Tructyre Fleet Management prides itself on providing operators with premium managed maintenance services and round-the-clock emergency roadside assistance – and that’s exactly what the Hampshire-based independent specialist receives from its Mercedes-Benz Van supplier, Pentagon Commercials.
Tructyre was founded by proprietor Glenn Sherwood in 1996. It has headquarters in Eastleigh and a network of 22 depots across southern England, from which it provides a full range of tyre services to more than 500 customers who, between them, operate in excess of 10,000 trucks and trailers.
The company purchased its first Mercedes-Benz Sprinters in 2002. Today, it runs in excess of 100 service vans, all but two of which wear three-pointed stars, as well as six mid-sized Vito models and a small Citan purchased late last year.
South coast Dealer Pentagon Commercials will be supplying Tructyre with 25 new Sprinters during the course of 2015. All are being fitted with compressors by Winton Engineering, of Woking, Surrey, while Southampton-based Andean Signs is applying the liveries.
Tructyre’s Senior Operations Executive Scott Matthews said: “The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter is modern in appearance, leads the field in terms of safety, and has proved to be outstandingly reliable over the five years or more that we typically run our vans.”
A combination of replacements for older vehicles that are being stood down, and extensions to the fleet, its new Sprinters are also being covered in line with the company’s usual practice by Mercedes-Benz Complete Care repair and maintenance contracts.
Complete Care customers pay a single monthly fee and can tailor packages to meet their precise requirements. However, all such agreements incorporate a lengthy list of items as standard, including costs relating to labour, parts and lubricants required in routine servicing, friction items and repair or replacement of major components such as engine, gearbox or rear axle.
“We began taking out these comprehensive repair and maintenance contracts with Pentagon a couple of years ago and they’ve worked very well for us,” confirmed Mr Matthews. “In order to maximise uptime for customers, we need our own vans to be available for work at any time of the day or night.
“With Complete Care from Mercedes-Benz, we get the after sales support we need. What’s more, the monthly costs are highly competitive and, because they are fixed, afford us the benefit of flat-line budgeting, which is a big help when it comes to forecasting.”
Pentagon undertakes routine servicing and repairs, while its Mercedes-Benz Service24h technicians are always on standby to provide emergency back-up. Pentagon also set up a regional network including other Mercedes-Benz Dealers so that Tructyre has a single point of contact for the entire fleet, which is managed and controlled locally.
“Roughly half the fleet has been covered by Complete Care agreements to date,” continued Mr Matthews, who has been with Tructyre since its launch. “The plan now is to extend this to include the remaining half over the next two or three years, as the replenishment programme goes through.”
He added: “Pentagon is a key supplier to Tructyre and we have a really good relationship with its team. We’ve been buying vehicles from Van Sales Executive John Jamieson for the last 12 years, while After Sales Business Development Executive Steve Trevett has been instrumental in fine-tuning our repair and maintenance packages, so they meet perfectly the requirements of our business.”