Car lease finance

As a leasing company with more than 12,000 vehicles to manage--the vast majority of which are supplied to major blue chip companies--ING Car Lease's team faces a huge range of day-to-day challenges. The variety of tasks undertaken by the team reflects its commitment to providing its clients with fully customised lease and management solutions.

As such, the service it delivers to each customer can vary immensely--from intrinsic funding and fleet management provisions, through to managing the requirements of clients who have chosen a fully outsourced arrangement. This might include vehicle insurance, accident management, risk management and rental services.

At the heart of ING's operations lies Client Services, from where account managers and account administrators oversee the day-to-day running of customer fleets. On the front line is a dedicated team of account administrators who look after a whole host of requirements--from providing new quotes and responding to vehicle management and maintenance queries, to renewals, servicing requirements and general reporting functions. This team liaises with every other ING department on a daily basis, to ensure that every query is answered accurately and promptly. Because of the range of responsibilities involved, no two days are the same: the week might start by assisting a driver who has, after two years of driving the same diesel vehicle, suddenly and inexplicably filled it with petrol, to passing through Congestion Charging notices to the operations administration department Though the latter is a normally straightforward task, it can be complicated by computer errors (generated by Transport for London) or by more unusual circumstances. These include situations of drivers' vehicle registrations having been cloned: though thankfully rare, the team did receive a call from one driver who reported actually sitting in a traffic jam behind a vehicle displaying their own (and legal) registration plate.

Customer queries that require a more specific response are directed to the relevant departments, where experts are on hand to provide advice on anything from risk management and purchasing through to accident management, maintenance and breakdown problems, fleet administration and billing.

For drivers, two important areas of the ING function are its Accident Management and Maintenance and Breakdown departments. Maintenance and Breakdown is supported by four maintenance controllers allot whom have substantial technical backgrounds and work with the team to manage a proven network of suppliers: from windscreen suppliers and mechanics to tyre fitters and breakdown services

The Accident Management team provides support for around 30 of ING's clients, representing a significant number of drivers. From the first call, this team will establish whether it is safe for the driver to talk and then take the details of any incident, any damage and issues of 'fault' and source the most suitable repairer. A two member team manages the control of repairs, to ensure that work is carried out quickly and effectively to reduce vehicle downtime. The team also liaises with insurers where payouts are involved. Bespoke software and a proven set of procedures ensure that every incident is followed through thoroughly from start to finish.

Some of the most common day-to-day accidents reported by drivers are 'rear hits', particularly those occurring on the approach to a roundabout, and damage done to vehicles when parked. But even a usual day will bring its share of strange incidents: for one driver, pulling away from a petrol pump with the pump still in the car caused fairly extensive damage to the car's petrol cap.

Providing financial back-up

Supporting these client-facing teams and acting as the backbone to ING's service are the finance, risk, purchasing and re-marketing functions. These teams provide vital links to the industry as a whole and are responsible for building relationships with it to ensure ING's customers gain maximum financial advantage This involves the upkeep of internal databases to ensure targets remain on track (such as maintenance budgets, rental values and residual value forecasts) as well as forging relationships with manufacturers. It also requires keeping a careful eye on the competition something achieved through weekly review meetings.

By building strong relationships with manufacturers, ING's purchasing team can ensure that they are in a position to secure its clients the best discounts available--as well as making sure that they are among the first to hear from the manufacturers about new products. This latter part of the role can be tough for example, attending top-secret new model launches throughout Europe to test drive some of the smartest cars on the market! In some cases, manufacturers will invite members of the leasing industry to view pre-production models. In one instance, the manufacturer's model was pro pro production and cost 1m [pounds sterling] to hand build this was not only the most expensive launch model to have been sampled by the ING team but also a show of supreme confidence by its manufacturer.

The ING team relies on the established synergy between its departments to ensure its day-to-day activities run smoothly. While its fleet clients may not be aware of everything that goes on behind the scenes, all you really need to know is that customer satisfaction remains its key driver.