Company Cars

Opportunities to control Company Car supply via Fleet Policy

A well constructed company car fleet policy provides many potential opportunities for the influencing of key decisions by fleet service support providers.

Company Cars

Provision of company cars is normally on a replacement basis in that the existing company car has reached either the age or mileage at which it is due for replacement.

In this case initiating action is within the hands of the Fleet Manager in that his/her systems and information should identify when a car reaches this stage. It is vital that the process and procedures covering vehicle replacement are both robust and, as far as is practical, strictly adhered to.

Many organisations now allow staff to choose their own model from within a range. Conflict can arise with drivers wanting high specification or high performance vehicles while the employer wants vehicles with low maintenance and running costs together with high Residual Values - particularly if the car is outright purchased. The CO2 emissions-basedtaxation introduced in April 2002 is now a significant factor to be taken into account by the user-chooser driver and the Fleet Operator.

Company car choice can be managed by looking at the whole life costs of vehicles coupled with their CO2emissions rating. We can then bracket those together which are of approximately the same specification and up to an acceptable cost. Company car choice can be further steered towards a limited range of company cars by offering the company's 'preferred' vehicles with a slightly higher specification. This will make them more attractive than the other company cars and therefore chosen by the majority of staff.

Potential decisions to Influence company car supplier choice:

• Acquisition method/s that provide best value, efficiency savings etc.
• Management Information processes that predict, schedule and/or action actual vehicle replacement processes, and associated management report generation.
• Company car choice lists in line with the needs of drivers and the goals (and constraints?) of the business.
• Packages and options that could accommodate unforeseen pressures on the business e.g. acquisitions, mergers, down-turns, unplanned leavers, promotions, additional company cars etc.
• Packages and options that could accommodate such policy elements as 'trading up and down' of a company car, opting out of company cars altogether, pool company car provision.

Controlling Communication of Company Car suppliers

Even if we have spent considerable time and effort in planning and organising our communication 'Murphy's Law' is likely to mean that we will still need to exert some control to ensure that we achieve our original objectives.

Examples of poorly controlled communication:

• Phone messages or e-mails asking for a response using the phrase "as soon as possible".
• In meetings, where the agenda is not followed or several conversations are allowed to proceed simultaneously or where there is little or no summary of what has been agreed
• Situations where people are expecting to share their ideas or opinions but are not given the opportunity to do so.
• Where verbal commitments to important action are agreed but not confirmed in writing.
• Where unrealistic time-scales or inappropriate priorities are attached to verbal or written requests for information or specific actions.
• Where no attempt is made to follow-up or review specific, agreed, commitments to action by the person responsible for managing a particular situation.