SMS Energy saved £19,000 last year using FleetCheck technology to assess short term hire vehicles during collection and delivery.
The energy infrastructure provider employs the Driver vehicle walkaround check app to record existing vehicle damage, with all images time-stamped, allowing incorrect recharges to be successfully challenged.
Yvonne Cannon, fleet manager, said: “Real-time photographic evidence at the point of hire or return helps protect the business, enabling us to validate or reject any third-party damage claims with a high degree of confidence.”
Peter Golding, CEO at FleetCheck, said: “We’re seeing our technology used increasingly for these kinds of rental checks. Following the pandemic, there has been a general ageing of short-term hire fleets with vehicle damage and condition becoming more of an issue as a result. The app reduces friction between fleets and their suppliers and reduces costs.”
SMS also uses Driver to report any accidents on its 561 car and van fleet, with a 79% first notice of loss rate that allows faster claims processing, better collection of evidence and an increased opportunity for fraud prevention.
Yvonne said: “Prompt incident reporting is essential and our insurer describes this as a best-in-class statistic. It demonstrates to them that we take risk management seriously and translates directly into lower premiums.”
Based in Glasgow with operations across the whole of the UK, SMS first adopted FleetCheck’s fleet management software to manage its vehicle operations more than a decade ago.
Yvonne said: “When I took over the fleets across the various divisions, they were all managed on separate spreadsheets, which was incredibly labour-intensive. We needed a centralised system to bring all of our data together. FleetCheck was first introduced to us over 10 years ago, and it provided the solution we were looking for — enabling us to consolidate our data and manage our vehicles, drivers, and assets both effectively and efficiently.
“We regularly use the system to generate full vehicle reports that verify driver assignments, identify standing vehicles, monitor those off-the-road, review any due for off-hire, manage our grey fleet, check fuel use, process penalty charge notices and much more. It serves as a comprehensive tool for all of our operational needs.”
Peter added: “SMS are a textbook example of what can be achieved using fleet management software in terms of safety, compliance, cost reduction and operational efficiency.”
