The Cambridge-based, family-owned business runs a fleet of around 114 cars and 19 3.5 tonne panel vans and also has a commercial fleet of some 100 heavy goods vehicles and 25 trailers, plus a further 150 forklift trucks.
Prior to appointing CLM, the company purchased all its vehicles outright and managed all aspects of the fleet operation inhouse including disposal.
However, the company wanted to reduce fleet operating costs, improve processes and increase efficiency across its fleet and so appointed CLM to manage all in-life aspects of the fleet. The contract includes vehicle sourcing, invoice and supplier management, service, maintenance and repair and disposal, as well as provide accident management services across the whole car and LCV fleet.
Alistair Brace, general manager support services at Ridgeons, said: ‘The changes they have made in a short space of time have been significant and have freed up time for us internally to focus on other issues. CLM now uses its buying power to source our vehicles, and handles all fleet administration so that, rather than seeing hundreds of invoices every months, we now see just one or two consolidated invoices.
‘They also handle all our service, maintenance and repair work and use a network of independent garages where possible to help reduce our SMR costs,’ he said
CLM typically utilises a network of franchised and independent garages and, through careful invoice management and cost control, is usually able to reduce SMR costs for its clients by 8-10%.
Brace continued: ‘CLM have also brought their expertise to bear on our vehicle disposals and we are seeing some uplift in the prices achieved through the used car trading platform that they use.
‘And they have also taken control of our accident management, which we used to handle ourselves. Now they are the first point of call for our drivers when they have an accident, and handle all aspects of the incident, including liaison with the insurers, repair garages and hire car suppliers, to get our drivers back on the road as quickly as possible,’ he said.
‘We also have our own dedicated customer relationship manager, Emma Walsh, who has been brilliant in handling all problems or queries that we may have,’ he added.
