Welcome to the April edition of our newsletter, included in this month’s update:
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- Increasing Costs
- Spring Statement
- Meet the Team – Gavin Williams – Technical Team Leader
- Congratulations Mr & Mrs Lewis
- Welcome to Days Fleet!
- How to Book your Vehicle Service
- Staff Catch Up
- Customer Survey
- Job Vacancies
Increasing Costs
As many of our clients will already be aware and are probably experiencing in their own industry, increasing costs continue within the automotive leasing sector.
The Bank of England Base Rate has moved to 0.75% already and we predict another increase will occur again in May. Service, maintenance and repair (SMR) costs are also increasing. Both of these combined with long vehicle lead times may mean that vehicle rentals will increase.
If any of your orders are impacted, a member of our team will be in touch to discuss.
Spring Statement
Rishi Sunak delivered his mini-budget at the end of March. The key headlines for fleets were:
- 5p Reduction in Fuel Duty
The reduction was broadly welcome by the fleet and leasing industry but many people have questioned whether it went far enough. It will remain in place until March 2023. Business and personal drivers should feel the benefit of this unusual move by the Chancellor.
- Basic rate of tax cut from 20% to 19% from 6th April 2024
Another unusual move from the Chancellor as he pledged to reduce the lower rate of income tax in the UK from 20% to 19% in England, Wales and Northern Ireland so long as strict inflationary and spending targets to be met.
- Employee NIC Primary Threshold
From July 2022 the employee NIC primary threshold will be increased to match the income tax threshold. This will benefit many lower paid earners.
- 1.25% Health & Social Care Levy
There had been pressure on the government to scrap the 1.25% Health & Social Care levy announced last year but the Chancellor has confirmed it will be going ahead in April 2022. The net effect of the employee NIC threshold increase and this will see a benefit to those earning less than £34,000 p.a.
Meet the Team – Gavin Williams – Technical Team Leader
Joined Days Fleet in July 2013.
1. What is your role within Days Fleet?
As Technical Team Leader, I oversee and manage the day-to-day running of the Technical Team which includes authorisation of vehicle maintenance work, taxing of vehicles and assisting clients with any technical-related issues.
2. What do you enjoy most about your role with Days Fleet?
I enjoy that I have to be very reactive to urgent situations as I work very well under pressure. I make better decisions compared to when I have got too much time to possibly overthink my decision!
3. What has been the most challenging part of working during the pandemic?
The main challenges over the pandemic is the way that garages have changed their working practices to not offer certain services that were available pre-pandemic and with staff in the garage network testing positive for Covid, this has created major backlogs of work and longer lead times for vehicles to attend for routine work.
4. What would you like to achieve in this year?
Professionally, I will continue to develop my knowledge base for new products and services coming into the leasing industry, which will allow me to take the best course of action to assist our clients and also internally within the business.
5. What are you most looking forward to now that restrictions have eased?
Spending more time with family and friends and being able to do so in a more relaxed environment. Also, being able to travel abroad and see different parts of the world.
Congratulations Mr & Mrs Lewis
Congratulations are in order for our Client Support Administrator, Ria, who married her partner Tony on 16th April and looked absolutely beautiful!
Welcome to Days Fleet!
It’s been a busy time for recruitment recently here at Days Fleet with another new member of the team to introduce:
- Eloise Robertson joins us as ‘Credit Controller’ and will be involved in managing client’s accounts and rental payments whilst studying for her AAT qualification. We wish Eloise all the very best in her new role.
How to Book your Vehicle Service
Our most commonly asked question on our Live Chat facility is ‘how do I book my vehicle in for a service?’.
If you have a maintenance contract with Days Fleet, the quickest way is via our online booking portal which can be completed at any time of the day.
- Alternatively, you can call our DriverLine on 0345 296 4423 and choose option 2. Our service booking team will do all the work for you and locate a suitable service centre and confirm the booking within 2 working hours.
Staff Catch Up
We held a virtual catch up with staff on Thursday 7th April to start the Easter festivities and ensure everyone was up-to-date with what had happened over the course of quarter 1. It has been a busy start to the year in a very dynamic marketplace!
Customer Survey
We recently sent out a link to our Customer Survey and we’d like to thank all clients that took the time to complete. If you are yet to complete yours, we’d really appreciate 5 minutes of your time so that your feedback can be used for staff development and training and continuous improvement. You can still take part in the survey by clicking here.
For every completed survey submitted, we will make a £5 donation to our nominated charity for 2022 – Cerebral Palsy Cymru.
Job Vacancies
We currently have the following vacancy available:
Client Support Executive – for details and application, please click here
