Fleet News Award winner: Fleet Supplier of the Year

Fleets want more than simply a breakdown provider, according to the AA, and with that in mind its fleet division – AA Business Services – has a long list of services for fleets, several of which launched last year.

Its Assist products can deal with misfuelling (AA Fuel Assist), replacement vehicle keys (AA Key Assist) and replacement batteries (AA Battery Assist).

Recent acquisitions have also enabled AA Business Services to offer vehicle glass repair and replacement (AutoWindshields, acquired in 2009), driving training (Drive Tech also acquired in 2009) and licence checking (Intelligent Data Systems acquired this year).

AA Business Services also includes AA Service and Repair – mobile servicing and repair work – and AA Logistics, which handles vehicle movements for fleets.

In the past year it has even taken on customers for some of its new products who do not currently use its roadside assistance.

However, roadside assistance continues to be the AA’s core product and what it is best known for.

It covers more fleet drivers than any other provider through both voluntary cover to major fleets, leasing groups, rental providers, emergency services, utility companies and SME companies and involuntary cover through its penetration of the manufacturer market.

Nearly 60% of the all new vehicles on the UK’s roads are sold with AA roadside assistance and a large proportion of them are fleet vehicles.

Roger Williams, head of fleet services, says: “We pride ourselves on the quality of our patrols and their ability to fix vehicles at the side of the road.

“It helps that we have more patrols than any other breakdown provider.”

AA Business Services is also proud of the fact that it was able to keep emergency services and utility company vehicles on the road during last winter’s severe snow.

During a four-week period it attended more than half a million breakdowns and answered around 1,000 calls every hour.

“By drafting in additional patrols and call handlers we were able to continue to provide service to our fleet customers, enabling them to continue with their own businesses,” Williams says.

Fleet News: How can AA Business Services save fleet operators money?

Roger Williams: First and foremost, the fact our patrols are prioritised around fixing vehicles at the side of the road because that’s the best outcome for everybody.

All the products we are innovating with play to our strengths. We’re good at getting people in vans out to jobs on an unplanned basis.
 

Misfuelling could potentially be an extensive recovery followed by an extensive fuel drain in a garage but we take that issue away by attending on site.

Similarly, with Key Assist we’re sending a van to someone who is stranded without a key and we cut the key on site as opposed to a recovery and a wait to get the key.

With AutoWindshields one of our USPs is that all our roadside patrol can crash-wrap vehicles.

So if you’ve got a side window out, for example, and the vehicle is open to the elements we deploy a patrol to be there within 45 minutes and put a cover on the vehicles.

Once again, that stops a recovery and stops someone losing time.

It’s all about reducing the amount of time that vehicles are off the road, which enables fleet operators to save money.

FN: Why is your accident management business growing?

RW: We’ve brought in some new people and some new systems and we are promoting it more actively. We have AA customer care at the forefront of it and we’re able to work closely with major fleets who have bespoke requirements.

For example, we manage a pool fleet for a major client and the vehicles are based at our bodyshop. If one of their vehicles is involved in an accident we can send a vehicle immediately to keep them on the road.

FN: Are fleet operators investing in driver training?

RW:  I’d say so but I think there are some differences in this market in that larger corporates are more aware and prepared to allocate budgets to it. I think for smaller companies it’s more difficult to justify a significant programme.

Certainly the larger companies are more aware of the implications – if you’ve got a large fleet potentially you are quite exposed if you haven’t trained people properly or put duty-of-care measures in place.

FN: Tell us about the work you are doing with manufacturers to develop telematics solutions.

RW: A lot of vehicles have emergency call and breakdown call buttons in them. The next generation of these devices may self-diagnose so that we can start getting more accurate diagnoses from the vehicle itself as opposed to the driver.

It’s not a criticism of the driver but usually when we have to send a second resource out it’s because the driver doesn’t know what is wrong with the vehicle.

We might get there and find it’s something completely different to what we thought it was so we might need to recover the vehicle if we can’t repair it.

If there was some information available from the vehicle that could be quite interesting for the breakdown industry. But that’s something for the future.

 

FN: What electric vehicle training do your patrols get?

RW: There are challenges with electric vehicles, particularly around the battery and what you can and can’t fix.

Our technical team have trained some of the patrols and they are talking to manufacturers and other suppliers to make sure we’re best placed to deal with them.

Training will become more of an issue as more of these vehicles get sold. That’s something we’ll need to react to if these vehicles really do take off.

Williams says one of the other key challenges AA Business Services faces is consolidation in the contract hire and leasing sector.

“As a supplier it can present certain risks for you. It can work brilliantly for you or it can work against you,” he says.

And he would not rule out the AA making further acquisitions of its own.

“Intelligent Data Systems was a great extension of what we’re doing with DriveTech. We will consider further acquisitions if they are a good strategic fit,” he says.

“We want to broaden the portfolio whenever we can. We’re going to continue to innovate and whenever we innovate we have fleet in mind.”

Judges’ comments

“This was a unanimous decision. The AA is a true fleet supplier with a wide catalogue of services. Its range of products and services all do what they say and all benefit the the fleet end-user.

"From accident management to breakdown and recovery to driver training and windscreen replacement, the AA has a range of fleet-enhancing services.”

Factfile

Managing director: David Wallace

Head of fleet services: Roger Williams

Core product: Roadside Assistance

Customers: Fleets, leasing groups, rental providers and SMEs. Nearly 60% of the all new vehicles on the UK’s roads are sold with AA Roadside Assistance