National waste management company Hippo has reduced its service, maintenance and repair (SMR) costs by £116,000 after appointing Northgate Fleet Management to manage its growing fleet of vehicles.

Prior to the partnership with Northgate, Hippo looked after all vehicle maintenance and management in-house, but business growth resulted in the need for additional resource to keep up with the  demands of managing its 68-vehicle fleet.

This meant either recruiting and training an entire transport department, which would come at a substantial cost, or outsourcing its transport and vehicle maintenance management to an external supplier.

Graham Randall, transport manager at Hippo, said: “Since working together, all of the time and pressure that comes with managing our fleet has been taken away from our operations team.

"Administrative time has been drastically reduced as we’re now receiving one monthly invoice for several hundred transactions. This means we’re able to spend our time more effectively in managing our drivers more closely and making vital changes within the business’s operations, such as more efficient planning for bag collection routes, saving the business even more money."

Harry Palin, national strategic account manager at Northgate Fleet Management, said: "In the past year, Hippo has made net savings of over £116,000 on its SMR costs thanks to effective planning and the benefit of our workshop supply management capability.

"Most importantly, by handing the fleet management to Northgate it allows Hippo's operational managers to concentrate on running and growing the core business while we focus on the fleet.”