Ford has published a fleet story in which UK housing association L&Q reports cutting van downtime by 60 per cent and saving around £17,000 a month. The operator credits Ford Uptime Services, the carmaker’s support programme for commercial-vehicle fleets. The account comes from L&Q fleet manager Robin Jeffery, whose vans handle everything from small repairs in residents’ homes to new housing construction.
Ford has used its From the Road channel to publish a customer story about L&Q, one of the UK’s larger housing associations, and the vans it relies on to keep its properties running. According to the account, the organisation has reduced vehicle downtime by 60 per cent and is saving roughly £17,000 a month.
A fleet that cannot stand still
L&Q’s vans are described as the backbone of its operations, covering work that ranges from fixing a leaking tap in a resident’s home to supporting the construction of new housing. Fleet manager Robin Jeffery is presented as the person behind the change, explaining how Ford Uptime Services helps his teams stay on the road and keep appointments with residents.
For an organisation of that type, downtime is not only a repair bill. Every van waiting for a workshop slot is a set of jobs that has to be rescheduled, and in housing maintenance those jobs are tied to real appointments in people’s homes.
What Ford is claiming
The figures come from Ford and its customer rather than from an independent audit, and the company does not state, in the material sent out, over what period the 60 per cent reduction was measured, how many vehicles are involved, or which models make up the fleet. The £17,000 monthly saving is likewise presented as the operator’s own calculation.
Ford Uptime Services is the manufacturer’s fleet support offer for commercial-vehicle operators, aimed at getting vans back into service faster after a fault. The story is a customer testimonial in support of that programme, and should be read as such.
Why uptime has become a selling point
Van makers across Europe have shifted much of their commercial-vehicle marketing away from list prices and towards running costs and availability. Connected diagnostics, priority workshop slots and dedicated fleet support lines are now standard competitive ground between Ford, Stellantis, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, because large operators buy on total cost of ownership rather than headline price.
A case study like L&Q’s is the currency of that fight: a named fleet, a named manager and a number that a rival fleet buyer can hold up against their own.
What it means
For fleet operators, the useful part is the comparison rather than the specific figure. If a maintenance fleet of vans is losing a significant share of its working days to workshop time, the saving Ford quotes gives an order of magnitude to test against — provided the fleet size and measurement period are known, which this material does not state.
The full L&Q story is published on Ford’s From the Road platform.
Source: www.fromtheroad.ford.com