Some dealerships may only have one person making fleet sales, moving cars, fuelling cars and delivering them.

Holdcroft Fleet has a dedicated fleet sales team who are out on the road visiting businesses, plus a separate delivery team and logistics team.

“It might look heavier in terms of cost due to head count, but we have minimised cost this way by compartmentalising the fleet operation away from the retail side of the business,”  said Pearson.

 

How delivering cars in bulk has saved money

Holdcroft took the decision to minimise the amount of separate trips it was making with delivery drivers in individual vehicles by making sure every delivery was from a lorry. It meant a higher up-front cost by purchasing the lorries to make the deliveries, but Pearson worked out that it would be more efficient.

Some dealers will employ a driver to drive the individual car to a fleet customer and then let them make their own way back. Using lorries also meant the hard work the valeting team put into cleaning the cars is not undone by driving them individually to the customer.

“We’re delivering in bulk, but it’s a personal service. It costs more in fuel, but cost per unit is driven down,” said Pearson.

This method reduced delivery costs by £56,000 on the equivalent number of deliveries and the efficiencies made within the business reduced costs by 44% despite an increase in head count and salaries.

“We have to compete with everyone else on fleet discounts. Where we try to differentiate ourselves is with the service to the customer and efficiency,” said Pearson.