Cover schemes take the fear out of breakdown
Page 58
Page 59
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
ITE CLAIMS by truck and nanufacturers to the con, their vehicles do ocinally breakdown for a y of reasons ranging from rely simple faults such as n fan belts, punctures or lockages to major compo?r assembly failures.
le case of coach operators 'lake their living by carry)assengers on European ly tours, the mere thought ?eking down while touring 'ugh to send shivers down ;pines.
an attempt to avert any problems, many of the -established coach tors employ very experI drivers who carry a cornnsive supply of spare parts re competent enough to be o carry out quick running s as and when required. verators have also formed iations with the aim of ling each other with emercover by offering coaches use t these companies have albecome self-sufficient is ) much a matter of choice rgely because of the nonability of the prompt ?rt service necessary at .Inds and during public iys, particularly it seems in services offered, the three major schemes are Daf's BusAID and Action Volvo together with the Top Cat Cover established by Leyland in April this year.
Daf, which was among the first commercial vehicle manufacturers to provide its customers with a breakdown service, extended it last year to include bus and coach operators.
Its BusAID scheme, which is free to owners of new coach chassis' during the first 12 months of service and is renewable, dovetails into Daf's International Truck Service (ITS) with its control centre in Eindhoven, Holland.
A network of more than 500 workshops throughout Europe and the Middle East are interlinked with the control centre and are able to offer assistance to operators in trouble. The scope of support available includes recovery to the nearest approved garage, windscreen replacement, accommodation and parking information as well as message-relay for passengers and drivers.
For roadside assistance outside the UK a telephone call to ITS in Eindhoven on (0) 40143000 will get the driver help from the nearest Daf-approved garage, Where more extensive aid is needed, Daf's UK centre in Marlow is contacted to agree to a contribution towards the cost of either a replacement coach or overnight accomodation for passengers and coach staff. Assistance is limited to £500 for each journey, for any number of journeys in the cover period, while the cost of a replacement coach can be offset by the £200 allowed, up to a maximum of £1,000. Overnight accomodation of passengers until a replacement is available also attracts the £200 allowance.
Leyland's Top Cat Cover which is linked to Europ Assistance became available earlier this year to give free cover within the 12 months' warranty period for each new coach registered since January 1, 1983. A second years' cover is available providing application is made within two months of entering service.
As long as help is sought through Europ Assistance, Top Cat will provide expenses towards accommodation for up to two nights at a rate of £20 per night plus £10 subsistence per person per night for a maximum of 54 passengers and driver.
Should repairs to the coach take longer than four hours if it breaks down between 6pm and 6am local time or eight hours during normal working hours, Leyland will meet the cost of hiring a replacement vehicle at a maximum rate of £400 per day extending for five days from the breakdown. It will also contribute up to £1,000 towards the cost of returning the coach to its home base.
Drivers disability, tyre failure or broken windows are excluded from the scheme together with accident damage or operators negligence. During the second year the cost of spares will not be covered by Top Cat, and operators using the scheme have 30 days in which to make claims against the service.
Leyland also offers Continental touring kits for hire which contain a quantity of key parts for its range of touring coaches. These can be hired for one month or up to one year.
A driver in trouble anywhere in Europe need only contact the Europe Assistance control centre in London on 01-6816824, where the co-ordinator will alert Leylands' multi-linguist roadside assistance group. This operates 24 hours a day, all year round and includes message-relay, coach hire and medical assistance.
Although its Top Cat scheme has only been operating several months and entered the scene long after tour operators had fixed their schedules, Leyland has received satisfactory reports on its performance so far.
Volvo has recently extended its European back-up service by providing a number of radiocontrolled service vans in France to supplement its existing support network. This further strengthens its chain of coach specialist workshops located on all the main routes through Europe which can provide cover day and night.
The Action Volvo scheme covers a wide range of services in addition to the road-side help which includes tyre repairs, a message service, ferry details and bookings.
Emergency parts kits are available for operators to carry, which, when coupled to the DKV credit card system and Volvos network of service garages, provide a comprehensive array of back-up facilities for the Volvo coach operators.
