News - Page 2187

FOR the fourth time in succession Britannia Rescue has won the 'best buy' award in a Which? survey of roadside recovery services. And the Huddersfield-based company, with 400,000 members, shared other honours with the mighty AA, which boasts a membership of 4.6 million.

NISSAN has supplied Cambridgeshire Police with a Primera 1.8 litre SE which will be used as a support vehicle for officers in the constabulary's Air Support Unit.

PHH Vehicle Management found itself 'in the pink' on winning the contract to provide a 20-strong fleet to one of the world's largest direct selling skin care companies, Mary Kay. A search across the UK was needed to find the vehicles required by Mary Kay.

COMPUTER firm Safe Computing is replacing its solus Rover fleet with Hondas following a switch from outright purchase to contract hire. The 30-strong fleet, mainly Honda Accords and Aerodecks, will be supplied to the fleet over the next 18 months following a deal with contract hire firm Dial.

CUSTOMS & Excise has promised to defend the right of fleets to operate the 'pay and reclaim' system for their fuel purchases. This system involves drivers using their own cash or credit cards to buy fuel for business journeys, and then employers recovering VAT on the fuel.

THE residual value performance of the volume fleet sector is up to 25 percentage points below that of some niche sectors, according to new figures from Glass's Information Services. Based on October trade values for 1996 N-registered vehicles with average mileage the volume small car sector outshines the rest of the volume market with a typical 40% retained residual value based on a list price of £8,500.

A SHOCK tax demand from the Inland Revenue has forced two of the UK's largest employers to change their staff motoring schemes. British Aerospace and GEC are now in negotiations with the taxman, after the Inland Revenue deemed that their employee car schemes should incur benefit-in-kind tax.

PEUGEOT is stepping up its campaign to get Britain backing diesel with a scathing attack on the Government's policy. Tod Evans, managing director of Peugeot UK, is demanding an end to the dirty diesel 'myth' which it is blaming for Britain's falling diesel sales.

FLEET sales will drop and vehicle manufacturer and franchise dealer profitability could be heading for a crash if Government plans to base company car tax on emission levels from April 2002 are implemented. The claim comes in a new report - 'Impact of Proposed Benefit-in-Kind Changes on the Company Car Market' - from motoring consultancy Mitac Performance Development.

TNT UK and Eire is taking up to £2 million worth of Rover 75s on to its fleet in one of the biggest orders for Rover's make-or-break vehicle yet. Rover Corporate Finance, part of BMW's multi-marque leasing division Alphabet (GB), clinched the deal to replace a fleet of 100 Rover 600s and 800s as part of an all-Rover fleet.

A RADICAL review of Mercedes-Benz' UK operations has seen the appointment of a new managing director in preparation for the millennium merger with Chrysler Jeep Imports to create DaimlerChrysler UK. Managing director Paul Halata, who had been lined up to lead the new company has been promoted to president and CEO of Mercedes-Benz USA.

MORE new cars should be fitted with deadlocks and laminated glass as standard as the Government bids to cut vehicle crime by 30% in the five years to March 31, 2004. A comprehensive report by the Home Office-appointed Vehicle Crime Reduction Action Team chaired by Ford fleet operations director Mike Wear says if the target is to be achieved, there must be 300,000 fewer offences committed.

FLEET managers should be increasingly concerned about the individual security features fitted as standard on company cars, according to Mike Wear, chairman of the Vehicle Crime Reduction Action Team and Ford's fleet operations director. He has called on fleet managers to continue the fight to combat car crime by ensuring company car drivers take adequate security measures when parking vehicles.

FLEET managers feel 'uniquely vulnerable and alone' and crucial to their recognition within their companies is knowledge and information, according to new research. And the primary fleet event for obtaining both the broadest spread and the majority of their information is the annual Fleet Show at Birmingham NEC on April 4-6, 2000.

