News - Page 2169

PEUGEOT has extended the warranty cover on all its new cars and vans to three years. The UK's third best-selling fleet manufacturer launched the initiative on January 1, in a development that follows Rover's move to three-year cover on its 25, 45 and 75, and leaves the country's two biggest-selling car firms, Ford and Vauxhall, out on a limb with one-year warranties.

FRESH concern has arisen over the future of Rover operations at Longbridge in the wake of a European Commission investigation into £152 million of UK Government aid being made toward a £1.5 billion project to revitalise the troubled factory. Union representatives fear board members at BMW could decide to jettison plans to modernise the car production centre if the investigation procedure is subject to excessive delay.

BARRY Rand, the new chairman and chief executive of the Avis Group which includes PHH and Avis Inc, paid a flying visit to PHH Vehicle Management in Swindon just 21 days after taking the helm of the international company. His responsibilities include PHH's leasing and fleet management operations in the UK, Germany and North America, as well as global daily rental company Avis.

ONE of the fleet industry's best-known characters, Paul Sterne, has taken early retirement from Vauxhall after 34 years with the Luton-based manufacturer - 20 years in fleet sales. However, after leaving Vauxhall on Monday, January 4, he took up a new position as group fleet sales director with Vauxhall dealership group Masters' South London.

FLEET bosses have given their support to the benefits provided by professional training and in particular its ability to prepare them for the changing demands placed upon them by new technologies and legislation in the 21st century. The boost for training providers, such as the Institute for Car Fleet Management, comes amid prophecies that the fleet manager will become 'mobility co-ordinators' for all forms of transport as many of their traditional car-based responsibilities are taken over by revamped local dealerships.

A MILLENNIUM recruitment drive is being launched by the Institute of Car Fleet Management following the appointment of Peter Eldridge as its new secretary. Eldridge, a director of the Leatherhead-based Motorcare Group of Companies, takes over as secretary from ICFM founder and counsel member David Lee, who took the role temporarily following the retirement last year of Peter Moxon.

THE 'special needs of women drivers' are often ignored in the male-dominated fleet world with claims that some company car schemes need to be designed to cater for female motorists. The call comes from Clare Mead head of customer services at Redditch-based AutoMotive Strategy, the contract hire and fleet management arm of dealer group William Jacks.

TLS has supplied more than 1,200 vehicles, ranging from car-derived vans to tractor units, to the Post Office on a short term rental deal.

ROVER has announced a string of new fleet deals involving the 75 and new 25 and 45 models - the latter entering UK showrooms on January 13.

RENAULT has signed a £4.2 million deal to supply Thrifty Car Rental with a fleet of 400 Kangoo 1.4-litre RXEs.

LEICESTERSHIRE-based Ashfield Healthcare has signed a solus deal with Toyota for 'at least a year' with 100 Avensis models already supplied and a further 100 or more expected to be injected into the fleet by summer 2000. The Ashby de la Zouch company, one of the country's largest sales recruitment, training and salesforce resourcing agencies in the UK pharmaceutical industry, operates a 400-strong fleet.

THE Royal Mail has ordered 1,034 LDV Pilot and Convoy vehicles worth £15 million at showroom prices to replace existing vehicles in its fleet.

JESSUPS Vehicle Contracts has secured a £3 million deal to manage the company car policy of clothing label manufacturer Paxar UK.

ACCIDENT management company Elite Repair Services has selected Enterprise Rent-a-car as its principal supplier of replacement cars for third party non-fault accident drivers.

VOLKSWAGEN'S 15 top fleet sales executives and three leading fleet sales managers are heading for Mexico in February after success in the manufacturer's 1999 Fleet Distinction programme. During the year each fleet sales executive and fleet sales manager in the Volkswagen dealer network is measured against their peers on the most important areas of their work such as prospecting, test drives, small business registrations and sales.

