When Steve Haigh was appointed group transport manager at Rhodar three years ago all of the vehicles were on contract hire with maintenance agreements.

He switched the commercial vehicle fleet to pay-as-you-go maintenance while company cars remained on a ‘with maintenance’ contract, excluding tyres.

Haigh removed tyres from the contract as he wanted to choose which brand of tyre was fitted.

“We’ve moved to Michelin through the ATS network so instead of buying tyres twice a year we are only buying them once a year because the Michelin tyre lasts longer,” Haigh says.

“Initially we had quite a lot of tyres to buy but now we’re seeing savings.

“We’ve removed that cost out of the lease every month.”

Haigh also feels that using Michelin tyres is in keeping with Rhodar’s green credentials.

“I like the fact Michelin operates an open book policy, you can see what happens to the old casings,” he says.