Fleet use of franchised dealers for service, maintenance and repair (SMR) has fallen to its lowest level on record, according to new analysis from Epyx.
Data from the company’s 1link Service Network platform shows that franchised dealers accounted for 54% of fleet SMR jobs in January 2020.
By late 2025, that share had dropped to 41%, where it remained throughout Q1 this year.
Tim Meadows, chief commercial officer at Epyx, said the findings suggest that rising workshop and parts costs are prompting fleets to shift more maintenance work to independent garages.
He said: “Fleets have reacted by making more use of lower priced, non-franchised workshops in order to minimise these increases.”
Franchised dealers often become frustrated by the persistent perception that they are too expensive for servicing work and many have strategies in place to target fleet customers, with menu pricing and competitive rates.
However, the analysis highlights a widening cost gap between franchised and independent workshops.
According to Epyx, average hourly labour rates at franchised dealers increased from £70 in January 2020 to £93 in March 2026, representing a 32% rise.
Over the same period, non-franchised workshop rates rose from £43 to £55 per hour, an increase of 27%.
Move to independents is not a blanket trend
However, Meadows said the trend is not affecting all vehicle segments equally.
He said: “The move towards non-franchised is not a blanket trend and there are subtleties at play.
“Mainstream company cars, especially from prestige brands, still tend to be serviced at franchised dealers, partially because of their specialist expertise and especially because of the requirements of electric vehicles, but also in order to preserve residual values.
“However, we’ve increasingly seen vans and lower cost cars directed towards independent SMR outlets.
“For these vehicles, there is less sensitivity to having a non-franchised stamp on the service book and a reduced need for particular skills and workshop equipment.
“A further element has been the general ageing of fleets.
“Older vehicles are also much more likely to be maintained outside franchised networks, again because their value is lower and the used market has different expectations about where they were serviced.”
Cost pressures drive workshop shift
While prestige and EV fleets continue to generate work for franchised networks, the data indicates that older vehicles, vans and lower-value cars are increasingly being serviced elsewhere.
Meadows said another factor behind the shift is the growing capability of independent repairers.
He said: “Fleets have spent considerable time developing greater knowledge about which non-franchised outlets meet their needs in terms of everything from technical capabilities to service levels.
“Some are very impressive indeed and can handle almost any kind of vehicle.”
Epyx said its 1link Service Network platform is used by UK fleets to process almost 20,000 company car, van and truck SMR job sheets every day. The network covers fleets totalling 4.9 million vehicles and connects them with more than 8,500 suppliers.
Ensure you always receive AM insights. Make us a preferred source of news on Google