True cost of van downtime revealed
The real cost of van downtime has been revealed in new research carried out by Opinium for Mercedes-Benz Vans.
It found that businesses lose £1,172.20 for every day a van is off the road.
The study also revealed that 41% business leaders said vehicle downtime causes stress among staff, 33% said it disrupts workflow and 29% said it results in employees working longer hours.
Meanwhile, 24% have faced customer complaints as results, with the same number missing performance targets. A further 18% said they worry that vehicle downtime could cost them contracts.
Simon Neill, operations director, Mercedes-Benz Vans UK, said: “For many UK businesses, a van isn’t just a van; it’s the business showing up. Our new research lays bare what happens when vans go off the road. Vehicle uptime isn’t something you can park in the operations folder and forget about. It shapes productivity, customer relationships, and it lands on people first.”
Connected service
Mercedes-Benz Vans offers a Van Uptime Monitor, a connected service that continuously monitors a vehicle’s technical condition and alerts operators to potential issues before they develop into faults.
The system links vehicles with Mercedes-Benz workshops, enabling service teams to identify maintenance requirements and operators to schedule repairs.
Neill concluded:
“The ambition at Mercedes-Benz Vans isn’t just to be the best at fixing vans when they go wrong, but at stopping them going wrong in the first place using data and experience. Because prevention will always be better than cure. We know the pressures businesses are under right now, big and small, and we want them to know we have their backs.”
