Can you introduce yourself?
I’m Chris Cowdery. I’m head of fleet and property at Agrovista UK Limited.
How long have you worked at Agrovista and what is your role?
I’ve worked at Agrovista now for seven years. I started off as a depot supervisor and over the years my roles changed. So I now manage the day-to-day management of our fleet operations. So deal with suppliers and try and deal with any issues and a link between our distribution team and our suppliers.
So could you tell me a bit about Agrovista?
So, Agrovista, we deal with growers and farmers. We distribute products to farmers as and when and we offer advice as and when farmers need it and deliver products to our end users, basically.
What are Agrovista’s Business values?
Our main values, basically, is integrity and respect. There are two main values. So externally and internally, we try and hold those values.
Who are your customers?
So our customers basically are anyone who grows any sort of material, basically. So anywhere from sports clubs, pitches, all the way through to glass houses, like, behind me and farmers. So, anyone who grows anything, we can offer a product and service to help them.
How would you describe your relationship with Alltruck?
Our relationship with Alltruck has gone from strength to strength over the years. In the five plus years that I’ve been working with All Truck, we’ve both grown and over that time our relationship has grown and our contacts have stayed pretty similar. So our account managers stayed the same and we’ve been able to really build a good relationship between both companies.
How long have you worked with Alltruck?
So as a business we’ve worked for All Truck for over ten years. Me personally has been five years and yeah, over the time our fleet size with them has grown, I think we started off with One Truck. We’ve now got 30 vehicles over three and a half tons. With All Truck.
What problems were you trying to solve with our product or service?
I think we were trying to find a supplier that had the same values as us. We were struggling in the marketplace with some of the bigger companies trying to build those bonds and relationships. So with All Truck, which is a similar size to us, we’ve really built a rapport between us.
When looking for a suitable commercial vehicle hire company, what do you look for?
So anything looking at price, but anything price is not the end. We also need to have that relationship and backup. Our business is very seasonal, so we need to make sure that the vehicles are available when we need them. So service and backup is really important to us. And also we spot hire quite a lot of vehicles as well. So it’s having that availability when we need them so we can get everything through Alltruck.
We get all our commercial vehicles through Alltruck, so they range in size from 5.5 ton up to 18 ton. Predominantly, though, our fleet is made up of seven half tonners all DAFs.
So what’s your overall experience of Alltruck?
Our experience of Alltruck is basically you guys offer a second to none service. Really? It’s a one stop shop for anything fleet wise. We like the fact of having an account manager who we can go to with any issues and also understands our business. I think that’s really important to know.
So what are Alltrucks strengths?
I think Alltruck strengths are, you know, what you guys do. So you know the fleet industry, you’ve got the relationship with manufacturers, you’ve got a nationwide coverage, which is really important to us. With over 23 depots around the UK and also having account manager who knows us and we can go to makes a real difference to us.
How do we compare with other commercial hire or foot rental companies?
I think the size you are, you’re approachable. I think some of the bigger companies, you’re just the number really. With All Truck, you’ve got names who we can go to, and also you take the time to really visit depots, visit sites, build those relationships, and I think some of the big companies struggle to do that. So I think you’re a very personable company.
Would you recommend working with Alltruck?
I would 100% recommend working for Alltruck. We get a very good service from Alltruck, if not excellent. We are not the easiest customers deal in terms of our seasonality and wanting vehicles, sometimes last minute, but Alltruck going above and beyond to really try and help us.