The company initially appointed Fleet Service GB to manage its van fleet, which has grown to 423 vehicles, but has since outsourced its company car fleet, too, following the dramatic savings achieved.
In an eight-year period to January 2019, Stannah’s van fleet increased from 310 to 423 vehicles. Maintenance costs fell by 31% in that period, with the pence-per-mile expenditure dropping from 4.51p to 2.68p – a total saving of more than £104,000.
When Fleet Service GB took over Stannah’s company car fleet, it was also able to deliver a significant maintenance cost reduction, by 37% to 2.84p per mile, with a total saving of £174,000.
Fleet Service GB’s Achieve maintenance management service is designed to boost vehicle uptime while challenging lead times and repair processes. It uses and national network of independent garages, including a national price promise for most UK-wide repairs, and provides online access to reporting and fleet performance evaluation data.
Stannah allocates a driver to each van, so the individual takes responsibility for his or her vehicle.
“Each driver effectively ‘owns’ their van, exactly the same as it is with company cars,” explains Martin Carter (pictured), Stannah’s group IS director and responsible for the fleet.
“That means every vehicle is completely traceable and it makes a major difference compared with an employee who travels to work each day and collects a van from a depot before returning it at the end of their shift.
Drivers can log on to the Fleet Service GB app to access a range of features delivering 24/7 support.
Carter says: “Managing maintenance costs starts with vehicle selection and then we use a range of tools at our disposal to identify costs and we seek to manage those. It is all about marginal gains and we seek to make savings wherever we can.
“The cost of most products and services increase year on year but, remarkably, the pence-per-mile vehicle operating costs on the Stannah van fleet have reduced since Fleet Service GB took over management responsibility.”