MAINTENANCE AND AFTERSALES
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The focus of the 14-strong in-house team of technicians is the maintenance of the fleet’s trailers, says Tony Leighton, whereas truck maintenance and aftersales is done through the manufacturer’s dealer network. However, contract maintenance and servicing is a thorny subject.
“Absolutely critical to us is the aftersales market: it’s an important part in the decision-making process. We want reliability, high-quality technical maintenance, minimal downtime and proximity, and the willingness to work in general partnership,” he says, “and some dealers are better than others at aftersales.” Leighton and Palmer want consistency from the dealer network. Palmer explains: “We are objective and monitor dealers on everything including MoT performance, but we have had discussions with dealers, [and asked] ‘why do you expect me to pay for an MoT failure’, you haven’t done your job?” Leighton adds: “The consistency across the dealer network is patchy. Aftersales is about consistent high standards.” Suttons Group has considered bringing it in-house, but the investment in equipment and infrastructure would move it away from the core business of logistics. “Suttons Group can be very loyal to its suppliers, but dealers have to focus on being professional, providing a fantastic service and good value, that is all we want and we will leave them alone,” adds Palmer.