Fleet Management Info for First Flexi Lease Customers
Below you will find useful information about the vehicles you have on fleet, including breakdown assistance telephone numbers, vehicle return standards, excess mileage charges, servicing requirements, our out of Programme vehicle policy, AdBlue advice, defleet procedures and tips on how to minimise your outgoing costs and charges.
Breakdown Assistance Phone Numbers:
0800 699 999
00800 1777 7777
0800 777 111
0800 294 0294
08000 72 72 72
0800 051 7863
0203 564 4444
0800 085 8005
0800 980 2733
01628 450 660
0800 521 786
0844 701 6201
0800 015 8762
0800 777 116
0844 701 6201
0800 777 192
End of Life Repair Costs
In accordance with your Lease Agreement, vehicles must be returned to the above Return Standards. If vehicles are not, then First Flexi Lease shall notify you of the costs that will be incurred for First Flexi Lease to bring them up to the required standard on your behalf, in the form of a costed inspection. A matrix is used to produce the inspection estimate. Please see below the two matrices used, to enable you to charge your customers accordingly to cover the cost of the end of life repair.
Excess Mileage & Excess Rental Charges
Vehicle Servicing Requirements and Return Standards
It is essential that Customers closely monitor the service requirements for all vehicles currently on fleet and ensure that vehicles are serviced to the manufacturer’s guidelines, that the service book is appropriately stamped, and that receipts kept to provide on request.
Please refer to the vehicle handbook with the car or go to the vehicle menu, which provides a countdown in days or miles to the next service, if you are unsure about the service requirements for individual vehicles. Please note that in most cases services should be carried out by a main dealer with genuine manufacturer parts required. As an exception to this clause, if the vehicle is a Volvo taken on a 9 month/18k mile term, the vehicle must be serviced in the Volvo dealer network.
Any vehicle which has not been serviced within the manufacturer’s guidelines, or has exceeded a service interval by 500 miles or more, will be deemed out of programme and our Out of Programme Vehicle Policy will apply, whereby the Customer will be required to purchase the vehicle at the buyback price or market value, whichever is higher. Full details of our Out of Programme Vehicle Policy can be found below.
Any vehicle which is overdue a service but by less than 500 of the manufacturer’s guideline will attract a missed service penalty of £500 plus the cost of the service.
Out of Programme Vehicle Policy
If a vehicle is returned in the below circumstances, it will be deemed to be out of programme and the below policy applies.
- Returned 45 days or more after the Lease Termination date stated on the vehicle Lease Schedule
- In excess of the maximum mileage limit stated on the vehicle Lease Schedule
- Damage value exceeding £3,000
- Damage to a structural panel that requires replacement of that panel
- Is not serviced in accordance with the manufacturers guidelines and invalidating the warranty
At this point the Customer will be required to immediately purchase the vehicle at either the Manufacturer’s or Dealer’s agreed buyback price or market value, whichever is the greater. The market value is calculated as 100% of CAP Clean as at the date the vehicle goes out of programme with a mileage equal to the free Lease Mileage Allowance. Excess rental charges remain due until the date First Flexi Lease agree the vehicle is out of programme, in accordance with the charging structure detailed on the Lease Schedule.
The Customer must notify First Flexi Lease of the details for where the invoice should be addressed (either to the Customer of their funder) and First Flexi Lease will raise the invoice within 7 days of the out of programme date and payment is due within 14 days of the date of invoice.
If payment is not received within 14 days, First Flexi Lease reserves the right to make a Late Payment Charge of 3% over Barclays Bank Plc Base Rate to cover the period from the out of programme date to the date the payment is received.
If on the outset of being out of programme the Customer is unable to raise the funds to purchase the vehicles, First Flexi Lease reserve the right to dispose of the vehicle and charge the Customer any shortfall against the buyback price or the market value provided to the Customer at the date the vehicle goes out of programme, plus an administration fee of £250 + VAT. The vehicle would go through our standard defleet process and any associated charges would be chargeable to the Customer as in any normal defleet process. Excess rental and excess mileage charges would be applicable to the date the vehicle is made available and at the odometer reading at the time of inspection.
Any variation to this Out of Programme process is at the absolute discretion of First Flexi Lease.
Defleet Tips Intoduction
To help maximise the profitability of your business, it is vital that you manage your defleet processes carefully to ensure you minimize your costs and avoid any unnecessary costs.
What are Defleet Costs?
Defleet costs are any costs that you incur after you have returned your vehicle to us. There are 5 categories of costs:-
- Excess rentals
- Excess mileage charges
- Damage repair costs
- Missed Service Penalties
- Charges for Missing Items
Minimising Excess Rental Charges
Vehicles returned late often incur higher lease costs and ultimately vehicles may have to be purchased if they are returned significantly late (i.e. later than the out of programme date). To minimise costs:-
- Ensure you are aware of defleet dates.
- Make sure vehicles are grounded in good time to allow you to prepare the vehicle for inspection. If you know a vehicle is damaged and needs repairing, allow extra time for this to happen.
- Ensure replacement vehicles are ordered in good time, especially if you are ordering a specific replacement vehicle for a specific customer.
Minimising Excess Mileage Charges
To minimise excess mileage costs:-
- Monitor mileages throughout the life of a vehicle.
- Swap around vehicles if a customer is regularly doing high mileage.
- Consider sub contracting in vehicles for hires which are planning to do particularly high mileage.
- Ground vehicles early if the excess mileage penalty charges are extremely high or will cause the vehicle to go out of programme.
Minimising Damage Repair Costs
To control costs in this area:-
- Carefully inspect vehicles at the *start and end of rental and always charge the customers for any insurance excesses.
- Where possible repair the vehicle yourself to keep the repair costs in your control.
- Always use a high quality repairer to ensure vehicles are repaired to a high standard so that you avoid any re-repair costs after defleet.
- Make sure vehicles presented to inspectors are in a clean, easy to access state
Avoiding Missed Service Penalty Charges
Missed service penalty charges are always avoidable and to ensure you incur no costs in this area:-
- Make sure you are aware of service intervals.
- Ensure you use an authorised dealer
- Service vehicles on time
- Make sure all service books are stamped and signed
Avoiding Missing Item Charges
To minimise costs in this area:-
- Make sure your staff do thorough vehicle checks at the *start and the end of hire and make sure customers are charged for any missing items.
- Always ensure the vehicles are returned with:-
- Spare keys (always attach to one key fob)
- Instruction manuals and service books
- Spare wheels and/or pumps/compressors
- Tool kits
- Removable seats in MPV’s
- Satellite navigation CD’s
- Detachable radio fronts
- Parcel shelves / load covers
If you would like any further help or advice on minimising defleet costs or have any queries on a costed onsite inspection report you have received please contact defleet@oakfirst.co.uk
*Should damage and/or any missing items be noticed on delivery by the customer or staff member responsible for checking vehicles in at your location, please ensure this is noted on the delivery paperwork and a copy is sent accompanied with a detailed email including the registration of the vehicle concerned to either defleet@oakfirst.co.uk .This MUST be notified to First Flexi Lease with 24 working hours to enable us to raise it with the Dealer/Manufacturer concerned.