News - Page 2099

NEW car fleet sales in 2001 have been undermined by uncertainty prompting one of the largest year-on-year monthly registration drops in history - 13.8%. Poor fleet sales in January were offset by a massive 28% rise in private sales as a result of strong competition with lower prices, better-specified cars and longer warranties.

AN insurance service is targeting fleet drivers with the promise of keeping them on the road even if their car is being repaired or they are unable to drive because of a ban.

FLEET diesel sales continued their monthly year-on-year rise as company car drivers look to offset potentially higher benefit-in-kind tax bills from April 2002.

CONTINUED strong demand for panel vans by home delivery fleets contributed to light commercial vehicles sales kicking-off 2001 in style. Year-on-year sector sales increased from 10,124 in January last year to 10,735 last month, according to Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders figures.

BUDGET Rent a Car is going back to its roots in the UK as part of a reorganisation aimed at attracting more business, including fleet customers. The firm is shedding the majority of its corporately-owned sites in favour of moving back to the franchise based network that was used when the firm first arrived in the UK in 1966.

ENTERPRISE Rent-a-Car is gearing up to celebrate its most successful year in the UK with its first full year profits in the country.

FLEETS are saving an average of £218,000 a year for a 200-vehicle fleet by using longer replacement cycles, despite calls for them improve residual values by replacing cars every two years, a leading contract hire company has claimed.

ONE in four rental companies will not be able to afford salary increases this year which could force them to push up rental rates for fleets. The findings were revealed in a Plimsoll Portfolio Analysis Vehicle Rental Report for Autumn 2000 that claimed 166 companies in the rental industry may have difficulty with salaries next year.

MOTABILITY Finance Ltd (MFL), one of Europe's largest fleets, has become one of the first customers to sign up to Reforecaster, Glass's Information Services' new high-speed residual forecasting system.

HOURLY car rental has been launched by Europcar with its new DriveTime rental service for travellers who do not want to rent a car for a whole day. The company is launching the DriveTime package for customers arriving in the UK for a business meeting who may not want to take public transport.

BRITISH companies could be sitting on a wages 'timebomb' as hundreds of thousands of company car drivers demand pay increases to cover tax hikes caused by carbon dioxide-based company car tax. The shock warning comes in a new report, Business Car Expectations, from the Centre for Automotive Industries Management (CAIM) at Nottingham Business School, backed by HSBC Vehicle Finance (UK).

TOP level talks are to take place between three Government departments in a bid to solve the chaos surrounding errors and complications in the Vehicle Certification Agency's 'New Car Fuel Consumption and Emission Figures' booklet. The booklet is supposed to act as the fleet manager's 'bible' for vehicle carbon dioxide emission figures with the April 2002 introduction of CO2-based company car tax.

PEUGEOT'S new lower medium sector fleet contender, the 307 is to be launched in June, replacing the current 306, which sold 425,500 units since it arrived here in 1993. Peugeot expects the new 307, unveiled yesterday in Paris, will overtake the 306 as the most successful Peugeot in the UK.

THE British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association is investigating two innovative schemes to avoid a repeat of the residual value crisis that has decimated industry profitability. The association is in discussion with insurers about the creation of an industry-wide residual value insurance policy, and is also looking at the possibility of developing a futures exchange where contract hire companies could trade their residual value portfolios.

GOVERNMENT 'green' fleet scheme Motorvate has launched a bid to make joining simpler after it emerged it has just 15 members. In the autumn, Motorvate leaders insisted the first year target of 30 members was within reach. But the real figures are a far cry from the 150 members Motorvate expected when it launched in June.

MOTORVATE plans to expand its fleet management consultant panel as the Government prepares to announce increased funding for agencies offering advice to fleets seriously considering environmentally friendly transport. The panel has five members and expects another five to join. The 10 advisers will have around 30 days' work annually, depending on membership size, offering advice to firms.

