Puddy Vehicle Solutions (PVS) has become the first new customer of Prestige Vehicle Servicing since it was bought by the AA earlier this year.

The Somerset-based company provides strategy, procurement and consulting services for the UK fleet sector.

The contract ensures PVS vehicles will enter the Prestige Service Maintenance and Repair (SMR) network.

Marcus Puddy, managing director of PVS, said: “We pride ourselves on bringing our industry knowledge and expertise to bear in securing the best solutions for our clients, improving fleet risk, increasing uptime and boosting operational usage to maximise efficiencies.

“Prestige and the AA were able to show us the benefits that having access to a dedicated SMR network would offer to our fleet, and we’re excited to work together on the roll-out.”

The AA and Prestige completed the deal in less than a month after viewing PVS' Melton Mowbray base.

The agreement signals the AA’s business-to-business (B2B) strategy, aiming to implement partnerships through data, with customer relationships being its primary focus.

Gary Franks, business services director, said: “This is a great example of the AA’s Business Services strategy in action, showing how the innovative introduction to a customer of a truly differentiated product can deliver real value and opportunity for everyone involved.

“We look forward to confirming further wins as we are able to share our insights and service offering with the much wider fleet and OE community.”

Prestige currently works with over 60% of the fleet sector. It offers SMR across a nationwide network of more than 400 garages via its automated software platform.

The AA continues its transition to technology-based preventative maintenance and SMART breakdown services.

These developments follow its success last year at the Fleet News Awards, in which it won the Fleet Supplier Award, which the company called a “huge honour”.

The AA also renewed its agreement with Ford for another three years, meaning the latter can offer its customers extensive roadside services.