High-growth vehicle rental company streamlines business operations with Fleetio Manage and the Fleetio API.
Company Objectives:
- Properly inspect and manage maintenance for almost 1,700 vehicles that are constantly on the move
- Find a mobile-based fleet maintenance software solution that will integrate with other business systems like telematics and CRM
- Scale its high-growth ridesharing business throughout Australia
Streamlining fleet operations with the Fleetio API
Since 2016, Splend has been shaking up the rideshare industry in Australia. Created as an online platform offering car rental to Uber drivers, Splend has quickly become Australia’s preferred vehicle supplier for on-demand rideshare and delivery services.
With almost 1,700 vehicles across Australia and brick and mortar facilities in each state, Splend’s mission is to provide eco-friendly and affordable cars to on-demand drivers, so they can focus on earning an income.
When vehicles are the heart of your business
The staff works out of fleet vehicles daily and can easily add thousands of miles to each vehicle every year. When a vehicle is down, the field staff still need to get to their job site, so the company must find other transportation means, which can be costly.
More systems, more problems
Renting mainly Kia Sportage and Toyota Camry Hybrids to its drivers, vehicles are the lifeblood of Splend’s business. Keeping vehicles in peak condition at maximum utilization is a top priority.
Splend takes care of all vehicle upkeep—inspections, maintenance, fuel, tolls, etc.—for its members. A dedicated Member Success Representative (MSR) is assigned to each member to help ensure its vehicle is operating properly and to maximize their profits driving for Uber.
As the company began to grow rapidly across a wide geographic region and add more and more vehicles to its fleet, it became increasingly difficult for Splend to keep up with vehicle and member statuses and manage the growing risk of unexpected vehicle accidents and repairs.
"Fleetio's open API and pre-packaged integration with telematics was huge."
-Marcus Liew, Chief Digital Officer at Splend
A modern system, an open API
When starting its search for fleet maintenance software, Splend knew it wanted a modern, mobile-based solution given the company’s—and clients’—focus on mobility.
Splend also knew an open application programming interface (API) would be key. This would enable Splend to connect its fleet maintenance software to other business systems, allowing for better data visibility.
Because of Fleetio’s modern interface, mobile apps and open API, Splend chose to onboard Fleetio Manage.
“Many fleet management software solutions were a bit old school. Fleetio’s open API and pre-packaged integration with telematics was huge. We knew we wanted to put GPS devices in our vehicles,” said Marcus Liew, Splend’s Chief Digital Officer.
"Fleetio helps us better manage our business. We've never had the visibility that we now have across our entire fleet."
-Robbie Fiddler, Chief Fleet Officer at Splend
Bringing people, vehicles and systems together
Fleetio Manage quickly became an invaluable piece of daily business operations and continues to scale with Splend.
“Fleetio helps us better manage our business. We’ve never had the visibility that we now have across our entire fleet. So many members of our team from upper management to account managers are in Fleetio on a daily basis,” said Liew.
From inputting vehicles after acquisition to scheduling maintenance to managing member accounts, most business activities touch Fleetio Manage.
Splend uses Fleetio’s open API to integrate Fleetio Manage with its customer relationship management (CRM) solution. Splend can input information such as new members, signed rental agreements and assigned vehicles just once in Fleetio, and it is immediately added and/or updated in the CRM.
"We use Fleetio the most out of all our systems."
-Marcus Liew, Chief Digital Officer at Splend
Also using the Fleetio API, Splend takes advantage of Fleetio’s pre-packaged Geotab integration. With telematics devices in all rental vehicles, GPS location and odometer data from the onboard device (OBD) is automatically populated in Fleetio and maintenance tasks can be triggered instantly.
Since Splend takes care of maintenance on all its vehicles, avoiding costly repairs and downtime is crucial. To ensure uptime, account managers use the Fleetio Go mobile app to perform custom inspections on rental vehicles each month.
To connect everyone touching the fleet, Splend added its external vendors to Fleetio, further streamlining maintenance processes.
"The Fleetio Go mobile app is a huge time saver."
-Marcus Liew, Chief Digital Officer at Splend
“From managing regular inspections and maintenance to member assignments and even external vendors, we use every single feature of Fleetio Manage,” said Liew.
The data provided by Fleetio is of utmost importance to Splend. Service costs, utilization rate, vehicle cost per kilometer and vehicle cost per day are just a few of the key reports Splend uses on a regular basis.
Splend has expanded rapidly since its launch in 2016 and Fleetio has enabled the company to streamline operations and power growth.
