The challenge
Steven Maene, owner of Garage Carrosserie Maene, was looking for a solution for the efficient management of his replacement vehicles.
"Replacement vehicles are a necessary form of customer service for any garage or bodywork, but unfortunately they are also a major cost item," Steven told us during an initial interview. One of the challenges was to protect the replacement vehicle fleet from extreme driving behaviour and in this way get the maintenance and repair costs under control, as well as the insurance premium.
An additional problem was that with the current high fuel prices it is necessary to return every car fully refuelled ... which in reality is quite disappointing.
In order not to have to bear the costs of traffic fines, it was also important to always know who had driven which vehicle.
The solution
Due to the regular replacement of the fleet, a cumbersome installation and de-installation was not desired and the ProDongle Plug & Play tracker was choosen: plug the ProDongle into the OBD port of the replacement vehicles (5 sec work/vehicle).
In this way, Steven has a real-time view of his replacement fleet 24/7, both from his PC and from his smartphone. In case of extreme driving behaviour, when crossing the national border (Z-plates), ... Steven receives an immediate warning. This allows him to react immediately.
The sticker as well as the legally required clause in the replacement vehicle contract that informs the customer about the ProDongle system in place have a preventive effect and have proven their usefulness in the meantime: less damage, penalty and maintenance costs.
"An additional advantage is that our receptionist can already see the distance driven before the replacement vehicle is returned and can check from his PC or smartphone at which filling station the customer stopped by to fill up the fuel again." Steven notes with satisfaction.
"And if a traffic fine does come in, we know the customer responsible at the touch of a button and have objective evidence in case of a dispute." Steven concludes.
In the future there will be an API link between the ProDongle software and the ERP package of the garage.
Solutions used:
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