains. “So you’re not dealing with a company that leases and maintains. We do everything, from helping customers prepare budgets to engineering expertise and beyond. We manufacture parts and components, we upfit the vehicles, and we provide the financing. We are a true single-solution provider. We don’t outsource our services. We offer an integrated solution that we can deliver in a manner that no other company can.”

Holman also manufactures a wide range of upfit products and components. “That alone is a huge benefit to our customers,” explains Brent MacLean, Vice President Sales, Manufacturing & Distribution, Holman. “There’s a lot going on in the world these days—socially, economically and politically—so to have a diversified supply chain that you can rely on is a real value proposition for the fleet customer.”

Working with Holman, fleets can now eliminate a lot of the headaches and challenges they may have faced in the past. “The supply chain is consolidated,” Conroy explains. “So you don’t have to worry about getting your chassis and getting your equipment. You don’t have to worry about getting your decal, or about upfitting your truck. This is a fully incorporated supply chain solution to put your truck on the road. That’s the point of the integration of the Holman brand.”

Future focus

As Holman looks forward to celebrating 100 years in business in 2024, the organization is focused on the distant future as well, keenly aware of the changes taking place in our industry.

“Every single day, as a customer, I want you to know, we’re taking care of our day-to-day operations,” Conroy concludes. “That said, we have created three specific teams that are dedicated to thinking about tomorrow. They’re looking at emerging trends, market and product development, and the customer experience. We’re also investing in startups and innovative businesses. We’re going to be 100 years soon, but our goal is to be relevant for the next 100 years, and for generations to come.”