Operational leasing market in the first half increased by 16% over the same period last year, to 52,000 units under management, according to the Association of Operational Leasing Companies (ASLO). In January-June were more registered than 7,500 motor vehicles by operational leasing companies, 19% of all new registrations, which represents an increase of four percentage points from the first quarter and 2,000 more units than the same period last year. We talked with Cătălin Olteanu, Commercial Director at ALD Automotive, one of the top five players in operational leasing, according to ASLO.
What is consulting and reporting services you offer and what information they provide to customers?
Essential for optimizing fleet costs, consulting and reporting services offered by ALD Automotive can differentiate the work of fleet managers. Whether we are talking about consultancy at the beginning of an operational leasing contract, whether it comes to monitoring and reporting throughout the contract, when making decisions they can rely on the expertise of ALD Automotive as a specialized provider of services and on the tools available for a selection and careful monitoring of their fleet.
Our customers have the best solutions from pre-contract period through consultative meetings, so necessary for understanding customer needs depending on the type of activity and business objectives. Starting with optimizing the TCO (total cost of ownership), indicator that should be one of the determining factors in the acquisition of an operational leasing fleet, our consultants have an important role to build with the customer an operational leasing solution tailored to the existing needs, and to the long-term goals of the company. Moreover, they continuously monitor and analyze fleet costs generated by it and suggest regularly to customers to make improvements in terms of TCO.
Also in the pre-sale, customers can access ALD carselector, by which they configure, compare and select the car from a database of over 4,700 multi-brand vehicles. ALD carselector serves as an online consultant for fleet managers who want to look for motor vehicles by car body, brand, model, fuel and configure them according to equipment, options, exterior and environmental impact.
As regards to reporting services, ALD Automotive provides customers an online vital tool for the proper supervision costs and good fleet functionality, namely ALD Net. Thus, through reports and graphical analysis, customers can benefit from several advantages, such as a full perspective on the fleet, daily updates on fleet evolution and performance of contracts, evidence of bills, quickly reports access, both in Romanian and in English, and an intuitive interface which allows easy operation of the platform.
What reporting tools do you have available for clients, how do they work and how often are they used?
Reporting tools are very important and interesting for customers, because it helps to create an overview and to monitor the situation of their fleets. Net ALD is the online platform for fleet managers, tailored to their needs and accessible only by user name and password based. Through it, ALD Automotive customers have access to daily fleet reports, details about vehicles, contracted services for each vehicle and monthly rates, services invoiced, information about fuel, mileage analysis, information about pollution levels of vehicles. Regarding the graphical analysis, ALD Net offers customers the ability to view fleet evolution by type of vehicle, fleet classification by brand and by type of fuel, CO2 emissions and fuel consumption according to manufacturer’s specifications.
It is very important for ALD Automotive that it can provide to costumers such an online platform. With such a proactive tool we help the client come and ease the work of the person responsible for the fleet, giving a very useful overview. In terms of frequency of use of these reporting systems, the major advantage of an online platform is that its available 24/7, so that each client can have access to data whenever needed, which ensures convenience and mobility during daily work flow, and independence in accessing and downloading data.
Consultancy and reporting are made only on request or occur naturally in fleet management?
Both advice and reporting are integral part of our operational leasing services. Our customers benefit from personalized service and high quality, therefore we are more than just a supplier, we are a partner for them, so it is natural that the two elements to be present throughout the entire collaboration. If we are talking about consultancy, it intervenes even before the signing of operational leasing contract and continues throughout the collaboration, so that customers benefit from consistently optimized TCO, depending on the evolution of the company and needs.
After the contract is inked the reporting follows throughout its duration. As mentioned, this is done through an online platform that provides daily updated information. The customer receives an user name and a password to connect to www.aldnet.ro or can access the “Fleet Responsible” section on www.aldautomotive.ro to find its fleet development to do the necessary optimization and to achieve the full spectrum of benefits of operational leasing.
Is there a standard reporting structure or modus operandi and structure are tailored?
ALD Net platform is dedicated to all our customers. They can connect to retrieve all the data they need, and as previously mentioned, standard reports contain information about daily fleet situation, statistics on its evolution, its classification depending on the vehicle brand, contracted services, monthly fees, invoiced services, information on fuel, mileage analysis and pollution levels of vehicles. Of course, upon request we can provide customized reports based on the needs of each client.