David Stuthard has built his business, Teloc Waste Management, from the ground up – and even though it has now spread its wings right across the country from its base in Port Elizabeth, he still believes in offering top quality, personal service.
And that is why he believes in his relationship with Iveco – because it goes beyond the mere supply of vehicles for a business which is now providing a range of services to private and government clients across South Africa.
“This is the thing which still amazes me: I can phone up the top people at Iveco and they know me. They know my business. At many other companies, they don’t even know your name. You’re just a number…and sometimes not even that.”
David has a number of Ivecos in his fleet, many of them specifically configured for a waste management role.
“ I can tell them what I need – the application – and they will come back to me with a solution,” says David of the Iveco team.
That’s what David and Teloc Waste Management do themselves – they come up with solutions. So, to work with someone who thinks and works in the same way builds a good relationship.
“You can trust these people. They’re reliable and they’re honest” says David, adding that the service people are “really there for you, 24 hours a day”.
That is important to a growing business like Teloc Waste Management, because reliability and dependability are what they offer to a host of municipal clients, where Teloc does waste collection, drain cleaning and even street sweeping.
However, no amount of good service and good relationships can make up for deficiencies in the product itself and, on this score, David is more than satisfied with the capabilities and the quality of the Iveco trucks in his fleet.
First and foremost – as with any operator of a large fleet (Teloc Waste Management has 76 trucks in total) – is fuel consumption.
And, says David, Iveco’s return “very good” fuel consumption figures. Because fuel is such a huge part of vehicle running costs, fuel consumption is critically important to an efficient, and profitable, operation.
Secondly, from a cost point of view, Iveco’s vehicles only require a service every 20 000km, compared to 10 000km with most of its competitors.
“That really makes a big difference to running costs – and the bottom line,” adds David.
Overall, he says, it’s a relationship that is set to continue.
“They are good vehicles, there is no doubt about that. But it is the people behind them – people like Charl Pienaar at Fleet Dyamics in Port Elizabeth – who build this trust…”
You trust Iveco. You trust their people. You build your business.
