Category: Servicing and Maintenance

Managing Director of Fuel Card Services, Denise Frost, continues her drive to deliver “a one-stop solution for complete fleet management” by launching another of the company’s portfolio services: MyService.Expert.

MyService.Expert gives fleet managers and drivers direct and easy access to a nationwide garage network offering competitive savings on fleet servicing, maintenance, repairs, and MOTs. The service is pay-as-you-go, is already saving fleets up to 30% on parts and labour, and is accessible from any location.

Better service

MyService.Expert comprises a suite of valuable services to save fleets of all sizes time and money. And it’s added value help is proving particularly popular with overworked managers. This includes: consolidated fuel and maintenance invoices, monthly reporting, and vehicle service histories viewable online.

Better savings

In addition to savings of up to 30% on parts and labour, fleets and drivers can save on a wide range of other servicing and maintenance work including tyre replacements or repairs. MyService.Expert’s network of garages offering these discounts covers the UK – with no joining fee, no minimum contract, and no minimum number of vehicles. Better still, the discounted rates are pre-negotiated for ease of transaction.

Better security

Reassurance is paramount, and MyService.Expert delivers. Costs are approved online, using a secure online system. Costings are validated by manufacturer data and work is approved directly with each garage. Users even receive calendar alerts so they don’t miss important servicing and MOT deadlines.

Your one-stop fleet solution

MyService.Expert is just one of a series of added-value products collected within My Fleet Hub, the comprehensive new online portal. Leveraging years of specialist experience within the automotive industry, and based on deep research into what fleet managers and drivers really need, My Fleet Hub delivers better service, savings and security for fleets of any size – all in one place.  Look out for more innovative products coming soon.

 

Find out more about MyService.Expert by calling 03334 140416 or visiting www.myservice.expert

 

UK fleet operators must ensure they place tyre maintenance high on the agenda for managing vehicle and driver safety.

This is the opinion of fleet management specialist Venson Automotive Solutions.

Vehicle safety should always be top of the list

“Ensuring fleet driver safety should always be at the top of the agenda for any business, but it’s easy to overlook how important regular tyre checks are,” explained operations director of Venson Gil Kelly.

“These should be at the core of any tyre management policy, with staff trained to frequently carry out necessary checks, including tyre pressure, tread depth and damage.”

Indeed, to effectively promote better tyre safety among employees, companies should ensure staff understand the legal limit for tread depth (2mm), as well as the specific pressure ranges for their tyres – these can differ depending upon the type of load for the vehicle.

Ms Kelly concluded fleet managers should also engage with their tyre supplier to carry out regular on-site checks of vehicles, as well as undertaking proactive vehicle maintenance to anticipate any potential issues with tyres and to have sufficient stock for replacements, if needed.

Companies are reminded that failure to regularly assess tyre wear and tear can lead to a significant increase in the risk of a vehicle being involved in an accident.

Finally, businesses are also advised to fit all-season tyres to their vehicles, as this will cut down on the expense and hassle of storing and changing winter tyres when they are not required.

Ellie Baker, brand manager at Fuel Card Services, comments: “Tyre safety is an important aspect of proper vehicle maintenance and it’s an area that companies should not be tempted to neglect.”

Keep up with vehicle maintenance and ensure driver safety with MyDriveSafe.Expert, now available from within My Fleet Hub!

Spring is upon us and that means an end to wintry weather, freezing temperatures and frosty nights and mornings.That said, spring presents another raft of issues for motorists to overcome.

As a result, IAM RoadSmart has offered a series of top tips on how to stay safe and enjoy a more relaxed driving experience now the warmer weather is here.

Lose the weight

The weather’s getting warmer and that means there’s no longer any need to pack those emergency coats, bags, scarves and gloves that take up room in the car. Doing away with this excess weight can be a great fuel saver and be a welcome boost for drivers in spring.

Enhance your vision

With lighter mornings and evenings, now is the perfect time to give the car a proper once over. While clear vision is important all year around, when the low evening sun begins to create glare in the spring, it pays to keep the windscreen completely streak free so as to minimise its distracting impact.

Clean the car’s filters

With warmer weather comes the chance for more pollen in the air, and that can be bad news for sufferers of hay fever. As such, drivers should take the time to spring clean not just the interior of their vehicle, but the car’s filters too.

IAM’s head of driving and riding standards Richard Gladman concluded: “In conjunction with other spring cleaning treat your car, the efforts to wash and polish it will last a bit longer now the winter salt has gone.”

He added that a little spring cleaning can be a perfect Sunday morning pastime at this time of year.

