Contract hire
Short term hire
Service support
Flexibility
Workshops
Partnerships

Comprehensive Contract Hire Packages

SFS provides a comprehensive contract hire package specifically tailored to meet the requirements of our local authority customers.

Our specialisation in this market enables us to offer unrivalled levels of support to your front line operations, which you would not enjoy if you purchased or leased your vehicles.

We invest as much management time as required to ensure that every contract we enter into is successful for our customers.

Each contract can include some, or all, of the following at a price that is fixed for the duration of the hire:

	The provision of vehicles specified to meet your requirements and operational needs
	Full servicing to manufacturers recommendations
	All repairs required to the vehicles (excluding damage)
	MOT Testing
	Loler certification
	Breakdown cover and recovery
	Road fund licence
	Replacement vehicles
	Tyres
	Fuel management
	Assistance with warranty claims and accident repairs
	Technical advice and support for all vehicle and fleet issues
	Vehicle disposal on contract expiry with NO onerous return conditions

In addition to the above, SFS offers many additional services such as consultancy, training and engineering support as part of the contract hire package. These services further enhance the benefits of contract hire from SFS. We would be pleased to discuss these in detail before you decide your future procurement strategy.

Hire a vehicle from our modern short term hire fleet

SFS has a fleet of modern refuse vehicles, available for hire from periods of one day to seven years.

Our hire fleet includes refuse collection vehicles of various specifications, which are available for hire nationwide.

We can also supply most other types of vehicles and plant on short term hire by utilising our extensive network of contacts with other hire companies.

Enjoy our service support

SFS is about a lot more than just supplying vehicles. Regardless of how we arrange for the maintenance of your vehicle fleet, you will enjoy the support of the entire SFS organisation.

Our Fleet Desk, based at our head office in Northampton, is staffed by people who have come from a local authority, the armed forces or have many years experience of municipal vehicles and are able to provide both technical and practical support.

SFS also has a network of mobile engineers operating from fully equipped service vehicles. They are available to support our customers’ operations and enable us to provide a “hands-on” service when required. Our mobile engineers also support our workshops and ensure that we have sufficient resources available to meet those inevitable peaks in demand that arise from time to time.

Our customers are allocated a contract manager who will spend time getting to know you and your operation and hold regular contract review meetings. Your contract manager will also co-ordinate the various services offered by SFS.

Of course, if required, you also have full access to the Directors of SFS based in Northampton.

Flexibility is one of our strengths

SFS can offer hire periods ranging from one month to twelve years.

Maintenance can also be provided in a number of different ways:

	SFS can sub-contract the maintenance to the council’s own workshop, or
	We can provide our own workshop or take over the council facility with a TUPE transfer of the workshop staff, or
	We can identify a third party to provide the maintenance service.

Our network of workshops

SFS currently has a network of five workshops. Four were formerly local authority facilities, which were taken over by us when supplying a new fleet of vehicles on contract hire.

Our main workshop is an 11,630 sq ft facility located in Northampton where we maintain the fleets operated by Northamptonshire County Council, Northampton Borough Council, South Northamptonshire District Council and Daventry District Council. This workshop is open 24 hours a day during the week and in addition to supporting our extensive customer base, is available to undertake specialist repairs on a wide range of municipal vehicles.

In addition to our Northampton workshop we also operate workshops on behalf of the following local authorities:

	Weymouth & Portland Borough Council
	Epsom & Ewell District Council
	Staffordshire Moorlands District Council
	Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council

When taking over these workshops we employed the existing staff on TUPE transfers and implemented change programmes to improve service levels leading to reductions in maintenance costs and increased vehicle availability.

Partnerships offer long term benefits

SFS is unique in its experience and focus on the local authority market benefiting from the financial strength of being part of the N M Rothschild Banking Group.

The SFS philosophy is not to impose a standard solution on our customers, but rather to listen to our customers’ requirements and design solutions, which meets our customers’ needs.

Increasingly, the best partnerships are those which offer a long term relationship and the ability for us to become an integral part of the council’s operation. This enables us to focus on providing the correct level of vehicle availability, leaving our customers free to concentrate on the delivery of front line services.

By working together, we can also identify areas where financial savings can be made.

Examples of this are:

	Greater vehicle utilisation resulting in a smaller more efficient vehicle fleet.
	Improved preventative and operator maintenance resulting in lower maintenance costs.
	Greater vehicle availability and new working arrangements providing out of hours servicing.

A partnership can encompass some or all of the services offered by SFS and in particular would focus on providing the vehicles you require, delivery of the maintenance service and fleet support.

We also provide consultancy services on all vehicle related issues and can demonstrate examples of projects undertaken for existing customers.

So whether you currently have issues with your vehicle fleet, workshop or maintenance provision, or simply want to discuss ideas, please contact us