A series of standards which will manage service, maintenance and repair business completed electronically between dealers and corporate fleets is being proposed.

The standards, developed by the 1link Customer Forum, are aimed at improving efficiency and customer service, and are hoped to be adopted nationally.

The system will benefit repairers by requiring fleets to respond to work authorisation requests within an average of 15 minutes, and ensuring they are issued with completed job sheets and invoices within five days. Emphasis will also be on repairers to respond to work bookings within 20 minutes on average, and submit online job sheets on the same day as work is completed.

George Reid, chairman of the forum, said: “The standards will help fleets, dealers and drivers to book and confirm service, maintenance and repair work more quickly and to process payment more rapidly.

“There are still some areas where the human element in the supply chain means processes are slower than they could be. This is why we have proposed these standards.”