The Impact of Brexit on UK Vehicle Movement
We would like to reassure all of our partners that we anticipate no significant direct impact of Brexit on our capacity to operate our full range of domestic vehicle movements across the UK.
With the UK’s transition period with the EU due to expire on 31st December, many parts of the automotive industry will be rightly concerned about the direct impact the transition will have on their ability to do business. The fact that “large gaps” remain in negotiating positions with only three weeks to go also makes the prospect of a no-deal transition very real.
For domestic vehicle movements (movements that take place entirely within the UK), we anticipate no direct impact of Brexit - regardless of whether a deal is reached by the deadline date or not.
(BBC News, 14 December 2020)
The key impact of Brexit will be “upstream” vehicle supply.
The intersection of Brexit and other industry dynamics (shift to EVs and changing fleet requirements) may well cause vehicle manufacturers, retailers and fleet operators significant challenges in obtaining the right vehicle stock. The challenges will be two-fold - both securing vehicles on good terms, and overcoming the practicalities of the importing process.
The challenge of sourcing vehicles will be compounded by the intersection of Brexit with other challenges facing fleets, including “greening” fleets with increased EV purchases and the structural changes accelerated by Covid-19.
Once the vehicles are in the UK, the impact on domestic vehicle logistics within the UK will be limited.
Vehicle movement is largely a people-based service; so long as workers have the right to work in the UK post-Brexit, there will be no significant supply chain disruption to driven movement.
The nature of car transport agents - the vast majority of which are SME companies that operate solely in the UK - means that the transporter supply chain also faces little risk.
We therefore see little risk to Engineius’ service delivery either in the immediate aftermath of the new deal (or no deal at all) coming into force, or in the longer-term.
We will continue to monitor developments in Brexit negotiations.
As well as identifying any details that might change our assessment as outlined above. We are ready to be agile and adapt to moving goalposts, should policy require it.
As always, we will communicate fully with all of our partners should there be any Brexit-related developments that affect our supply chain and service delivery.