Sanitisation – Another Cost To Bear?
Thursday, 11. June 2020
Sanitisation costs for cars and vans bei g delivered and returning from garages are beginning to appear.
Dealers and garages are currently “working out” who pays the cost of sanitisation on cars and vans that are delivered to their new owners or undergo service, maintenance and repair (SMR).
There appears to be general agreement among all parties that vehicles will need sanitising thoroughly before they are handed over or handed back after service and maintenance to the customer or employee with a company car.
But who is to pay for cleaning products, PPE equipment and the time taken? These costs can’t simply be absorbed by the dealers and garages.
Tim Meadows, vice president and commercial director at Epyx, said: “This is a development that we are just starting to see through our 1link Service Network SMR platform, which is used by fleets totalling four million vehicles, as lockdown starts to ease.
“Sanitisation is becoming recognised as an essential part of almost any visit by a vehicle to a workshop. The car or van is potentially touched by many people as part of almost any SMR process, and the potential spread of infection needs to be minimised.
“However, that sanitisation has a cost and is starting to appear as a formal charge on some job sheets. The question is, who pays?”
Meadows says that garages “understandably” see it as an additional cost that they shouldn’t have to bear. “Their customers, equally understandably, feel the same,” he said.
The issue is especially acute where, on lower Service Maintenance and Repair bills, it could be interpreted as a disproportionate amount, added Meadows.
“If you are having £1,000 of work done, then a potential £10 item doesn’t stick out but, if your car is in the workshop for a MOT test or even just having a small repair, it becomes more noticeable.”
Leasing companies that already work on very small margins are working with dealers and manufacturers to arrive at a compromise to avoid increased delivery costs
Meadows continued: “Some of the fleets that use 1link Service Network have hundreds of thousands of maintenance jobs every year and adding £10 to each suddenly becomes a very large sum of money.
“Equally, this is a significant cost for garages to absorb. However efficient they become at sanitisation, this is something that takes time and money.”
Meadows believes that one thing that the industry had seen during the coronavirus crisis is a “very strong spirit of co-operation”.
“Everyone recognises that they are facing the same issues and they need to resolve them together,” he said. “We are sure that sensible solutions will be found to this problem.”
I agree, it’s not the end of the world, an extra £10 for most jobs is not over the top, it’s more the concern on the part of the customer that the sanitisation has been carried out. So many changes to our lives, not just in the short term but forever. By Graham Hill thanks also to Fleet News
