ISO Certification Obtained

Driving Up Standards

After 26 years of continuous growth, independent vehicle hire Company Arrow Self Drive has taken its operations to the next level.

Arrow Self Drive is the largest independently owned car, van, minibus and truck rental company in Yorkshire with branches in Huddersfield, Wakefield, Barnsley, Sheffield, Bradford, Leeds, Knaresborough and Hull. The Company offers competitive rates on a wide range of vehicles from small economy cars, to vans, luxury MPV’s, minibuses and trucks to the general public as well as large corporates and Local Authorities. Unlike most other hire companies, Arrow Self Drive maintains all in house service teams, all trained to BVRLA standards, including the 24 hour roadside breakdown response and recovery team.

The family run business which began in Huddersfield in 1988, has invested substantial time and resources over the past 8 months into overhauling it’s business practices to meet the ISO 9001: 2008 international standards.

ISO 9001:2008 sets out the criteria for a quality management system and certifies companies that meet the standard. Arrow Self Drive is now one of over a million companies globally who has implemented the system and achieved certification.

The standard is based on a number of quality management principles including strong customer focus, the motivation and implication of top management and the process of approach and continual improvement. Using ISO 9001:2008 helps ensure that customers get consistent, good quality products and services, which in turn brings many business benefits including winning and retaining business, reducing mistakes, increasing efficiency, improving productivity and ultimately driving up profits.

One of the main benefits for businesses holding the ISO 9001: 2008 certificate is their alignment with Local Authorities. The ISO quality-led philosophy is exactly why ISO 9001 is stipulated within tenders. With buying authorities seeking to establish that their suppliers are reliable, asking for an internationally recognised standard eliminates the need to assess every single potential supplier.

Arrow Self Drive has always prided itself on delivering personal customer service, but this certificate and the processes leading up to it is a way of the Company demonstrating their committment to maintaining and improving levels of service across it’s eight branches in Yorkshire.

Area Manager Richard Taylor was appointed as Quality Manager to oversee and implement the ISO assessment. He says, “This is a milestone for the Company and is a massive achievement for all involved. The whole process has tested and examined all of our business practices from training to safety procedures, invoicing and of course, customer satisfaction. I would personally like to thank everyone who has been involved in helping us achieve these standards including the customers who have given us such invaluable feedback through the customer satisfaction forms. Going forward, we are going to build on this experience. The ISO require that we conduct an audit annually but we are planning internal assessments every three months so that we stay on track and keep improving month on month.”