CONTRACT caterer Gardner Merchant has reported savings of £75,000 in its first year of using PHH's accident management scheme. The company, which operates 1,000 company cars, switched to PHH on September 1, 1995, as it was not happy with the service provided by its previous accident management company.

Personnel director Gary Palmer, who manages the cars, said: 'Our primary reason for switching to PHH was their guarantee to control costs, chase non fault uninsured loss recoveries and reduce downtime. I was naturally apprehensive when I first signed with PHH, especially as their fee was £12,000 more a year than we were paying previously, but one year on it is clear the decision was a good one.

'Our spend per incident is down by £135 to £665. On top of that, PHH has saved us a further £28,000 on accident-related car rental - the average rental period has been reduced by three-and-a-half days.'