The capitals Industrial HGV Taskforce has now issued over 1,000 Fixed Penalty Notices to HGVs
Aims to keep downtime to a minimum
Vehicle off road management is a major issue for organisations as they continually seek to cut costs and improve operational efficiencies. This is one reason why Fleet Assist has launched two versions of its Downtime Management Tool.
Planned and unplanned vehicle off road time disrupts organisations’ schedules and adds costs to fleet budgets, which in some cases can amount to thousands of pounds per day when taking into account the downtime of the vehicle and the impact of lost business. In light of this, Fleet Assist worked on the product design process with existing clients to ensure that downtime is managed more efficiently with company cars and commercial vehicles returning to the road as quickly as possible.
‘Downtime Management’ sees Fleet Assist identify critical cases by the type of work required or how the vehicle arrived at a garage – for example on a breakdown and recovery truck. It then manages the vehicle through its entire fix process ensuring vehicle parts are delivered on schedule and work continues to be carried out on time consistently liaising with its leasing company customers. In turn contract hire companies can decide what action, if any, to take and liaise with the lessee concerned.
Meanwhile, ‘Downtime Management Lite’ enables any SMR work scheduled to be completed in a single day automatically flagged up to Fleet Assist by the garage undertaking the job if the timescale will not be met. Fleet Assist’s call centre will then highlight the delay to the leasing company which in turn will decide what action, if any, to take and liaise with the lessee concerned.
Vincent St Claire, commercial director, Fleet Assist, said: “Cost management is the eternal focus for fleet decision-makers with maximizing the uptime of vehicles a key issue in keeping operating budgets under control. Therefore, it is essential when vehicles are off the road they are returned to the fleet as soon as possible to ensure downtime costs are minimised. To make certain that happens, clear communication between garages undertaking SMR work, leasing companies and their customers is critical.”
