Tusker has reported a major increase in the number of salary sacrifice drivers booking their service, maintenance and MOTs online since the Covid-19 pandemic began.

Online bookings from Tusker’s customers through SMR partner Fleet Assist have risen from a 12% share in 2020 to 37% in 2021

Latest statistics from its SMR network and service booking partner Fleet Assist reveal that online bookings have risen from a 12% share in 2020 to 37% in 2021, as drivers switched from telephone bookings to the Fleet Assist web portal or Tusker’s API link.

The online booking trend is set to grow too, according to Tusker; even though more than 60% of drivers still make their service booking via a telephone call.

Tusker operations director Kit Wisdom said there are multiple reasons for drivers moving online.

“Online booking speeds up the time between the service or MOT request and a driver’s car being booked into a dealer. Being able to make online bookings also suits many of our drivers working in the health service or who work unsociable hours who don’t have the ability to make phone calls during their working day.

“The accuracy of the vehicle information is always very high as it is only entered into the system by the driver once and the Fleet Assist team can immediately direct it to the right dealer to optimise workflow,” he continued.

Fleet Assist’s garage network is also supporting the sharp rise in Tusker’s on-boarding of low- or zero-emission salary sacrifice cars onto its fleet. Currently 73% of Tusker’s deliveries made to drivers are EVs; a rise from just 13% in 2019. In line with this, Fleet Assist has reported a 75% increase in battery electric and plug-in hybrid service bookings, supported by the fact that over 75% of its 5,200+ garage network is ‘EV ready’.

Fleet Assist’s head of business development Karen Ewer said that online bookings bring benefits for both for the driver and Tusker.

“Our Atlas IT system captures all the driver and garage trends daily giving our leasing and fleet customers direct access to business intelligence to help them understand maintenance trends in detail. How drivers have embraced online bookings has been surprising, but it shows how the recent pandemic is changing driver behaviour. The speed at which Tusker drivers have embraced EVs is further proof about how open company motorists are to change,” explained Ewer.