Scania coach cover begins with its warranty which, should it breakdown anywhere in Europe within its first year of service, offers free recovery to any of its authorised service workshops spread throughout 22 European countries. It also includes the repairs and, where an undue delay is necessary, Scania will pay the cost of a hired replacement, up to £200 per day to a £1,000 maximum for any one trip.
The warranty only covers Scania components and is dependent on the owner's adherence to Scania's maintenance schedules and the use of its repair organisation. A 28-day claim period applies.
Scania is also keyed into the DKV Europa credit card service and recommends that owners of its coaches take up membership as another means of providing assistance across Europe.
Several of the coach chassis manufacturers do not have the grand scale back-up services offered by some. This is either because the numbers built do not justify venturing beyond the normal vehicle dealer service network or that their approved service garages network is geared up to deal with most of the problems encountered in Europe.
Owners of MAN chassis coaches are provided with the locations and telephone numbers of more than 400 main services agents in 17 European countries on whom they are able to call for assistance. The 140 in West Germany are MAN-owned while the remainder are authorised workshops.
Operators are also invited to make use of the DKV credit card system and many of them are also members of AMI.
Ford of UK is comparatively small in the European coaching market which prevents it from going beyond its overseas truck service network.
Operators of Ford coaches are expected to use the breakdown services offered from more than 600 of its service dealers spread throughout 15 European countries.
Mercedes-Benz also advocates the use of its extensive dealer network spread throughout Europe, which is available 24 hours each day of the year, A driver in trouble can call on the nearest authorised service garage to recover and repair his coach.
Credit facilities can also be allowed when authority has been obtained from the UK supplying-dealer via Mercedes UK HO at Hayes which acts as a guarantor. This is dealt with by telephone or telex.
Some M-B dealers in Europe are linked into the DKV credit card system, but at the moment the scheme is not sponsored by the company.
Bedford has a chain of 538 service dealers spread throughout 17 European countries, including Greece, Turkey and Yugoslavia. This does not include the Opel dealer network.
An operator in trouble, whose coach is built on a Bedford chassis will therefore have to contact his nearest service dealer by using his dealer guide book. Any difficulties which require extensive support such as vital parts which cannot be found locally will need the help of that country's General Motors operation, some of which provide an outof-hours service, There are other schemes operating that offer additional assistance to coach operators whatever the size of fleet. One of these is the DKV credit card system previousely mentioned, which any company can join subject to references.
The scheme, which is accr ited to 28 countries through Europe, N. Africa and Turl provides access to over 3, fuel stations, and 3,500 re! garages. It enables a driver buy fuel, oil, tyres, accessor as well as obtain repairs. Rec ery service, tunnel tolls an vehicle valeting service are I included.
These services are based c system which eliminates need to carry large amount: currency. Detailed invoic takes place twice a month DKV hopes to introduce di debiting soon.
It does have group asso tions with several coach rnE facturers such as Leyland, Vo Scania and MAN while in sc European countries, Mercer Benz-approved workshops included in the scheme. DKV the unique feature of incluc some hotel accommodatior Russia among its servic which is reciprocal for Rus coach operators.
Europ Assistance, which its UK office in Croydon, many owner-operators in membership, offering indivir or group cover. Leyland ii has been aware of the exter its services for a numbei years because of the urgeni quests for specialised sp parts, which is why it novs, cludes the service with its Cat Cover.
The Truck Rescue Sche operated on Freefone 5001 Octagon Recovery, offers a covery service for coaches f Mainland Europe. Besides 131 linked with the Daf, Leyland MAN support organisation, eral coach operators with m types of coaches have enrc their entire fleets with them.
Annual membership fees gin at £150 for a new coach, ing by stages according tc age.
The International Road Tr port Union (IRU) has a sch which has been operating f years in which many Haulage Association, Fr Transport Association anc Bus and Coach Council r bers may participate.
Called Assistance MutuE ternational (AMI) it consis an offer of help from AMI r bers towards British operatc Europe. A members handbook is given with tilt card which guarantee's member up to 2,000 E Francs worth of aid from o in the scheme towards repa a replacement vehicle I members with spare ve capacity.