Author: Simon Pavey

Use forces to keep your car in good health

Use FORCES to keep your car in good health

Posted on | by Simon Pavey

To ensure your car is in the best condition and running as reliably as possible at all times, it’s wise to carry out regular checks and basic maintenance.

If you want to keep up with the most essential jobs, simply remember FORCES, which stands for

  • Fuel
  • Oil
  • Rubber
  • Coolant
  • Electrics
  • Screen wash

Fuel

As basic and obvious as it sounds, you should always be 100 per cent sure you have enough fuel to reach your destination, especially when driving in remote and rural areas. This will help you avoid breaking down and having to make any long treks to petrol stations to fill up a fuel can.

Oil

Many people forget to conduct regular oil checks. If you’re in this group, you run the risk of your oil falling to dangerously low levels, which can result in breakdowns and also cause severe engine damage. Use the dipstick supplied in your engine to check your oil is between the minimum and maximum recommended levels.

Rubber

There are two main types of rubber you should check frequently: your tyres and your wiper blades. The tread depth on your tyres should be at least 1.6mm, and it’s also a good idea to look for general wear and tear, splits and bulges.

Keep an eye on your wiper blades to see if the rubber is split or worn down and the wipers need replacing.

Coolant

Maintaining the right level of coolant in the engine helps you to reduce the risk of mechanical parts freezing or overheating. It’s wise to check this before setting off on any long journey.

Electrics

All cars have electrical parts of some description, including essential components like the headlights, fog lights and battery. Carrying out regular checks – like making sure all lights are working and the battery terminals are clean and tight – will help to maintain your car’s reliability and safety.

Screen wash

Keeping your screen wash topped up at all times is vital if you want to be a safe and responsible driver. It’s a very basic and easy job, but an important one to ensure you always have maximum visibility through the front and rear windscreens.

 

For more difficult and complicated tasks, it’s usually best to turn to the professionals. MyService.Expert from Fuel Card Services can help you ensure your car is properly maintained by giving you access to thousands of garages nationwide.

photo of the countryside with some turbines and trees drawn on in green

Neutralise your fleet’s emissions with BP Target Neutral

Posted on | by Simon Pavey

For fleets conscious of their carbon footprint, BP offers an environmentally friendly package for BP Fuel Card users. This offer monitors carbon emissions, and then seamlessly integrates data with a carbon management programme available through the BP Target Neutral scheme.

BP Target Neutral for fuel cards make it easy for all types of fleets to neutralise the residual carbon emissions left behind by their vehicles. Drivers simply present their fuel card at filling stations then we automatically make calculations, reports, invoices and take the necessary actions to assess and neutralise the carbon emissions. We take care of everything to make carbon neutral driving an achievable target, so you can improve both the environment and your company’s reputation.

  • Track. Software collects and analyses fuel card data showing individual vehicle carbon emissions.
  • Reduce. Online training facilities improve fleet driver skills, so they become more fuel efficient.
  • Neutralise. Automatically offset all remaining fleet carbon emissions to achieve ‘Carbon Neutral’ status.

If going carbon neutral is an issue of increasing importance to you, then BP Target Neutral package for fuel cards is the simplest and easiest way forward for your fleet. It is available to both large companies with a sizable fleet and smaller businesses with only a few vehicles.

If you want to start saving your diesel & petrol bills, then look no further than our own BP fuelcard, for more information, click here: https://www.fuelcardservices.com/brand-bp/

Great staff give clients a boost

CIBC: Great staff give our clients a boost

Posted on | by Simon Pavey

Providing the best level of customer service is a top aim of Fuel Card Services, so to hear from happy clients about the great things that our staff get up to is always good news.

One such client to be pleased as punch with the efforts of our team is Staffordshire-based Commercial Interior Building Contractors (CIBC).

 

Giving our all to support our customers

Lisa Hill, director at CIBC, recently contacted us to give us the lowdown on how happy her company has been with the support of their account manager Donna.

“She is a very friendly and happy person, you feel like you are talking to a friend rather than talking to a supplier,” Lisa commented.

She continued that “Donna is very professional and efficient” and added it is always “a pleasure to speak with her”. She even went as far as describing Donna as a “gem”.

Helping our customers to resolve their problems and make the most of our service is always high on our list of priorities, so to hear about the sterling support that Donna has been providing is music to our ears.

CIBC specialises in the refurbishment of commercial office space across the UK and has a monthly spend of approximately £600 on fuel. The firm makes use of the UK Fuels, Certas and Allstar fuel cards for its fleet of two vehicles.

