How To Become Get A Fleet Automotive Repair Contract

In the 2nd of a serial of articles sponsored by Chevron, reporter Jacob Stoller looks at how the growth of corporate fleets will touch on the business strategies of successful auto repair shops.

Past Jacob Stoller

Whether or not i believes some of the bolder headline-making predictions, alternatives to travel in private vehicles are a growing reality.

Ride sharing services such as Uber and Lyft are projected to abound, according to an Orbis Inquiry study, at 20% per twelvemonth until 2025.

And co-ordinate to a Market Watch study, car-sharing services which offer rentals on an hourly basis will come across similar growth.

Many individuals are also traveling less, thanks to the wide proliferation of rapid commitment services – a trend that is expected to explode as autonomous vehicles remove the driver, and associated costs, from the equation.

All this is expected to have a disruptive effect on the aftermarket. A McKinsey report titled "Ready for Inspection: The Automotive Aftermarket in 2030" paints a moving-picture show of a changing industry where the boilerplate client is, increasingly, not an individual consumer, only a fleet owner or managing director.

There's a growing professionalism
in fleet management, creating
an awareness that cut corners
on repairs and maintenance
and engaging in adversarial
relationships with service
providers are not
good business practices.

The study recommends repair shops launch new strategies to cope with the trend, including offering more differentiated services, shifting from meeting B2C needs to solving B2B needs, and creating a range of fleet service packages.

Many store owners will not welcome this advice. Some fleet owners accept a reputation for skimping on maintenance, squeezing shops on parts and labour, or overwhelming shops with paperwork and approvals procedures.

The outlook, however, is non all bad.

According to Ray Brisby, fleet managing director for the Calgary Fire Department and senior vice president at National Fleet Management Association (NAFA), there is a growing professionalism in armada management, creating an sensation that cutting corners on repairs and maintenance and engaging in adversarial relationships with service providers are not good business practices.

"Professional fleet managers admittedly see the big picture when it comes to the value of fleet maintenance," says Brisby. "In fact, as office of the fabric we at NAFA teach in the CAFM (Certified Automotive Fleet Managing director) program, we encourage the best do of Predictive Maintenance, whereby a fleet manager would analyze failure trends and replace parts or components proactively prior to failure, the idea being that although in that location will be slightly higher overall maintenance costs, the increase in vehicle reliability and uptime more than offsets the added expense."

Todd Sarson, owner of End Due north Go Automotive in Burlington, Ont., had a client who learned this the hard manner. Sarson had maintained his customer's 40-vehicle armada for years when management implemented a policy of requiring three estimates for every repair. "They were just going for the cheapest estimate," he says, "and non comparing apples to apples. Then I was extremely pleased to hear that afterwards ii years with this struggle, they finally turned things over to a armada direction company. Now it has made information technology so much easier for u.s.a. to exist speaking for somebody that speaks your linguistic communication for the most function, and you lot get approving right abroad."

"My tolerance for breakdowns
or rework is pretty low.
When trucks come up out of
a shop, whether information technology's
my shop or a vendor shop,
they have to be fixed to the
highest standard possible."

Unlike the consumers that many shops are used to, fleet managers are held answerable by their employers for aggregate numbers such equally long-term costs, service levels, and the productivity of the employees using the vehicles.

With that in mind, hither are five ways in which automobile shops can help them succeed:

1) Show them that y'all sympathise their concern needs.

Every company is different, and buyers requite preference to providers who recognize their unique requirements.

"We demand to have that comfort level that they're going to sympathise our business concern needs," says Brisby. "We're in emergency service, and so my tolerance for breakdowns or rework is pretty low. When trucks come up out of a shop, whether it'southward my store or a vendor shop, they have to be fixed to the highest standard possible."

Sean Payne, possessor of C. Martin'south Double-decker Service in Napanee, Ont., operates a armada of school buses. "We've had some facilities where my work gets pushed to the side for off the street stuff that comes in," he says. "And that just doesn't piece of work for me. I don't carry a lot of spare vehicles, and then we can't beget to have vehicles down for two or three weeks at a time."

2) Brand their task easier.

Fleet managers, specially when they wear other hats, are busy people. Shops can help them cope.

"With fleets, you lot're taking on the office of managing the vehicles' maintenance programme and scheduling, and scheduling their annual safeties," says Mark Bergasse, founder of Marks Automobile Service in Oakville, Ont. Bergasse'due south shop often provides advance notifications to help the customer to schedule the necessary downtime for an inspection, or budget for an upcoming expense such as tires.

Shops tin also assume an counselor role.

"Nosotros can't simply throw every possible function at a problem," says Brisby, "so you need adept judgment. Nosotros rely on the vendors we do apply to understand this, and brand recommendations that will allow us to get the best possible service life out of the unit once it comes back."

3) Provide documentation.

Governments and many corporate fleet owners demand proof of compliance with WCB, health and safe regulations, and other statutory requirements.

"You lot really have to accept everything documented," says Brisby. "A store might have a expert safe piece of work practise, simply if they don't have it documented in a health and rubber transmission, then they tin't share that with us."

While the task is a daunting ane, it is for the virtually part a one-time investment that could pay off, and an exercise that oftentimes helps companies get a better understanding of their own processes.

4) Consider alternative business models.

Many fleets have their own maintenance and repair facilities, and await to the outside to complement their ain capabilities.

"We have ane store, for instance, where we provide them the parts," says Payne. "So we get our discounted rate on the cost of the parts, but nosotros pay their door rate. And so some different strategies like that sometimes work."

5) Get started on the right foot.

Upfront communication is key in B2B relationships, and can prevent a lot of headaches afterward. "A lot of time we demand to interview them at that point when they come up in and enquire how they want their fleet maintained," says Sarson, "because the last thing we want to practise is brand recommendations on services that they are just non willing to do."

Information technology's also of import to ensure that the fit is right.

"I've got fleets that bargain with me, merely they've got to pay my prices," says Rob Scott, possessor of Glenwood Automotive Services in Saskatoon. Sask. "They capeesh what we do, our competence levels, our level of service, and they're willing to pay for it."

As service delivery models continue to evolve, tomorrow's armada owners may choose to outsource not only their maintenance and repair, but their mobility requirements.

"We're seeing a shift in the industry where a lot of fleets are trying alternative methods of mobility, like moving away from an asset ownership model," says Brisby. "If they can somehow go their people or their goods moved without having to own rolling stock assets, that's kind of a preference."

Where volition this leave auto shops?

"In that location's always going to exist a need for vehicle maintenance services," says Brisby. "Information technology might be less of a ane-on-ane interaction – it might be more than through a third-political party service provider, whether its contract administration or a full-service leasing packet. Those types of options."

Jacob Stoller is a freelance writer living in Toronto. He specializes in lean management.