Ellie Baker, brand manager at Fuel Card Services, comments: “Cleaning out the car and preparing for the warmer months to come should be high on the priority list for all motorists in the weeks ahead.”

Although the sun is still shining, the chilly mornings are starting to creep in. My Fleet Hub has some support to get your car maintenance in winter in shape, and with advice from the Institute of Advance Motoring to prepare your cars and fleet.

It’s important to keep the windscreen clean

Try to get scratches, abrasions and chips fixed as colder temperatures can make the damage worse. Keep the windscreen washer topped up with a more concentrated screen wash mix to ensure it doesn’t freeze in action. And don’t forget your de-icer

Check tyres

The legal limit of a tread depth may be 1.6mm but anything under 3mm will see a potential fall off in grip and braking performance.

Planning for really bad weather can take a lot of time and thought. We understand that managing a commercial fleet is more challenging than ever. That’s why we are introducing a free, one-stop solution to deal with the never-ending list of problems you face: MyService.Expert is a service, maintenance and repair dashboard where you can manage any work, including MOT that needs to be conducted on your vehicles.

For a pre-winter check up, why not try it? Car maintenance in winter is crucial. It just takes three steps to register and it’s completely free to book any of the integrated services included in the system, to help service, maintain and repair your fleet. Once your vehicles details are in place, the user-friendly dashboard allows access to a nationwide garage network with great savings on fleet servicing, maintenance, repairs and MOTs, at the right price for your vehicle.

There is no joining fee, plus you can save a lot of money on tyre replacements too, this winter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the meantime, here are eight essential tips to improve your car maintenance in winter:

1. It’s always best to keep an ice-scraper and can of de-icer in your vehicle as the British weather is so unpredictable, and can be sunny one day and frosty the next.
2. Carry an empty fuel can with you. Don’t carry a full or partially full one as this is a fire hazard and if it has recently had fuel in it, flammable vapour may still be present.
3. You never know when you’ll need a first aid kit, so keeping one in the boot of your car is always handy for either yourself, or another road user if you’re first on scene at an accident.
4. If you’ve broken down on the side of the road, the last thing you want is to be cold and unable to see your way around the dark. That’s why we advise drivers to always keep a torch and set of batteries in their vehicle, along with warm clothes, a blanket and a high visibility jacket. And don’t forget food and drink to stop your energy levels from dropping – bottled water is a must.
5. The battery on a car can go flat at any time. Make sure your vehicles have a set of jump leads so your driver can start your engine with help from another driver’s vehicle.
6. Keep a spare pair of sturdy shoes with a good grip. You’ll need these to turn the wheel brace when changing a tyre, or to push your car if you’ve broken down, or even just to change shoes if there’s a sudden weather change.
7. An item that’s often overlooked is the reflective warning triangle. This gives you extra security for a number of reasons such as breaking down in the dark. Put it out in accordance with the rule from the Highway code 274 which advises to “put a warning triangle on the road at least 45 metres (147 feet) behind your broken-down vehicle on the same side of the road, or use other permitted warning devices if you have them. Always take great care when placing or retrieving them, but never use them on motorways.”
8. Last but not least a quick survival kit in the boot. Spare clothes, a torch, mobile phone charger, some emergency rations such as water, chocolate and a tow rope and shovel to help yourself and others.

Car maintenance in winter can be tricky, but, with these steps, we hope you can get prepared in time.

The UK's youngest drivers are showing the greatest affinity for vehicle maintenance, with half of 17 to 24-year-olds claiming they could carry out basic car maintenance themselves.

Research by insurer LV= has shown how 50 per cent of young drivers are confident enough to do this, compared to just 31 per cent of older motorists.

LV= claimed the can-do attitude of today's young drivers is helping to ensure they are able to fix many minor issues with their vehicles themselves, helping to save them time and money,  before these problems grow into big ones.

Responding to the research, Tony Hill, operations and compliance manager at Gemini Accident Repair Centres, commented: "Every driver should have a basic level of car maintenance knowledge, such as how to check the engine oil or assess the tyre wear.

"This is primarily important for safety, but it could also help motorists save money by spotting easily fixable repairs early on."

Common tasks that all drivers should be able to complete include the aforementioned checking of tyres for wear and tear, but also the knowledge of how to keep them properly inflated, as well as the importance of clean windows and mirrors to ensure full visibility, and checking your lights before embarking on any journey.

Ben Robb, brand manager at The Fuelcard People, commented: "It really is positive to see more and more young drivers are becoming confident regarding the maintenance of their vehicle.

"We now want to see more people, across all generations, developing the skills and positive attitude that will help to make the nation's vehicles safer and better maintained all-round."