Lost van keys cause costly downtime and disruption far beyond replacement costs
-- Thousands of UK businesses rely on commercial vans and fleets to conduct their trade, whether making deliveries, transporting tools and equipment, or visiting customers. When a set of keys is lost, broken or stolen, the costs go far beyond calling an auto locksmith to have a replacement made.
Eydens Auto Locksmiths and Vehicle Security is a highly experienced, independent firm with over 20 years of expertise, and advises that companies should think carefully about how they manage back-up keys and responses to losses, ensuring they’re prepared for all eventualities.
The firm notes that when a commercial vehicle is off the road, even for just a day or two, the ramifications can quickly escalate, from lost business to reputational damage, callout charges and issues with insurance claims when keys haven’t been properly secured.
Estimating the Average Cost of a Lost Van Key
Typically, the immediate concern with a lost van key is the cost of contacting a locksmith to attend urgently and enable the driver to access the vehicle and resume their activities. However, in real-world situations, this is one of the smallest associated overheads.
If there are no spares, a van is effectively out of service. This may render the business unable to trade if essential tools are locked inside, or worse, mean there are delays to customer deliveries, leading to a disrupted service and potentially missed deadlines.
Customer-facing organisations often discover that their reputation, especially when it is based on reliable, punctual service, is seriously affected, with clients cancelling orders, imposing charges for breaches of contract, or turning to a competitor who can deliver the product or service they need on time.
Statistics About the Cost of Fleet Vehicles Being Out of Service
The actual cost of having a van unable to make deliveries is supported by the statistics, with 47% of businesses incurring fines or penalties and 63% of van operators stating that they’d find it difficult to fulfil customer promises if their vehicles were out of use for a week or more.
Industry research highlights the fact that light commercial vehicles like business vans already spend an approximate four days a year off the road for necessary maintenance and repairs. Each one of those days is thought to cost £800 in lost revenues, or £3,200 per year, per vehicle.
With over 750,000 vans on the UK’s roads each day serving private sector businesses, the scale of the challenge isn’t to be underestimated, with lost keys and downtime costing the small business sector as much as £2.4 billion per annum.
Therefore, adding additional days out of service while waiting for lost key replacements can multiply the costs to the business and the trade they won’t be able to recoup.
Downtime and the Ongoing Effects on Commercial Productivity
One of the overlooked consequences of having part of a fleet unavailable is the impact on other aspects of the business, where a ‘domino effect’ is common, because having a vehicle out of action triggers other outcomes that aren’t easy to quantify.
They include drivers being left waiting while still needing to be paid, rescheduling jobs that have been delayed, thereby delaying subsequent deliveries or projects, and calling on back-office staff to manage communications with affected customers in addition to their usual duties.
Businesses might be forced to temporarily hire replacement vehicles at short notice and bear the cost of this, which affects over a third of companies every year and can mean profit margins become non-existent.
Incorporating Key Management Into Business Fleet Policies
Almost every UK business will have felt the impact of rising trading costs, especially for vehicles and fleets, which have become more expensive to operate as fuel and utility costs rise, making even eco-friendly electric vans more costly to run.
One of the simplest and most effective ways to control those costs and reduce risks is to have backup spare sets of keys in place, accessible in an emergency but also protected from unauthorised access.
Duplicate keys must be stored safely, usually within a safe or key cabinet in a fleet manager's office. This ensures that if drivers lose their keys, if keys or fobs aren’t handed in by other drivers or are accidentally retained by agency drivers, this doesn’t result in a serious problem.
Auto locksmiths can cut spare keys and program security fobs in minimal time, and at a lower cost when the work isn’t urgent and doesn’t involve an emergency callout. This is the easiest way to ensure there is a contingency in place, avoiding any need to cover callout charges or temporary vehicle hire costs.
Dealing With the Immediate Issue When Van Keys Are Lost
For businesses that do not yet have a system in place to manage the loss of fleet keys and fobs, an auto locksmith remains the best option when an unexpected issue arises. It is essential that companies only work with established, trusted locksmiths, ideally accredited by the Auto Locksmiths Association (ALA) and/or the Master Locksmiths Association (MLA).
This accreditation verifies that a locksmith is fully insured, employs suitably qualified locksmiths with thorough background checks, and can respond reliably to emergency callouts and resolve the problem as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Mobile locksmith services enable organisations to request a locksmith to attend any location, whether their premises or forecourt, the driver’s home, or at the roadside, producing fresh sets of keys on demand.
If there is any doubt about how keys have been lost or a suspicion that they may have been stolen, professional locksmiths can advise about the next steps. That will usually mean replacing locks altogether to ensure they aren’t accessible with the stolen keys and reprogramming internal immobilisers to respond only to the newly produced set.
Independent firms can also provide recommendations to prevent recurrences, such as producing duplicates to be stored safely at the business premises, fitting security trackers to prevent theft, or suggesting reinforced van locks and deadbolts if keys have been removed from the vehicle.
About the company: Eydens Auto Locksmiths have over 20 years of experience and are members of both the MLA and the ALA, providing auto lock and key services to motorists in Coventry, Rugby, Nuneaton, Bedworth, Kenilworth, Leamington, Stratford upon Avon and Warwick.
Contact Info:
Name: Rob Eyden
Email: Send Email
Organization: Eydens Auto Locksmiths and Vehicle Security
Website: https://eydensautolocksmiths.co.uk/
Release ID: 89191995
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