FORD, Vauxhall and BMW have won British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association Vehicle Security Awards but other manufacturers have been rapped for not taking car crime measures seriously. The new Ford Mondeo won the upper medium car award, the Vauxhall Corsa won the supermini and lower medium sector award and BMW won the luxury and executive sector award.

FLEET managers face a year of change and uncertainty as the company car industry prepares for a series of challenges that will tax decision-makers to the limit. In March, fleets will receive their first taste of carbon dioxide-based taxes with the new Vehicle Excise Duty regime.

FLEET managers have predicted residual values could fall up to 20% over the next year in a stark analysis of what the future may hold for the used car market. The findings were in the new report, Business Car Expectations, from the Centre for Automotive Industries Management at Nottingham Business School, backed by HSBC Vehicle Finance (UK), which captured the view of 365 fleets, covering more than 76,000 vehicles.

ALTERNATIVELY fuelled vehicles are still struggling to gain a foothold in the fleet market, despite high-profile Government-backed campaigns. A new report from the Centre for Automotive Industries Management at Nottingham Business School, backed by HSBC Vehicle Finance (UK), reveals that 88% of fleets questioned did not offer fuel options to their drivers, although availability differed according to the size of the fleet.

MERCEDES-Benz is the latest manufacturer to sign up to Fleet Show 2001 with a planned four UK debuts at the event. The revamped A-class and a long wheelbase version of the car will be making their first UK appearance at the May 1-3 show, before going on sale in early June.

TWO-thirds of fleet managers would not consider taking used cars on to their fleets, but the number of decision-makers who see the move as a key way to save money is growing, a survey from the Centre for Automotive Industries Management at Nottingham Business School report, backed by HSBC Vehicle Finance (UK) shows. In fleets between 500 and 999 vehicles, half the firms questioned said used vehicles were a possibility, but for 100 to 250 vehicle fleets, the number dropped to 11%.

THE internet has taken a vital place among the tools available to a fleet manager to help carry out their work, a new survey from the Centre for Automotive Industries Management at Nottingham Business School, backed by HSBC Vehicle Finance (UK), has revealed.

BATTERY problems were the most frequent cause of fleet vehicle breakdowns attended by RAC patrols last year. Of the 2.4 million breakdowns attended to, almost 370,000 (15% of the total) were caused by batteries, twice the number of the second most common cause - tyre punctures.

CONTRACT hire and leasing company Fleetlease will make an average loss of about £350 on every vehicle it sells, parent company Hitachi Credit (UK) has announced. The writedown, totalling about £5 million for the year ended March 31, covers losses from underestimating the fall in residual values last year that hit its 14,000-vehicle contract hire fleet.

MANN Egerton Vehicle Contracts and Kenning Leaseline are to be rebranded by parent Inchcape as part of a wholesale shake-up of the business. MEVC will be renamed Inchcape Vehicle Contracts and Kenning Leaseline will be rebranded Inchcape Fleet Solutions.

THE new Vauxhall Vectra due to be launched in March 2002 will be built alongside the Astra at Ellesmere Port, protecting more than 700 jobs. Vauxhall's announcement came after the firm revealed in December that Vectra production at Luton would end next year with the loss of up to 1,500 jobs.

AUTO Contracts has launched a new service and repair scheme for customers' vehicles in partnership with Overdrive Business Solutions. Nearly 3,000 drivers in vehicles run by Auto Contracts use new purchasing cards operated by Overdrive to buy servicing, repairs and replacement parts from more than 12,000 garages throughout Britain.

CONTRACT hire firm CW Lease has announced a rebranding to bring it in line with parent company ING Group. The firm, a subsidiary of ING Lease, will change its name to ING Car Lease in March.

ONLY a dozen tables remain for the annual Fleet News Awards which take place on Wednesday, March 21 at London's Grosvenor House Hotel. Thirty-one awards to fleet managers, fleet service companies and manufacturers will be presented at the fleet 'Oscars', traditionally the fleet event of the year.