Fleet operators are being warned of long-term disruption in the vehicle maintenance and repair sector, caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

While the majority of garages and workshops are now operating at their usually capacity, there are multiple challenges, according to Rivus, in dealing with a large backlog of vehicles – many of which are older, higher mileage examples.

At the recent Fleet200 Executive Club meeting (club details below), David Myers, chief executive of Rivus Fleet Solutions, said: “The vehicle parc is already about 15% higher in five- or six-years-old vehicles than it was two years ago, which creates more challenges in terms of the frequency of jobs and the frequency of tasks. So that volume is just getting more and more compressed into the garage network.”

Supply constraints in the new vehicle market are compounding the issue, forcing fleets to keep running older vehicles for longer and also affecting the supply of parts to repair existing ones.