Have fleets become beta testers for new vehicle technology?
By Lorna McAtear, deputy chair, Association of Fleet Professionals
Vehicle faults are a becoming a bigger issue for fleets. Ask almost any member of the Association of Fleet Professionals (AFP) and you will hear about a catalogue of faults that take up far too much of their time.
Some of these problems are just annoying, a few raise safety concerns and – far too often – others take vehicles out of service.
Why is this happening now? Principally, we’re living through a moment when a significant amount of new technology is being introduced to cars and vans. Electrification is the obvious example but there is also far greater use of more complex software. However, this is not just about the teething pains of innovation. Some of the loudest complaints heard recently at the AFP have concerned everyday items such as handbrakes, tyres and alarms.
It’s also important to note this is not isolated to a few OEMs. Many suffer from these issues to an extent, although some are much more problematic than others and those known to be under a degree of financial pressure are often the worse.
The upshot is that, when many car and van makers are struggling to fund their EV transition and feeling the effects of increasingly intense competition, it can feel as though fleets are becoming their beta testers. The vehicles on offer are not always fully developed, faults are often designed-in, and we are being used as part of the process of correction.
“It can feel as though fleets are becoming beta testers, with vehicles that are not always fully developed and faults that are too often designed-in.”
The response of manufacturers when problems arise is often the biggest annoyance for fleets. Everyone accepts things go wrong with vehicles and, to an extent, understands new technology means an inevitable process of refinement. However, support from some OEMs in these situations is poor. Too often, we are told issues are unique to our experience, essential parts are unavailable and the skills to repair new technologies are absent. Frequently, we are advised to get on with it, even when vehicles are off road for substantial periods of time.
As a result, our members are increasingly sharing information about the faults they encounter through our WhatsApp group and a variety of other AFP channels. This pooling of experiences means they are able to approach OEMs armed with information showing issues are common across a number of fleets, massively strengthening their argument. It’s an approach that has been used increasingly in recent months, and the responsiveness of some manufacturers has improved considerably. However, others remain uninterested, and we have seen recent cases where AFP members have exited relationships because support was inadequate, something which has a real impact on brand reputations.
Ultimately, we need to see a general improvement in the standard of cars and vans supplied to fleets. It’s unacceptable we too often buy cars and vans that bluntly, don’t work properly, while some of the OEMs supplying them show something approaching indifference to that fact.
If you’re experiencing these kinds of problems, the AFP would like to hear about your experiences and, as ever, we recommend becoming a member to maximise your access to information, expertise and support. Fleets are always stronger when they work together.
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