Kwik-Fit Fleet Launches ‘Intelligent’ Online Tyre Management

Kwik-Fit Fleet has launched a new web-based ‘intelligent’ tyre management authorisation and reporting system, which is being rolled out to Britain’s biggest fleet operators. About 50 companies managing more 1.3 million vehicles, including Britain’s largest fleet, Motability Operations which runs around 450,000 vehicles, and the country’s largest contract hire business, Lex which has a fleet of almost 270,000 vehicles, will benefit from the technology.

For the past decade Kwik-Fit Fleet’s tyre management programme has been utilised by some of Britain’s biggest outright purchase fleets and leasing companies to control their tyre maintenance spend. Details of all transactions are logged and information on tread depths of tyres removed, brands and size of tyres fitted, mileage of vehicle at time of replacement and the reason for tyre replacement are all captured by Kwik Fit on behalf of customers.

The new web-based system will continue to provide all that information. However, the new system will allow Kwik-Fit Fleet to communicate directly with its 670 centres and the network of centres that manage the company’s 200-strong mobile tyre fitting vehicle fleet.

Additionally, and crucially, customers, such as Britain’s biggest contract hire and leasing companies, can build their own tyre fitting rules into the programme, which can also accommodate specific rules applicable to individual end-user fleets.

Chris Higgins, Kwik-Fit Fleet’s finance director, who has masterminded the introduction of the new technology, said: “The previous system was very much an information recording and record keeping database. A controller supplied the ‘intelligence’ behind the authorisation decision by reference to offline data.

“We now have built-in intelligence in the new system, which is based on individual rule sets as laid down first by our customers and secondly by their own clients. This allows extremely detailed data to be obtained at the press of a button on every single aspect of tyre replacement.

“The information now available will provide even greater operating cost control for fleet operators, who will also benefit from a better service. Importantly, tyre care is a critical aspect of managing occupational road risk and the data now available to fleet chiefs will enable them to further improve their targeting of safe driving solutions.

“The previous system was limited in its ability to report information and interrogate data and was operator controlled. Those limitations have been swept aside and the new system provides significantly increased report flexibility according to individual company, vehicle and driver requirements as dictated by individual rule sets.”

Kwik-Fit Fleet will continue to use the online 1link Service Network from epyx, which has created an electronic link between providers of service and maintenance facilities, and large fleet customers.

It is used across the company’s centre network for work authorisation and billing purposes and to book company cars and vans into dealers for service, repair and maintenance.