ILC ARTICLE

The Vella Group Cuts Two Days From Repair Time With New Replacement Vehicle Programme

28th November 2019

The Vella Group revealed it has reduced its average vehicle repair time by around two days per repair by developing a more efficient and productive operation, facilitated by working with Enterprise Rent-A-Car to improve the provision of replacement vehicles to customers.

The Vella Group has adopted Enterprise’s Full Mobility Programme at all six of its bodyshops around the country to support around 11,000 qualifying repairs per year. This means that all its replacement vehicles and logistics are provided through local Enterprise rental branches.

The Group and Enterprise have worked together, focusing on ‘key to key’ times to reduce repair duration and vehicle hire periods. A key success factor has been the efficiencies created by deploying Enterprise’s suite of communications and rental management technology tools, which have enabled the reduction of two days on average.

Vella has also been able to redeploy admin and office employees whose time had previously been burdened with all of the processes required of managing such a large number of vehicles, from procurement and valeting, fuelling, fines and other day-to-day requirements, through to the eventual vehicle disposal.

The Group reports a number of other visible benefits as a result of introducing Enterprise’s Full Mobility Programme:

Work provision is now wholly based on bay and mechanic capacity rather than on courtesy car availability

The Vella Group has also been able to dispose of the fleet of several hundred courtesy cars required across its bodyshops to meet demand for mobility from customers

Admin employees are now re-focused on core bodyshop management work, and are no longer burdened with fleet management duties ranging from servicing, maintenance and cleaning to bookings, fines and damage claims

There is no longer a need to ‘double fleet’, when existing courtesy cars were being prepared for disposal while new vehicles were awaiting delivery.

As MD of one of the UK’s largest independent vehicle repair groups, Vella Group managing director Marc Holding believes that bodyshops across the UK could benefit by rethinking provision of replacement vehicles with a provider like Enterprise.

Marc Holding said:“Partnering with Enterprise to rethink how we provide customers with the mobility they need began with the realisation that the larger we grew, the more we were essentially becoming a rental car business. We were managing several hundred vehicles instead of focusing on repair.
“We’ve done more than replace a courtesy car from us with a rental car from Enterprise. Because Enterprise supports work providers directly, who are booking cars on the same software platform, they are able to provide mobility at the most logical and efficient point after an accident – which isn’t necessarily when the vehicle comes into one of our bodyshops. This means we are only providing a car to a customer through Enterprise when that is the right decision and a vehicle hasn’t been provided elsewhere.
“The costs we’ve reduced with the Full Mobility Programme are only the tip of the iceberg. We no longer spend time procuring, managing and off-hiring a large fleet of vehicles as Enterprise does all that for us. We know our customers will always have access to a car because Enterprise’s branches have thousands of them for hire exactly when they’re needed.
“Enterprise looks after our customers exactly as we would, and we work in partnership to ensure excellent customer service. Our Net Promoter Scores have actually increased since we began working with Enterprise and the customer feedback has been very positive. We’ve recognised that Enterprise’s role in the repair process is to deliver mobility. Ours is to deliver repairs.”

David Dickson, head of bodyshop at Enterprise UK & Ireland, said: “Mobility is an essential aspect of the service that motorists expect after they’ve had an accident. We created the Full Mobility Programme to enable repairers to ensure their customers get a replacement car in the most efficient way possible, so as to reduce cost and admin overhead as well as driving down repair days.
“This means bodyshops can deliver 100% on their customer’s expectation that they will be provided with mobility while their vehicle is being repaired. At the same time, the programme frees up capital and time and enables bodyshops to focus on their core business, which is repairing cars.
“The Vella Group’s experience can be replicated by any bodyshop that’s looking to provide excellent customer service while streamlining the business and improving performance. We worked closely together to ensure its employees are no longer burdened with any of the tasks relating to hiring and managing vehicles.”

With a network of more than 470 branches located within 10 miles of almost 95% of the UK population, Enterprise has the network, vehicles, expertise and customer service commitment to serve bodyshop customers anywhere in the UK.

As the company’s state of the art booking and communications platforms are used by work providers and repairers as well as many other organisations in the collision repair ecosystem, Enterprise can ensure that a replacement vehicle is provided at the exact moment that the customer requires mobility. Enterprise is also proactive in ensuring that vehicles are returned quickly when the repair is concluded to drive greater efficiencies throughout the supply chain.

ENDS

For more information, please contact:

Anil Haji

T: 07714 719 416

E: anil.haji@theheromachine.com

Deborah Lewis

T: 07710 344370

E: deborah.lewis@theheromachine.com

About Enterprise

Enterprise Holdings, Inc., manages the largest and most diverse privately-owned fleet in the world through an integrated network of more than 10,000 fully staffed neighbourhood and airport rental locations. This global network of independent regional subsidiaries and franchises also operates the Enterprise Rent-A-Car brand – as well as the National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car brands – in 100 countries and territories. Combined, Enterprise Holdings and its affiliate Enterprise Fleet Management, which currently manage more than 2 million vehicles and employ 100,000 worldwide, accounted for $25.9 billion in revenue in fiscal year 2019. In the UK, Enterprise has branches and vehicles within 10 miles of 93% of the UK population (Experian).

Enterprise provides a range of mobility products and services through:

Enterprise Rent-A-Car – offers daily rental for private and business use as well as replacement vehicles for the insurance sector. In the UK, the company began operation in 1994 and now operates more than 470 locations across the country and has 5,000+ employees.

Enterprise Car Club – is one of the UK’s largest car clubs, which allows members 24/7 access to vehicles by the hour or more. The range includes vans, electric cars and hybrids, which can be accessed from 90+ branches and more than 1,100 on-street locations in more than 170 cities and communities throughout the UK.

Enterprise Flex-E-Rent – supplies a range of cars, light commercial vehicles and HGVs, including refrigerated vehicles and accessible transport under short- and long-term agreements to UK businesses from 24 locations in the UK.