A1 Automotive

A1 Automotive is an automotive logistics company specialising in the transport and storage of new and used cars and light commercial vehicles. We have been using FleetWizard for over 10 years now. Prior to the implementation we had to provide our drivers with the full collection/delivery addresses, contact numbers; not to mention load numbers, special instructions (for either collection/delivery points) and vehicle details over the telephone.

This took an inordinate amount of time to convey the information to our drivers often tying up telephone lines which mean our customers were often unable to get through to the transport office. At that time, our drivers were using manual hand-written POD’s which quite often would have incorrect VIN’s and registration numbers (usually with letters/numbers transposed). With the lengthy telephone calls from drivers and the sheer volume of (often inaccurate and incomplete) paperwork being handed in by each driver our staffing levels were relatively high when compared to the number of trucks and drivers we were running at that time.

Fast forward to the current day and it is a completely different situation. With the aid of FleetWizard we can keep telephone calls with our drivers down to an absolute minimum and they now receive all their job details electronically from the FleetWizard system on their company PDA’s. This has meant that POC/POD accuracy and transporter productivity has increased quite considerably. The benefits of this have meant that there are in fewer invoice queries due to the human “typo” type errors. The driver’s PDA’s “talk” back to Fleet and update the status of jobs and vehicle movements immediately. The system is set up in such a way that electronic POD’s can be sent to customers via email within a few seconds of the jobs/vehicles being signed for. Invoices from the system are sent electronically via email and are imported into our accounts system which has again cut down on admin work and not to mention postage costs!

There are many other ways in which to utilise the FleetWizard system; reports, staff details, holidays, vehicle management (including fuel card) and drivers daily defect reports are also done on their PDA’s and sent directly to our workshops. The biggest plus however is the lack of and shortness of telephone calls in our traffic due to the implementation of FleetWizard. The volume in our traffic office can often be as low as that in a public library… it really has made that MUCH OF A DIFFERENCE.

Derek Horne