Online direct diary booking will be available by the end of this year at more than 70% of the 8659 workshops which use epyx’s 1link Service Network to process fleet service, maintenance and repair (SMR).
The company has funded new direct integrations to seven leading workshop management systems (WMS) in addition to existing links with Halfords and Real Time Communications introduced last year.
The technology allows users of the SMR platform’s Driver Booking Module to use any digital device to select their preferred workshop location, view the exact slots available, and confirm a time and date.
Charlie Brooks, vice president, strategy, growth and data at epyx, said: “Real time diary integration has been something of a holy grail for fleet operators and their workshop suppliers, with the potential to create huge advantages in terms of booking efficiency. Over the last year or so, we have been pioneering the expertise needed to make it possible at scale.
“There are substantial benefits for everyone involved, with fleet booking turndown rates for some existing workshop users being reduced to almost zero.”
“Instead of company car and van drivers or service booking teams sending a proposed time and date to a workshop online and receiving a manual reply from a user of the WMS, they can now go directly into the workshop diary, view availability for any individual garage and instantly reserve a slot. This removes the need for the traditional request-and-response booking process, enabling bookings to be made directly where live diary access is available.
“There are substantial benefits for everyone involved, with fleet booking turndown rates for some existing workshop users being reduced to almost zero.”
Additionally, he said, the technology allowed confirmed bookings to be made 24/7, rather than just during workshop opening times.
“This is a definite efficiency gain for busy drivers who spend their days on the road and don’t have the time to be dealing with an ongoing dialogue whenever they need their car or van to enter a workshop.”
Also, most of the planned integrations mean the workshops – who will receive the enhancement free of charge – are able to control which slots are opened up and when, giving them flexibility to retain time for urgent jobs or retail work.
epyx would soon announce details of the initial four WMS providers involved, he said, with a further three to follow later in 2026.
“We expect to be in a position soon where the majority of the 1.4 million 1link bookings made annually occur directly through this technology.”
1link Service Network is used by UK fleets to process over 20,000 company car, van and truck service, maintenance and repair job sheets every day from fleets totalling 4.9 million vehicles working with almost 9,000 garages.
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