Ebbon Group acquires DriverCheck

Ebbon Group has acquired DriverCheck to grow its fleet market compliance capability, joining Licence Check under the Ebbon Group umbrella.

Combined, the businesses have more than 3,500 customers responsible for half a million vehicles and perform over 1.1 million licence checks per annum.

However, like Licence Check, Glasgow-based DriverCheck, which launched in 2005, will continue to be operated as a stand-alone entity with a separate team and brand.

The Ebbon Group said DriverCheck will be the beneficiary of investment in new technology to enhance its offering to customers.

Robert Pilkington, director at Ebbon Group, said: “We have acquired DriverCheck to grow our fleet market compliance capability, but will continue to operate Licence Check and DriverCheck as separate, stand-alone brands with their own individual identities.”

While Licence Check offers subscribers a self-service model, primarily through its DAVIS platform which provides customers with online licence checking, and compliance tools allowing an element of fleet management, DriverCheck offers a managed service in the licence checking area.

These include paperless driving licence checking from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVLA) Access to Driver Data (ADD) service via a web portal, accessible for customers to view driver licence check results online in real time.

DriverCheck can provide UK, foreign and Northern Ireland driving licence checks and CPC and tachograph information, backed by dynamic and static system alerts, management dashboards and KPIs and management reports, the group said.

DriverCheck also provides grey fleet management services by ensuring that vehicles are fit for purpose and meet all legal requirements, including MOT, road tax and relevant business insurance.

Craig Gibbin, co-director at Ebbon Group, said: “There is no intention to relocate DriverCheck from Glasgow to Oxford. We want to build on DriverCheck’s well established and respected brand with additional investment and enhanced solutions for customers, in the same way that we have with Licence Check.”

The group said the implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) based vehicle condition compliance tools via Ebbon Intelligence, Ebbon Group’s recently announced AI initiative, will be an area of key focus.

“We will see continued investment and development in AI in the coming months that will benefit both businesses, particularly in the area of vehicle condition and damage imaging,” added Gibbin.

Eddie Eusebi, DriverCheck owner and founder, said: “We are very proud of the business that we have built over the last 15 years or more, and it was important for us to have stability for the team in Scotland and a secure, long-term future for the business with additional investment.”

“We know that this is what Ebbon Group has achieved with Licence Check and we expect DriverCheck to develop in the same way and with the same very positive results.”