Whether you’re managing a fleet with a few vehicles or a few thousand, accidents are, alas, part of the job.
Just one unfortunate second on the road can mean shock and even injury for your driver. But also, weeks of extra work and responsibility for fleet managers – even for minor accidents.
Managing accidents internally hogs time and resources. Doing it efficiently requires experience and expertise that not all fleet managers can command.
The longer the process takes the more the costs add up. Vehicle downtime costs alone can be as much as £800 per day, on top of any repair outlays and increased premiums.
Then there is the general degradation of your brand caused by using vehicles with damaged bodywork.
Given all these issues, it’s not surprising that many businesses choose to outsource these headaches to an accident management service. They will smoothly handle the entire process from first notification of the incident by the driver, through the repair process to finally re-uniting the vehicle with the driver.
Their checklist of responsibilities includes:
- collecting information and details of the accident
- recovering the vehicle
- promptly providing a replacement vehicle
- assessing the damage and liability
- organising the repair
- dealing with the insurers
- legal services and uninsured loss recovery
However, this is not all you should expect from a good accident management provider. Here are some pointers on what else you should look for.
