AkzoNobel makes significant accident and repair improvements

Paints and performance coatings company, AkzoNobel UK, has made “immediate and significant” improvements to accident rates and repair processes on its 700 vehicle mixed car and van UK fleet.

The company signed up to Arval UK’s Arval Total Care product, created as a simple and inclusive package consisting of a vehicle insurance and an accident management solution for businesses, with a simple pricing structure based on a charge per vehicle.

AkzoNobel UK Fleet Manager, Karl Allward, explained: “Risk management is an area that we take very seriously. All of our drivers undergo an annual online assessment, plus an in-car exercise every 3-4 years. There are even corporate bursaries available to fund classroom training for drivers who we feel would benefit from additional support.

“Previously, we simply felt that we weren’t making much progress in terms of driving down our incident rate, plus when repairs were needed, getting vehicles back on the road was often slower and more difficult than we expected.”

In mid-2019, AkzoNobel UK signed a five year sole supply fleet deal with Arval and, soon afterwards, discussions began about the company’s fleet insurance and risk management needs.                    

David Brown, Corporate Business Manager at Arval, continued: “Arval Total Care is designed to remove precisely the kind of frustrations that AkzoNobel were experiencing. It delivers a fast and efficient claims and repairs process, controls costs to deliver highly competitive pricing, and provides key data through which areas for risk management improvements can be identified.

“Towards the end of 2020, we were given the opportunity by AkzoNobel to tender for their insurance and accident management business, and this was ultimately successful, with the product going live at the start of 2021.”                             

The impact of adopting Arval Total Care has been immediate and significant, Karl says, with a number of benefits already easily identifiable.

“The biggest change is really the simplest, with the entire insurance and repair process sitting with one provider and one phone number. So if there is an incident, both we and our drivers know who to call, and the resulting process is slick and efficient.

“This has been a huge advantage from an administrative point of view. We used to spend a lot of time in the fleet department chasing repairs, checking progress and trying to find out who was responsible for different elements. That has now disappeared.

“One specific point which has been resolved is that previously we had issues with completed vehicles not being released by repairers, thanks to the need to pay the excess and VAT in advance. Again, because everything is now centralised with one supplier, this is a problem that never arises. As soon as a car or van is fixed, it’s available to us.

“With the new arrangement having been in place for a few months, we are now planning to examine the claims and risk management data provided in order to identify areas where we can make improvements in our incident rate. This is something that previously just wasn’t possible.

“The repair process is also faster and, as a result, we are saving money on daily rental and reducing other costs associated with vehicles being off the road. These soon used to mount up under the previous system, but we now feel as though everything is being much more closely and effectively managed. The areas of frustration that we previously identified around our fleet insurance and accident management all feel as though they have been resolved.”

AkzoNobel is a Dutch based multinational that creates decorative paints and performance coatings for industrial and retail customers worldwide, owning brands such as Dulux, Cuprinol, Sadolin and Polyfilla. Arval and its global partner, Element, provide fleet services to the company in 27 countries, managing almost 5,000 vehicles in total. In the UK, AkzoNobel operates 470 cars, mostly allocated to its field sales force, and around 230 vans, used mainly for deliveries and distribution.

To find out more about Arval Total Care visit www.arval.co.uk/business-leasing/products/arval-total-care.