The number of fleet service and maintenance e-commerce transactions has risen by more than 20% so far in 2010 and is set to hit three million by the end of the year reports epyx.

Ken Trinder, head of business development at epyx said that there appeared to be two factors driving the increase in usage – a desire to continue to drive down costs and the ongoing trend by fleets to extend company lease contracts.

He explained: “With economic conditions continuing to be tough, fleets are continually looking for ways to drive down costs and using e-commerce to buy service and maintenance is an easy win. Through 1link Service Network, handling SMR has a lower cost, and is faster and easier for everyone in the supply chain.

“Also, the trend for company cars to be extended into their fourth or even fifth year of fleet life is continuing, if not at the same rate as during the height of the recession. This creates additional demand for fleet SMR through MoTs, major mechanical tasks such as cambelt changes and increased levels of ongoing maintenance.”

Trinder said that the difficult economic conditions had also seen fleets become much adept at their use of fleet e-commerce.