Manufacturers ‘slow’ to adopt vehicle recall system

The BVRLA’s technology partner for ReCare, the free-to-use, online vehicle safety recall system, has admitted that persuading vehicle manufacturers to sign up has been a slow process.

To date, around 20 leasing companies, several major daily rental operators and a number of large corporate fleets have committed to the scheme.

However, buy-in from manufacturers has been slower to materialise, with only Ford, Kia and Volvo signed up so far, while Fiat Group is said to be ‘well progressed’.

Robert Pilkington, managing director of Ebbon-Dacs’ Leaselink division, said: “We’re working,
led by the BVRLA, on bringing more vehicle manufacturers into the programme, but that’s a very slow process.

“There are many reasons why that’s the case. But manufacturers have to be at the right stage to be able to do the IT programme required, although we have made it as simple as possible.”

Pilkington suggested that initial concerns from manufacturers around how the information was going to be used and similar work being undertaken by the SMMT have not helped.

However, he remained optimistic that more manufacturers will follow suit. He said: “If the industry works together, I think we can make it happen. It’s just a shame we can’t bring more manufacturers on-board more quickly because we don’t want fleets to lose faith.”

The BVRLA’s leasing and fleet management committee announced in the summer that it would be writing to motor manufacturers to encourage more of them to sign up.

At the time Gerry Keaney, BVRLA chief executive, said: “We have growing support within the fleet industry and we are confident that this will lead to wider adoption among manufacturers.”

ReCare was developed by the BVRLA in conjunction with Ebbon-Dacs to allow leasing companies, rental firms and fleets to identify vehicles subject to safety recall notices, while delivering regular reports on which registered keepers have been notified to participating manufacturers.

By making this information available from a single online source, it aims to help operators and manufacturers cut the time and cost of processing recalls.

More than one million vehicles were subject to a vehicle safety recall notification in the UK in 2012, leaving leasing companies with the task of managing a disparate range of paper and digital recall notifications from manufacturers.

Many of these vehicles were less than three years old and therefore likely to be represented among those owned or operated by BVRLA members.

VOSA supported the development of ReCare, in part because it furthers the agency’s goal of improving road safety.