PCH vehicles in corporate circles could be neglected due to a lack of inclusive maintenance packages, warns epyx.

It is predicted that PCH will grow through affinity schemes with employers and drivers opting out of company car schemes, but only 20% of cars on PCH are leased with maintenance packages.

“This creates a whole series of issues. For the leasing company, this means they don’t know whether a vehicle is being regularly serviced to manufacturer standards, which will inevitably affect values when it comes to remarketing. It makes them uncomfortable.

“Also, for the employer whose employee is using the vehicle on business, it is much less easy to find out whether the car is being maintained to standards in line with their duty of care obligations. Again, this is something that creates a great deal of angst,” said Tim Meadows, commercial director at epyx.

Epyx had been involved in the development of a number of new maintenance packages through its 1link Service Network platform that are designed to close this gap.

“Some leasing companies have developed what you might call ‘just add fuel’ packages that include maintenance and are priced to appeal to PCH customers. These should help to drive penetration.

“Also, there are likely to be further developments in service plan-style products, with solutions aimed directly at the PCH sector, and we have also been involved with discussions in this area.

“However, we also believe there will be further product innovation when it comes to service and maintenance over the next few years. It is in no-one’s interest to have PCH vehicles being used on fleet business where the service record is haphazard or cannot be tracked,” added Meadows.

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