The future of the fleet manager is becoming more certain according to the latest industry research.

The initial findings of a Fleet News survey found that almost 60% of fleet managers were very confident that their company will retain an in-house fleet manager for at least the next 12 months.

These findings have now been confirmed by the latest Company Car Trends survey from GE Capital. It found that the role of fleet manager is making a comeback.

The quarterly research shows that fleet managers have regained the lead role in how company cars and vans are run in 41.4% of organisations – up from 30.4% a year earlier.

The change appears to be part of a swing towards fleet decision-making being based more on cost – those in purchasing roles have also seen a rise in influence from 1.7% to 9.6% in the same period; conversely, human resources has fallen away from 8.1% to 5.2%.

Hannaford recently appointed a full-time fleet manager, although this decision was based as much on managing duty of care as it was on managing costs.

Prior to Leigh Stiff’s appointment as fleet manager, all the fleet management was outsourced.

“He now manages everything in-house that was outsourced,” Hannaford’s accountant Matt View told Fleet News. “Now it is just the finance on the vehicle that is outsourced. We are saving £4,500 on contract hire renewal per vehicle by cherry picking the best deals.”

Gary Killeen, commercial leader for the fleet division of GE Capital, added: “The story of fleet in 2009 is that the human resources-based company car policies of recent years, based heavily on attracting and retaining the right employees, have rapidly given way to cost concerns. As a key part of this, the fleet manager is making a comeback.”