Modern fleet management software allows fleet managers to control and manage vehicle recalls more effectively, with less likelihood of any vehicles being missed, which could have potentially disastrous consequences.
That’s the view from fleet software specialist Mycompanyfleet, the fleet and automotive arm of global HR software provider NorthgateArinso, which provides fleet managers with the systems capable of tackling major issues such as vehicle recalls with ease.
The news is particularly meaningful in the light of Toyota’s global multi-million vehicle recall, which includes some 1.8m vehicles in Europe and around 200,000 in the UK, due to problems with defective accelerator pedals.
In the Toyota case, the resultant publicity will probably ensure that no Toyota drivers or company fleet users are unaware of the vehicles involved. But many recalls are not so widely publicized and can often slip beneath the radar.
Fleets that rely on contract hire companies for their information, or keep records on old manual XL spreadsheet systems, are often in danger of missing vehicles that may require remedial work.
But having vehicle records on a central database, including their locations, allows fleet managers to control a recall operation with ease.
Automated email alerts can be sent to all drivers identified as driving a particular make or model, and then records updated once the work is carried out. Any vehicles that are missed are automatically flagged up in exception reports so that managers can see at a glance which vehicles are involved and take immediate action.
Mycompanyfleet’s two main software solutions, FleetHR and FleetAcumen are designed to help fleet managers manage and track all the vehicles on their fleet, and to keep up to date vehicle and driver records and locations.
Mycompanyfleet business manager Andrew Leech said: “Unfortunate as the Toyota situation is, fleet managers can mitigate the affect of any manufacturer recall by maintaining the proper fleet records online.
“We have designed our fleet management systems to allow fleet managers to keep a constant and up to date record of the whereabouts of their vehicles and their drivers, and to be able to respond quickly and effectively in situations like this,” he said.
