By Ross Williams
Alpha Contracts Leasing Ltd
OR, in industry jargon – a guide to minimising LCV downtime.
Did you know that the average number unplanned days off the road, known as Vehicle off Road (VOR), in van fleets is six days per van per annum? According to the Freight Transport Association this costs a business £727 per day per van, or £4,362 per annum. Then add in your planned VOR days for servicing and the days could add up to 10 per annum. The amount of money represents all the costs associated including the value of lost business.
Whether VOR days are caused by mechanical problems, incident damage or servicing, they all have an effect on productivity and fleet costs. So how can you minimise this effect on your business?
Perhaps you could start with your vehicle supplier, be that your leasing company or franchise dealer. Engaging them in the choice of vehicle to ensure it is matched to the task in hand seems an obvious statement, however choosing a vehicle that isn’t up to the job in terms of size, payload or power, will put a strain on the vehicle, leading in turn to more downtime. So the message is ‘Talk to us’. We have many contacts at our leasing partners, many of whom have a dedicated LCV team to provide this advice.
You could also easily avoid some downtime by specifying that your vehicles have a spare tyre. This applies to the car fleet as well as the commercial. Many manufacturers are improving the theoretical performance of vehicles by reducing the vehicle weight to increase fuel returns and reduce CO2 levels. One of the ways they do this is to replace the spare tyre with a re-inflation device. This is fine until you have a puncture and the vehicle is effectively off the road as the devices supplied have variable levels of effectiveness.
If you would like a free guide from our leasing partner Alphabet (surprisingly!) called A Guide to Minimising LCV Downtime then just give our office a call.
Last month I talked about the avalanche of hybrid vehicles hitting the market and the latest offering in the green car sector comes from Land Rover. They have launched a Range Rover Sport P400e which has a total power output of 398bhp, goes from 0-62mph in 6.7 seconds and has 101 mpg on the official NEDC combined cycle. Starting at an eye-watering £70,800 I will let you make your own mind up about the environmental benefit it brings to the marketplace.
If you are looking for advice on choosing your next LCV then speak to the Commercial Vehicle Sales team at Alpha Contracts. Call us on 01604 756620.
Safe motoring