ICE outsources fleet to IFC Fleet Services

Industrial Cleaning Equipment (ICE) has outsourced the management of its light commercial vehicle and car fleet to IFC Fleet Services.

ICE is the country’s largest independent industrial cleaning provider, with annual group sales of more than £10 million, and operates in the retail, leisure, transport and commercial sectors throughout the UK.

The company runs a fleet of more than 50 light commercial vehicles, primarily Renault Master, Trafic and Kangoo models, for service and compliance engineers. It also has a further 11 company cars for sales and sales support personnel and company directors, with a mix of brands including BMW, Volkswagen and Renault.

Originally ICE contract hired its vehicles but a series of disputes over poor service and cost escalations led it to seek an alternative supplier.

It selected IFC Fleet Services following a recommendation from commercial director, Martyn Crowfoot, who had worked with IFC at a former company.

IFC now handles all operational aspects of the ICE fleet, including new vehicle sourcing, replacement and hire cars, servicing, maintenance and repair scheduling and management, driver communications and mileage management, accident management, supplier management, and invoice management and consolidation.

The ICE fleet falls under the responsibility of the finance department, and Martyn Orchard, director of finance, said: “We appointed IFC to improve efficiencies and reduce costs on our vehicle fleet following an internal recommendation.

“It has proved to be an excellent decision from our point of view and has taken away the headache we had previously in running the fleet.

“Now, instead of liaising with a number of different suppliers and receiving dozens of supplier invoices, IFC handles all supplier negotiations and we receive one consolidated monthly invoice.

“Everything is fully automated, replacing the system of spreadsheets we used previously, and IFC’s involvement has reduced our administrative burden and the time taken to run the fleet enormously.”

Paul Talbot (pictured), managing director of IFC Fleet Services, said: “We are delighted to include Industrial Cleaning Equipment in our portfolio of corporate customers.

“Our objective is to provide our customers with a complete outsource for the financial and day-to-day management of their company fleet, although we can also offer a scaled down, ‘lite’ version featuring a number of service modules to suit each client's needs.

“With ICE, we have aimed to introduce cost efficiencies, avoid duplication and basically deliver first rate customer service through the day-to-day management of their fleet, and it is great to hear that they believe we are meeting those objectives.”