Shine, a specialist in vehicle smart repairs, has ordered 16 more Mercedes-Benz Vitos for its fleet of mobile technicians.
The firm, which operates from headquarters in Derbyshire, provides a nationwide service in minor damage repairs with a team of 40 mobile technicians. It has also just invested £100,000 to open its first training academy and is forecasting a doubling of its turnover in the next three years.
Shine took delivery of 14 new vehicles last year from East Midlands dealer Mertrux, and has now ordered 16 more for 2017, a combination of extensions to the fleet and replacements for older vehicles which will then be stood down.
Shine’s vans have uprated axles and 3.05-tonne gross weights – up from the standard 2.77 tonnes – due to its need for increased payload capacity.
Fully racked out by Bott, the vehicles are fitted with generators and compressors. They also carry paint mixing systems and fillers, the small ‘marquees’ beneath which Shine’s technicians work on their customers’ cars, and extraction units.
Shine’s vans are also fitted with speed limiters as well as satellite navigation and tracking systems, and typically cover between 30,000 and 50,000 miles a year.
Managing director Dean Meadows said: “The Vito has always been supremely reliable for us, while the guys particularly enjoy the latest model because it is so comfortable and car-like to drive.
“We take advantage of funding support from Mercedes-Benz Financial Services, which is always very competitive, while Mertrux provides fantastic support. The dealer liaises with Bott and delivers the vehicles to its factory in Ashby-de-la-Zouch for the racking to be installed.
“The maintenance programme also runs very smoothly – Mertrux will either collect the vans direct from us when our staff are back at base for training, or we’ll send one of our sector managers out into the field to swap vehicles with the technician, who can then continue working while his own Vito is in the workshop.”
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