Kelly Group has six rental suppliers - Northgate Vehicle Hire; Burnt Tree Vehicle Rental; LCV Hire Solutions, a new business that acquired Reflex Vehicle Solutions earlier this year; SHB Hire; Hertz and most recently Hiregate Vehicle Rental.

The decision about which rental company to us is largely based on price. However, the ‘quality of the product’ available, including vehicle specification and service levels – especially in relation to a vehicle breakdown – are key factors for Coughlan in the decision-making process.

“A lot of our work is time sensitive so we cannot afford to have vehicles off the road. We do operate our own mobile vehicle workshops, but it is essential that we also have support from our rental suppliers,” he says.

Whether or not to spot hire vehicles for a particular contract or to utilise the company’s core fleet of vehicles is a complex decision-making process determined by a variety of factors.

These include contract location with Coughlan saying: “If vans are needed in a location where we don’t have a strong geographical presence, for example Northern Ireland or the east of Scotland, we would look to rent and ask the supplier to manage the vehicles for the duration of the contract.

“Similarly if the company wins a six-month contract and 50 vans are required we may well spot hire all vans for the duration of the project.”

Although operating a solus Ford owned fleet, vans on hire could carry the badge of a range of other manufacturers as determined by vehicle availability with ‘right size for the job’ being the key criteria.

Rented vans will almost invariably be supplied in ‘raw’ form - although some may arrive at Kelly Group equipped with roof racks and flashing beacons.

The company prepares the vehicles with livery, racking and other specialist features in its central workshops in Dunstable, Bedfordshire.

Flexibility and utilisation

Maximum utilisation of the Kelly Group-owned fleet is critical for Coughlan which is critically one of the key reasons why he opts to use spot rental as a ‘permanent’ aspect of his fleet operation and not a stop-gap measure .

He says: “I don’t want vehicles standing idle because that costs money.

"Spot hire is by far the most effective way of supplementing our fleet with additional vehicles to meet the workload of the business.

"The flexibility that spot hire provides means that if we don’t need vehicles we simply send them back.”

The multi award-winning fleet decision-maker believes that in a challenging economic climate spot hire is an under utilised financial tool.