EXPANDING contract hire and dealership business Ryland Group has reported pre-tax profits for the six months to June 30 of £13.7 million - up massively from £3 million in the first half of last year on turnover up 13% to £342 million (1998: £302 million). However, the results were accompanied by a decision to restructure profit-taking within the contract hire division - Ryland Multifleet.

THE total fleet run by the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association's 1,100 members has broken the two million mark for the first time. BVRLA members buy more than 900,000 vehicles a year - almost half the new vehicles sold in the UK - worth in excess of £12 billion, making the trade association of the daily rental and leasing industry the largest single block of vehicle buyers in Europe.

THE in-house fleet department of Carillion and its erstwhile sister Tarmac is trialling a Toyota Prius as part of a wider corporate initiative to minimise emissions of greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. Wolverhampton-based Carillion Fleet Management was formed when Tarmac split into two publicly-listed companies - Tarmac, the heavy building materials operation, and Carillion, the construction company.

FLEET decision-makers are queuing up to evaluate the new hybrid petrol/electric Toyota Prius which goes on sale in the UK next year, according to the manufacturer. Toyota claims the 1.5-litre Prius can achieve 70mpg, and its use of an electric motor at low speeds makes it ideal for reducing urban pollution.

DEPUTY Prime Minister John Prescott - the man charged with solving Britain's transport crisis - has been accused of 'revving the car engine while the traffic lights at 10 Downing Street are stuck on red'. The attack on the Government's 'doing nothing is not an option' policy came from Liberal Democrat transport spokesman Matthew Taylor at the Party's annual conference in Harrogate.

A VISION of the future to send a smile across Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott's face appeared in Bournemouth this week for the Labour Party Conference. A year ahead of the expected official arrival of the DaimlerChrysler Smart car, Bournemouth police acquired one to patrol the conference, supplied by importer Smart Cars UK, which is based in the conference town.

ONE of the best known brands in the UK fleet industry disappeared this week as Swan National took on the global brand of its parent HSBC, with company chiefs claiming the move could spark a trebling of its fleet. Swan National will become HSBC Vehicle Finance in a development that goes much further than a name change, according to director Tim Holmes.

PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS has appointed PHH Vehicle Management to supply and manage its partners' company cars. The two-year contract will cover all 600 of the professional services organisation's partner cars and include the supply of cars on contract purchase.

LOCAL authority planning departments are thwarting the efforts of BP to establish a liquefied petroleum gas refuelling infrastructure. The oil giant had pledged to open 70 LPG sites by the end of this year, but so far has only managed three, with two more under construction.

UPDATED advice on tax issues for users and providers of company cars and vans is contained in the newly-published 1999/2000 edition of the CCH Company Car Tax Guide edited by Clive Tulloch, a partner in PricewaterhouseCoopers. The guide provides full details on the tax implications of the traditional company car as well as the alternatives on offer.

LAND Rover is recalling 9,296 New Discoverys after discovering a minor fault in the anti-lock braking system. The manufacturer insists the performance of the brakes is not affected.

HONDA president Hiroyuki Yoshino has confirmed that the manufacturer will maintain its solo status to remain competitive at a time of major corporate mergers in the motor industry.

BRITISH Gas has bought the three UK LPG activities of Totalgaz and claims now to be the third largest liquefied petroleum gas supplier in the country.

VOLKSWAGEN Group UK managing director Richard Ide is to retire at the end of the year after 11 years in the post. He will be succeeded by Robin Woolcock, who joined the group in 1989 and has been head of Volkswagen UK since 1994.

REPRESENTATIVES from the insurance, training and fleet industry will be speaking at Brake's seminar 'How many accidents do I have and what are their causes?' on October 13.

HONDA's rapid growth in the fleet market has resulted in the opening of its latest dedicated fleet and business centre - Chatsworth Honda in Derby. The Japanese manufacturer has four dedicated fleet and business centres in the UK which stand apart from the franchised dealerships.