Prestige Fleet Servicing (Prestige), which provides vehicle servicing, maintenance and repair work to leasing and fleet management companies and corporate fleets, has launched a mobile servicing solution to help fleets cut vehicle downtime.
Prestige Mobile Servicing is being seen as complementary to the mobile solutions that many of its service network centres currently offer and is being provided by a number of separate specialists with a network of mobile operatives throughout the UK.
The solution has already been field tested with a number of fleet clients with an enthusiastic and positive response. A client with a large national van fleet has been able to save considerable amounts of vehicle downtime and costs as a result.
The Prestige service network currently stands at 315 centres following its latest batch of appointments in Northwich and Bedworth, with plans for continued growth to meet demand.
“While our static network continues to grow in line with our expansion plans, we also wanted to be able to offer our fleet customers a mobile solution on a national level, coordinated through our operations centre in Melton Mowbray,” said Commercial Director, Joe Bhamra.
“We see real benefits for our fleet customers in being able to provide them with a multi-layered SMR solution and to be able to cope with emergency and other time-limited incidents, often in remote areas of the country,” he said.
Bhamra explained that service and maintenance controllers at the company’s operations centre would be able to make the decision whether a company driver required a mobile service or if the work could be handled routinely within one of the network’s service centres.
This would be based on the nature of the work involved, its complexity and the amount of time required to get the vehicle back on the road. For many of Prestige’s customers, particularly those with commercial vehicle fleets, reducing vehicle downtime is of paramount importance to improve productivity and profitability.
“Our central operations team will decide what is the best course of action for the driver – be it static or mobile – depending on the circumstances and nature of the work,” said Bhamra.
“We hear many other mobile operators say they can carry out all levels of work at the roadside. But careful consideration needs to be made when booking mobile jobs with regard to local authority regulations, and the nature and scope of work that can be carried out in a legal and an environmentally harmless way.
“While this is essentially a service that we think will be most suited to light commercial fleets, it will also be relevant to company cars as well. But we will rely on the expertise and professionalism of our controllers to determine which is the best course of action for the work involved – static or mobile,” he added.
Prestige provides SMR work to fleet operators throughout the country, including some of the UK’s largest leasing companies, fleet management providers, corporate fleets and aftermarket warranty companies.
It has been operating in the fleet servicing arena since 2007 and offers service centre partners a number of operational benefits, including beneficial payment terms, guaranteed throughput of fleet servicing business, national parts prices, the latest technology platforms, a national oil agreement and discounted insurance deals.
