Enterprise Flex-E-Rent has invested more than £1m in new equipment that will help increase uptime for its commercial vehicle fleet customers.

Enterprise’s investment in latest technology will shift fleet work away from unplanned reactive vehicle work and instead focus on scheduled maintenance

The business, Enterprise’s UK commercial vehicle rental division, said the move would shift fleet work away from unplanned reactive vehicle work and instead focus on scheduled maintenance, such as regular servicing or compliance checks such as MOTs.

It will help to increase capacity across Enterprise’s 65,000 vans, trucks and specialist commercial vehicles, while also boosting its in-house workshop capability by 30% across all of its 28 depots throughout the UK.

The investment in latest diagnostic and workshop equipment includes specialist tooling and direct system links to OEM partners, as well as roller brake testers and ancillary equipment maintenance such as tail-lift weight testing.

Unplanned downtime is estimated to cost UK fleet operators well over £2bn per year, while research also indicates that fleet vehicles on a maintenance programme experience 20% fewer unplanned downtime days.

It’s a particular issue for key service areas such as infrastructure, logistics and home delivery, which are core markets for Enterprise’s rental vehicles.

James Walker, group service maintenance and repair manager, said that managing vehicle downtime had become much harder since Covid, not helped by a UK-wide shortage of parts, technicians and new equipment.

“We are adapting and investing to keep pace with customer demand at a time when rental is becoming a core strategy helping commercial operators ensure flexibility and quickly add or reduce capacity,” he added.

“We know vehicle downtime has a significant impact on our customers and our customers’ customers – so improving key-to-key time is vital. This new investment in technology enables us to improve preventative in-house maintenance, reducing costly unplanned and reactive off-road time.”

Enterprise has also produced a new guide to eight key ways in which customers can reduce vehicle downtime and get more value from their commercial vehicle fleet. The booklet can be downloaded here.