The company operates a fleet of around 240 commercial vehicles and 110 cars throughout the UK and first appointed Fleet Alliance two years ago to source all new vehicles using its competitive tendering to reduce fleet acquisition costs.
Following a successful two-year relationship, Europa has now decided to outsource all aspects of the management of its fleet to Fleet Alliance in a new three-year contract that will see the entire fleet replaced during that time.
Within Europa’s commercial vehicle fleet, which is used by maintenance management personnel to fulfil contracts at clients’ properties around the UK, Fleet Alliance has recently replaced 135 vehicles in a single order, comprising 71 Citroen Berlingos, 39 Citroen Dispatch models and 25 Astra estates.
Under the new outsourcing arrangement, Fleet Alliance will be responsible for all day-to-day fleet administration, including invoice consolidation, licence checking, motoring offences, insurance updates, servicing and MOT reminders and damage disputes.
Fleet Alliance will also provide support, liaison and communication for Europa company car and van drivers, including introducing a new starter process and handling all driver queries, mileage reporting, tax discs and unallocated vehicles.
The company will also be responsible for providing hire cars as required and the management of the existing legacy fleet and Europa’s 70 grey fleet vehicles.
Europa vans are operated on contract hire with three year/60,000 mile contracts, while the cars are also operated for three years but on individually tailored mileage contracts to avoid excess mileage charges.
Fleet Alliance will continue to employ competitive tendering for each new vehicle through a panel of preferred lenders to select the most cost-effective quotes on the client’s behalf.
In addition all of the Europa fleet will be managed through Fleet Alliance’s online e-fleet fleet management system, which allows the entire fleet to be managed from one central point and offers an extensive and comprehensive suite of reports.
Greig Brown, chief executive of Europa, said: ‘‘Fleet Alliance’s service levels and their ability to reduce costs have been big factors in our decision to extend the relationship. Using Fleet Alliance means we no longer have to predict our future fleet needs, while their astute approach maximises the potential of our fleet and achieves full value for money.’
