Fleet & business

Keep the vans working

Two vans, twenty, or the one your business runs on — a vehicle off the road costs more than the repair does. We look after fleets the same way we look after everybody: check it properly, tell you what it needs and what it does not, and do nothing until you have said yes.

Vans & company cars
Servicing to schedule
Diagnostics & auto electrics
EV & hybrid
DPF Doctor

Talk to us about your fleet Ask us a question

Where this work happens

Our Rhyl workshop. Advanced diagnostics, electrical work, EV and hybrid work, vans, fleet vehicles and complex repairs, alongside general servicing and repairs. Routine MOTs and servicing can be done at Kinmel Bay as well — ring either branch and we will put the vehicle where the work is.

Most of the fleets we look after are local businesses rather than national operators: trades with a handful of vans, care providers, letting agents, delivery rounds, a couple of company cars sat on a director's driveway. What they have in common is that nobody in the business has time to project-manage a garage.

So the job is not just the spanner work. It is telling you what we have found before we do it, giving you a price you can approve on your phone, and being straight about when the vehicle will be ready — including when the answer is Thursday rather than tonight.

You get one report per vehicle, with photographs, and a decision to make. If we recommend it, we can show you why. If it can wait, we say so and we write down when it will not be able to wait any longer, so the next service is not a surprise invoice.

Nothing gets done until you approve it

Every vehicle that comes in is checked, and what we find goes to you as a written report with photographs attached — not a phone call at four o'clock asking you to make a decision about a part you cannot see.

You approve the work you want, line by line. Anything you turn down stays on the record against that vehicle, so when it comes back in six months nobody has to remember the conversation.

If we recommend it, we can show you why. You decide what gets done.

Your driver does not have to see the prices

Drivers drop vehicles off and pick them up, and the paperwork they are handed does not need your costs on it. We can print and email a driver's copy with the work listed and the prices left off, and send the priced version to whoever actually pays.

It sounds like a small thing. It is the single most common request we get from anybody running vehicles for somebody else.

The MOT limit, said plainly

Both of our workshops are DVSA approved for Class 4 testing. Class 4 covers cars and vans up to 3,000kg design gross weight, which is most car-derived and medium vans.

Heavier vans — 3,000kg to 3,500kg, which is Class 7 — we cannot test here. Ring us with the reg before you book and we will tell you honestly whether we can do the test, whether we can do the servicing and repairs but not the test, or whether you are better off somewhere else. We would rather say that on the phone than when the van is on the forecourt.

Vans, DPFs and short journeys

Fleet diesels get the worst of both worlds: cold starts, short runs, long idles and a lot of them. That is exactly the duty cycle a diesel particulate filter cannot cope with, and it is why the DPF light is one of the most common reasons a van comes to us.

We are a DPF Doctor garage, which means we find out what blocked the filter before we clean it — sometimes a fault, and sometimes simply the way the van is being used. If it is the second one, we will tell you that, because a clean every nine months is not a repair plan.

DPF Doctor assessment to find the cause, not just the symptom
On-vehicle cleaning with DC Lubricants (DCL) products
Advice on the route and duty cycle if that is what is doing it

Electric and hybrid vehicles

Shaw's has four Level 3 EV technicians, one Level 4 EV technician and one technician trained directly by Tesla.

All EV and high voltage work is carried out through the Rhyl workshop. If you are putting electric vans or cars into the fleet, that is where they will be looked after, and it is worth a conversation before you order them rather than after.

Collection, delivery and accounts

We can collect and return vehicles locally, which for most fleets is the difference between a van being serviced this month and a van being serviced eventually. Ask when you book — it depends on the day and the distance, and we will tell you straight whether we can.

On the commercial side: agreed rates, an account rather than paying at the counter, and one invoice rather than twelve are all things we can talk about. What that looks like depends on the business, so ring us and ask rather than reading a promise off a website.

Questions we get asked

Do you work on vans as well as cars?

Yes. Vans, car-derived vans and company cars, on every make. Vans and fleet work are handled through our Rhyl workshop on Glan Y Morfa Industrial Estate, which is where the diagnostics, electrical and EV equipment is.

Can you MOT my van?

If it is up to 3,000kg design gross weight, yes — both branches are DVSA approved for Class 4 testing. Over 3,000kg is Class 7 and we cannot test it here. Ring us with the registration before you book and we will tell you which side of the line your van falls on.

How do I approve work without being on the phone all day?

You get a written report with photographs of what we have found, and you approve or decline each item. It goes to whoever you tell us to send it to, so the person who signs it off does not have to be the person who dropped the van off.

Can our drivers be given paperwork without the prices on it?

Yes. We can produce a driver's copy that lists the work with no costs on it, and send the priced copy to your office.

Do you offer a fleet account or agreed rates?

Ask us. Accounts, agreed rates and consolidated invoicing are all possible, but what we can offer depends on the size and the shape of the fleet, so it is a conversation rather than a published price list.

Can you collect the vehicle from us?

Often, yes, locally. It depends on the day and the distance, so ask when you book rather than assuming — we would rather tell you no in advance than leave you a driver short.

How quickly can you look at a van that is off the road?

Ring us and we will tell you honestly when we can get to it. We would rather give you a real day than book you in and have the van sitting on our yard waiting for a bay.

Do you look after electric vans?

Shaw's has four Level 3 EV technicians, one Level 4 EV technician and one technician trained directly by Tesla. All EV and high voltage work is carried out through the Rhyl workshop.