A reflection of 2022 and the challenges we faced
Firstly, we would like to thank you for your continued support throughout 2022. It has been an extremely challenging year with vehicle availability still being a significant issue. To give some context, we received over 20,000 booking turndowns from our supplier base in 2022- that’s almost 100 turndowns per day. Of these, we were ultimately able to fulfil 89% of requests, thanks to ALD Automotive’s broad range of rental suppliers. On average each reservation was handled three times in order to secure an available vehicle. Whilst this has put considerable strain on the rental team, we are proud of their hard work and dedication to source vehicles for our customers. As a result, we have had an 11% overall turndown rate, compared to the current industry average which is over 50%! We understand that for many of our customers their businesses cannot function effectively without the supply of rental vehicles, which is why we have made such efforts to meet your requests and will continue to do so.
What did we learn and what have we done?
Whilst we only had 11% overall hires that were not fulfilled, for ALD Automotive this was still a high figure and so it is imperative we address it. With this in mind we have decided to further increase our supplier base for 2023 by adding another 200+ rental suppliers, giving our customers access to the largest network in the country, all managed by the ALD Automotive team. This allows our customers to have a single point of contact and associated reporting for any vehicle, in any location, supplied by any of our suppliers. This should add considerable value and peace of mind for our customers in the current climate where availability of hire vehicles continues to remain limited. Our rental system measures supplier turndowns and overall performance which is discussed in regular review meetings to ensure we consistently deliver a good level of service to our customers.
Pricing changes for 2023
There have been many factors that have led to further price increases from across our supplier base for 2023 (up to 70% in some cases). Whilst we have tried to avoid these increases, we must also be realistic and understand the justifications for applying them. As you may know there has been a reduction in manufacturer support across the rental industry. Rental businesses have relied on such discounts to allow them to run their vehicles on shorter lifecycles and to provide their customers with nearly new vehicles. However, due to not having the support terms they usually have as well as limited vehicle availability, vehicle rentals are currently running for much longer. This has presented further challenges as extended rental vehicles now require maintenance i.e. servicing/MOT’s. Further resource is required to oversee this which has led to increased operational costs. Additionally, we have experienced a shortage in workforce which has resulted in increased labour costs as well as the impact of energy costs.
As a result of these rising costs, we’re having to increase the prices on our Daily Rental and ALD Flex rates effective from 1 January 2023, please see our 2023 price guides ALD Flex and for rental price guides, please contact your account manager. These rates will remain unchanged for a period of 12 months unless we receive any further supplier increases/decreases during 2023 which we will communicate in advance.
Rates will take effect as below:
- New Daily Rental requests – rates effective 1 January 2023
- Existing Daily Rentals – new rate takes effect on next invoice (rental exceeds 28 days)
- New Flex Rental Requests – rates effective 1 January 2023
- Existing Flex Rentals - new rate takes effect on next vehicle changeover
Best practices to support availability
We want to support your business to ensure we can fulfil your hire vehicle requirements. We have therefore listed the following best practices below to avoid turndowns as much as possible:
- A minimum of 48 hours’ notice is required for Daily Hire bookings.
- Short Term rentals should only be requested if essential and one-way hires are unlikely to be confirmed.
- Cancellation charges to be applied if cancelled with less than 8 working hours’ notice.
- Daily rentals booked for seven days and terminated early may still be charged the full seven days.
- Daily rentals pre-booked for 28 days and terminated will still be charged the full 28 days.
- There are mileage restrictions on hires over 28 days and excess mileage charges will apply – please confirm your expected mileage usage when requesting a hire.
- No-show fees may be charged if imposed by our rental partners.
- Late extensions (less than 8 working hours) may mean you’re charged extra, if imposed by our rental partners.
- Please ensure you are aware of the rental duration when requesting a hire. If you require a vehicle for a longer period (28+ days) please contact our ALD Flex Team for the most competitive rates.
- If you have finished with a daily rental vehicle sooner than expected, please contact our ALD Daily Rental Team who can arrange collection, this allows the vehicle to become available for the next customer.
Our new service
We are currently exploring alternative mobility options to one day/one-way hires that incorporate a taxi service. It may be that a customer has a vehicle arranged for a service and could save on paying for a one day hire if they are within proximity to the garage. Instead, they could simply hire a taxi to the working location and back to the garage once their service is complete and in turn make a financial saving for the business. If you think this service would be of benefit to your business, please contact your Account Manager and we can arrange to have your account set up with this service.
In the meantime, we will continue to work hard to support your requirements, if you have any questions, please contact your Account Manager.
About the contributor
Paul Nagra
Head of Rental Services
Contact us
Email ALD Flex: ALDFlex_UK@aldautomotive.com
Email ALD Rental team: UK-ALDRental@aldautomotive.com