Home Delivery cuts costs with telematics system

Chesterfield-based home delivery specialist Home Delivery Solutions (HDS) has cut its insurance premium by £80,000 and estimates it is saving £10,000 a year on fuel costs after installing a Mandata telematics system 18 months ago.

HDS was set up seven years ago and now operates 43 vehicles on home deliveries for DIY retailers including Screwfix, Jeld-when, ATT Fabrication and B&Q.

The in-cab technology and Manpack3 software was installed as part of an initiative to monitor and improve driver performance.  The company’s managing director Steve Taylor (pictured) said: “Our investment in a new fleet-wide tracking and driver behaviour system has saved us more than £80,000 this year in insurance premiums alone. This is clearly good news, and the cash savings have gone straight on the bottom line enabling us to invest in other areas of the business.”

HDS had seen its annual vehicle insurance premiums spiral upwards in recent years - up 53% from £160,000 to £300,000 in the last year. Now, implementation of Mandata tracking and driver behaviour software together with in-cab video surveillance has seen the company’s premiums drop significantly.

“Our insurance company was impressed by our proactive approach to making improvements to driver performance and it’s the implementation of Mandata’s tracking system that has helped us to reduce premium payments,” said Taylor.

Manpack3 software tracks and monitors driver habits such as excessive idling and harsh braking. The results are shared with the drivers to help them improve in specific areas and initial projections indicate the company could make annual fuel cost savings of around £10,000 across its fleet.

“We have improved the ratings of each driver purely because of the Mandata system,” said Taylor. “Better, more skilled drivers mean our vehicles are being driven more effectively which has led to a considerable increase in vehicle fuel efficiency. MPG increased by an average of 2mpg across the fleet within two months which, when spun out across all of our vehicles over several months will represent significant savings.”

In addition, the introduction of in-cab scanning has accelerated invoice processes by ensuring PODs and other paperwork relating to each job are saved quickly to the Manpack3 TMS along with relevant notes or photographs of any damage. Customers can also log in to a secure area of the HDS website to track deliveries at all points within the supply chain.

“The capability to have such data immediately at hand helps us to maintain high levels of customer service and enables us to manage our business far more professionally than we did before the systems were in place,” concluded Taylor.