In 2025, fleet managers are finally realising the benefits of a truly digitised maintenance approval system—and Eden Shirley, CEO of AutoGuru, is leading the charge.
Speaking on the Fleet News Group podcast (available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube), Eden explains how AutoGuru’s FleetGuru platform is delivering major time and cost savings, improving supplier relationships, and providing unprecedented control over the repair and maintenance process.
“We’ve brought in huge savings and efficiencies for both parties—the fleet manager and the service provider,” Eden said. “It’s a real win–win.”
From Phone Calls to Digital Portals
Traditionally, fleet maintenance authorisation has been a phone-based game. A vehicle enters a workshop. The service manager rings the fleet company, verbally quotes the work, waits for approval, completes the job, then calls again to close it out and eventually submits a manual invoice.
Eden sums up the problem: “When the work is complete, they need to ring back and close that job, and then send a manual invoice and wait to get paid in 30 to 60 days.”
AutoGuru’s platform digitises this entire process. Workshops submit quotes via an online portal, and fleet managers approve or reject them—often within minutes.
“We’re averaging at the moment 3.5 minutes from submitting a quote to getting approval during business hours,” Eden revealed. “Then they can go off and do that work. And then they can close the ticket without calling the fleet company.”
Machine Learning Delivers Speed and Accuracy
FleetGuru doesn’t just speed things up—it also applies intelligence. “We’re using machine learning and algorithms to analyse that quote and, in many cases, auto-approve based on data without a human even having to eyeball it,” Eden said.
This structured data approach is crucial. Instead of relying on messy, inconsistent communication, FleetGuru ensures everything is standardised. “We minimise how much free typing you can do… the system guides the service provider on how to create the quote,” he said. The result? The data is ready for AI and machine learning to process efficiently.
In fact, some clients are already automating over 60% of quote approvals. “We’re in line with what’s happening in global trends… what we’re creating and the benchmarks that we’re hitting are in line with what’s happening in Europe and America.”
Real-Time Transparency and Cash Flow Benefits for Repairers
The digitisation also improves relationships with repair outlets—something Eden is particularly proud of. “Most fleet managers are running big contact centres. All of them have wait times. And the challenge is that all the cars go in at 8:00am. Everyone wants approval before 10:00am. Then they all want to close off jobs at 4:00pm.”
FleetGuru levels the playing field and gives repairers back control of their time. “Not only do they get the faster approval—we pay them the next day too,” Eden said. “It’s phenomenal… when they were previously waiting 30 to 60 days.”
In fact, survey results back this up. “We do a service provider survey every six months… and we’re sitting at just under 90% saying this has fundamentally changed my business.”
A Data-Driven Revolution in Cost Control
For fleet managers, the platform is a dream for managing costs.
“Think about things like tyres,” Eden said. “If a contract includes four tyres and the orders for two, why do we need a human being to approve that?”
FleetGuru tracks everything: historical pricing, OEM recommended services, contract inclusions and more. “The number of jobs going back to a repairer that require changes is currently less than 14%,” Eden shared.
“We’ve seen 1000s and 1000s of repairs… 35,000 repair orders being approved monthly. The data that we’re sitting on is huge and we can provide our partners incredible insights—not only in the moment but also historically.”
Scaling a Platform that Repairs Trust and Builds Control
Eden is frank about the early days. “The first five years were pretty tough… We grew quite quickly because the consumer demand was strong, but automotive adoption? That was slow.”
That changed in 2021 when AutoGuru launched its fleet offering. “In that three years, we’ve grown from 2,800 repairers on the retail platform to over 13,000 across Australia and New Zealand,” Eden said. “That’s over 96% of the fleet service providers.”
And the partnerships are growing. Custom Fleet is one of eight fleet management organisations using the system. “They are really on the front foot when it comes to digital… their commitment to not only move forward with AutoGuru but to optimise their processes for their internal benefit and for their suppliers has been fantastic.”
With more than 245,000 vehicles now on the platform, Eden believes FleetGuru has become the “digital platform of choice” for Australia’s fleet industry.
Not Just Cars—The Platform Handles Everything
FleetGuru isn’t limited to passenger vehicles. “We’ve got trailers, heavy vehicles, refrigeration units—we recently integrated with Thermo King. Even electric charging stations can be added. At the end of the day, it’s a procurement platform.”
This flexibility, combined with scalable AI capability, is part of the company’s future roadmap. “The challenge for all businesses right now is workforce capacity. It’s hard to find good fleet controllers. So we actually need technology. We need AI. We need to do more with the same resource.”
And what’s next? “AI agents,” Eden said. “Imagine one that receives a report showing 20 vehicles due for service. It books them all in, automatically. That’s the next level.”
The digitisation of fleet maintenance is no longer a dream from the 90s. It’s real, live, and delivering results every day.
“It’s nice to be finally talking about what we are achieving,” Eden said. “We launched in 2022, and it’s been extraordinary how quickly it’s grown. But I think it’s the right time. And the technology is there. The truth is, it is possible.”
And as Eden concludes, the biggest transformation may be that “repairers now want to work with FMOs that have digital platforms.”
For fleet managers tired of the endless calls, delayed invoices and inconsistent processes, AutoGuru’s FleetGuru isn’t just a technology solution—it’s the future.
