TCH Leasing says it has been able to streamline its vehicle delivery and collection routine since switching to MoDel, Ebbon-Dacs’ electronic vehicle delivery and collection solution.

The Sheffield-based business, which supplies and manages a fleet of around 8,000 vehicles on behalf of corporate customers and is part of the TCH Group, delivers around 2,500 new cars and vans a year to fleet customers around the country.

Since switching to Ebbon-Dacs’ MoDel solution, which last year had a record year handling over 280,000 vehicle movements, TCH Leasing has seen a number of efficiencies and improvements.

The company delivers multi-marque vehicles through a network of some 40-50 preferred suppliers around the UK to provide national coverage to fleet customers.

Problems have arisen in the past through delays and inaccuracies in delivery notes and vehicle condition reports which, without satisfactory evidence, were time-consuming and problematic to resolve. But since switching to MoDel, the company has seen improvements in accuracy, with irrefutable evidence of vehicle condition at the time of delivery for the new vehicle and of any vehicle being returned, thanks to the ability of MoDel to take readily downloadable photographs of all vehicles being delivered and collected.

TCH Leasing has a policy of only charging for vehicle damage where it is necessary and in line with the BVRLA Fair Wear and Tear policy.  Using MoDel, it says, helps in determining any end-of-contract damage charges with customers are fair and reasonable as the vehicle condition is captured clearly in photographic form, so that disputes over vehicle condition have been dramatically reduced.

TCH Leasing employs MoDel-VM, the standalone version of MoDel, which was originally designed to allow companies which were not users of Ebbon-Dacs’ Leaselink e-procurement platform to automatically capture and upload all electronic vehicle delivery and collection information directly into their back office.

Jane Ibbotson, business processing manager at TCH Leasing, said there had been several benefits from introducing the MoDel-VM system. “The problem of missing paperwork has disappeared and we can now pay our preferred suppliers faster as we can download the information we need directly from the system rather than waiting for delivery notes to reach us,” she said.

“Our disposals department now has clear photographic evidence of the condition of vehicles coming back to us which helps them. And if we do get a call from a driver saying they have just noticed some damage on the vehicle several days after it was delivered, we can refer to that part of the photograph to confirm that there was no damage at the time of delivery.

“It is a much more modern, fully automated and efficient delivery and collection system and the results come straight into our back office, backed up by great support from Ebbon-Dacs and very detailed management information reports.”

Michael Terry, head of commercial for MoDel at Ebbon-Dacs, said: “We are delighted by the improvement in vehicle delivery and collection efficiencies that TCH Leasing has witnessed since switching to MoDel-VM.”