With a fleet of vehicles spread nationally across six depots, Bob Rudd were looking to achieve a much higher degree of control over their service, maintenance and repair (SMR) compliance, costs and quality accompanied by sensible, effective policies that applied across the whole fleet.
Who are Bob Rudd?
Bob Rudd Gaming and Amusement Machines were established in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1989 and is now one of the largest independent suppliers of products such as fruit machines, jukeboxes and pool tables in its sector, working with everyone from free trade pubs to national hospitality companies. The company describes itself as “a simple business built on solid standards that has just one service level – premium – and that’s given to everyone we work with, always.”
How large is the Bob Rudd fleet?
The company has 100 cars and 25 vans, spread nationally across six depots. They are managed by Paul Wiffen, fleet manager.
How did Bob Rudd deal with vehicle service, maintenance and repair (SMR) requirements before using Allstar ServicePoint?
Paul said: “SMR was very much dealt with on an ad hoc basis. Some of our leased vehicles had maintenance packages and others went to garages local to each of our depots. With the maintenance packages, the booking process wasn’t smooth and we had little control over where vehicles went and more importantly, what work was being authorised. As a result there was no central record of the maintenance histories for some vehicles.
“It was clear that we needed some kind of solution that would enable us to achieve a much higher degree of control over compliance, costs and quality accompanied by sensible, effective policies that applied across the whole fleet. When we discovered Allstar ServicePoint, it seemed like the right answer to all of these issues.”
What specific problems does ServicePoint solve for your business?
Paul said: “It has exceeded our expectations and there’s a whole list of advantages. Using the portal, we have visibility over all SMR bookings and we’re aware of the jobs that are taking place each week. We’ve got total control over the authorisation of work taking place and the spend for each job, including the ability to request further information from the garage before authorising or declining any identified maintenance work on each vehicle.
“Each job sheet is reviewed on the platform when it comes in from the garage as well as the invoices for each of the jobs completed – and linking the two is easy because the invoices only show work which we have already authorised. Finally, vehicle maintenance records are centralised online including service histories that can be examined to a high degree of detail, providing an auditable trail that shows we look after our cars and vans to very high standards.
“Essentially, what we now have is a very transparent online process that takes us from initial booking through to a single monthly invoice that covers all of our expenditure. It all works extremely effectively.”
How have drivers reacted to the changes?
Paul said: “Each driver now has a key fob that provides details for getting in touch with the Allstar ServicePoint booking hotline. When maintenance work is due on their vehicle, they call to make a booking for a convenient time and location.
“The new process has made life much easier for our employees. There are rules we have set about where vehicles can be serviced and these are followed for each booking – something that gives us another layer of control.”
What do you feel are the most beneficial and appealing aspects of ServicePoint? Have there been quantifiable benefits to Bob Rudd as a result?
Paul said: “The speed of bookings is much quicker and we have control over where they are made, cost savings have been realised through greater control over the authorisation of the work, the portal gives us direct access to communicating with the garage which means fewer emails and phone calls, and there is massively reduced administration because of the simple online process.
“What we have is a fleet that is costing us less to maintain, with better risk management, and a single portal that makes administration very easy indeed. Each element of our SMR procedures is now more efficient and this means that we simply have a better managed fleet - something we can see in everything from better controlled costs to reduced downtime and from improved compliance to massively simplified invoicing.”
Would you recommend ServicePoint to other businesses?
"Yes, very much so. We’ve moved from a situation where we had very little control over the cost and quality of our fleet SMR to one where we have easy and direct supervision via the online portal. A special mention must go to our Account Manager at Allstar ServicePoint, who has been very helpful. They have helped us set up the platform in exactly the way we need to achieve our objectives."
Download article
Related articles
or call
or call