Jas Dhanda took up his first fleet position 15 years ago at ATS Euromaster.

He joined the company as a procurement assistant, his area of expertise, in a department that had responsibility for the fleet.

As he puts it, “I fell into fleet”, initially as support to the incumbent fleet manager and eventually taking over the position.

After nine years he was offered a position at newly-formed Logical Vehicle Management as a key account manager.

The role covered every aspect of fleet management, from preparing tenders and negotiating rates with funders to managing maintenance and rental providers and implementing new systems and processes.

"It was learning on the job but there were lots of opportunities to undertake training and coaching courses to help me develop my skills at a quick pace,” Dhanda says.

He was there for two years “and covered a lot of ground” when the job at Interserve became available after the retirement of the company’s 30-year serving fleet manager.

“I brought a different view and a network of suppliers and support,” he says. “I felt I could use that experience to make a difference here.”

 

Although Interserve’s fleet is leased on a ‘with maintenance’ contract, the company carries out much of its service, maintenance and repair at one of its three workshops.

It’s an unusual approach, but it works for Interserve which runs its workshops as profit centres.

They are also accredited to carry out work for other leasing companies and some accident management firms as well.

“We put around 20-30% of our own work through our workshops but we are looking to increase this proportion,” says Jas Dhanda. “Around 80-90% of the work we carry out is actually external.”

The workshops also do all the end-of-lease assessments, plus any rectification work, for the Interserve fleet.

Dhanda has made the leasing contract “as skinny as possible”, making efficiencies by removing windscreens from the with maintenance agreement. He may look to take out tyres next year, applying the knowledge learned at Logical.

“Setting up a direct deal with a windscreen supplier can save thousands of pounds,” he says. “A windscreen through a leasing company might cost £300-400 but we pay £150 for it. It’s similar for tyres – we could save £100-150 on a set.”

He adds: “Everything is managed by the same supplier as well because the leasing company would sub-contract it out.”