Fleet safety and van lead times

Van manufacturers are warning of van lead times extending up to one year for some commercial vehicles as they continue to struggle with the impact of global supply chain disruption.

Fleet News recently reported that the industry’s Association of Fleet Professionals (AFP) described delays as ‘a nightmare’.

For companies, flexible hire will be a vital way to meet their vehicle needs in the face of disruption, but risk management is equally important so fleets can protect their current vehicles and keep them on the road.

Every time a driver is involved in a crash, it increases pressure throughout the supply chain, especially when it means cars or vans are written off.

In 2020, there were more than 2 million insurance claims following crashes, with business motor insurance claims reaching nearly £10 million every day.

However, the cost of crashes doesn’t just involve repairing bent metal or sourcing new vehicles. Analysts suggest the hidden costs of work-related road crashes can be 10-20 times more than the figure in an insurance claim, as businesses are indirectly impacted by lost working time, reduced efficiency, missed targets and a variety of other disruptive problems, such as the long-term cost of any injuries. 

This could involve physical injuries to employees or the mental health impact of being involved in a collision where someone else was injured. In 2020, 15,000 people were injured in crashes involving cars and vans being driven for work.

Reflex Vehicle Hire is committed to providing ‘Safety as Standard’ by ensuring vehicles are fitted with the equipment and technology that prevents crashes from happening.

Our award-winning Driive with Reflex modular risk management service includes vehicle speed limiters, dashcams and telematics as part of a suite of safety technology.

The FlexicamPlus vehicle camera and telemetry system has a high-definition camera, live recording and an incident alert feature which can update managers about driving dangers on the road before crashes occur, so they can introduce training to prevent them.

In addition to reducing replacement vehicle requirements, the technology can also slash fleet operating costs.

In one case, a Reflex Vehicle Hire customer was able to cut crashes by 50% and average incident costs by 80% using our technology.

You can see more about the impact of our innovative approach in our extensive library of case studies.

Risk management is just one part of the wide range of services available from Reflex Vehicle Hire.

To discuss your transport needs and how to keep vehicles and drivers safe from harm, contact one of our expert team members.

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