/ am considering setting up and offering to commercial fleet
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operators an evening maintenance service on their own premises. This would comprise both a lubrication and mechanical service, including the checking of major components on a contract or hourly basis.
This would enable vehicles formerly taken off the road during the day to be better utilized and so avoid loss of revenue.
It is envisaged that a 50-vehicle fleet could be serviced every three weeks on a rota system of three vehicles an evening, five evenings a week, from 6 to 10 p.m. Such a rota would avoid permanent night work.
1 am aware the TRTA offers an inspection service but it is not a service of this nature. Do you think this is a worthwhile proposition and if so who is the best person in a firm to approach?
AWhile we think you are on the right track we consider a slight modification to your plans is adviseble.
You appear to be thinking of offering your service to medium-sized fleets only but it might be better to go for the smaller fleets, where maintenance is at present contracted out. There will certainly be a future need for a more professional approach to maintenance by many operators.
But companies with 50 vehicles or so would normally employ their own maintenance staff. Therefore your proposed service to that size of operator ,would be a duplication of what is already being done or an extenstion of work which could normally be done by the firm's own staff.
Operators of small fleets of, say, around five vehicles and that is about 85 per cent of all fleet operators), would find it helpful to to have someone like yourself being responsible for the condition of their vehicles. This will be particularly so when the latest MoT regulations are implemented.
For small operators we suggest the first contact should be with the principal of the company. If you still want to include larger fleets in your proposals, then the transport manager or transport engineer sould provide your best contact.