The economic crisis may supposedly be at an end but there can be no doubt that it has changed the face of business across the globe – including the fleet industry.

For pan-European companies however, the trend of centralising fleet purchasing to gain increased transparency and better buying terms actually began taking effect several years ago, although it has been accelerated by the recession.

Certainly that’s the experience of Fleet Logistics, Europe’s largest independently owned fleet management specialist, which calculates that it has made cost savings for fleet clients of over €700 million over the 15 years that it has been operating.

The company says that its business model fits in well with the requirements of large pan-European fleets looking to consolidate their fleet management. Over the last 10 years, Fleet Logistics calculates that it has invested over €65 million in its operations, giving it a network that covers 20 countries in both Western and Eastern Europe from 16 offices. In this way, the company offers a central, pan-European backbone combined with a presence in individual markets to give extensive network coverage combined with local expertise.

But Fleet Logistics’ proposition to customers is also based on key core values of transparency, professionalism and TCO reduction, as Peter Soliman, Fleet Logistics’ chief executive officer, explains.

‘The basic value proposition is that first and foremost we give our clients the transparency over the entire fleet across the globe,’ he says. ‘The reason why we’re able to do that more effectively than a leasing company is due to the fact that we have a central database. So all the data flows into one database and we can, at the press of a button, say to a client, “You’ve got so many cars. This is how your costs have developed. These are the cost drivers. And this is how you can further optimise your fleet’s TCO.”’

TCO reduction is another core area, which is achieved in a number of ways, including the company’s proven multi-bidding solution. This uses a panel of leasing company suppliers to provide a competitive tender for every new vehicle that is added to a client’s fleet. Whilst multi-bidding in itself is becoming increasingly used in the fleet marketplace, Fleet Logistics says it’s the only firm to provide a tender for every single new vehicle for every single order, especially in a matrix pricing environment.

Fleet Logistics can also bring about additional cost savings from optimising vendor management and car policy advice as well as outsourcing and tightening cost control. Mr Soliman comments: ‘Generally we see fleet management as a journey – nothing is static and we always look to optimise savings over time, with respect for the client’s ability to absorb change and always while ensuring continued high levels of service for drivers.’

On average, the company says it saves its customers around 10%, up to 13% in some cases, in fleet operating costs per annum. Mr Soliman adds: ‘We’re increasingly guaranteeing business cases because we’re so confident that we can deliver these reductions – in some cases we’ve guaranteed savings in multiple million euros for clients.’

Fleet Logistics also prides itself on the integrity of its business principles – the company says it does not take kickbacks from suppliers and is instead funded in all transparency by monthly management fees and, in some cases, offers performance-based pricing in line with bottom-line achieved savings.

‘The market as it gets more and more professional is going towards transparency,’ explains Mr Soliman. ‘So we actually forego several million euros of revenue and profit potential to subscribe ultimately to the principle of a transparent business model, in which the benefit to the fleet operator is at the core of every fleet management decision, and the fleet management company’s profit.’

Other areas where Fleet Logistics believes that it’s marked out from its competitors include staff professionalism. Mr Soliman expands on this, saying: ‘We place a high value on getting top-notch people on board, people who ethically have a high set of values and reproduce them in their individual markets, people who know the in and outs of the fleet industry.’

And backed up by its ongoing investment in technology, the firm reckons it offers a best practice driver experience – all of its driver tools are available in local language as well as English, and also operate in real time to offer a soft version of the client’s own company car policy. ‘We say that you can save the driver a lot of money but if you have unhappy, immobile drivers, then you haven’t accomplished much,’ explains Mr Soliman.

Throw in the fact that the company says it always manages a payback in much less than a year for its customers whilst also offering the overall fleet transparency, the management of driver communications and the use of sophisticated IT tools, plus savings that are a significant multiple of its own costs, and the company’s business model would seem to be a surefire winner for its customers.

‘We call it a no-brainer,’ concludes Mr Soliman.