Less choice for company car drivers

Over the past few years the company car
has come to be seen by many fleet decision makers as less of a
business tool, and more of an employee perk, with an emphasis on
driver choice. However, the latest Company Car Trends report from
GE Capital Solutions, Fleet Services has found that fleet policies
are increasingly harking back to the days of restricted choice,
driven by employers’ cost concerns.

“The number of companies allowing drivers to choose any car from
any manufacturer has fallen by 8 per cent in the last 12 months to
12.2 per cent, while the percentage of employers who allocate cars
from just a single manufacturer has increased by 3.7 per cent in
the same period,” said GE Fleet.

Cost-related issues took up the top five spaces for fleet
managers asked to name the main factors which would influence fleet
policy in the coming year – pushing concerns such as HR issues down
the list.

GE Fleet compared the new austerity in fleet choice to the
company car schemes of the 1970s, when, said GE Fleet commercial
leader Gary Killeen, “it was common to see car parks outside
factories and offices full of nothing but Ford Cortinas or Vauxhall
Vivas.”

As the economic outlook has worsened, the need to retain the
best staff has been overtaken by cashflow worries, Killeen added:
“The dominance of the company car as the travel tool of choice for
UK businesses does not appear to be in question, but what we will
see during 2009 are cost-driven changes in the types of vehicles
being driven, how they are funded and how they are managed.”

Jo Tacon