If you are like me and you spend a lot of time on the road, you are probably used to seeing transporters moving vehicles here, there and everywhere. And there seems to be ever more of them about.
Being a car man, I’m always wondering where the transporter is taking its haul, if it’s going to auction and if it is on time.
For organisations in the automotive industry, logistics is a critical element and it’s becoming more important as they look to further shave business costs. However, when it comes to logistics and vehicle collections, business costs are not everything. Increasingly, there are other factors that are coming into play when selecting a transport partner.
One thing I’ve noticed is that considering companies in this sector offer a collection and delivery services, one of their big failing is logistics! That is offering timely, reliable transportation to suit customers and, importantly, providing good communications when there are issues or simply keeping clients informed on progress.
One of the biggest complaints we hear when talking to prospects and customers is delays created by some companies in the collection of vehicles, which as a result increases downtime, especially during the remarketing phase, and that means taking longer in realising the financial return from selling the vehicles.
Uncertainty can be a real issue. For planning and organising purposes, clients need complete visibility of their vehicle movements with real time up to date information, reducing complexity and offering peace of mind to customers.
We get to see the effect of both good and bad transport services. Our clients range from automotive manufacturers and fleet, leasing and finance companies, to franchise and independent dealers of all sizes and they use a variety of suppliers. We see their frustrations when deliveries are late or delayed.
In the main, we are known as an auction business but over the last few years our logistics operation has seen an increase in demand because we are able to offer a rapid integrated collection service which means a one-stop shop for our remarketing clients and our buyers.
But not all collections go to auction. For many of our customers it’s about simply shipping vehicles from one location to another in a safe, time efficient and cost effective way.
Collection and delivery services are not just about move vehicles from A to B, there are many other factors at play but they must ensure that they do not disrupt your business operations and your suppliers deliver what they promise, and if they can’t do it they communicate clearly with you.
