A group of fleet, insurance and vehicle repair industry professionals have joined forces to launch a new incident management company, Horizon Vehicle Management, which they belive could 'shake up' the UK market.

The senior management team, led by managing director Mike Norwood with former fleet manager Paul Holmes as commercial director, Paul Goddard as network manager and Danny Flowers as business development manager, collectively have almost 100 years' industry experience, and plan to use this to deliver cost savings and reduced vehicle downtime for businesses.

Targeting fleets operating company cars, commercial and specialist vehicles and motorbikes with repairs undertaken through a nationwide network of independent and franchise garages, Horizon Vehicle Management offers claims management, uninsured loss recovery, repair management and risk management.

Using the strapline ‘doing the right thing’, the company intends to ensure that vehicles are back on the road as quickly as possible following an incident.

Holmes said: "We always take into account direct and in-direct costs. For example, by spending an extra £50 on a repair a fleet may get the vehicle back a day earlier, therefore saving replacement costs and lost opportunity costs. We are not about just the cost of repairing bent metal.”

The company, which is based in Stevenage and operates a 24/7 service, also offers fixed price labour rates and fixed parts prices, and has a cloud-based claims management system which delivers real-time repair reporting, management information and account management

Holmes added: “Horizon Vehicle Management offers fleets a great opportunity to save money on their incident repairs, reduce vehicle downtime and avoid unnecessary costs incurred as a result of an incident. We ensure that an appropriate high quality repair is undertaken for an appropriate price delivered by experienced and professional accident repair centres. We are 100% focused on ‘doing the right thing’ in the best interest of our fleet customers.”

Holmes will continue in his role as director of independent fleet consultancy FMF (Fleet Managers’ Friend).

Picture caption: Paul Holmes (right) with from left to right: Kieran Goddard (IT manager), Danny Flowers, Mike Norwood and Paul Goddard.