Fleets are most likely to use independent rather than franchise garages in the East of England and least likely in Wales, new figures from Epyx show.
Almost two-thirds (62%) of service, maintenance and repair (SMR) jobs completed for fleets in the East of England occurred in independents, with the remaining 38% being handled by franchise dealers.
This was followed by Scotland (59% independent); West Midlands 59%; East Midlands 58%; London 55%; Yorkshire and the Humber 53%; South West 52%; the North West 52%; Northern Ireland 52%; North East 51%; South East 50%; and finally Wales with the lowest figure of 46%.
The regional variation was revealed through Epyx’s 1link Service Network SMR platform, used by fleets totalling more than four million vehicles, and the data covers the period between January 2024 and 9 March 2025.
Tim Meadows, CCO at Epyx, said the wide regional variations were, to some extent, unexpected.
“It would seem sensible to suggest that the high use of independents in the East of England might be due to relatively few franchise dealers being available in an area that remains largely rural – but Wales has the lowest use of independents and is a similar kind of region in those respects.
“Instead, it seems likely that the patterns being seen in the data across the UK are based not just on local factors but the preferences of fleets when it comes to their individual SMR policies, and the type and age of vehicles they operate. We know, for example, that both older vehicles and vans are more likely to be maintained at independents, while newer prestige cars are normally serviced by franchise dealers.”
Other data splits revealed from 1link Service Network show that 44% of company car SMR jobs overall are handled by independents compared to 72% of vans. Also, 32% of hybrid vehicle jobs use independents, 42% electric vehicles and 62% petrol and diesel.
Meadows added: “Some of these trends can largely be explained by fleet policies, which are often influenced by the preferences of the used market and their influence on residual values. Used car buyers are generally reassured by the presence of a franchise dealer service history, while van buyers are much less concerned about where a vehicle has been maintained.
“It’s also interesting to note that 42% of maintenance jobs for EVs are being undertaken by independents. Of course, some of these will be general maintenance work that is common to all types of vehicles, but the data does suggest that the independent sector are gearing up to offer fleets a range of EV SMR services, something that we also hear in anecdotal feedback.”
