Fleet Business
Bridgestone has renewed its contract with Ireland-based company Cork Rent-A-Van, which specialises in rental leasing and contract hire. The newly signed deal will build upon a long-running, six-year relationship. It will involve Bridgestone supplying a range of new and retread tyres over the next 12 months to cater for Cork Rent-A-Van’s fleet of 300 vans and trucks.
Tructyre Fleet Management has introduced Cam Systems’ panintelligence fleet tyre management system following the completion of a two-month pilot. Using the new system the truck tyre service specialist introduced a dynamic, live data feed aligned to the organisation’s KPIs into its head office, improving functionality and visibility while saving administration time.
The Al Dobowi Group’s Eskay Tyres distributes the Westlake brand in several European markets, including the UK, and the company used the occasion of Brityrex to endorse personally the recently sealed distribution agreement with Vacu-Lug, the Lincolnshire-based retread tyre manufacturer. Surender Singh Kandhari, chairman of Al Dobowi Group and Tim Hercock, managing director of Vacu-Lug, met with their respective teams over lunch during the show. The deal is intended to expand the sales of the Westlake truck tyre brand throughout UK and Ireland (see Fleet Business for more details). At the show itself, Eskay staff introduced the latest Westlake passenger car fitments for the H and V rated RP26 and the high performance SA07.
In the past government-backed public sector contracts were seen as the safest business commitments around. With the economic environment being what it is, it is easy to see the attraction of securing business that you know will be paid for. However, with the finances of various European governments looking less stable than they have been for a long time, and with ministries such as the Department for Transport suffering from poor handling of rail bids such as the West Coast franchise, these types of contracts may not be the stereotypical cash cows they were once depicted as. And when you add in the fact that government contracts now have to manage the added administrative burden of labelling (which is effective from 1 November 2012), they certainly aren’t a walk in the park.
The news that a charge will be introduced was also well received by the Road Haulage Association, who said that the planned introduction by spring 2014 is especially welcome. This is a year earlier than set out in the consultation document and reflects strong lobbying by the RHA.
The Freight Transport Association has welcomed the publication of a Parliamentary Bill that will introduce a charge for foreign-registered vehicles using UK roads. Under the HGV Road User Levy Bill all heavy goods vehicles of 12 tonnes and over will be required to pay a levy before being able to travel on UK roads. For UK operators the Bill confirms that this cost will be rebated through an equivalent reduction in Vehicle Excise Duty (VED). Operators of foreign registered vehicles will be required to pay the levy at a daily, weekly, monthly or annual rate, depending upon how long they intend their vehicles to remain in the country.
The safety benefits of fitting winter or cold weather tyres are still not fully appreciated by many fleet operators in the UK. And the relatively mild winter in the UK last year may well have lulled fleet managers into postponing a decision to fit winter tyres to their van or car fleets. That’s according to Delticom, Europe’s leading online tyre retailer, which is also a specialist in the supply and fitment of winter tyres. Operating in the UK fleet market as fleettyres24.co.uk, the company is drawing on its considerable experience of winter tyre sales throughout Germany and elsewhere in Europe where these tyres are compulsory and necessary over the winter period.
Hexagon Leasing, the Derbyshire-based rental and contract vehicle management company, has opted to use Bandvulc and Bandvulc Tyre Contracts (BTC) for the management of its tyres across the UK. The tyre policy sees Bandvulc approved first life tyres for steer axles fitted and BTC’s network of tyre partners delivering the service.
Financially, filling your petrol tank can be a sobering experience, but, according to figures from Halfords Autocentres, for 300,000 UK drivers a year, the cost can be astronomical. The reason? A misfuelling mishap, which can cost anything from £500 to £3,000 to rectify, once costs such as garage call-outs, refilling the tank and additional transport costs are factored in. Even worse news for the motorist, says Halfords, is that only half of the misfuelling motorists are able to claim the costs back on their insurance.
With the EU tyre labelling laws effect up on us, the new legislation marks one of the biggest changes to legislation affecting fleet tyre sales in recent years and will impact upon the whole tyre industry.
ATS Euromaster will supply a full range of car, van, 4×4, truck and agricultural tyres, from premium to budget fitments, to every public sector organisation across the UK for the next four years, following the completion of a comprehensive tender process. The multi-brand supply deal will include the nation’s fire engines, ambulances, prison vehicles and local authorities. To enable this, ATS-E was awarded supplier status to public sector organisations across the UK on the Government Procurement Service framework agreement RM955.
Goodyear Dunlop has won four new lots in the Government Procurement Service RM955 supply and fit of tyres framework agreement. The first of these lots is for the sole supply and fitment of Goodyear and Dunlop tyres to UK Police Forces, while the others deal with wider public sector interests. The contracts will cover cars, trucks and motorcycles.
Merseyside’s Ellisons Travel specialises on providing chauffeured travel to some of the top names in professional sport, supplying Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea as well as the England Rugby Union team. Following a recent test, the company says that it will switch its luxury car fleet to Michelin tyres, having experienced improved performance and up to 30 per cent extra mileage. Ellisons’ fleet of 42 Mercedes S and E class cars will be put onto the policy first, with the company’s policy on a further three Mercedes Sprinters and 23 luxury coaches under review.
East Yorkshire-based haulier HB Holt & Sons has appointed ATS Euromaster tyre and tyre service provider for its fleet of 50 trucks and 74 trailers. The agreement will see Michelin group-manufactured Taurus tyres fitted, as wear dictates, backed up by 24/7 access to emergency roadside assistance.
Bridgestone UK’s contract with Aberdeen-based operator ARR Craib has been renewed for a further year. The newly agreed deal builds on the relationship that began in 2009 and will see Bridgestone supplying a combination of new and retreaded tyres over the next 12 months to ARR Craib’s fleet of 200 trucks and 500 trailers. The company will also continue to utilise the Bridgestone Mega-Fleet system.
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