SMR Costs
The ultimate management system for cost-effectively and time-efficiently managing SMR transactions and relationships is an e-commerce platform like 1link Service Network.
Such a system allows decision-makers to take control of the whole process of buying SMR for the fleet, consolidate the data and provide them with the means to look at whichever KPIs they choose through reports.
With links to 16,000 franchised and independent garages and fast-fits the whole process is fully automated with direct links to suppliers.
Ken Trinder, head of business development at Epyx the company behind 1link, said: “Over a period of time, fleet managers will learn which franchised dealers, independent garages and fast-fits are giving the best balance of cost, service and administrative efficiency. Also, they will begin
to learn ways in which they can concentrate their spending power.
“KPIs on the system relate to all kinds of areas of cost, but others relating to service are important too. For example, drivers can rate the service they receive from garages on the platform using a built-in CSI tool. As a result, instead of SMR buying being relatively haphazard, fleet managers can base their managerial decisions on facts.”
However, the system is designed for use by fleets with multi SMR transactions – perhaps at least 300 vehicles. For smaller fleets a more traditional software system enables managers to drill down into information to highlight areas for improved cost management.
Jason Francis, managing director of online fleet software management provider Jaama, says: “Fleet managers using our Key2 Vehicle Management system can graphically view exactly where vehicle costs move from a normal curve up to a spike via ‘red’ and ‘green’ graphics and then identify the optimum age of a vehicle when it should be defleeted.
“The system does not only store data, but actively manages, monitors and analyses, with automated tolerance checks and notifications being carried out. This helps, for example, to easily identify when SMR costs will outweigh depreciation therefore signalling the optimum replacement time.
Software systems enable fleets to track individual vehicle maintenance costs against budgets so they can see how they add up over the lifecycle of the vehicle. Future spending patterns can then be identified.
However, businesses that use a fleet management company should be able to benefit from benchmarking data from their supplier.
Freddie Watts, fleet and transport contracts manager at Office Depot, a leading global supplier of office products and solutions, uses Fleet Support Group. Office Depot has seen the average maintenance cost per company car over a seven year period reduce by £15 per vehicle. Taking inflation into account, that equates to savings last year of £47,640 across the 397-vehicle fleet.
Watts says: “We always strive to keep a cap on maintenance costs where we can. We encourage FSG to challenge the spend on our vehicles and feedback information on any unnecessary costs, particularly those which are due to driver negligence.
“It isn’t always necessary to spend huge amounts of time delving into reams of data. The fact that FSG delivers to me a monthly ‘flash’ report that identifies maintenance costs on a pence per mile basis against the average age and mileage of the fleet gives me a very convenient and effective snapshot view of where we stand.”
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