trail
The latest Company Car Trends survey, carried out by GE
Capital Solutions, Fleet Services, offered a crumb of hope to
vehicle lessors in a highly competitive market as it predicted that
the popularity of the company car will continue to grow in 2008.
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According to employers surveyed by GE
Fleet, 96 per cent said they expected the proportion of
employees who need to drive for work opting for a company car to
rise. 68 per cent of employers forecast that more employees would
be offered a company car as part of an overall benefits
package.
According to GE Fleet, the figures are part of an overall
renaissance of the company car which has been underway for over a
year, following a period when its popularity as an employee benefit
waned. 78 per cent of non-essential car users are now offered a
company car, a figure which has grown by 8.8 per cent in the past
year, with the comparable figure for job-need drivers at close to
100 per cent.
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By GlobalDataAccording to GE Fleet, the welcome news for company car
providers has come at the expense of “uncontrolled” cash-for-car
schemes, whose popularity is falling, down 5.8 per cent year on
year among job-need drivers with a further fall of 4.2 per cent
predicted this year.
“In fact, uncontrolled cash-for-car has dropped generally in
popularity as a method of acquiring a car by 9.6 per cent since
2006 while contract hire, outright purchase and outsourced fleet
management have all increased slightly in use. Overall demand for
all types of business car is set to rise at a predicted 4.2 per
cent,” GE Fleet reported.
Rich
Green, managing director of GE Fleet ascribed the resurgence in
the company car market to several factors, including: employers’
legal responsibilities towards employees while driving for work;
the “growing importance” of green issues; and a move away from
cash-for-car schemes by employees themselves. Green explained:
“Many employees who have tried taking the cash for car option have
switched back into a company car when given the opportunity. They
have found that the cost of running a car was perhaps higher than
they believed it would be and that keeping it on the road was more
trouble.
“A company car is not just an excellent business transport
solution but an attractive employee benefit.”
