Enterprise Flex-E-Rent invests £1m to help reduce vehicle downtime

Enterprise Flex-E-Rent, Enterprise’s UK commercial vehicle rental division, has invested more than £1 million in new equipment to help reduce commercial vehicle downtime.

The new investment in the diagnostic and workshop equipment includes specialist tooling and direct system links to OEM partners, as well as roller brake testers and ancillary equipment maintenance such as tail-lift weight testing.

Enterprise said the investment increases Enterprise Flex-E-Rent’s in-house capability by 30% across its 28 depots in the UK.

James Walker, group service maintenance and repair manager at Enterprise Flex-E-Rent, said: “Managing vehicle downtime is that much harder since Covid, coupled with other macro-economic and supply chain issues. A UK-wide shortage of parts, technicians and new equipment means keeping vehicles on the road is now more challenging than ever before.

“We are adapting and investing to keep pace with customer demand at a time when rental is becoming a core strategy helping commercial operators ensure flexibility and quickly add or reduce capacity.

“We know vehicle downtime has a significant impact on our customers and our customers’ customers – so improving key-to-key time is vital. This new investment in technology enables us to improve preventative in-house maintenance, reducing costly unplanned and reactive off-road time.”

The invesment follows the opening a new flagship Enterprise Flex-E-Rent depot in Rugby, which aims to provide a commercial mobility ‘hub’ for businesses needing flexible access to vans, trucks and specialist vehicles.

The company said the investment will shift vehicle off-road time (VOR) away from unplanned, reactive maintenance events towards scheduled maintenance, which involves regular servicing or compliance checks such as MOTs.

It will also help to increase capacity across Enterprise’s 65,000 vans, trucks and specialist commercial vehicles.

Enterprise said it has been estimated that downtime costs UK fleet operators more than £2 billion per year, and that fleet vehicles which are part of a maintenance programme are proven to experience 20% fewer unplanned downtime days.

Enterprise uses a range of metrics for VOR, including tracking the percentage of fleet off the road and key-to-key time, it said.

Enterprise has produced an advice book on eight ways customers can reduce vehicle downtime and get more value from their commercial vehicle fleet.