Ellie Baker, brand manager at Fuel Card Services, comments: “Donna has done a fantastic job in helping to support CIBC, but this is far from an isolated case. We always do our best to go above and beyond when it comes to supporting our clients and meeting their fuel card needs.”

Telematics boost safety and efficiency for fleets

Telematics ‘boost safety and efficiency’ for fleets

Posted on | by Simon Pavey

Safety and security should always be a top priority for fleet operators, while enhancing the efficiency of your vehicles and drivers can only help to improve your bottom line.

As a result, it’s important for organisations operating any type of fleet to have full visibility into how their vehicles and trailers are being managed, stored and secured. This is where telematics could prove to be a crucial step forward for many businesses.

Security and peace of mind for fleet managers

Often, fleet operators will have vehicles out on the roads for a prolonged period, perhaps for days or weeks at a time. As a result, they can quickly become a target for criminals if they are not parked in highly-secure locations.

Unfortunately, vehicle theft remains a lucrative trade for criminals up and down the country, with figures from Verizon Connect showing the typical UK business has at least one vehicle stolen each year, with a resulting cost on average of £16,253.

Verizon Connect spokesperson Derek Bryan commented: “For many businesses across the UK, vehicles and the equipment inside are their livelihood – theft represents a huge cost. Fleet and business managers need to be extra vigilant.”

The ability to easily track the location and status of any vehicle within your fleet can therefore provide crucial in ensuring tighter security of loads, staff and vehicles themselves, and this is where telematics can play a crucial role.

Telematics devices can even be calibrated to immobilise a vehicle should it be targeted by criminals. In this way, people and loads can be more secure; it can also act as a significant deterrent if thieves know they won’t be going far and are more likely to be caught.

 

Improved efficiency through vehicle tracking

Knowing precisely where your vehicles are located at all times can be a great benefit that allows fleet operators to maximise the efficiency of deliveries and always be up to date with where their vehicles are at.

Whether it’s informing customers about the status of their goods and providing updated arrival times, through to tracking your vehicles to ensure members of staff are taking the most efficient route when faced with possible traffic and delays, telematics devices can be crucial in saving time and expense, both for the business and drivers themselves.

Built-in telematics can also help to monitor things like fuel consumption and driver behaviour, meaning there is always data available to help to provide best practice training to staff in terms of making their journeys as efficient as possible.

This, in turn, can lead to lower costs and safer journeys all around, making it a win-win in our eyes.

Jenny Smith, general manager for Tele-Gence, commented: “As we’ve discussed, in-vehicle telematics can be a powerful tool for fleet managers to both boost efficiency and the safety/security of their vehicles. Have you considered the use of this technology for your vehicles?”

 

Your business can benefit from affordable telematics with no hidden start-up fees or long-term commitments. Find out how at www.tele-gence.com

Get your car checked to avoid these common accidents

Get your car checked to avoid these common accidents

Posted on | by Simon Pavey

The top priority for all drivers should be to stay safe on the roads, and to do that you have to know that your car is roadworthy and reliable.

Recent research has highlighted the most common driving accidents and collisions, and underlined why it’s particularly important to get your car checked at this time of year.

Bumps and bangs

According to research by Privilege Car Insurance, the most common type of collision on January 16th (the most hazardous driving day of the year, with an incident every 8.6 seconds) is a hit to the rear of your vehicle.

This is followed by:

  • A single-vehicle incident
  • Someone hitting your car when it’s parked
  • A collision when turning
  • Hitting an object like a lamppost or bollard
  • A pile-up involving two or more cars

The findings also showed that models made by two of the most common car marques seen on UK roads – Ford and Vauxhall – are the most likely to be involved in a collision of some sort, followed by Audis, Volkswagen vehicles and BMWs.

January 16th was singled out as the most hazardous day of the year as far as road accidents are concerned, but January 13th, January 18th, November 30th and December 5th also see particularly high numbers of bumps and prangs.

This underlines how important it is to carry out basic safety checks on your car during the winter months.

Simple precautions

It’s a good idea to take your car to a garage to make sure everything is up to standard and working as it should be at this time of year.

If you haven’t had your headlight bulbs replaced for a long time, for example, you run the risk of a fault occurring while you’re driving. Given the limited daylight hours in the winter, it’s vital all of your lights are working properly so other drivers can see you on the road.

Getting your brakes tested and your tyre tread depth measured is also important so you have maximum control over your vehicle in wet and icy conditions.

With regular servicing, maintenance and MOTs available from thousands of garages nationwide, MyService.Expert from Fuelcard Services can help you ensure your car is safe and ready to drive at all times of the year.