MECHANICAL, plumbing and electrical service contractor DPP has announced a major overhaul of its fleet operation following an in-depth review.

DPP operates a fleet of more than 50 vehicles, mainly vans, which are vital for serving local and national customers.

The Southampton-based firm reassessed its fleet needs based on its demand for reliable vehicles and getting employees to appointments so they don't let customers down.

As a result, the company has awarded a contract for the provision of its fleet to Southampton-based UK Vehicle Rental.

To meet the flexible demands of the fleet, DPP has acquired its fleet of 50 commercial vehicles from UK Vehicle Rental using its fleet solution Norflex.

Norflex is contract-free so customers can add, change or reduce their fleet at any time without penalty.

Dean Price, managing director for DPP, said: 'Reliable vehicles with a great back-up service are essential for us. We need to ensure our drivers are in the right place at the right time so that we don't let our customers down.

'UK Vehicle Rental was able to provide us with a fleet solution that would make our business more flexible and enable us to always service our customers be it locally or nationally.'

Previously DPP acquired its fleet through various leasing schemes which were agreed for a fixed term of three years. However this did not provide the company with enough flexibility.

Price said: 'We found we had to predict our long-term fleet needs and once we had agreed the lease we were tied to it. From time to time we have a need for extra vehicles to ensure we can meet our customer demands. This is how our relationship with UK Vehicle Rental initially began.

'Whenever we were extremely busy and needed extra vehicles to top up our leased fleet we would get them from UK Vehicle Rental. Now we can add, reduce or change our fleet at any time, without incurring any penalties.

We are also covered for replacement vehicles which our previous method of vehicle acquisition did not provide.'

UK Vehicle Rental has supplied 50 Vauxhall Vivaro vans to DPP, with a livery reflecting the company's own colour scheme.