Building and facilities management group, Europa, has outsourced the management of its 350-strong car and commercial vehicle fleet to leasing and fleet management provider, Fleet Alliance.  

Europa, which employs around 4,000 staff and has a diverse client base across four market sectors (corporate, retail, public and infrastructure), operates a fleet of around 240 commercial vehicles and 110 cars throughout the UK.

The company first appointed Fleet Alliance two years ago to source all new vehicles due, in part, to the effectiveness of its online fleet management solution, e-fleet, and its ability, through competitive tendering, to reduce fleet acquisition costs.

However, following a successful two-year relationship, Europa has now decided to outsource all aspects of the management of its fleet to Fleet Alliance in a new three-year contract which will see the entire fleet replaced during that time.

Within Europa’s commercial vehicle fleet, which is used by maintenance management personnel to fulfil contracts at clients’ properties around the UK, Fleet Alliance has recently replaced 135 vehicles in a single order, comprising 71 Citroen Berlingos, 39 Citroen Dispatchs and 25 Astra Estates. 

Under the new outsourcing arrangement, Fleet Alliance will be responsible for all day-to-day fleet administration, including invoice consolidation, licence checking, motoring offences, insurance updates, servicing and MOT reminders and damage disputes.

Fleet Alliance will also provide support, liaison and communication for Europa company car and van drivers, including introducing a new starter process and handling all driver queries, mileage reporting, tax discs and unallocated vehicles.

The company will also be responsible for providing hire cars as required and the management of the existing legacy fleet and Europa’s 70 grey fleet vehicles.

Europa vans are operated on contract hire with three year/60,000 mile contracts, while the cars are also operated for three years but on individually tailored mileage contracts to avoid excess mileage charges.

Fleet Alliance will continue to employ competitive tendering for each new vehicle through a panel of preferred lenders to select the most cost effective quotes on the client’s behalf, a solution which has been shown to produce savings of 8-10% in acquisition costs.

All of the Europa fleet will be managed  through Fleet Alliance’s online e-fleet fleet management system, which allows the entire fleet to be managed from one central point and offers a suite of reports allowing the interrogation of any aspect of the fleet operation.

Greig Brown, chief executive of Europa, said: “Fleet Alliance’s service levels and their ability to reduce costs have been big factors in our decision to extend the relationship.

“Using Fleet Alliance means we no longer have to predict our future fleet needs, while their astute approach maximises the potential of our fleet and achieves full value for money.”

Martin Brown, managing director of Fleet Alliance, said: “Naturally, we are delighted to have been selected by Europa to provide fully outsourced fleet management for its fleet throughout the UK.

“We are confident that, by employing the range of systems and solutions we have at our disposal, we will be able to continue to drive considerable efficiencies right across the fleet and generate significant cost savings in a number of key areas,” he said.

Picture caption: Martin Brown, managing director of Fleet Alliance (left) with Greig Brown, chief executive of Europa.

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