News - Page 2177

CHANCELLOR of the Exchequer Gordon Brown abolished the annual pre-set fuel duty escalator, currently set at 6% above inflation, in his pre-Budget report on Tuesday. Following a sustained attack by industry on the annual Budget rise in fuel duty, Brown told the House of Commons during his 35-minute statement that any increases in fuel duties would be decided 'Budget-by-Budget'.

ESSENTIAL company car users would suffer and perk car drivers benefit if the Inland Revenue were to change the business mileage discounts in the current company car tax regime. This levies a benefit charge of 35% of a car's list price on drivers who cover fewer than 2,500 business miles a year; 25% of list price on drivers who clock up between 2,500 and 18,000 business miles; and 15% of list price if they exceed 18,000 business miles.

THE fleet industry was cast into confusion once more this week as experts grappled with the interpretation of Government documents dealing with the future treatment of company car tax. In the March Budget, the Inland Revenue said the system for the 1999/2000 tax year would 'apply for 2000/01 and 2001/02'.

FLEET managers must educate company car drivers to look beyond tabloid headlines and analyse the real cost of running a car. Under pressure to operate fuel-efficient and low emission vehicles, fleet managers must combine the 'green' move with cold financial calculations.

POLICE forces will soon be given guidelines enabling them to apply the same investigative methods to fatal road accidents as are applied to murder investigations. Kenneth Williams, Chief Constable of Norfolk Police and chairman designate of the Association of Police Chief Officers' traffic committee, says there needs to be a change in the way police and public view road deaths.

THE Government and the Consumers' Association are wiping hundreds of pounds off the value of used cars with 'ill-considered' attacks on new car pricing, costing drivers more to run cars instead of saving them money. Headline-grabbing campaigns alleging that car buyers in the UK are ripped off every time they purchase a new vehicle are having little effect on new prices, but they are decimating the used car market and costing motorists heavily when they sell their cars.

COMPANIES across Britain are employing unqualified staff running in-house fleet operations or selling services into the multi-billion pound fleet industry. The savage attack on the lack of qualified fleet industry staff was launched by Roger Glenwright, one of the UK's best qualified fleet leaders, at the annual Institute of Car Fleet Management's conference.

FLEET NewsNet has become one of the first British company car fleets to trial satellite tracking as an active vehicle management tool. This week, we have taken delivery of a Ford Cougar equipped with the same Data Collection Unit that GE Capital is fitting to all its new lease vehicles.

THE widespread use of black box data recorders by the police could lead to acceptance of the technology in private and company cars, ending the suspicion of them as in-vehicle spies. Earlier this year, the Metropolitan Police announced it would be fitting black boxes to its 500 immediate and armed response vehicles in an effort to tackle the problem of the rising number of collisions involving its officers.

THE Association of Car Fleet Operators is urging fleet managers to keep accurate records of their employees' driving licences following an AA report which revealed there could be 800,000 unlicensed drivers in the UK. The survey, jointly funded by the Association of British Insurers, found that as many as one in 40 drivers do not have a licence.

MORE than 150 public sector fleet managers will hear the latest Government thinking on integrated transport and new people mobility innovations at a conference sponsored by Fleet News 'Top 10' contract hire company First National Vehicle Contracts on November 18. The 'Agenda for Action' conference at the Motor Heritage Centre, Gaydon, will be chaired by Fleet News' editor Ashley Martin.

DAILY rental firm Arnold Clark has taken delivery of the first of 100 dual-fuel Vauxhalls set to join its fleet. The Scottish firm has received £100,000 support from the Energy Saving Trust's Powershift programme to cover 75% of the additional cost of acquiring cars converted to run on liquefied petroleum gas.

THE Rover 75 has been voted World Car 1999 by automotive journalists from Europe, the Americas, Asia and Australasia.

A NEW range of car stickers, aimed at encouraging company car drivers to take care on the road, has been produced by road safety organisation Brake and sponsored by DriveCare. The stickers are printed in red and blue and are available with a choice of messages.

THE 1999-2000 Tolley's Tax and the Business Car guide to company car taxation has been published. Written by Deloitte & Touche tax partner Alison Chapman, the guide is supported by HSBC Vehicle Finance.

