Hiring a car with a driver: what are the advantages?

Hiring vehicles with drivers requires the provision of human resources to the client in addition to the vehicle. The latter remains in complete control of its logistics but can be relieved of a time-consuming task if it so wishes: determining the routes of rounds or deliveries according to the drivers available.

The rental of trucks with drivers is undoubtedly the best way to provide the customer with an optimal, turnkey service, with trained and professionally impeccable personnel.

Transport: a pool of regularly assessed professional drivers

Vehicle rental companies with drivers are extremely demanding in terms of the profile of their employees: a heavy goods vehicle licence, a medical examination in order, compulsory minimum initial training (FIMO), as well as continuous training every 5 years.

As Lionel Coudert, Fraikin’s Director of Rental with Drivers and Associated Services and a member of the French Management Committee, explains, “At Fraikin, all drivers assigned to rented vehicles are regularly checked and evaluated.

Depending on the nature of the vehicles: cranes, aerial work platforms, training is required to ensure the driver’s level of control over handling equipment, building sites or elevating work platforms: this is the CACES (Certificate of Ability to Drive in Safety). Not all drivers master all vehicles.

It is then up to the car rental company with driver to decide which driver is best suited to the route plan drawn up by the customer and to the goods to be transported, an added value that does not exist when the customer chooses his own driver.

The advantage of hiring a vehicle with a driver also lies in the increasing difficulty of finding truck drivers in France and Europe.

This profession is struggling to attract young people and women, and certainly suffers from a poor image. There are between 40,000 and 50,000 jobs for lorry drivers available in France, and not all of them will be replaced on retirement.

When a customer is looking for a driver on his own, the task is difficult: the chauffeur-driven hire company can relieve the customer thanks to the pool of qualified drivers at its disposal.

Drivers who are used to working for the same rental company are generally confident in their employer and remain available to work regularly.

Lionel Coudert explains: “At Fraikin, whose reputation is very high, drivers know that we provide good working conditions, that the vehicles are recent and in perfect condition, and that the work can be done safely.”

When the social climate is good in a car rental company with drivers, they stay with the company for a very long time and become more and more efficient, knowing the workings of the company, the vehicles and the teams.

Hiring with a driver: “profiling” drivers

Each job has its own particularities: whether it is transporting materials to a private home, delivering orders, collecting rubbish, or installing technical elements in an urban environment, the same skills are not required.

This is one of the advantages of hiring a chauffeur-driven car: there is no need to “cast” yourself, the client is accompanied in the search for the right person for the job.

“When a client wants to work with Fraikin, we meet with them and send them a trainer. The trainer will study the client’s needs and establish a typical profile according to the company’s requirements,” explains Lionel Coudert.

Once the profiling has been done, the rental company can then search its internal pool of employees to find the best person for the job. If the pool does not provide the required skills, it can then turn to temporary employment agencies, training organisations, the French employment office or even post advertisements on social networks.

The driver is then presented to the customer, who can then assess whether it meets his or her wishes.

Route management: tailor-made support

If the customer also wishes to optimise his deliveries, he can call on an additional service: route management via MY ROUTE BY FRAIKIN. With this service, before determining which driver is suitable for the customer, the rental company will study the operation of the customer’s routes: the route plan, the frequency of the routes, the delivery route, the loading of the vehicles, etc.

As Lionel Coudert, director of driver rental services at Fraikin, explains, “We analyse the tour and point out any malfunctions by sending a trainer to study their way of working. It’s a service that, in addition to the driver hire service, can be very interesting for them.” Indeed, up to 30% more deliveries per vehicle and time savings have been observed among users of this optional service.

This is an upstream work that allows the company to realise what its weak points are in terms of fleet and route management. The collaboration becomes extremely interesting because the vehicle lessee becomes a real advisor in optimising the delivery activity of his client.

A permanent link between the rental company, the driver and the customer

The customer is always assured that the link will be maintained between the three parties: the rental company, the driver and the customer.

At Fraikin, for example, as Lionel Coudert explains, “The client benefits from the support of the agency: each Fraikin agency (there are more than 120 in France) is considered to be the contact person for the drivers assigned to the task in question. There are Fraikin managers in each local branch who are responsible for keeping in constant contact with the drivers.

This link is valuable: the manager answers the driver’s questions about holidays, fuel, protective equipment if he needs an extra accessory, the condition of the vehicle, etc.

Similarly, the customer can always contact a manager if he has any questions about his driver’s activity.

Hiring a chauffeur-driven car: a time-saving and economical solution

Thanks to chauffeur-driven car hire, the customer no longer has to worry about administrative procedures:

• sort out the vehicle’s papers,
• replace the driver in case of absence,
• manage leave,
• bring the truck up to standard,
• monitoring the maintenance of the truck.

The vehicle rental company takes care of the training of the drivers and ensures their integration and well-being in the client company.

It also has the necessary equipment to monitor the driver’s rounds and routes: the customer does not need to draw up an activity summary, comply with the highway code and know the particularities of driving a truck, and the invoicing elements come directly from the rental company. Everything is fully automatic and taken care of.

Hiring a car with a driver allows you to be relieved of any additional worries, but also of responsibility: if an accident occurs, the client is responsible for the driver he employs. This liability is transferred to the insurance company if the driver is hired with the vehicle.