The RAC is the oldest breakdown service in the UK and is has been known for 120 years for its expertise in fixing vehicles at the roadside and getting our members on the move again.

But there’s much more to RAC cover than just our renowned breakdown service. We are constantly looking at ways of taking the hassle out of vehicle maintenance and reducing the admin of running a fleet, especially for a construction firm when vehicles have to work hard.

The RAC Universal Spare Wheel

For instance, the majority of new vehicles rolling off the production line today have no spare tyre in the traditional sense, this is to reduce the weight of the vehicle in order to help it achieve targets for emissions.

We see a lot of customers who have a puncture and aren’t necessarily aware of this. In response we developed the Universal Spare Wheel, which every RAC Patrol carries on their van. As the name suggests this fits the vast majority of makes and models, which means we can get our customers on their way again with a quick wheel change and leave them to arrange to get a new tyre fitted when it’s convenient for them.

State-of-the-art battery testing

When it comes to flat batteries, the second biggest reason for RAC callouts, by the time you’ve realised there’s a problem it’s probably too late. The return to work after the Christmas and New Year holiday is the flat battery high tide mark, as vehicles have often been left for days in the cold. But with RAC Telematics, and the smartphone driver app that comes with it, you can check the vehicle health section and keep track of your battery’s performance. This means you get an early warning if there is a problem developing and can get it changed before it fails. RAC Telematics is also an extremely effective way of keeping in touch with what’s happening in your fleet in terms of how drivers are performing, servicing requirements, vehicle health, and managing utilisation to help minimise downtime. Our customers tell us they have seen significant reductions in areas such as fuel use, wear and tear and accidents, all of which can have a positive effect on your fleet management.

All RAC Patrols also carry a state-of-the-art battery diagnostic tester, among its 500 parts and tools, which gauges the battery’s performance and provides the customer with an emailed report of the faults it has picked up. This not only provides the customer with confidence in our assessment of the vehicle, but enables the patrol to identify more efficiently what is wrong and fix the fault more quickly.

Accident Management services

Accident management services are also increasingly important to our business customers as when the worst happens, and drivers are involved in a crash, it can obviously be very stressful to deal with. Accident management services focusses on the needs of the individual driver first and handles everything associated with that, such as replacement vehicles for the fleet, for example, so that the disruption to the business can be minimised.

The RAC Business Club

For small to medium-sized businesses, we have developed an online fleet management system called RAC Business Club, which is designed specifically for the SME sector. We recognise that many small businesses don’t have a dedicated fleet manager, and it’s usually down to the business owner to wear that hat, along with many others.

RAC Business Club enables SMEs to manage their vehicles much more efficiently, with access to the RAC Approved Garage Network and special offers from leasing firms, as well as supporting with admin tasks such as fuel reports and reminders for MoTs and servicing.

For customers with RAC Fuel Cards, RAC Telematics and breakdown products, Business Club also acts as the management system for those services, again saving time and reducing running costs.

Save on diesel with the RAC Fuel Card

Finally, any business which runs vehicles will be only too aware of the price of fuel and its impact on their annual fleet running costs, as well as the time take up in admin dealing with staff receipts and expenses claims. That is why RAC Business offers a fuel card solution to its customers which is not only accepted at nearly 8,000 sites across the UK (the widest coverage of any card on the market) but also entitles the user to 2p a litre diesel discount at 1,800 sites nationwide.

This not only provides the best value, but also automates the administration as the data from the card feeds into the fleet management system. No more paper receipts floating about the vehicle or office waiting to get lost or mislaid.

So when it comes to thinking about breakdown cover and what that means for a business fleet, it’s clear that it means a lot more than roadside recovery, as vital as that is. But for today’s businesses that rely on their vehicles, a breakdown provider like RAC Business now delivers a whole range of services and products that are relevant every day in supporting the smooth running of the fleet. And not just on those occasions when we’re required to rescue our customers in their time of need.