Maintenance Troubleshooting

Nothing is more annoying than a persistant problem that your local dealer can't resolve, like a squeak or rattle or worse still an intermittant problem that seems to vanish the minute you drive to the garage – we've all experienced that at some time!

In cases like this, one of our trained engineers will 'swap' cars with you until he is able to identify the problem and get it resolved – that's what we call 'real troubleshooting'.

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Management Information

Information and knowledge is useless unless it can be acted on!

During the course of each contract, we gather a substantial amount of potentially useful management data. Our in-house IT systems developers have perfected the access and reporting possibilities of this data which in turn allows you to identify a wealth of information:

Excess Mileage Report
Identifying potential high mileage vehicles during the contract not at the end (when there's little that can be done to even out mileage) makes sense – for you and us. Regular updates of each vehicle's mileage are a feature of our reporting.

P11D Information
This report will show:

Vehicle.
Registration Number.
Delivery Date.
Manufacturer's Recommended Retail Price.

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Treatment of Under & Excess Mileage

An excess mileage charge is a charge made at a pre-determined rate for mileages in excess of the total agreed in the primary contract period.

On an individual contract basis we would charge for all excess mileage, but credit any under mileage on the basis of 70% of the pre-determined rate to a maximum 10% of the total contract mileage.

This figure would be credited to your sales ledger account, to pay for such items as short term hire, etc. This saves on both company's administrative functions, cuts down on the invoice flow and provides efficiencies for both companies.

This policy is normally applicable to fleets where the number of SMC contract vehicles excess 10.

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Short Term Lease Fleet (STL)

The Short Term Lease Fleet is SMC's support to its main fleet in operations such as (select for more):

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Sales to Drivers

Often, a driver of one of our vehicles might like to buy it at the end of the contract.

SMC will be pleased to calculate the value of the vehicle at that time and give them the opportunity to own it before we dispose of it through auctions.

Not forgetting our wide range of 4LESS deals...

If you are looking for a top value used Ford Fiesta size vehicle and want to buy one at trade prices, then you must see our 4LESS sites.

Throughout the year SMC provide thousands of Ford Fiesta size vehicles to companies on short-term leases. At the end of the lease these vehicles are returned to SMC where they become available for sale to the trade and the public.

For more information and up to date galleries of 4LESS vehicles available, visit our 4LESS section.

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Parking & Speeding Fines

The reality is that getting caught speeding or parking where prohibited is becoming a regular occurence for many drivers.

SMC has an obligation to assist with the enquiries of the police to ascertain who was the driver/ keeper at the time of the incident. It's vital that all fines etc. are paid promptly otherwise SMC has to pay the fine on your behalf and re-charge it to you with an additional handling fee.

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Early Termination

SMC adopts a flexible approach to early termination. It's policy to evaluate each vehicle on its own merits at the point where the contract is to be terminated.

Items evaluated are general vehicle condition, actual mileage as compared to pro rata contract mileage, and the remaining period left on the contract,

This has proven to be the most equitable method of early termination of a vehicle, as opposed to having a fixed penalty charge that inevitably works against the interests of the client.

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End of Contract Charges

On average, 90% of all cars returned to SMC don't incur a recharge for refurbishment work. The Contract Hire Industry in general has a bad reputation for charging as a matter of course for every stone chip, stain and scuff. SMC is proud of its 'no quibble' approach to this difficult area, adopting one equitable interpretation of 'fair wear and tear' in accordance with the BVRLA guidelines. A copy of this is available on request.

For example, SMC would view fair wear and tear as:

Superficial scratches and scuffs to bumpers.

Stone Chipping on front and low side of vehicle.

Minor scratches to paintwork, if surface paint isn't broken.

Stone chipping to front windscreen unless it has begun to crack, and is not in driver's vision (regulation under MOT rules).

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