Fleet management giant Arval has cut its fleet downtime substantially thanks to a new facility in the 1link Service Network e-commerce platform.
The company was one of the earliest adopters of 1link Service Network and thanks to its close links with epyx, the company behind 1link, it became closely involved in the development of 1link Downtime Management earlier this year.
Bob Leighfield, head of operations at Arval UK, said: “As part of our normal review process regarding 1link, epyx mentioned to us that they had an idea for a downtime management product.
“We were very keen. It is an area that we have been tackling for many years but which customers have become more concerned about recently, especially on van fleets where keeping vehicles on the road is essential to operational efficiency.
“So, we became very much became involved in the development process with epyx. This was incredibly fast, to the credit of all involved. From first discussions to delivery took no more than 10 weeks.”
1link Downtime Management works by allowing managers of fleets such as Arval to set up an automatic request through the 1link platform to a dealer, fast fit or independent garage carrying out work on one of their vehicles to regularly update them on when it will be ready for collection, along with the reason for any delays.
This allows the fleet manager to plan ahead, questioning the garage further if appropriate, ensuring that drivers are collecting vehicles on which work has been completed promptly and that replacement hire car costs are being minimised.
Bob explained: “The main problem with managing downtime is a lack of knowledge. It is easy for a car to disappear into the maintenance process while parts are on order, for example, and there can be a breakdown in communication between the garage, us and our customer.
“What Downtime Management brings is transparency. Everyone involved in the process is regularly updated by SMS, e-mail or fax and there is a much reduced chance that downtime will just drift, which is when expenses start to accumulate.”
Arval is in the process of working out how much the product has reduced downtime on its 110,000-vehicle fleet but Bob estimates a figure of 15 per cent.
He said: “What we can say is that it has had a definite impact and that the final figure could well be higher than this. However, even where we have been unable to reduce the cost and other effect of downtime, the Downtime Management has still brought the benefit that everyone is kept in the loop and knows when a vehicle is likely to be back on the road or, if there is a delay, exactly what is causing it.”
Ken Trinder, head of business development at epyx, added: “Downtime Management is one of those ideas that can make a very positive impact on the day to day working lives of fleet managers. Our research reveals that there are on average seven phone calls per delayed maintenance action and this new service reduces that to two.
“More significantly, costs such as providing a relief vehicle for such incidents are dramatically reduced and the potential savings are extremely worthwhile on fleets of all sizes.”
