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The average cost of replacement parts for fleet vehicles has risen by 35% in four years, according to data from Epyx.
The software firm has based its calculation on a front discs and pads, wiper blades, clutch, pollen filter, headlamp bulbs and spark plugs, for which it said the total cost had risen from £713 in 2020 to £963 in 2024.
It said the biggest cost increases had been for headlight bulbs (up by over 45%), clutches (up by over 40%), and spark plugs and pollen filters (up by over a third).
Epyx CCO Tim Meadows said: "It's well known in the fleet sector that parts production has been hit in all kinds of ways in recent years, from the effects of the pandemic through to the war in Ukraine, and that there has been a resulting marked impact on prices.
"This data shows exactly how much. While the overall rate of UK inflation since 2020 has been around 22%, fleets have seen the prices of these parts rise by an additional 13%. These are dramatic increases that have had a definite impact on overall running costs.
"Of course, this has also happened at a point in time when operators have been keeping hold of vehicles for longer, with many needing to buy more parts as a result. For example, looking at our basket, few fleets would have needed clutches when operating on a three-year replacement cycle but for those that are keeping cars until four or five years old, the incidence of clutch issues is unavoidably higher.
"Just at the point when they've needed to spend more on parts, fleets have had to pay more."
A crumb of comfort for fleets could be that the cost increases appear to be slowing, with the increase for 2024 over 2023 currently running at over 6%, compared with 11% for 2023 over 2022 and for 2022 over 2021.
Meadows said: "We have seen overall UK inflation begin to fall quite dramatically in recent months, and there have also been corresponding reductions seen for our parts basket. While prices are still rising, we are hopefully starting to see increases become more manageable."
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