HUMBERSIDE Police, which already includes 145 Proton Persona and Compact cars on its fleet, is evaluating the new Proton Compact GTi developed in conjunction with Lotus.

KWIK-FIT Fleet has launched its free winter company car check. This allows drivers to take their vehicles into a Kwik-Fit centre for checks on anti-freeze, hoses and the tightness of clips, battery condition and strength with terminal connections, tyres, and the condition of the exhaust system and brackets.

FLEET sales this year will drop below last year's record 1,055,816, but still look set to break the one million mark for third year in succession. Until this week's publication of October new car sales figures by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, a true comparison between 1998 and 1999 sales figures has been impossible due to the first-time impact of the twice-a-year plate change.

AUDI UK's head of sales, Alan Maloney, who also oversaw fleet sales, has left the company to pursue new interests. Kevin Rose, director of Audi UK, said he hoped to announce a new head of business sales in the near future, which would appear to split responsibility for fleet and retail sales.

THE near-regular monthly decline in fleet diesel car sales continued in October, but could the drop soon start to be arrested? With the Government not expected to penalise diesel company cars under changes in the company car tax regime from 2002 diesel cars are the clear winner under the proposed carbon dioxide-based emissions tax.

MORE than 500,000 vehicles could be pre-registered this year, resulting in an actual new car market of closer to 1.68 million units rather than the 2.2 million forecasted by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. Last month, allegations surrounding the volume of pre-registered cars entering the UK new car market reached fever pitch with the Consumers' Association calling the September sales figures a 'sham'.

VAN sales are fractionally down year-on-year, but were boosted by a rise in 1.8-3.5-tonne van sales last month, according to Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders figures.

SHELL Gas is converting its 185-strong fleet, including 85 cars, to run on liquefied petroleum gas as part of a new contract hire deal with debis Car Fleet Management. The new arrangement will see Shell Gas operate dual-fuel vehicles from Honda, Ford, Vauxhall, Peugeot, Renault and Volkswagen on three years/90,000 miles full maintenance contracts.

BRITAIN'S bosses have been urged to invest in their fleet managers and fleet staff and thereby improve the efficiency of their fleet operations. And the dearth of qualified employees across the fleet industry - including the majority of contract hire, fleet management and daily rental industries - has been attacked by leaders of the Institute of Car Fleet Management.

FLEET managers must react to the Government's long-running battle to reduce car dependency by introducing a more diversified form of transport management. The message came from Friends of the Earth's atmosphere and transport senior campaigner Roger Higman at the recent Institute of Car Fleet Management conference.

A SCATHING attack on 'here today gone tomorrow bureaucrats' for their 'muddled legislative and fiscal planning' was launched by Rover Group regional manager corporate sales Mike O'Hara. Giving the sponsor's Institute of Car Fleet Management conference address, O'Hara said Rover's parent company BMW was investing about £4 billion in the UK at car plants and a new engine factory.

FLEET managers must take action now to meet the Government's desire for lean and green company vehicle operations, according to James Langley, client development manager of PHH Vehicle Management and an Institute fellow. 'Do something now. There is no fortune to be made, but there is a fortune to be saved,' he urged fleet managers at the recent Institute of Car Fleet Management conference.

THE Vehicle Certificate Agency's guide to New Car Fuel Consumption and Emission Figures has been called both a 'bible' and a 'mess' by fleet chiefs. Meanwhile, some vehicle manufacturers - notably Ford - continue to be targeted by fleet bosses for providing incoherent information for publication in the VCA guide.

THE Institute or Car Fleet Management has launched a new fast-track alternative to its Certificate in Car Fleet Management course. The first fast-track course will be launched next month with the three-module programme plus assignments and final examination taking 12 months instead of the present 18 months for the conventional distance learning programme.

FLEET managers must practice accident claims management and not claims handling, according to Geoff Bullen, general manager and director and Motorcare Services, Europe's largest accident management company. In outlining the so-called Woolf Reforms - Lord Woolf's review of the rules and procedures of the civil courts which came into effect on April 26 this year - Bullen said a failure to act promptly could be costly.