FLEET Hire was won the whole Pelican Rouge fleet deal for 1,000 UK vehicles, after being one of seven leasing companies serving one of Europe’s leading vending operators.

Pelican Rouge has outsourced the supply and management of its UK fleet to contract hire, fleet management and salary sacrifice provider Fleet Hire.

Nick Poole, sales director of Fleet Hire, commented: “Naturally, we are delighted to welcome Pelican Rouge to the Fleet Hire family.

“By the introduction of a series of best practice fleet initiatives, we have been able to ensure that the UK and Ireland fleet is now being run in a more efficient, cost effective and controlled manner, and we have a number of changes in the pipeline which will allow us to take this process still further.”

Pelican Rouge, which was formed in 1949, has operations in seven different countries, 100,000 customers and 255,000 vending machines under management. In the UK and Republic of Ireland, it operates a fleet of around 1,000 vehicles – some 65% light commercial vehicles and 35% cars – which had been provided by seven different leasing suppliers.

Under the leadership of Mark Hodgson, newly appointed senior fleet manager for UK and Ireland, the decision was taken to rationalise the fleet supply position to strengthen the company’s buying position, to reduce costs, improve reporting and place tighter controls on day-to-day fleet operations.

There was also a particular focus on fleet utilisation by reducing vehicle downtime and eliminating spare and idle light commercial vehicles, which were incurring costs but not generating revenue.

Pelican Rouge opened a tender process with all existing suppliers plus several other potential providers. At this point, Solihull-based Fleet Hire, the recent subject of an agreed takeover by Australian stock market-listed SG Fleet Group, was an existing supplier with around 15% of the fleet.

The main objective for Pelican Rouge was to find a single supplier that would meet its detailed reporting needs, with the skills, knowledge, and experience to manage the various legacy suppliers, plus the ability to provide uniformity of operation and reporting for all its locations in the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

The company also wanted a dedicated account management team and reporting system that could be accessed by its 12 branches around the UK and Ireland and its head office at Ruislip, West London.

Following the tender and review process, which looked at a number of different factors including feedback from its own depots and drivers, Pelican Rouge opted to appoint Fleet Hire to both fund and manage its vehicle fleet.

The decision was based around a number of issues including cost savings, improving operational efficiency, providing a one-stop shop to manage legacy suppliers, introducing risk management, and providing more effective downtime management and reporting of both fleet and driver performance.

Also key to the decision was the provision by Fleet Hire of an online portal to allow senior and depot managers to access live fleet data, such as service and MOT reminders and mileage recording. Fleet Hire also suggested providing a number of additional services including driver licence checks, short-term hire, mini-lease, fuel management and accident management.

For Pelican Rouge drivers, there is now enhanced and dedicated support with a bespoke, 24/7 driver helpline to help resolve all driver issues including accidents, breakdowns, servicing and windscreen and tyre replacement.

Since the contract went live, Fleet Hire has introduced a series of fleet reviews including looking at the supplying manufacturers to the fleet, with a view to optimising discounts and rebates through the use of single badge deals.

Mark Hodgson said: “We selected Fleet Hire to supply and manage our fleet because they were the only supplier that demonstrated they were capable of meeting all our detailed and very specific needs.

“Since the contract went live, we have seen significant financial and operational benefits, thanks to Fleet Hire’s fleet management expertise and professionalism, and we are very pleased with the progress to date. The support team has backed this up by over-delivering on all of the things we have asked, and continue to ask, of them,” he said.