Betting and gaming company Gala Coral Group has renewed an outsourced fleet management agreement covering its 417-strong company car fleet and 180 cash allowance cars with fleet management and leasing specialist Fleet Alliance. 

Gala Coral Group, which operates 1,700 licensed betting shops, four casinos and 140 bingo clubs in the UK, with a further 400 betting shops in Italy, first appointed Fleet Alliance three years ago to manage its fleet interests.

After a market review, Gala Coral has now decided to reappoint the same company for an additional two years with a further one year option, to follow on from the contract it first awarded in April 2010.

During that time, Fleet Alliance has been able to introduce a number of fleet efficiencies and cost saving initiatives, including competitive tendering, as well as improving the service offering to company car drivers.

At the same time, Fleet Alliance has reduced the carbon footprint of the Gala Coral fleet from an average of 160g/km per vehicle to just 118g/km today, and has rationalised the number of manufacturers supplying the fleet to the Volkswagen Audi Group and BMW.

Another key change has been a switch to a competitive tendering approach for each new car added to the fleet, using a panel of three different funders, to indentify the most cost effective funding option.

In addition, Gala Coral drivers are now able to select and identify their next company car online through Fleet Alliance’s e-fleet fleet management platform, which also captures and records their business mileages to ensure there are no contract over-runs. 

Philip Corbett, senior purchasing manager at Gala Coral, said that one of the key reasons for re-appointing Fleet Alliance was the flexibility the company offered and the detailed knowledge and experience it had built up during its term as manager of the Gala fleet.

“Fleet Alliance understands the running of our fleet and its various nuances very well,” he said. “Effectively they function as an extension of our HR and procurement teams, running quietly away in the background.

“They have proved very nimble and responsive to our requirements and, through the use of the e-fleet platform, have introduced very effective mileage management which is of great benefit for the company going forward as it avoids expensive end-of-contract mileage charges.

“At the same time, they have been thoroughly committed to effectively managing costs on our behalf.

“For example, they have been able to set up commission rebates  for third party services such as daily rental, windscreens and delivery and storage, whilst also driving down our monthly finance rates across the board.”

Fleet Alliance managing director Martin Brown (pictured) said: “We are delighted to extend our close working relationship with Gala Coral Group for another term.

“We will continue to work closely with them to manage the fleet in an extremely cost effective yet thoroughly service-orientated manner.”

More articles on: