Kwik-Fit Expands Servicing and MOT into Corporate Sector

Kwik-Fit Fleet has announced plans to expand its servicing and MOT operations into the company car and van markets. According to the company, the decision was made in response to “booming demand for the services.” Currently 452 centres offer fleet servicing and MoTs, however this number will increase to 500 in the next few months. The extra 48 centres are likely to complete Kwik-Fit’s roll out to its 650-branch strong network. Some of the new centres will be equipped with two MoT bays, thus further increasing centre capacity. In order to facilitate the move, Gary Ralph, operations manager, London and the South East, has been seconded to Kwik-Fit Fleet from Kwik-Fit GB to lead a major project to accelerate the growth of fleet servicing and MoTs.

In the first six months of 2009, Kwik-Fit Fleet has seen business demand for MoTs increase 90.1 per cent compared with the first half of last year and fleet servicing demand rise 51.2 per cent over the same period. Head of Kwik-Fit Fleet Mike Wise said: “We are investing in vehicle servicing and MoT facilities at more of our centres due to corporate demand. Demand for company car and van MoTs is being driven particularly by the recession because businesses are keeping their vehicles longer.

“The recession is also contributing to rising vehicle servicing demand. This is due to both the extension of fleet replacement cycles, but also due to the competitiveness of our servicing costs in comparison with franchise dealers and the extended opening hours culture that we have which aids driver convenience.”

The secondment of Mr Ralph, who has been employed by Kwik-Fit for 12 years and has a 22-year tyre industry career behind him, is aimed at helping to deliver bespoke vehicle servicing and MoTs to fleet customers. Mike Wise explained: “Gary will help Kwik-Fit Fleet’s sales force grow the mechanical side of our business further because of his operational experience at running our centres in London and the South East. Time is money and for that reason fleets want a fast and efficient service that is convenient for their company car and van drivers…Gary will be the conduit between our fleet sales team and the designated servicing and MoT centres to marry fleet customer demands with centre capability.”

Gary Ralph, who joins Kwik-Fit Fleet as business development manager service maintenance and repair and MoT said: “It is a challenging role, but a great opportunity to further develop our servicing and MoT product offering for the fleet sector and engage with corporate customers and prospects.”

The addition of a further 50 centres with vehicle servicing and MoT capability is likely to complete Kwik-Fit’s roll-out of the services to its 650-strong network.

All servicing and MoT centres are equipped with computer software that enables technicians to download each vehicle manufacturer’s exact service schedule on a model-by-model basis. The cost of each service is individually calculated by adding together ICME service time, hourly labour rates and spare part prices. Kwik-Fit Fleet estimates that the typical average cost is up to 20 per cent less than at a franchise dealer. However, for some vehicles servicing costs can be up to 34 per cent cheaper than at a franchise dealer.

Lex, at the time Britain’s largest contract hire and leasing company, was the first major company to sign-up to Kwik-Fit Fleet’s servicing initiative. Since then, as new contracts are won, more fleets are said to be signing up for mechanical work to be undertaken by Kwik-Fit Fleet – most recently Lombard Vehicle Management, which operates a fleet of almost 110,000 vehicles.