Fleet briefs: Latest from Europcar, FleetCheck, Cazana, Ogilvie Fleet and Humanising Autonomy

Europcar signs new deal with Allstar Business Solutions for fleet maintenance and repair

Europcar Mobility Group UK has signed a new deal with Allstar Business Solutions to use ServicePoint to manage the changing maintenance and repair needs of its own fleet, it has said.

Europcar said its preference is for franchise dealers to handle maintenance and repairs; previously it worked with each manufacturer network separately.

The adoption of Allstar ServicePoint will help streamline the process onto a single platform to bring operational efficiencies, from reduced administration to in-depth reporting, as well as improving the customer service experience, said Europcar.  

ServicePoint is provided by Allstar Business Solutions based on technology from Epyx. It is an online portal designed for small medium enterprises (SMEs) and corporates that maintain company cars and vans.

Ron Santiago, managing director at Europcar Mobility Group UK, said: “In 2020 we experienced a 43.3% growth in the average rental length. This is a substantial change, reflecting the increasing desire of businesses and individuals to use rental rather than committing to long-term lease agreements. 

“With this increased focus on delivering a service for customers who will retain vehicles for several months or more, we needed to enhance our processes for managing maintenance and repair and keep ‘off-road’ time to the minimum. We selected Allstar ServicePoint as the best way to achieve this because of its comprehensive network with manufacturer franchises.

“As a result, we have already seen our ‘off-road’ time reduce on average by two days and we anticipate even greater efficiency benefits over the coming years as our long-term Flex solutions gain market share.”

Ogilvie Fleet records highest score in the Best Companies to Work for survey

Ogilvie Fleet has delivered its highest score in the recent UK-wide 2021 Best Companies to Work for survey, since it joined the scheme in 2016.

Its score of 714.3 is a 2.5% increase over 2019 (696.6) meaning it has retained its two-star status with 93% of staff completing the annual survey.

Ogilvie also achieved ninth position in the Top 20 Best Business Service companies list and made the UK’s 100 Best Mid-sized Companies to work for list at number 74.

It was also 31st on the Scotland and 29th on the Yorkshire and Humber lists.

Gordon Stephen, Ogilvie Fleet’s MD, said: “This performance represents a fantastic achievement during a very unusual 12 months.

“It is always good to receive feedback from our staff, especially when they have been working from home for the majority of the last 14 months.

“We are delighted with the results and thank our teams for the incredible work done during this time.”

FleetCheck records 10,000th vehicle integration with Quartix

FleetCheck has recorded its 10,000th vehicle integration with Quartix.

Quartix joined the FleetCheck Partner Programme six years ago and the two companies have since worked together on projects covering more than 130 different fleets.

Typically, Quartix telematics data is imported into FleetCheck software, where it is used to track variables including vehicle location, mileage, and driver behaviour.

Peter Golding, managing director at FleetCheck, said: “Quartix have been one of the most successful members of our Partner Programme and we are very pleased to reach the 10,000 vehicle milestone with them.

“High quality telematics data can prove essential when developing strategies to drive down fleet costs, improve safety and enhance operational efficiency, and the fleet projects that we have worked on together have been very successful.”

Cazana rebrands and launches new website

Automotive insights company Cazana has undergone rebranding with a new logo and website.

The new branding aligns with the company’s mission to help its clients access real-time, vehicle insights, to help them make ‘better informed decisions’ on the vehicles they work with, said Cazana.

The company also said the rebrand is an opportunity to showcase the business plan for global expansion and highlight the advancements in the company’s technology and commercial progress.

Tom Wood, chief executive officer at Cazana, said: “This rebrand represents a significant step in the company’s evolution. The new brand reflects our significant progress with UK customers across retail, insurance and lending sectors and our aspiration to be the global vehicle data provider.

“Whilst we've always been well known for trustworthy, accurate, credible data and industry knowledge, this new brand better encompasses this and is much more appropriate for the next step of the Cazana journey - taking our automotive insights global to support businesses and consumers worldwide.”

Humanising Autonomy announces partnership with VisionTrack

Humanising Autonomy, a behaviour AI company, and VisionTrack, telematics and computer vision provider, have entered a strategic partnership to bring advanced vulnerable road user (VRU) perception to vehicle operators globally.

Humanising Autonomy’s behaviour AI will be integrated into VisionTrack’s Autonomise.ai solution, to help enable an understanding of human behaviour in fleet management and compliance, insurance, road safety and risk management settings.

Behaviour AI will enable drivers to receive real-time VRU collision warnings. The technology aims to generate alerts to the driver with a higher degree of accuracy than traditional ADAS systems, said Humanising Autonomy.

The Behaviour AI platform will also help enhance VisionTrack’s ability to identify safety challenges and key coaching opportunities for fleet customers by better analysing incident statistics and trends using advanced behavioural insight.

Richard Lane, commercial director at VisionTrack, said: “Humanising Autonomy’s Behaviour AI Platform will help to better support and protect drivers and ultimately save lives on the road.

“We are truly passionate about road safety and driver welfare, so we are thrilled about our new partnership with Humanising Autonomy. Together we will deliver cutting-edge technologies that not only benefit our customers, but all road users.”