As one of the most expensive areas of expenditure for many businesses, getting your fleet procurement wrong can be costly.

With contracts generally running for 3 or 4 years, it’s a process that shouldn’t be rushed.

Here are our tips to ensure a successful procurement journey:

1. The most important part is the preparation. You need to know the status of your current fleet, what you want from a provider and the desired outcomes – better service, a greener fleet, reduced costs?
2. Engage with other departments in your organisation to fully understand and define your requirements – this will enable suppliers to provide an effective response that meets your needs.
3. Ensure adequate time for responses so suppliers can prepare and submit quality bids
4. Provide an evaluation framework with weighted scoring, highlighting the importance of each element, so suppliers know what’s key. This also helps you to evaluate responses and select the best provider.
5. Ask challenging questions, avoiding yes/no answers – you want the provider to demonstrate they have the capability and how they will deliver your requirements.
6. If leasing your fleet, understand the true cost by basing your pricing requests on whole life cost.
7. Ask for evidence of accreditations and policies that demonstrates compliance and a sustainable supply chain, such as equality, data protection, environment, quality, health and safety, security etc.
8. Future proofing – ask providers what their vision, strategy and innovation is for the future in an ever-changing landscape
9. Ask for references for existing customers to find out what the service is like and to gauge their reputation.
10. Shortlist a selection of providers and visit them to get a feel for their culture and way of working. Meeting the people that you will interact with over the course of the next few years is a crucial part of the process

 

Here at KINTO we have a dedicated Customer Onboarding Project Team who will fully support you every step of the way.

To arrange a meeting with one of our Fleet Management experts to discuss how switching could benefit your business, contact us today.