"Honoured and humbled" to receive King's Award

“There is no doubt this award will help our business enormously through recognition, reputation, and staff morale. It also prepares us well for the next stage of our journey as we strengthen and grow the business.”

Warwickshire-based company Multifleet Vehicle Management Ltd was recently recognised in an official award presentation by the Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire, Tim Cox.

The company has achieved The King’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation, which is one of the most prestigious awards for UK businesses. First established in 1965, the King’s Awards for Enterprise celebrate the success of exciting and innovative organisations that are leading the way.

The Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire, Tim Cox, attended Multifleet’s head office in Henley-in-Arden to formally present the company with its award. One staff member commented that “Tim was fantastic, taking time to speak to everyone and to understand our business. The award is recognition for the hard work, dedication and commitment of our whole team, and the lift the award has given to our team cannot be quantified.”

Multifleet Vehicle Management Ltd is one of the leading leasing and fleet management businesses in the UK. Trading as runyourfleet, they provide a complete fleet management solution through their own cloud-based platform. The company has been trading since January 2011 and currently works with 1200 business with fleets from 2 - 2000 vehicles; runyourfleet’s managed fleet now stands at 32,000 vehicles.

Working in partnership with leading service providers, the company offers businesses of all sizes a comprehensive range of fleet management and fleet funding solutions. Major investment in systems and pioneering, flexible, cloud-based customer service technology have resulted in runyourfleet offering their customers an innovative, industry leading fleet management solution, with Multifleet providing forward thinking vehicle leasing options designed to future proof its customers’ fleets.

Reflecting on the company’s latest achievement, Steve Whitmarsh, Chief Executive Officer of runyourfleet, said: “We are truly honoured and humbled to receive the prestigious King’s Award for Enterprise for Innovation in recognition of all the hard work our team has put in to developing our runyourfleet platform.

“There is no doubt this award will help our business enormously through recognition, reputation, and staff morale. It also prepares us well for the next stage of our journey as we strengthen and grow the business.”

Tim Cox, the Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire, said: “The King’s Award for Enterprise is the most prestigious award for businesses in the country, with hundreds of applications being submitted each year in the hopes of achieving this award. It’s always a pleasure in my role as Lord Lieutenant to meet the teams behind the fabulous businesses we have here in Warwickshire, and I was delighted to present Multifleet with their well-deserved award.”

Cllr Martin Watson, Warwickshire County Council Portfolio Holder for Economy and Place, said: “I would like to extend my congratulations to Multifleet Vehicle Management Ltd on this remarkable achievement. The King's Award for Enterprise in Innovation is a significant accolade that demonstrates the incredible talent and ambition that we have within Warwickshire’s business community. We are proud to have companies like Multifleet who contribute positively towards Warwickshire’s economic growth and presence on the national stage.”

Multifleet first decided to apply for The King’s Awards for Enterprise following a recommendation from the CEO of the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce (GBCC), Henrietta Brealey, after they successfully applied and won GBCC’s award for Excellence in Technology and Innovation last year.

The company also applied as they operate in an industry dominated by competitors that are either bank-owned or are part of a multinational institution, which can make it difficult for independent, privately-owned businesses like Multifleet to compete. Achieving a Kings Award for Enterprise should now help to level out this playing field and open doors to new opportunities.

As part of the application process, Multifleet had to demonstrate how they have overcome industry challenges. For example, new vehicle supply constraints caused significant disruption in the market, leading to extended retention periods for vehicles and greater demand for rental vehicles. This resulted in a lower order take for vehicle leasing services, but was balanced out with a greater demand for fleet management services as vehicles require more servicing and repairs as they age. 

Multifleet’s new daily rental module also enabled customers to book hire vehicles to supplement their fleet requirements. This increased demand for rental was seen across the market, leading in turn to shortages in rental supply. To counter this, Multifleet increased their supply base from three national suppliers to include over 90 local rental operators. This meant that their company was uniquely placed to meet their customer’s needs.

Since September 2022, Multifleet has achieved 99% fulfilment of all rental requests at a time when the industry was achieving around 50% fulfilment. As new vehicle supply continues to improve, they expect to be well placed to move customers in to long-term leased vehicles, saving customers on cost and delivering long-term residual income for runyourfleet.

It is the flexibility in Multifleet’s platform that has allowed them to respond to changing market conditions, turning a problem into an opportunity for profit, growth, and increased customer satisfaction.

Looking ahead, Multifleet has exciting plans to deliver more system developments and product launches to help drive growth, including entering new markets and offering services that their competitors do not have. Innovation is always at the heart of Multifleet in order to fuel growth - and the company even has its sights set on applying for another Kings Award for Enterprise in the future.

For Warwickshire businesses considering to apply to The Kings Awards for Enterprise, a spokesperson from Multifleet advised: “Check the criteria carefully for the category that you wish to apply for. If you can, attend any online or local workshops to gain an insight into the process. Most importantly give yourself time to fill in the application, as the whole process takes about seventy hours, so set time aside each week to sit down and concentrate. It’s also great to involve other team members from each of the relevant departments if you can.”

For companies interested in applying for an award and would like more information, please email the Warwickshire Lieutenancy at lieutenancy@warwickshire.gov.uk. 

The Warwickshire Lieutenancy team have also prepared a locally focused brochure on the benefits of these awards and the appropriate steps that can be followed to apply. The brochure is available online at https://api.warwickshire.gov.uk/documents/WCCC-1980322935-2072  

To find out more about The King’s Awards for Enterprise, visit www.gov.uk/kings-awards-for-enterprise