News - Page 2148

FLEETS will rush to launch partnerships with well-established internet disposal companies to sell their cars in a drive to push up used prices, leading analysts are predicting. The move is a landmark in the acceptance of the internet among fleets, which have been reluctant to investigate the benefits of web-based selling.

LEASING and rental companies have been accused of wasting £150million through mismanagement of vehicles when they reach the end of contracts. By failing to maximise residual values at a time when used car prices are under pressure, the industry has become its own worst enemy, according to Simon Kerr, who is now halfway through a two-year tenure as chairman of the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association.

STAYBRITE Windows, with a fleet of 378 vehicles, became the first user of Car Fleet Control's new FleetPlus fleet management software at the Fleet Show. FleetPlus is the latest generation of professional management software aimed at medium to larger fleets - typically operating more than 200 vehicles.

LIQUEFIED Petroleum gas supplier Flogas Autogas signed three major deals at the Fleet Show. The company has installed a liquefied petroleum gas tank at the headquarters of Leicestershire Fire and Rescue for its 17 LPG Vauxhall cars which are driven by fire officers.

NISSAN announced two contracts at the Fleet Show - a three-year dual badge supply deal with Alldays Stores and a deal with an unnamed former public utility. Alldays operates a 200-strong fleet with the dual-badge deal moving from Nissan/Rover to Nissan/Honda.

AA Business Services has secured a contract to carry out a bespoke vehicle inspection service for Fiat Auto Contracts, which operates 7,500 fleet cars in the UK. Initially the AA carried out an inspection of 100 vehicles which had come to the end of their lease, but during the first three months of 2000 the AA has rolled out the service to a further 3,000 vehicles with the aim of boosting residual values.

POWERMARQUE and its sister internet trading contract hire company Calleva announced new deals involving almost 2,000 vehicles at the Fleet Show. An outsourcing contract for the fleet management and funding of South Staffordshire Group's - previously South Staffordshire Water - 600-vehicle fleet was announced on Thursday.

A MULTI-million pound contract for pocket PCs, enabling car rental companies to appraise lightly damaged vehicles within two minutes, saving the industry an estimated £50 million a year, is expected to be announced on Wednesday, April 19. One of the UK's biggest rental companies is poised to sign a deal for AutoGraph, which made its public debut at the Fleet Show.

THE internet could end the fleet nightmare of costly, early termination lease vehicles by finding new operators to take on the balance of the hire period. The Association of Car Fleet Operators' southern region branch was due to meet on Wednesday to discuss the pros and cons of establishing a web-based service to advertise vehicles which become available as a result of staff changes.

RENAULT Scenic models fitted with a 1.9-litre common rail diesel engine have gone on sale to replace all direct injection turbodiesel manual transmission versions.

AUTOMOTIVE parts and accessories company Unipart has announced pre-tax profits of £84.8 million - up £49.6 million (1998: £35.2 million) on turnover of £1.39 billion (1998: £1.25 billion). However, the results reflect the £47.8 million brought from the sale of mobile phone firm UniqueAir and £14.2 million from the disposal of land.

SAVE Group, which operates the Save brand of petrol filling stations, saw profits more than halved last year to £2.05 million for the year to December 23 last year, from £5.5 million for the same period in 1998.

LEX Service's sales of its remaining 32 retail motor sites and four car repair shops to Pendragon completed on March 31, are expected to bring in £90 million, chairman Sir Trevor Chinn told the company's annual meeting.

A NEW agreement between Dutch-based Navigation Technologies and Trafficmaster will provide drivers with in-car combined navigation systems and real-time congestion avoidance systems.

FALLING used car values cost motor dealership JCT 600 nearly £1 million last year , despite brisk business on the forecourts.

GO-slow road diggers who spend more time causing traffic chaos than agreed with local authorities face hefty daily fines under new powers announced by the Department of Transport.

