Accident management companies have recently acknowledged the squeeze placed on their fleet customers.

There seem to be a number of issues that are hurting fleets with soaring petrol prices, rising insurance excesses and general spending cuts leading to companies clamping down on non-essential driving.

The result has been a significant reduction in the number of claims made, particularly on minor damage, as fleet managers save money by opting not to have vehicles repaired.

This is bad news for a wide variety of reasons, not least for the image of the companies whose representatives are presumably turning up to meetings with scuffed and scraped cars and tatty alloys.

At the same time I’m hearing regularly from fleet managers that they are being hit by punitive and at times unjustified end of contract penalty costs – so something’s got to give here.

Maximising efficiencies shouldn’t be focused on cut-backs.

Instead, it’s time for fleet managers to recognise the important role smart repair can play.

It’s all about reducing downtime – the aim should be to get the vehicle and its driver back on the road in the fastest, most cost-efficient way possible and with SMART repairs we are talking hours, not days.

Those of us in the industry committed to delivering a top quality service have worked hard over the past few years to drive up standards within smart repair to get rid of the historical ‘cheap as chips’ reputation built up by poor repairers.

In partnership with manufacturers, the IMI and now the latest PAS 125 review, a set of standards and competencies for smart repair has been drawn up and is currently being approved which means that paint technicians will have to achieve a required standard of proficiency in smart repair.

Revive!’s accreditation program is designed to show that professional repairers can take pride in their place as part of the repair management program, assisting fleets with a speedy repair and a significant reduction in vehicle repair costs – at a time when fleets most need it.