Stair Lift Company Keeps Van-Benefit Tax Man Happy

FOLLOWING the changes in the tax regulations that came into force in April this year, many companies have begun to crackdown on the private mileage done by employees. VLC Stair Lifts, a Wigan-based supplier, installer and maintainer of stair lifts, wanted to ensure that they could keep the taxman happy – and their drivers safe from crippling tax bills – by using a vehicle tracking system from the rapidly growing http://www.remoteassetmanagement.co.uk.

VLC Stair Lifts is using the tracking system to provide an accurate log of the personal usage of company vans by its engineers to release them from the hefty tax implications.

“After seeing a few systems that were on the market we were sure that the RAM system was by far the best,” said Judith Green, Managing Director at VLC Stair Lifts Limited. “The company representative was very informative and not pushy, the system looked highly intuitive and had all of the reporting facilities that we wanted, plus it had many extra features that the other systems were missing.”

VLC Stair Lifts installed the RAM tracking system across its fleet of vans. Although the tax regulations were the main reason for having a system, VLC have also received many associated benefits, such as improvements in customer service, saving communications costs and an overall policing of vehicle usage.

“Traffic reports are incredibly useful as we can avoid road jams, but the best thing by far is being able to click on a vehicle and locate it within seconds, allowing us to proactively plan our day – a swift process that replaces phoning our engineers to ask them where they are, made even more difficult when we’d catch them in the middle of a difficult installation.

“We can use this information to tell the customer exactly when we expect the engineer to arrive. We have always done our very best to work efficiently, but by having the RAM system onboard our vans, we have managed to increase our productivity while saving money at the same time!”

The RAM tracking system produces a suite of highly useful management reports that have been used time and again by fleet managers across the country to streamline their operations.

“We can print a ‘time at location’ report and verify the exact times that an engineer arrived and departed a site, which is incredibly useful if a customer should dispute our attendance,” continued Green.

The flexibility of the system allows companies to focus on the important aspects of their business, whether it is improved customer service, better client billing or even road safety of the vehicles.

“We want to display a professional image to all of our customers, so we utilise the tracking system to pick up any instances of speeding. We can analyse the reason behind it and offer support or better manage a schedule to keep our engineers road safe.”

The RAM system is reportedly saving UK industry many millions of pounds each year and has become a major player in the telematics market since its inception just three years ago.

Martin Davies, Director of remoteassetmanagement.co.uk, said: “Our system has been tried and tested by hundreds of businesses across the UK and – without fail – it has produced the results that we actively promote.”

ENDS

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Notes to the Editors

RAM - (Remote Asset Management) - was formed in 2004 with the single aim of simplifying the offerings of a telematics solution, for a mass-market appeal. With many years experience between them, the team built a web-based system that many have described as ‘incredibly simple yet highly effective’. Quality of service is important to RAM, who specify that all system upgrades are delivered completely free of charge to all customers. With so many factors pushing fleet costs up, RAM’s solution has helped reduce outgoings whilst increasing productivity and has been proven successful time and time again across a multitude of fleets of varying sizes.