USED car prices already take account of anticipated new car price reductions, with average second-hand prices year-on-year tumbling by up to £1,000 on mainstream vehicles, according to the January issue of Glass's Guide. Fearing that manufacturers may cut new car prices by up to 15% in anticipation of a scathing Competition Commission New Car Pricing Inquiry report, used car traders have been cautious when buying speculatively for stock and they have focused on cars with a proven track record in the used car sector.

VEHICLES branded unsafe in European crash tests face being shut out of fleet choice lists under a radical new safety initiative from Associates Fleet Services. Next month, the firm plans to write to customers urging them to use the crash test ratings provided by the European New Car Assessment Programme as a key factor in choosing fleet vehicles and creating a culture of safety in fleets.

THE Government has revealed that it hopes to launch the new Road Safety Strategy - which is believed may see fleet drivers targeted in a bid to reduce casualty figures -later this month, more than a year after it was originally meant to be published. The delay has caused outrage at Brake, the non-profit making road safety charity, which has accused ministers of allowing people to die unnecessarily on the UK's roads.

BRAKE, the non-profit making road safety organisation, has released a safe driving booklet, entitled 'Save a Life Today'. On average, 10 people die on British roads every day and nine out of 10 deaths are caused by basic driver error, Brake says. Guidelines in the book aim to help drivers avoid crashes.

ARE you sitting comfortably? Probably not, according to industry experts who estimate that sick leave due to back pain is costing 116 million sick days and losing industry more than £5 billion a year. Company car drivers are one of the most vulnerable groups because of the amount of time they spend behind the wheel.

NON-fault accident assistance provider 3 Arrows is launching a new insurance policy called Safeguard, giving its customers cover for credit hire, credit repair and legal expenses costs which might not be recoverable from the at-fault party's insurer.

THE Vehicle Builders and Repairers Association has a new 24-hour national freephone helpline service. UK motorists involved in an accident will automatically be put through to a local BVRLA member on the freephone number. The 0800 number will be announced later this month and will be backed by a drop of three million leaflets.

BMW is for the first time offering fleets a complete one-stop-shop accident management service as part of the package of driving a BMW.

PROPER preparation adds up to £500 to the value of a used car, claims Phil Whiting, sales manager at Rover main dealer Wadham Kenning, Lichfield. He says the business benefits by £250,000 a year because second-hand vehicles are professionally valeted.

MANHEIM Auctions is launching a new service as part of its Year 2000-branded package for fleet customers. The auction-based operations of SMART vehicle repair specialists Dentmaster and Dent Wizard - both owned by Manheim - are to be rebranded Manheim Magic.

MORE than 150 new cars launches are planned for 2000, signalling a busy start to the new millennium for the industry. The mixture of all new models, range additions and facelifts will see showrooms full of new metal.

FLEETS are postponing the replacement of non-essential cars in anticipation of lower new car prices in the new year. As the new millennium dawns, the biggest buyers of new cars in the UK have reported a drop-off in orders as the motor industry awaits the publication of the long-awaited report by the Competition Commission's New Cars Inquiry.

NEW car price discounting in the UK is widespread as manufacturers seek to woo buyers back to showrooms, according to a new report. 'UK Motor Distribution' by stockbroker Charterhouse Securities, said price discounting was already rife - 'new cars are now selling at about 17% discount to RRP' - and that an official move on pricing could unlock the 100,000 deferred sales the UK market has suffered in 1999.

THE Government has revealed its 10-year £80 billion plan to 'give Britain a transport system to rival the best in Europe'. In Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott's vision of the future the car and the lorry 'will remain essential', but life will be made easier for 'motorists and business' with many proposals under active consideration.

BUSINESSES in London are calling for the rapid introduction of congestion charging, which would raise an estimated £200 million a year in revenue - but have a minimal impact on traffic levels. The call comes in a report produced by London First, which says, following election of May 4 next year, the new London Mayor must make a commitment to introduce charging within the 'first 100 days' of taking office'