FAST GROWING VAN RENTAL FLEET APPOINTS ATS EUROMASTER
15 June 2012
Flexible van rental specialist Hiregate Vehicle Rental has appointed ATS Euromaster to look after its tyres as it steps up its pace of growth. The company, which has set its sights on growing its fleet to more than 3,000 vans by the end of 2012, sought a tyre service provider with commercial vehicle expertise and a national branch network to provide comprehensive support to customers.
Hiregate Vehicle Rental was established in January 2011 and added 1,000 light commercials to its books within the first 12 months. Today the fleet stands at more than 1,500 vehicles, ranging from compact city vans to high roof, long-wheelbase models, plus chassis cabs mounted with box, tipper, Luton and dropside bodies.
Nick Skillman, Commercial Director at Hiregate Vehicle Rental, explains: “We started off using local independent tyre dealers, but as we have grown, so has our need to partner with a national service provider and to purchase and manage tyres more effectively.
“We looked at a number of options and found ATS Euromaster could meet our requirements head on. They have the light commercial vehicle expertise and network coverage to grow with us, plus their reputation in the industry is a selling point with new customers,” he adds.
Hiregate Vehicle Rental is an independent company, but has been set-up on the back of the established Dawson Group operation. This sees it utilise 24 existing Dawson Group sites across the UK to provide customers with a nationwide rental network; from Glasgow in the north, to Exeter, Southampton and Maidstone in the south.
Tyre authorisations are managed via Hiregate Vehicle Rental’s 24/7 maintenance call centre – a shared resource with Dawson Group which collectively manages more than 17,000 UK-based assets. Experienced staff can direct customers to any of ATS Euromaster’s 370 centres nationwide.
As the largest commercial vehicle tyre specialist in the UK, ATS Euromaster is used by many of the country’s most prestigious van and heavy truck operators. Its network is particularly well suited to supporting van fleets, being able to accommodate even the largest 17m³ panel vans in 95 per cent of its locations.
Hiregate Vehicle Rental offers a variety of competitive rental packages, targeted specifically at business users. Customers can select from full service long term hire, funded off the balance sheet and with no commitment, to shorter hire policies of up to 12 months, or rent-to-buy schemes with an ownership option at the end of the primary rental term.
ends
About ATS Euromaster
ATS Euromaster is part of the Euromaster Group, which operates in fifteen European countries with 10,700 employees in more than 1,800 service centres. Established in the UK since 1961, ATS Euromaster has 370 service centres (comprising a mixture of retail, comprehensive and truck sites), approximately 1,000 mobile service vans and employs 2,680 people, providing national coverage of the UK. It is the largest comprehensive tyre distributor supplying tyres for everything from cars and vans to trucks, coaches, forklifts, agricultural tractors and even construction plant. In 2010 ATS Euromaster became the first national tyre expert to be accredited by both SAFEContractor and the Contractors Health and Safety Scheme (CHAS). The company’s technicians are amongst the most highly trained in the fast-fit industry, offering a comprehensive range of products and services including tyres, fleet inspections, nitrogen inflation, brakes, batteries, shock absorbers, oil, exhausts, fault diagnostics, air-conditioning servicing and MOT testing. Further information is available from www.atseuromaster.co.uk
Note to editor: For press information please contact James Keeler on 020 8647 4467.
ATS/363/12
PHOTO CAPTION: Nick Skillman, Commercial Director, Hiregate Vehicle Rental.
Tags:
