Phase one: initiation
Understanding how your business works
There are three steps in the initiation phase; if required, the quick links below will take you to your specific area of interest.
2. Evaluation of current fleet
1. Account manager assigned
We want to understand your business and its processes as best we can to ensure that we can provide you with well thought out and considered recommendations for your organisation as a whole.
That’s why, before you join in partnership with us, we will provide a dedicated account manager who (where possible) has experience in your industry sector, to work closely with your organisation, to do just that.
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Your Hitachi Capital account manager will spend a lot of time within your company, in order to develop a deep understanding of your fleet operations. From this, along with recommendations from our design and specification team, they will be able to suggest how Hitachi Capital can best help your business to improve in areas such as process efficiency and cost reduction. The account manager will also use their specialist knowledge of your industry sector to effectively evaluate the needs of your fleet, resulting in new and existing business requirements being agreed and documented. |
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2. Evaluation of current fleet
Our design and specification team will undertake a full evaluation of your current fleet, looking at the usage, application and type of vehicles required, including the ancillary equipment to be fitted. This information will allow them to assess where improvements can be made that enhance aspects such as fleet safety and operational efficiency.
From the outset, the evaluation process will involve close participation from key stakeholders within your business, where their initial direction regarding the fleet challenges you are currently facing will be crucial in Hitachi Capital carrying out an accurate analysis. The timescale for the fleet evaluation analysis and design specification will depend upon the complexity of the vehicles you require.
Your account manager will discuss the evaluation results with you and also provide a feedback report as a point of reference. This consultation process is vital as it gives you the opportunity to understand what will work for your fleet and also provides an open forum you to push back or make suggestions based upon the advice we provide.
3. Pricing model agreed
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Given our experience in the commercial vehicle market, we are happy to provide a quote on the most unusual vehicle proposition. Our current portfolio ranges from Chefmobils for apetito (see left image) to giant suction excavators for National Grid (see right image) and all that’s in between. |
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It is likely that your commercial vehicle needs will not be standard, ‘off-the-shelf’ requirements and because of this we have a dedicated pricing team to respond to the specialist needs of pricing bespoke vehicles for the market.
The pricing team will work closely with your account manager to ensure that vehicles are specified prior to build with efficient resale in mind. With engineering experience, our pricing team review aspects such as weights, dimensions legislation and EU regulations compliance to ensure the proposed vehicles will be fit for purpose.
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Our build management team are also first involved at this stage, as they are able to liaise with suppliers to evaluate the proposed costs for the vehicle specifications, making sure we get the best deals possible for you. Once the above is complete, our quotation team will then provide you with a quotation, including total cost of ownership modelling. This will ensure that the most cost-effective recommendations are made. |
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Our pricing team will evaluate the maintenance budgets, residual values (RVs) and damage to your existing vehicles (where appropriate). Vehicle age, mileage and behaviours will also be taken into consideration when conclusions are drawn. Due to our experience in the market, prices provided are competitive and accurate, based on contract terms and mileages, which will protect you as far as possible from end-of-contract recharges. To set RVs with as much accuracy as we can, the team draws upon industry standards set out by authorities such as CAP and Glass’s Guide, along with the very latest auction data and the experience of experts within our business.
Your account manager will talk through your quotation with you and answer any queries you may have. All details are then finalised into a comprehensive service level agreement (SLA) and contract; once these are signed by both parties, we move forward together onto the implementation phase.
We are happy to meet directly with our customers to discuss and explain the various aspects of our pricing model and savings initiatives. Savings are sometimes most effectively generated over the longer term and the immediate benefits of a certain plan of action may not be obvious. We are happy to explain these specifics and to offer a comprehensive breakdown of costs to avoid any confusion as to the reasoning behind certain price models.
Once this stage is complete, you will be ready to move on to phase two: implementation.
If you are interested in discussing the needs of your commercial vehicle fleet with us then we would love to hear from you. Please call us on 01225 777 710.
