Vehicle Off Road (VOR) Time Explained: How Decision Making Impacts Fleet Downtime

We hear regularly from Fleet Managers who are becoming increasingly frustrated with Vehicle Off Road (VOR) time. What was one an inconvenience every now and then has become one of the most common reasons that an organisation will seek a new fleet management partner.

The challenge isn’t necessarily to do with vehicles failing more often, more that returning vehicles back to service is becoming more complex due to growing complexity, powertrains, parts availability, technician shortages, new brands to market and increasing workshop pressures. 

Industry data from Epyx's 1link Service Network shows average VOR times increasing from 1.54 days in January 2020 to 1.66 days by late 2024, with several UK regions averaging more than two days per incident.

The real cost of VOR sits outside the workshop

The cost of repairs tell a small part of the story we find. Often, the trust cost of VOR is far beyond the end invoice. It’s reduced productivity, missed customer appointments, the cost of hire vehicles, administrative burden and reputational impact. A straightforward issue as a detrimental impact quickly. 

For fleet operators across the UK, VOR is a significant problem with 24% of them identifying it as a growing concern compared with only 18% in the previous year.

Where VOR time is actually being lost

• parts supply
• workshop lead times
• complicated approval stages
• departments passing the problem on
• cautious decisions when technical knowhow may be weak

Research into fleet downtime has shown that administrative processes, scheduling bottlenecks and inefficiencies in the operation cause a high proportion of the total downtime alongside the actual work. 

Why process-led models are being exposed

The rate that technology has evolved is hard to keep up with. Whether that’s electric vehicles (EVs), ADAS calibration requirements or increasingly complex repair procedures, these all demand technical knowledge rather than process compliance. 

Many fleet support models still rely on the process-driven workflows and non-technical handlers. When the decisions are made by people not aware of the workshop reality,problems arise quickly. That is not a people issue. It is a decision-making model issue.

Industry suppliers such as Epyx and OEC have invested heavily in automated authorisation technologies designed to reduce approval delays, improve workshop throughput and accelerate vehicle return-to-service times.

Where our expertise fits

Driveway Vehicle Solutions has an approach that’s futureproof and backed in technical knowledge. Our approval and rejections are handled by people with over 150 years of experience on the tools combined. 

That level of experience means we apply structure without being tied to a workflow sheet and without unnecessary risk. 

Our team focus on: 

• accurate scoping first time
• approval or rejection based on real technical understanding
• escalating at the right times when required
• keeping work moving not held up

Our numbers support this 

• Team background and experience: over 150 years combined industry experience
• Average approval or rejection turnaround: 1 minute 53 seconds
• First-time repair rate: 90% (last 6 months)

One clear focus: reducing avoidable VOR through fast, technically informed decision making.

Reducing avoidable VOR starts with better decisions 

UK VOR times continue to remain above pre-pandemic levels with vehicle complexity and new brands ever-growing. Fleets have less controllable levers to pull. One of the most important day-to-day problems is repair decisions and if they’re not being made quickly and accurately, their business suffers.

Whilst no provider can remove all VOR issues, unnecessary downtime can be circumnavigated through an effective process, accurate scoping and an informed judgement. 

Our team combines over 150 years’ of industry experience, we believe keeping vehicles moving is more than just a process flow. It requires people who have got their hands dirty on the tools, understand how to manage workshops and get the best out of technicians.