According to many industry experts, the fleet manager is in danger of becoming extinct. The role is rapidly disappearing because many companies are merging it into another department, commonly procurement, HR or finance.

HR directors, finance directors and procurement directors are being tasked with juggling the twin responsibilities of their core job function with managing the fleet.

David Bamber, group fleet manager at Ansa Group and Independent Inspections Ltd, believes this is a mistake, one that is potentially costing companies a lot of money.

He’s talking from experience, having seen both sides. He spent 10 years as fleet manager of Independent Inspections Ltd, overseeing just over 100 vehicles. The dedicated role was latterly split with managing another division of the company.

Since a recent management buy out, bringing together the two fleets, Bamber has returned to a pure fleet manager’s role overseeing 250 company vehicles, 60% of which are vans.

The enlarged fleet operation has been set up as a service provider to the two divisions and is answerable to the heads of those businesses. Bamber describes it as being like a third party supplier and he believes that makes the operation more pro-active.

The merger initially threw up a number of challenges. The two fleets ran entirely different policies, with different vehicles and service providers – and different levels of proficiency. Bamber’s first challenge was to set up a group policy; his second was to communicate that to his drivers.

When Fleet News meets him at the company’s head offices near Preston at the end of March, Bamber had just completed a three-week/seven-date nationwide tour, holding meetings to talk to his business drivers about the new fleet policies.

Each received a copy of the new driver handbook, written with guidance from software supplier Jaama, and they heard about the changes to policy on management of the fleet and management of risk.

Then the theme switched to look at the affect the drivers have on the business and the wider reaching implications on, for example, safety.

They were shown the ‘Too Busy to Kill’ DVD issued by safety organisation Brake. “It changed quite a few attitudes,” Bamber says.

“The biggest issue we faced in the early stage of the merger was the number of people involved,” he adds. “We had to get a handle on each business, see how they were working and take them under a single umbrella straight away.”

Bamber is keen to stress it was a team effort: Rebecca Bolton is his group fleet co-ordinator, and he works closely with and reports to Suzanne Armstrong, head of group procurement.

“It was important to get across to the drivers what their responsibilities are. They didn’t know what the procedures were for certain situations,” Bamber says.

“Our insurance bill was rising so we showed them the stats – if the driver doesn’t know they are doing something wrong, they won’t know what to do about it.”

It took Bamber eight months to shape the enlarged fleet. During that time he set up a new policy aimed at reducing the number of accidents (see below). The biggest challenge was to overhaul the fleet’s relationships with suppliers.

He confesses the move has ruffled a few feathers. At the Fleet News Forum in February a number of suppliers were alarmed at how he had managed to reduce costs (and, therefore, their profits) by taking greater control and de-bundling services.

Bamber’s background in the motor trade, including 15 years in dealership sales, put him at an advantage during the tender process. Together with Suzanne Armstrong, they broke down each cost centre facing the fleet operation.

“Take vehicle supply,” he says. “If you go with one company and they supply the vehicle, the maintenance, set the residual values and run the contract, that company has an opportunity to have a number of profit centres. We said ‘why don’t we take some of that profit back for ourselves’.”

In de-bundling the service, Bamber signed up with Alphabet for vehicle supply but not maintenance.

“If we control the servicing ourselves we can do it cheaper,” he says. “We could’ve managed all of our vehicles in-house or used another partner – we decided to use a partner.”

Bamber agreed terms with Plan GB. Instead of paying a fixed monthly maintenance charge – “effectively paying up front for maintenance which gives the supplier a bigger profit margin” – he now pays on invoice.

He also introduced other suppliers, such as hire company and windscreen company, to Plan GB to ensure he was getting the cheapest service. And he has extended the scheme to include employees’ families for MoT and servicing.

“We negotiated our terms to be more competitive than the package from an inclusive contract hire programme with maintenance,” Bamber says.

All vehicles have now moved across to Plan GB, which Bamber describes as his “major business partner”. He predicts it will save the company on servicing and maintenance costs, while also improving cashflow.

Bamber also negotiated to have licence checks and assessment as part of the vehicle supply deal with Alphabet. And he ensured that the fleet operation had a say in vehicle disposal.

“We have experience within the team on vehicle sales so we wanted to be pro-active at termination to get the maximum amount of money for our vehicles. We don’t just drop off our vehicles at auction,” Bamber says.

Around 70 vehicles are now on the Alphabet scheme; the rest will follow over the next three years or so. At that point, the total cost of running the fleet will have fallen significantly.

“We are in extraordinary times and we have to manage our fleet as efficiently as possible,” says Bamber. “As the service provider to the group, we have to provide the best value service possible for our business.

He adds: “All of this has been made possible by the focus and time I am now able to spend on the fleet - the greater the time and focus, the greater the savings and the more the efficiency can be improved.”

David Bamber has introduced a three-stage driver penalty programme for accidents in an attempt to reduce the number of crashes.

Stage one: If a driver has an at-fault accident, they are fined £100. “It acts as a deterrent,” says Bamber. “Part of that money will be reinvested back into developing our fleet programmes.”

Stage two: If the driver has a second at-fault accident within 12 months they are sent on a driver training course at their own expense.

Stage three: If they have a third at-fault accident within 12 months it leads to an investigatory hearing which may lead to disciplinary action.

But it’s not all stick; there is a carrot as well. Bamber plans to introduce a quarterly incentive for his best drivers based on accidents, parking tickets, speeding fines (drivers must inform Bamber about any endorsements within three working days, even if they are driving their spouse’s cars) and fuel usage. The driver with the best record will be rewarded.

“We spend £3.5 million per year on fuel so we will include that in the incentives scheme,” says Bamber. “We want drivers to buy the cheapest possible fuel so we will check the prices they pay.”

He is in talks with possible sponsors to setup a driver of the year award based on year-on-year improvements and an online assessment. He intends to have five finalists who will go on a driver day, including track and off-road driving, to award the 1-2-3. They will receive a financial prize.

The fleet operation has set a new scaling policy for each position in the business up to director level. It means specific models at each level.

With the 250-vehicle fleet predominantly Ford, Bamber is pushing the lower CO2-emitting Econetic range to drivers, basing his sales pitch on the monthly savings that drivers can make. Take up is around 80%.

“We took out the basic spec level and we reduced the number of models we offered,” Bamber says. “Strength of management can streamline and save both the business and the driver money from a financial point of view.”

He believes it is easier to manage the fleet on a solus deal and the discounts are higher.

“Ford has the range and the back up as a vehicle provider and service provider.”

Company details

Name: Post management buyout the two businesses continue to trade under their existing names.
Operating names: Independent Inspections Ltd & Ansa Group Ltd
Group fleet manager: David Bamber
Size of fleet: 250 vehicles (60% vans)
Size of grey fleet: 3