Six vans, six different MOT dates
A local plumbing firm runs six vans. Each has a different MOT date. The office manager keeps them in a spreadsheet, when she remembers to update it. One van was a week past its date before anyone noticed, and the driver had been out on jobs in it.
Some of their vans come to you. Others go to whichever centre had a slot when the office manager finally rang round. Your centre would happily take all six, but you have no easy way to see which of their vans is due when, or to offer them a simple way to book.
Businesses need a list, not reminders
Individual reminders work for private customers. They do not work well for a business, because the reminder goes to a driver's phone or a generic email, and the person who books is somebody else. What the office needs is one list of every vehicle due in the coming weeks, from someone who can book them all.
They also need the billing to suit them: an order number, one invoice a month, the registration and driver on each line. When that is awkward, they drift to whoever makes it easy.
Businesses also plan around their work. A florist's van cannot come in the week before Mother's Day. A builder's tipper is needed on site on weekdays. The office would happily book a test a few weeks early at a time that suits them, if they could see what was coming, rather than scrambling in the last week before the date.
What a missed fleet customer costs
| Problem | What happens |
|---|---|
| Reminders go to drivers | Office never sees them |
| Dates tracked in the firm's spreadsheet | Vehicles run past their date |
| One-at-a-time booking | Firm splits tests across several centres |
| Invoices per test | More admin for the firm, slower payment for you |
| No overview of the account | You cannot see which vehicles you have lost |
A business with several vehicles is steady work for years, and often brings its servicing and repairs if you offer them. Keeping it is worth more than winning several one-off tests.
There is a safety and reputation side for the firm too. A van driven past its MOT date is a problem for them, not you, but they remember which centre helped them avoid it.
How we build a business account service
- Each business customer has an account with its vehicles, the contact who books, and any invoicing requirements such as an order number.
- Due dates come from your own test records and, where appropriate, the public MOT history data, so vehicles tested elsewhere are still shown with their current due date.
- Once a month, the account contact receives one message listing every vehicle due in the coming weeks, with a link to book them.
- The booking page lets them book several vehicles in one go, on the days and times that suit their jobs, against your real slots.
- Tests are billed to the account on a monthly statement, with registration, date, result and any order number on each line.
- An account view shows you which of the firm's vehicles you test, which go elsewhere, and which are overdue, so you can have a sensible conversation with the firm.
We only use MOT history data through the public service designed for it, and only for vehicles your customer has asked you to manage.
The office manager's month, simplified
On the first of the month, the plumbing firm's office manager gets one email: three vans due in the next six weeks, with dates. She books all three into Tuesday mornings in one go, when the vans are usually in the yard. The statement arrives at month end with the order number on it.
The van that nearly ran past its date shows up on the list well before, and she stops keeping her own spreadsheet.
- One monthly due list per business
- Several vehicles booked at once
- Monthly account billing in the firm's format
- A view of which vehicles you test and which you do not
Are local businesses slipping away?
- Business customers' vans come to you some years and not others.
- Reminders go to drivers, not to whoever books.
- Businesses have to book their vehicles one at a time.
- Trade tests are invoiced individually.
- You cannot see all of a firm's vehicles in one place.