What you’ve learnt in your 20+ years in fleet
In March this year I celebrated 25 years at Hitachi Capital. When I started out we had just 175 cars and there were only four of us, including a Japanese trainee. We now have 70,000 vehicles and 350 staff. So I’ve witnessed plenty of change and at the same time learnt that some things never change, such as giving excellent service leads to long term customer relationships. I’ve also learnt that a good team will always beat a collection of good individuals and a company is only as good as the people that work there. I have worked with some great people and I am pleased to say I still do!
Weathering the storm through recessions and RV collapses
I have experienced three recessions and my view is if you work with your customers, support each other and avoid the temptation of short term gains you will get through the tough times and both come out the other side. Competitive but sustainable pricing is another key element, which along with reacting quickly to changes helps limit the impact when RVs start to tumble.
Additionally, when times are tough there’s great pressure to cut costs and heads but if you can avoid the latter and engage employees with alternatives they will help get you through. I’ve read much research that shows companies that find ways to keep their staff rather than running wholesale redundancy programmes perform better through recessions than those that do shed staff.
What you learnt from buying the small vehicle portfolio in the mid-90s?
In short we didn’t do enough due-diligence. There was pressure on us to do the deal quickly and we found out subsequently that despite what contracts stated, they weren’t all being followed and there were side agreements with customers we weren’t aware of that came to bite us later on. Since then we’ve done eight acquisitions and they’ve all been successful. I like to look at deals from three angles. Firstly is it a strategic fit, secondly is there a cultural fit and thirdly, is the price right after we’ve conducted thorough due diligence?
Your experience of working for a dot-com firm and how it compares to the fleet market
One of the things I found in my time at a dot-com was the power of technology and the experience of a paperless office – a dream for most fleet offices! Although our industry has seen great progress with the use of technology, there is still some way to go. We need government departments like the DVLA and manufacturers to do away with archaic, paper based practices and embrace technology based solutions that support automation and EDI.
Personally speaking, the time outside of Hitachi Capital opened my eyes to e-business and the power of the web, underlined by our investment in recently launched and award-winning company car and grey fleet mobile solutions.
What keeps you up at night?
Not much keeps me awake at night if I am honest. I use my journey to work to mentally prepare and the journey home to download thoughts and file accordingly so I can unwind and relax. Having said that, economic crashes and subsequent RV collapses are pretty scary. It can be like staring over a widening and deepening chasm and can cause sleepless nights. However, having survived a few, in my experience they are never as bad as you think they will be and the industry always recovers.