John O’Conner switches to contract hire with Fleet Alliance

Grounds maintenance specialist John O’Conner has switched the funding of its car fleet from outright purchase to contract hire and gone green at the same time with leasing and fleet management specialist Fleet Alliance.

All new cars at the Hertfordshire-based company, which has grounds maintenance contracts with local authorities, education establishments, housing associations and corporate clients throughout the UK, can be of any make but must be below 120g/km to reduce the company’s carbon footprint.

At the same time, the company has switched away from carrying out the maintenance of its cars at its own workshops to using franchised dealers, although it will continue to self-maintain its light commercial fleet.

The company operates a fleet of around 250 cars and light commercial vehicles, the former for contracts managers who are responsible for contracts in their locality, while the latter are outright purchased under a solus badge arrangement with Vauxhall Motors.

“In switching to cars below the 120g/km mark we have found that there is now ample choice of vehicles to select from,” said John O’Conner transport manager Simon Redhead.

“This has been a really tax efficient move for our drivers as it keeps their benefit in kind tax and fuel bills as low as possible.”