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DAILY RENTAL: Rental flexibility key for fleet
Date: 12 December 2013 | Author: Jack Carfrae
Rental companies are now changing their practices to keep up with what business customers are haranguing them for, too. Costs and availability are constantly under scrutiny, but according to those in the know, the smart moves are in improving service and efficiencies, as these are the elements that make the difference.
Hertz's Cunningham says business customers are expecting ever faster turnaround of vehicles and better levels of service: "For cars, competition is increasing - there's more demand to deliver vehicles in shorter periods of time. Corporates are becoming more demanding than ever about the service they're getting. As many people are looking at the customer service aspect now as they are at the price because they want to avoid the hidden costs associated with poorer service."
Enterprise's Ingram surmises that, on a rental company's part, getting straightforward admin tasks right first time bring its own cost benefits, and is really what companies are looking for.
"Everybody seems to be busier in the jobs they do. Areas like invoice accuracy are so critical," he says. "Back offices don't necessarily have the people and the resources to correct these things nowadays. Things like that - getting them right first time - seem to be bigger cost savings than you'd expect.
"There is a cost element attached to being really efficient. People used to view that as just ease of use, now it's viewed as a cost implication."
What's new in the market
Leasing companies are getting smarter about the rental services they offer clients, and two of the big players have recently launched new ventures in the field.
Arval's consultancy team has developed a rental calculator, which is designed to work out the "break-even point" between employees using their own vehicles for business trips and the cost of renting a vehicle for the same purpose.
Paul Marchment, the fleet consultant behind the calculator, tells BusinessCar: "Two years ago we developed a grey fleet calculator. At the time we were trying to tackle the grey fleet issue and it was quite a comprehensive model. It looked at different driver profiles, short distance high mileage, long distance high mileage etc, and we tried to put the driver into four categories based on profiles to work out where you'd be better off putting them.
"The problem with it was that it was quite a complex model and we felt we were limiting the audience with it. So I designed a 'light' version just incorporating grey fleet and rental. This tool will help you find the break-even point and lose some of the issues you might have.
"We have built in some standard corporate rental rates with the model. I'm happy for this to be distributed because I think it's got a wider audience than the fleet manager."
He continues: "The model encourages the user to put the trip data in, say how they're reimbursing the driver for the trip, add the current fuel price and then compare that to the cost of a rental.
"It deliberately hasn't built in all the admin costs of making grey fleet checks and monitoring grey fleet exposure. That will vary from company to company. It flags up a reminder that these are things you need to check before allowing an employee to drive their own car on a business journey.
"Anybody can use it. One thing I would say is that if you're a large corporate customer then the rates we've used are generic. If specific customers look at it with their rental rates, we'd then alter that and distribute it to them."
The calculator is available on the Arval website.
