Reliable Vehicle Logistics improves efficiency with moDel

Reliable Vehicle Logistics has seen a massive increase in new vehicle delivery efficiency thanks to the record-breaking electronic vehicle delivery and collection solution, moDel, from Oxford-based technology solutions provider, Ebbon Group.

Sheffield-based Reliable VL, which delivers new vehicles to both corporate and retail customers on behalf of prestige vehicle manufacturers including BMW, Mercedes and Volvo, leasing companies and dealer groups has seen efficiency improve by around 70% since switching to moDel, which is enjoying a record-breaking year.

Reliable VL employs moDel-VM, which allows companies to create their own vehicle movements but is also integrated with Ebbon-Dacs’ market-leading e-procurement platform, Leaselink, which is used by most of the top 20 leasing companies in the UK.

For the eight months to the end of August, moDel has accounted for more than 553,000 vehicle movements between OEMs, leasing companies, brokers, motor retailers and end-users, both corporate and retail – a new record and up 2.5% on the same period last year which was itself a record.

Based just off the M1 which gives easy national access, Reliable VL is one of the latest businesses to join the moDel community and delivers around 700 new vehicles a month around the country.

It operates a fleet of six single car and six double car transporters plus a further three 4x4s with trailers, which have been added to the fleet because of the growing numbers of EVs the company is now delivering, which are heavier than internal combustion models and require more robust transporters.

Reliable is now firmly wedded to the moDel system and has seen a number of major benefits since employing the country’s most widely-used new vehicle delivery solution.

Louis Reed

Louis Reed, operations manager at Reliable VL, who has 16 years’ experience in the automotive sector and worked with moDel previously on the dealer side of the industry, said: “We now deliver almost 9,000 new cars a year using moDel for a number of prestige vehicle manufacturers, leasing companies and dealer groups to both corporate and retail customers, usually to home or office.

“Before switching to moDel, we used a basic system for booking deliveries, but demand from our customers to avoid duplication and use moDel, their preferred system, became overwhelming.

“MoDel has made our life so much easier from an admin point of view. To start with it removes all the paper from the process as it is completely electronic. It gives us greater transparency and a clear audit trail, as well as providing instant confirmation to ourselves and our clients that a new vehicle has been safely delivered.

“It also allows us to accurately record the condition of any new vehicle to avoid any disputes over damage to the vehicle, and it is very easy for the drivers to use with only a single set of electronic delivery forms to complete which feed back to us electronically in the office.

“Another major benefit is that it is very easy to switch drivers – we have 16 – to other vehicles if required, with immediate notification to the driver to avoid time wastage. It has certainly improved our delivery efficiency and we estimate by as much as 70%,” he said.

Reed added: “We are enjoying a record year ourselves because, although new vehicle supply is down due to the semiconductor shortage around the world, we have been able to increase the size of our client base and thus grow our business that way.”

Michael Terry, Head of Commercial -moDel and Stockviewer, said: “We have been delighted with the performance of moDel-VM in the vehicle logistics sector where it has become firmly established as the No1 preferred new vehicle delivery solution.

“The ongoing supply issues have made this a very tough period for everyone in the new car industry.  But we have been continually enhancing the functionality of moDel with new features and benefits which have helped our customers to deliver and collect more vehicles more effectively and efficiently than ever before and in record numbers.

“As a result, we have been able to continue to attract a regular stream of new customers onto the platform and are delighted to bring on board Reliable VL who are amongst the latest logistics companies to enjoy its benefits,” he said.