Fleet Alliance to manage Manheim’s 620-strong fleet

Following a competitive tender process, Fleet Alliance will manage Manheim’s fleet of 620 company cars.

Fleet Alliance will manage a mix of 545 company cars on contract hire, 50 owned cars and 30 grey fleet when the company decided to switch fleet management suppliers for greater transparency and openness.

It went out to tender to a number of leading fleet management providers and from a shortlist of just three, Fleet Alliance was selected. It scored 545 points out of a possible 600. The nearest competitor scored just 368.

Cox Automotive’s head of supply chain Alan Barratt said: “Fleet Alliance was head and shoulders above its competitors in the selection process and, since their appointment, they have shown themselves to be outstanding in every way.

“We now see them as a strategic partner which is very important to us, as we wanted a partner not another supplier. They are also very flexible and have been able to act quickly, moving all our fleet across within a tight 12-week deadline."

Amongst the initiatives that Fleet Alliance has introduced is a new competitive tendering strategy for all new vehicles to be added to the Cox Automotive fleet, employing a panel of four preferred contract hire funders. 

In addition, and with the funding panel’s full agreement, all company cars will now be de-fleeted through Manheim Auction centres.

At the same time, the Cox Automotive fleet policy has been completely refreshed with a premium brand car in every job grade category, an SUV in every category and a choice of at least one ULEV (Ultra Low Emission Vehicle) for every job grade.

“This was an important consideration for us as it is the start of the process to migrate our currently all-diesel fleet across to a number of lower emission alternatives,” said Barratt.

“Although this is still the start our strategic partnership, we feel that we will see more long term benefits from the measures we are now introducing, with Fleet Alliance acting as a one-stop shop for all our fleet needs and providing us with a far more indepth level of MI reporting than we had seen previously.”