DIESEL sales increased year-on-year for the first time this March, putting oil burners ahead of 1999 first quarter figures, according to Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders statistics. Total new car diesel sales in March were 53,456 - 9% up on March last year (49,023) - with fleet sales totalling 25,992 up 3.2% from 25,193 a year ago.

JAGUAR came within one point of Subaru for the title of the most satisfying brand in the JD Power and Associates/BBC Top Gear 2000 UK Car Customer Satisfaction Study announced on Wednesday night.

A HOUSE of Commons row has erupted as the Government cracks down on the taxation of chauffeur driven company cars, while at the same time exempting ministers and their families from charges. The Inland Revenue has changed its interpretation of the law relating to company bosses working in their chauffeured cars to ensure they cannot rely on earlier statements designed to ensure ministerial cars were tax exempt.

DRIVERS are the newest target in a campaign instigated by Michelin to reduce running costs, increase safety and ultimately save fleets thousands of pounds a year and potentially reduce their leasing rates. The initiative has been formulated by Michelin through its fleet panel, comprised of representatives from Hertz Lease, Dial Contracts, Fleet Support Group, Motability, HSBC Vehicle Maintenance, Vauxhall Masterhire Leasing, BCH Vehicle Management and PHH Vehicle Management, which between them control more than one million fleet vehicles.

NON-fault accident assistance company Helphire is setting a good example to its customers with a major driver training programme for 130 of its driver. The company, which provides replacement cars to non-fault accident victims, has signed up the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents to put all its vehicle delivery drivers through the advanced driving test.

THE writing is on the wall for fleet operators who turn a blind eye to figures which reveal company car drivers have 50% more accidents than other drivers. However, it was claimed at the Fleet Show that fleet managers were beginning to react to the increasing calls - from Government, the Health and Safety Executive and the police, for companies to take driver training and risk management seriously.

DRIVE & Survive is targeting risk management firms as a means of bringing their training message to fleets following the creation of a partnership with Aon Risk Services which has given it a potential target market of more than one million drivers. Aon Risk Services has chosen Drive & Survive as its preferred supplier of driver training, it was announced at the Fleet Show.

FLEET managers are playing with fire by ignoring the legal risks they are facing if they do not ensure their company car drivers are safe on the road, Amery-Parkes Solicitors has warned. Partner David Faithful said fleets must concentrate on the human cost of accidents to ensure they made every effort to enforce safety measures.

ONE of the country's largest gas installation maintenance companies has signed a deal with driver training and support services AcciDON'T. Warrington-based Maclean & Nuttall, with more than 650 cars and vans nationwide, will run an ongoing programme of driver training. AcciDON'T managers will carry out risk assessments at all sites before agreeing specific training requirements.

THE Government is to launch the first-ever national survey of fleet safety standards in a bid to slash accidents among company car drivers. At Fleet Show 2000, the Health and Safety Executive revealed it was teaming up with local authorities to assess more than 300 fleets to gauge the standard of safety in each company.

FLEETS are holding back the growth of Britain's liquefied petroleum gas refuelling infrastructure, an LPG supplier has claimed at Fleet Show 2000. Flogas spokesman David Bryce told delegates at the show's 'Running a Green Fleet' Forum, sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers in association with Manheim Europe, that his company was prepared to install filling facilities wherever there was sufficient demand, but accused operators of failing to make the demand.

CLIMATE Care is launching a fuel card with PHH Vehicle Management in a bid to offset some of the damage done to the environment by CO2 emissions from fleet vehicles. A charge of 1.4p per litre on fuel will be added to the card and invested in projects which reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

FLEETS can slash their fuel bills and help clean up the environment by joining a new Government scheme unveiled at Fleet Show 2000. The Government used the show to tell fleet chiefs about Motorvate which will officially be launched in June.

ECOLOGICAL Engine Company and Calor Gas began the Fleet Show on a high when they received high-profile Government backing for its work to create London's first fleet of liquefied petroleum gas-powered black cabs. The company took part in a £6 million pollution-busting initiative to convert 10 EcoCabs from diesel to run entirely on LPG.