Fleet Business
Paul S. Winson Coaches has chosen to meet the challenges of inner city school runs, private hire contracts and long-distance touring with Michelin products that it believes will help deliver increased tyre mileage. The Loughborough-based company says that with XZE 2+ tyres one of its luxury 53-seater VDL Bova Futuras is seeing increased tyre life while maintaining high levels of safety and ride quality performance.
The EU has agreed that all new tyres sold in Europe from November 1, 2012 onwards must be classified and labelled according to their fuel efficiency, wet grip and noise performance. Kwik-Fit Fleet comments that this regulation is intended to make fleet operators, company car and van drivers and private drivers aware of the individual performance characteristics of every single new tyre on sale – and the fast-fitter admonishes fleet managers not to skimp on safety or cost when the labelling initiative gets underway.
Bridgestone UK Ltd has signed a three-year PPK contract to supply Bridgestone tyres on Shearings Group’s 300-strong coach fleet. Under the arrangement, Bridgestone UK will supply replacement coach tyres and service support to the Shearings fleet.
Infleet recently moved its call centre to RAC House adjacent to the M6 Motorway in Walsall, West Midlands. The centre houses vehicle support technology and the company says the move will enhance the roadside tyre breakdown support that Infleet supplies to its fleet customers. Infleet Commercial Director Chris Comport said: “RAC have managed our call referral facility very successfully over the last five years at another location, but when they offered us a move to RAC House in Walsall we had no hesitation in accepting…Short but efficient call centre desk time is crucial in dispatching one of our 700 service providers to a vehicle in distress within a speedy process.”
All Terrain Tours, an off-road tour company (as the name suggests) has chosen Cooper’s Discoverer STT tyres for use in the Northern English countryside. Started earlier this year by Tony Newton and Mark Langley, All Terrain Tours allows owners of off-road vehicles to use them away from asphalt roads on legally accessible “green lanes”, with prices starting at around £45. Langley’s Land Rover Defender and Newton’s Land Rover Discovery will have the Cooper tyres fitted as they lead tours across some of England’s most remote and beautiful countryside. The company promotes safe and responsible use of four-wheel drive vehicles in the countryside, with routes available for most 4x4s.
In defiance of recession trends, Kwik-Fit Fleet has reported record sales, a phenomenon it attributes to an increased use of its range of services, notably mechanical work, by ‘value-for-money focused’ companies. The fast-fit firm also has benefited from companies lengthening fleet replacement cycles since the onset of the recession, which has led to increasing demand for a variety of replacement parts, including tyres. As a result, Kwik-Fit Fleet reported a 10.4 per cent rise in sales in 2009 – up to £203.6 million from the £184.4 million recorded in 2008 – due to MoTs on company cars and vans increasing 89.7 per cent year-on-year and fleet vehicle servicing rising 54.2 per cent.
Following VOSA’s decision to publish MOT test failure data last week, the BBC is reporting details of a similar report from German motor testing authority TUV. While VOSA was pushed into publishing the failure information for the first time on the 11 January 2010 after a Freedom of Information (FoI) request made by the BBC, over in Deutschland the TUV data is said to have become so popular that the authorities are considering translating it into English.
Bridgestone UK has secured a tyre supply agreement with C&H Hauliers, part of the Charles Gee Group. C&H Hauliers will fit Firestone steer products to its fleet of more than 100 trucks, and the Bridgestone Qualitread retread on the drive axle and across the 250 trailers. The fleet will be serviced through the Truck Point network.
Greg Ward, commercial sales director, Bridgestone UK said: “We are delighted to have won the C&H Hauliers tyre contract. We have supplied Firestone tyres to this account indirectly through some of our Truck Point partners (Universal Tyres & Trinity Tyres) for many years, but the recent rapid expansion of the fleet puts the contract firmly within our “MegaFleet” environment. Universal Tyres & Trinity Tyres will continue to be a key service agent through the Bridgestone system.”
ATS Euromaster has taken delivery of 44 new 3.5 tonne Mercedes-Benz Sprinters, after investing £1.7 million in increasing the size of its car fitting by roughly 25 per cent. According to the company, the new vehicles will be used to support “the increased demand for mobile fitments which has been driven primarily by the FN50 [top 50 UK contract hire and leasing companies]”, a sector in which ATS Euromaster has reportedly increased its share from 18 to 28 per cent over the last 18 months.
A mix of fleet additions and replacements, the new long wheelbase Sprinters see the dedicated ‘car’ fleet grow to 128 units, supported by a further 200 dual-purpose mobiles which are equipped to fit both car and commercial vehicle tyres.
Mike Wise believes the tough times of 2009 has given companies a ‘work out’ that will enable them to be stronger and fitter in 2010. Talking about the coming year, the Kwik-Fit Fleet head comments “companies are leaner and meaner as 2010 dawns, having already cut operating costs, and that means the industry is in good shape to face up to the challenges of the New Year. Despite the impact of the January 1 implementation of the VAT rise back to 17.5 per cent, we do not expect to see the significant increase in tyre prices that we witnessed towards the end of 2008 and the early months of 2009 as the recession took hold.
In mid-2006, Northern Ireland based Mulgrew Haulage switched its fleet of tractor units and trailers over to Michelin tyre supply under the ‘Four Lives’ tyre policy, replacing the procurement arrangement it had with Pirelli. Supply of the company’s fleet of 130 Scania, DAF and Volvo tractor units and 300 trailers has in this time been supported by local MBA tyre distributor A1 Tyres, and through this arrangement Mulgrew Haulage has become the first operator in Ireland to utilise Michelin’s X One MaxiTrailer tyres. The firm reports positive experiences with the Michelin tyre.
The November 2009 issue includes our popular annual motorsport review, a fleet business report and a special lifting equipment feature. Subscribers can read online by clicking more.
Following on from its successful activities in France, Italy, Poland and the Czech Republic, which began in summer 2009, Euromaster is rolling out plans to expand in the German market through the introduction of a franchise system – and the company reports that numerous tyre dealers have already shown interest in working together with the tyre and wheel service provider.
In the New Year Kwik-Fit Fleet is expanding its range of services with launch of its Vehicle Health Checks – a service it says will help companies comply with duty of care legislation. Specifically, Kwik-Fit Fleet says the checks are being launched to meet fleet customer demand to help them with their occupational road risk management compliance obligations under health and safety legislation. The company is already operating a pilot scheme with two fleet customers ahead of the planned January 2010 roll out of the service for both outright purchase fleets and contract hire and leasing companies.
Bridgestone recently completed its 2009 series of Truck Point Roadshows, presenting to 240 people at five venues across the UK. The roadshows are a vehicle for Bridgestone to communicate with its network of servicing dealers and present the latest news regarding fleets, products and business growth. The main messages from these roadshows were the growth of the business, and how to improve further on the service to their fleet customers, through IT tools and tyre husbandry.
In the last four years Bridgestone’s UK truck tyre fleet business has evolved from an influential player into a market leader. This includes major fleet gains such as SITA waste, ARR Craib, TRL, Rotala and Shearings in 2009 alone. When you consider that fleet sales through from Bridgestone’s Truck Point network of independent dealers have tripled in the same period, it is clear that Truck Point has and will play a key part in the company’s future development. If the title of this year’s Truck Point roadshow (Into the Next Decade) is anything to go by, Bridgestone is banking on the continued and long-term prosperity of this key distribution channel. To this end Bridgestone also gave details of how the Bandag integration is progressing and news of a new product launch scheduled for 2010.
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