LONDON, May 28, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

The influential Alphabet Fleet Management Report, based on a survey of 250 fleet managers, reported last month that 'the number of dedicated in-house UK fleet managers is shrinking and those that remain are becoming increasingly focused on controlling costs.'

Chris Allison, Managing Director of Auditel, the UK and Ireland's leading cost management specialists, confirms that many organisations in the transport industry have sought advice from his company recently. 'Managing costs as diverse as utilities, premises and waste, let alone finding the time to keep on top of contract renewals and seek out innovative cost management solutions, is an uphill task without dedicated, professional help.'

Auditel has built a reputation for delivering ethical and sustainable solutions for the transport sector through their Total Cost of Purchase® approach. This system is now widely regarded as the most effective method of managing costs holistically, reducing waste and creating ongoing profit improvement. Auditel regularly delivers results that not only meet, but exceed clients' expectations.

Dart Distribution, a specialist haulage firm, ships containers between clients and the main UK container ports. They have four sites and over forty container trucks, with their head office located near the docks at Felixstowe. Operating in a mature and highly competitive market, it is particularly important to manage and control their overheads, in order to maintain competitive advantage.

After being introduced to Auditel, Dart's Managing Director Andy Packer, realised that his company could be missing out on some significant cost saving opportunities. Auditel were engaged to review the energy and communications overheads.

As well as savings on Dart's mobile and landline voice traffic spends, Auditel identified several discount schemes which should have been applied to their account. By implementing these correctly, both ongoing savings and a significant one-off rebate were achieved. Other errors were found on mobile phone bills and further rebates were negotiated for these. Auditel also suggested replacing  their dial-up system for tracking orders and deliveries, with an ADSL solution. Thus all dial-up costs have been eliminated and further savings were made by cancelling  redundant phone lines.

Mr Packer explains: 'We have worked with Auditel for over two years now and have already enjoyed savings of over £25,000. The support they have given us at every stage of the project has been first class. Auditel continue to manage our communications and energy costs and find additional savings for us.'

Chris Allison says: 'I have just had the report of our latest project. The dilemma facing the client was a large ageing minibus fleet. They were inexperienced at buying fleets and not sure if they should sell their old fleet and rent the vehicles back. The future costs of maintenance of vehicles was unknown. With a strong environmental policy, they wanted to reduce their carbon footprint. These were some of many complex issues to be considered. After comprehensive financial and operational analysis and a tender process, we recommended that they sell their existing fleet on the open market and lease new vehicles with maintenance fully included. By having access to the most competitive funders, we also achieved a saving of £55,000, compared to the tender given to them by another organisation.

'Auditel are now project managing the implementation of the contract which is a detailed process, and includes the sale of old vehicles, client logos and livery on new vehicles, and the swap of new for old vehicles simultaneously.

'There's no doubt, our clients value the huge time-saving our teams provide. In-house resources are freed up to concentrate on core activities. Budgets now contain up-to-date, accurate cost management information and we have become a trusted, outsourced member of their executive team. Every month, year in and year out, we are saving tens of thousands of pounds for organisations,  small, medium and large throughout the UK. If you too want to have peace of mind amid spiralling costs, start with our Auditel Business Health Check and then just sit back and watch your bottom line get bigger and bigger!'

About Auditel

Established in 1994, Auditel is currently reducing financial waste and improving bottom line profits for thousands of organisations throughout the UK and Ireland across all areas of business expenditure. Their clients range from small businesses to global brands such as Pizza Express, YMCA and Oxford University. Auditel's flexible fee structure gives clients' choice and the ability to manage cost and strategy for the long term.

More information: Norman Grossman, PR Officer, Auditel (UK) Ltd, St Paul's Gate, Cross Street, Winchester, SO23 8SZ. T: +44(0)7966-436717.

E: norman.grossman@auditel.co.uk

SOURCE Auditel (UK) Ltd