National Windscreens makes £10 million investment in fleet efficiency

A line of new Vauxhall Movanos at Peterborough

National Windscreens is renewing and growing its fleet of vehicles for technicians and staff as part of a £10 million investment over four years.

158 new 2021 model year vans, mainly Ford Transit Custom and Vauxhall Movano vehicles, will arrive over the next few months with cleaner engines, factory-fitted safety features, and specialist windscreen repair and replacement equipment, replacing the company’s older vehicles.

The refresh of the company fleet means that less time is lost to ongoing maintenance of older vehicles including MOT tests and replacing parts, maximising uptime with fewer breakdowns.

“Time on the road is a critical measure for us in our mission to serve the fleet industry. Our job is to keep these key vehicles on the road, and bring them back into service safely and quickly,” said Mark Payne, regional managing director.

Brian, with his new Transit at Basildon

“With the investment in new vehicles for our own technicians and staff, we’re able to maintain a much more reliable service, and if we’re on the road more reliably, then so are our customers.”

Amongst the standard safety equipment on the new vans is monitoring equipment to ensure the vehicles are running as efficiently as possible, dash cameras, as well as a suite of repair and replacement tools, such as canopies so that work can be carried out in inclement weather, onboard racking to securely carry new glass, and inverters to provide a 240V supply to power technicians’ tools.

Chris, at the Northampton branch with his new Transit Custom

National Windscreens is already making plans to move to an all-electric car fleet for its non-fitting staff.

Regional director and general manager, Nicky Coetsee, confirms: “The latest cohort of vehicles feature Euro 6-certified engines which are cleaner to run than ever before, but we are constantly evaluating the market and the infrastructure available to pinpoint the right time to make the switch to electric powertrains for our fitting vehicles.

“We have already made this change to electric power with our non-fitting staff vehicles, with 47 of these now either hybrid or fully electric.”