A new digital system that enables motorists to manage all aspects of vehicle ownership via the internet could also offer a free-of-charge solution to fleets that are not able to justify investing in standalone management software.
Motoriety has been developed primarily as a way for private motorists to record and track every element related to owning a vehicle, from services and repairs to tax and insurance renewals.
However, founder Lucy Burnford believes it also offers the same opportunity to fleets, particularly for the control of service, maintenance and repair (SMR) records.
“They can have a dashboard to view all their cars and all the data – the motorist just has to click to say they have a company car not a private car,” Burnford said.
She added: “Motoriety is free to motorists; it is free to fleets as well.”
Fleet SMR is worth around £800 million a year with tyres accounting for more than half the cost of maintenance.
“If this maintenance could be recorded via Motoriety, it would be both an administrative benefit and a financial benefit to the lease company for resale purposes since the next owner can retain that detailed information,” said Burnford.
The system issues automated reminders on scheduled services, tax discs, insurance and MOTs as well as logging all repair work. In addition, with the agreement of employees who use their own cars for work purposes, the company could also manage the compliancy of its grey fleet in terms of receiving these notifications via the dashboard.
Burnford appears willing to reconfigure the system to meet fleets’ needs if there is sufficient interest.
“A fleet would be able to add as many vehicles to their account as they like,” she said.
“We would probably create a bespoke ‘vehicle view’ option for them in that case, so they can sort through their vehicles easily. That’s a very simple thing to amend.”
Payment comes from franchised and independent dealers signing up to use the system.
Fleets will be able to create an ‘Autobiography’ of service and maintenance records, providing digital proof when the vehicle is valued as a trade-in. The Autobiography digital service record can then be transferred digitally to a new car owner. Burnford believes this will boost residual values.
“Fleet users are historically lax in presenting service books to be stamped, but now fleets and garages can maintain verified histories online, passing them on to future owners and strengthening lease sale residuals,” she said.
Motoriety also offers fleets an online booking service for aftersales and an automated notice of advisory work post service as a follow up.
This is for elements flagged amber on a service or MOT sheet which do not require urgent action but are recommended action points; the system will alert the dealership to follow up in due course with the fleet.
It can also provide fleets with tailored offers from local or their preferred garage when they need it, says Burnford.
Motorists and fleets are encouraged to post reviews of dealers, enabling them to identify the outlets which provide the highest levels of service.
Verified work is credited to the Autobiography records only once the motorist reviews the garage which Burnford says will guarantee response rates.
She hopes to build Motoriety’s brand credibility to the point where used car buyers demand vehicles with an Autobiography record, effectively forcing up resale values.
This would have implications for fleets and leasing companies as well as for private owners, compelling them to sign up to the service to achieve the best prices.
“As our free and friendly brand takes hold, Motoriety’s fully transferable, digitally-verified service history will hold higher regard among buyers than a flimsy A4 service print out that could easily get lost before auction,” Burnford said.
Burnford hopes to have 100,000 motorists signed up by spring 2014 and will start targeting fleets in the first quarter to demonstrate the system’s fleet management attributes.
Claimed benefits for fleets
- Store and manage everything to do with owning and running a vehicle in one secure online space
- Upload existing documents and retrieve previous service history
- Get reminders for all legal and maintenance requirements, with tailored offer and immediate click-to-book
- Search for a trusted local garage and book-in on-line
- Service and repair works automatically updated and digitally verified by the garage
- Build a valuable digital service record
- ‘Publish’ service history for potential buyers to browse
More articles on:
Bauer B2B group editor Stephen Briers has been an automotive business journalist since 1995. He has been editor of Fleet News since 2009 and before that was editor of Automotive Management for almost seven years. He now oversees both brands, as well as RAIL magazine.
Chris Johnson - 28/05/2014 11:56
This is a really good idea. I had a look online to see if there were any others that did a similar thing.