Stay local to save costs and improve service

Fleets can save money, reduce vehicle downtime and get better, more personalised service by employing local independent suppliers over national chains, including franchised dealers.

So, says Mercia Fleet Management (Mercia), the fleet management division of EV salary sacrifice specialist Fleet Evolution, which employs networks of local independent supplier to keep fleet customers on the road, rather than resorting to national chains of suppliers.

“Local independents provide better, more individualised service and assist in reducing vehicle downtime. They can also be more cost-effective as they are not constrained by national pricing policies, which often have hidden extras,” says Andrew Leech, head of Mercia and founder of Fleet Evolution.

Mercia includes several fleet clients within the care sector, which have specially adapted vehicles often requiring bespoke modifications, enhancements or servicing. The experience, however, is these are rarely looked after well within franchised networks as they do not fall readily within standard servicing and maintenance routines.

“Vehicle downtime is a big problem using franchised networks which are typically not fit for purpose, and we have seen off-the-road periods of up to six weeks, often through inefficiency.

“This can have huge knock-on effects for a business with jobs unable to be fulfilled, meetings cancelled and personnel having to be redeployed simply because a vehicle is not available.

“We now over-inspect our fleet costumers’ vehicles, often as regularly as every three months. This reduces unscheduled maintenance events which can cost the business thousands in unbudgeted maintenance costs and can cause huge disruption to the running of the fleet.

“Also, by carrying out three monthly checks, we can provide as much notice as possible of any impending work that may need carrying out.” said Leech.

Leech continued: “Local independents provide a more personalised service and are prepared to go the extra mile to ensure a vehicle is going to be ready in time.  So, we use them wherever possible as there is more chance of the work being carried out on time.”

Another problem area was tyres where independents often outscored national providers, he said. “We have accounts with national chains, including Kwik-Fit and ATS, which you might think was a good thing. But often prices can be cheaper and availability better and faster with a local independent rather than a national supplier.

“Local suppliers will usually go the extra mile to search for and obtain tyres. There are so many sizes and variations of tyre now used, that most national tyre depots only hold limited stock.

“But we have found that with a local independent, if you submit your new tyre request before 10am, the tyre will get delivered in the afternoon on the same day, while after 2pm it will be there in the morning of the next working day.

 “Local suppliers also tend to provide a more inclusively priced product, whereas nationals have a lead-in tyre price which looks attractive on the web. But then when you add in disposal costs, balancing, valves and so on, the actual price means that they are frequently more expensive,” he said. 

“Our advice to our fleet customers is that the larger national chains are not necessarily the best option and it pays to shop around with local independents – which we do happily on their behalf,” he added.