News - Page 2085

AN impassioned plea has been made to businesses and fleet decision-makers to put driver training at the heart of their fleet policies to save drivers' lives on the road. At a meeting of the London East branch of the Association of Car Fleet Operators, fleet chiefs called for driver training to be recognised as a fundamental part of a company's health and safety policy.

RISK management is dominating the agenda of fleet chiefs as pressure mounts to slash accident rates. Members of the Association of Car Fleet Operators, South West and Wales, have called on fleet managers to get tough and impose stringent risk management policies.

ZENITH Vehicle Contracts has agreed a multi-million pound outsourcing contract to manage the fleet of EC Harris. The deal, worth about £4 million over the next three years, is the first to use Zenith's new online reporting system, which allows fleet customers to examine their reports directly over the internet.

FLEETS need to shop around for the best advice to formulate long-term car policies, according to a leading leasing company. Debis Car Fleet Management points to survey findings which show that most fleets do not foresee a change in their policies to meet developments such as company car tax and Vehicle Excise Duty changes, fuel issues and the new registration system to be introduced in September.

ANC Rental is stepping up its investment in the European marketplace with a series of appointments that increase responsibility for its European team. John Leigh, already senior vice-president of ANC's UK operations, has now also taken on the role of general manager pan-Europe for National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car.

LEX Vehicle Leasing's new senior sales team for the north of England is now in place. Martin Braddock joins as regional sales director from Manchester-based company ATI, Keith Smith has been promoted from within Lex to regional sales manager for the north west, Keith Anderson joins from Nissan to become regional sales manager for the north east, and Sylvia McGoff joins from GE Capital IT Solutions to become customer services manager.

THE first Vauxhall new Corsas hit the used car market at a special sale at BCA Nottingham with 91% of the entry of 200 cars sold for an average of 103% of CAP clean. The new X-plate 2001 Corsas made a strong debut at the Vauxhall Elite sale that saw competitive bidding with values averaging just over 85% of current list prices.

BCA Newport celebrated 10 years of sales at its auction centre in Meadows Road, Newport this week. The special programme of celebration sales began with a 300-car event on behalf of Lombard, alongside a selection of stock from other vendors including the Ryland Group and Renault Retail.

JUST when you thought everything was getting better and stability had returned to the market, thousands of cars have suddenly appeared at auction. Some sites have refused to take any more entries as their compounds are choc-a-bloc. The same can be said for many leasing companies' own compounds, which are too full and vehicles need to be shifted quickly.

COMPANY car drivers are prepared to pay hundreds of pounds extra in benefit-in-kind tax under the 2002 carbon dioxide emissions-based regime to retain cars with automatic transmissions. Despite automatics in some cases being seven tax bands worse than their manual equivalents, vehicle manufacturers and fleet operators say they do not expect the new 'clean' company car tax system to kill off 'dirty' automatics.

A PHARMACEUTICAL company is offering all staff £2 a day to leave their cars at home. Kent-based Pfizer has organised subsidised bus and train services and says staff are also making use of new cycle lanes. The company, which employs about 5,000 people at its Sandwich site, has also been running a pilot scheme for 'parking cashout' and hopes the system will go live in May.

BRITAIN'S biggest fleet operator BT has quashed speculation that it plans to sell its 56,800-vehicle fleet for more than £1 billion to clear massive debts. In dismissing the 'purely speculative' Financial Times story, Janet Entwistle, general manager of BT Fleet, said: 'We cannot get the service levels which we can from our own suppliers and workshops which is why we have not gone to alternative suppliers.'

CHANGES in company car tax in April 2002 could see fleets re-introducing pool cars, according to industry experts. Fleet management software company Chevin Computer Systems believes that the pool car, often the butt of office jokes and almost always the worst maintained vehicle on each fleet, is about to enjoy a comeback.

THE world's largest online grocer Tesco.com is to evaluate a fleet management system from Fleetstar Information Systems. Tesco.com will investigate the potential benefits of using the technology to improve on-time delivery to its 250,000 customers while maintaining the operational efficiency of its 600-plus van fleet, one of the largest direct home delivery fleets in the UK.

PEUGEOT has expanded the 607 range with two new entry-level engines, improving the car's carbon dioxide emissions, and cut prices of the rest of the range by up to £1,700, five months after the vehicle entered showrooms. The two tax-busting versions will be powered by a 138bhp 2.0-litre petrol engine and the 110bhp 2.0HDi diesel, both used in the 406.

VAUXHALL has reaffirmed its commitment to pursue new vehicle production possibilities in the UK as the trade unions agreed to work with the company on the restructuring of its manufacturing operations.

BRITAIN'S rental industry is going through its biggest shake-up for more than a decade as fleets face rate rises of up to 25% as companies fed up with losing money decide enough is enough. Meanwhile there is speculation that the industry could undergo further consolidation with at least two of the major players being snapped up.

THE new chairman of Europe's Mercedes-Benz dealers is claiming that the company's fleet customers will not be better off under the restructured network. John Graves, president of Mercedes' UK Dealer Council, was elected chairman of the European Federation of Mercedes Dealers last week.

TRADE and Industry Secretary Stephen Byers is backing the British motor industry after taking delivery of a Rover 75 as his official car. MG Rover Group was chosen along with Vauxhall from 11 manufacturers who applied to supply cabinet ministers with official cars.

VEHICLE recovery assistance will be provided by the RAC to LeasePlan Group customers in the UK following the signing of a five-year contract. The deal will provide UK and European assistance to corporate customers of LeasePlan, Dial, Automotive Leasing and Network whose combined fleet accounts for more than 132,000 vehicles.

TATE & Lyle has awarded a sole supply contract to fleet management and funding specialist VELO. The solus deal is based on fully outsourced contract hire with maintenance and full support from VELO Motor Accident Management.

AN INNOVATIVE smart card offering a total mobility solution has won a fleet manager a top national award. Gerard Finn, fleet financial manger at the Prudential, picked up the Good Idea Award at the Integrated Transport Awards by suggesting a pay-as-you-go card to cut out the hassle of buying tickets for transport.

QUESTION Time comes to the Fleet Show 2001 when fleet decision-makers will be able to quiz leading industry figures on key issues in a daily debate. The Fleet Show Debate will be chaired by Fleet News editor Ashley Martin and will run for 45 minutes on each day of the Alexandra Palace, London, event which opens for three days on May 1.

FIVE employees at Saab GB have been affected in restructuring brought about by General Motors in Europe. The company's public affairs manager John Brewer is leaving 'to pursue his career in a new direction', and follows the departure of fleet sales manager Maggie Small two weeks ago.

AVIS Rent a Car has won a five-year contract to be the managing partner to the LeasePlan Group in the UK which will see the supply of 60,000 car rentals a year.

STOLEN vehicle recovery system Tracker Monitor, from Tracker Network, has been selected by Audi as an approved stolen vehicle recovery device. The deal takes the number of manufacturers approving the system to 30.

BIRMINGHAM-based Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents has taken delivery of 37 Citroen Xsara Picassos for use by its trainers, consultants and managers. The organisation's chief executive Dr John Hooper said that prior to placing the order, RoSPA carried out an extensive, five-strong vehicle assessment.

FAST-expanding Crawley-based chauffeur drive company Hotelink has taken delivery of eight specially-converted Mercedes-Benz 413 CDI Sprinter minibuses from dealership Malaya Gatwick. A further four 14-seater minibuses to follow next month, taking the firm's fleet to 46 -32 of which are Sprinters.