MERCEDES-BENZ SAYS: The effective control and management of a transport company’s fleet is vital to its short and long term profitability.
Equally important is the choice of vehicles that make up the fleet. This is even more so in the case of Midbank/Thembalethu who operates more than 150 vehicles from three depots in three different provinces.
With rising fuel, vehicle and maintenance cost, increased time pressures, and competition (particularly from less-established commercial vehicle brands) the safety, quality and reliability of a company’s vehicles can mean the difference between prosperity and insolvency.
These are the factors that Johann Bonthuys and Louis Molapo of Midbank/Thembalethu took into consideration when they decided to add twelve new Mercedes-Benz Sprinter buses to their existing fleet.
Bonthuys says that the high standard of the new vehicles as well the fact that they will be driven by the best trained drivers in the industry also played a part in their purchase decision. (Midbank/Thembalethu have won the Mpumalanga Bus Driver of the Year competition numerous times and one of their drivers won the trophy as the overall winner in all of the categories in 2009).
“Once the question of what to buy was decided, the next was from whom to buy,” says company owner Bonthuys. “As they say in the industry, the sale is the wedding but the after sales service is the marriage – and as we all know, the hard work only starts once the honeymoon is over!”
This is where McCarthy Kunene came into the picture. “We started our negotiations with Johann, Louis and the team some time ago,” says McCarthy Kunene Managing Director Gert Prinsloo . “After many meetings we managed to structure a deal to the satisfaction of both parties.”
Business is about relationships and the McCarthy team has worked hard to earn the trust of this reputable company, according to Prinsloo. Midbank Thembalethu marketing manager Louise Swanepoel attests to this. “McCarthy sales executives almost became part of the family and we appreciated that they showed a genuine interest in our business.”
Most rewarding, though, was when Midbank/Thembalethu presented the newly-painted buses to their customer. “They were absolutely delighted, and that again confirmed that we had made the right decision to go with Mercedes-Benz Commercial Vehicles and McCarthy Kunene.”
