Taking back control is the way to cut costs

Lucy Duggins  1 April 2018 12:06:24

 The easy option when times are challenging is to look for price reductions from your suppliers. In Q1 of 2018, I have personally been involved in a higher than normal rate of tenders as dealers look to reduce costs.
A tender is always good practice to benchmark your current arrangements, pricing and service delivery every two to three years. However, if you are not careful, it can potentially drive your business in a race to the bottom. The reality in the valeting marketplace is that the right labour has a cost, which is set by the ever changing national minimum wage and the effects of supply and demand. The combination of these mean that so-called low skilled labour is in short supply. About 80% of your valeting costs are direct labour costs, which cannot be reduced.



The “savings” you are looking for therefore, would be better coming from improved control of the valeting costs at source and not necessarily from price reductions. The Autoclenz paperless vehicle management system (PVMS) does this well. Through our new “Gatekeeper” function, we can control duplicate valets, and configure sign-off by manager and weekly exceptions reports before any invoice is raised. The system is configured so that only key signatories can authorise “exceptional” valets.

Early signs suggest this piece of IT can save up to 3% of annual spend without affecting quality, making sure you are cleaning the right cars, at the right time and at the right cost.

For more information on the difference that Autoclenz can make to your business, contact Lucy Duggins on 01283 554682 or visit www.autoclenz.co.uk

• Comments [0]