TLS Warns Of Companies Cutting Maintenance Checks To Save Costs
TLS Vehicle Rental, the GE-owned commercial vehicle rental specialist, is warning that some van rental companies are, due to the financial constraints of the recession, lulling themselves into a false sense of security by allowing the lure of reduced overheads to tempt thems into cutting expenditure on essential routine maintenance and servicing.
Simon Cook, sales director, explained: “We have recently won at least two deals from competitors based on the fact that the customers involved believed that their existing rental companies were no longer taking maintenance as seriously as they should.
“This is an extremely serious issue. Not only does it raise questions about your legal compliance as a fleet in all kinds of areas which could potentially result in significant fines and damage to your reputation but, crucially, could create direct safety issues.
“Taking steps to ensure safety and compliance on your own fleet can be difficult and managing suppliers can be even more tricky. However, as the recession continues to impact on rental companies, there is a real danger that some corners are being cut.”
Cook warned that companies need to ensure that any rental suppliers they employ are fully compliant to all current legislation such as the recent Corporate Manslaughter Act and committed to ensuring its requirements were being met.
He explained: “The first step here should be to open a dialogue, to ask them about their in-depth understanding of the Act and how they are applying it to their own operations.
“Safety and risk management are not areas where daily rental customers can afford to be shy. They should make sure that they are putting the right questions to suppliers about matters such as vehicle maintenance records and then asking to see the audit trails that are in place. Any evasion should be looked at with a high degree of suspicion.”
As part of GE, one of the world’s largest and most respected companies, TLS has dedicated resources and internal processes to ensure that their vehicles are maintained and managed to an industry leading level as well as 30 years of experience managing commercial vehicle compliance.
Cook said “At TLS, we continue to place the highest emphasis on ensuring that our whole fleet is compliant and keep in frequent contact with manufacturers, VOSA and the BVRLA to make certain that we are fully up to date with not only existing legislation, but also upcoming developments.
“We firmly believe that our customers should be assured that, when they rent from TLS, the vehicles they take are fully compliant. We understand how important it is for companies to safeguard their ‘O’ license and reputation. Our in-house maintenance facilities and internal processes provide that safeguard.”
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