Fleets left without vehicles for longer as SMR lead times increase

Fleets are having to do without vehicles for longer with lead times for service, maintenance and repair (SMR) increasing by more than 57% since the start of the pandemic, according to new data from Epyx.

The average time between when a company car or van booking was created to when the vehicle went in for work was 8.11 days in January 2020.

Today, that has increased to 12.76 days, leaving fleets facing increased vehicle off-road (VOR) times.

Tim Meadows, chief commercial officer at Epyx, said: “SMR providers such as franchise dealers, independent garages and fast-fits have found themselves under pressure since the pandemic when it comes to everything from getting the supplies they need, such as parts and consumables, to recruiting the people required to run their businesses efficiently.

“This is having a direct impact on lead times and fleets are undoubtedly having to wait much longer to access the services they need, which means both more planning ahead for routine maintenance and vehicles spending more time off-road when they do break down.

“In turn, this can lead to cars and vans spending more time being unavailable, reducing capacity and putting upward pressure on costs.”

The data is taken from Epyx’s 1link Service Network platform, which is used by car, van and truck fleets totalling more than four million vehicles to manage and process SMR.

It also showed that average lead times have been around 12 days since at least the end of 2021 and have risen above 13 days at some points in the past few months.

Meadows said: “Although the situation is no longer getting noticeably worse, as happened in the immediate wake of the pandemic, there are no real signs of any improvement other than relatively small month-to-month fluctuations.

“The problem is that SMR providers are very much at the mercy of forces beyond their control, and our best estimate is that this situation will persist for some time to come.”

News of lenthgening lead times for SMR comes as new figures from The Motor Ombudsman show drivers have been left increasingly dissatisfied with SMR provided by garages. 

It has seen the highest volume of service and repair cases brought by consumers to its dispute resolution service in a single quarter so far this year.

From the beginning of July to the end of September, the Ombudsman accepted 1,348 new submissions from motorists, up 10% from 1,226 in the second quarter, and equating to a 13% increase versus the volume seen during the opening three months of 2023 (1,189).

Furthermore, the number of disputes received by The Motor Ombudsman for quarter three also surpassed last year’s tally by 9% for the same period (1,238).