Estate Agents Handle Big Move To Toyota
Leading independent estate agency Reeds Rains is moving over to Toyota for its 280-strong car fleet. The company, which has its head office in Chorley, Lancashire and covers the North of England from Northumberland to Staffordshire and from North Wales across to the Humber, previously used Peugeot and before that Vauxhall models. Now Reeds Rains believes it can make significant cost savings through its new fleet policy.
“It is all about reducing whole life costs, and with Toyota having such a good reliability record we believe we can achieve that without undue risk, and to the benefit of our staff,” said Reeds Rains’ Financial Controller David Ash, who is responsible for the fleet.
The generous specification on the Toyota vehicles, most of which will include the Toyota GPS navigation system as standard, had also been regarded as attractive. “The first order has only just gone through, but I would say that the drivers are already very positive about the change.”
Most of the cars are Avensis models, along with Corolla and some Yaris. They will be driven by branch managers, surveyors and mortgage advisors.
The majority of the company’s 138 branch managers will drive the Avensis 1.8GS, while the 2.0GLS model will be the choice for surveyors. “The satellite navigation is a big plus point,” confirmed David Ash.
The Yaris will be used mainly by Reeds Rains mortgage advisors “but also by others who might decide to trade down for a higher spec”.
The cars will be supplied on a full-maintenance contract hire basis in line with the company’s four-year/80,000-mile replacement policy.
“We regard this agreement with Reeds Rains as another significant vote of confidence in the Toyota car range,” said Mark Hall, General Manager of Toyota Fleet. “More and more leading companies are discovering that Toyota fits the bill when it comes to combining low costs with reliability and driver satisfaction.”
ENDS