News - Page 2191

THE £25 new vehicle registration fee helped the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency's total income (excluding Vehicle Excise Duty) exceed the cost of running the agency for the first time in 1998/99.

THE maximum MoT test fee has increased from £30.87 to £32.11 for cars, light vans and vehicles with up to eight passenger seats.

COMPANIES have been urged by the RAC Foundation to ensure their fleet drivers have routine eye tests.

AN increase in rental rates and a 5.5% gain in staff productivity helped Avis Europe boost its pre-tax profits by 14.3% to £41.2 million (£36m) on turnover of £303.5 million (£252m) for the year to June 30. The company achieved a 2.6% increase in rental rates (Euro revenue per day) for the first six months of the year, with the UK, France and Spain incurring the steepest rises.

PRICES for Volkswagen's new Golf estate, which is now on sale, start at £13,380 on-the-road for the E 1.4-litre and rise to £20,365 for the V5 automatic - £110 less model-for-model than originally estimated by the manufacturer. Together with the largest loadspace ever offered in a Golf, all cars in the 16-model line-up feature four airbags, anti-lock brakes with electronic brake-force distribution, a three-year/unlimited mileage warranty and 12-year anti-perforation cover.

RENAULT has won a £600,000 contract for 74 655D Kangoo vans from NIC Hygiene Specialists. The vehicles will be used for work on a BT phone box cleaning contract recently won by the company in Scotland.

FLEETNET, the industry body formed to promote the adoption and development of electronic commerce for fleets and fleet suppliers, will hold a conference and open day on September 22 at the Heritage Motor Centre, in Gaydon, Warwickshire. It will focus on the fast pace of change in e-commerce with presentations ranging from EDI standards to disposing of salvage vehicles over the internet.

PENNY-pinching fleet managers are costing their companies hundreds of pounds by opting for vehicles which are unpopular at sale time because of their colour and trim. Colours and trims are increasingly becoming deciding factors in the used car market, says CAP Motor Research.

NEW car price cuts could save fleets, company car drivers and private buyers nothing as the Government will claw back the 'lost' billion of pounds in revenue by increasing other taxes, it was claimed this week. As the Competition Commission continues its long-running investigation into the UK motor industry and consumer organisations campaign for massive cuts in new car prices, industry leaders continue to warn of the widespread impact of such a move, particularly on residual values.

FLEET managers who dismiss debate over the environment as a 'storm in a teacup' are making a grave mistake which could jeopardise their access to business in future, fleets have been warned. Leith Penny, head of environment and leisure policy for Westminster City Council, said companies must be aware of the pace of change in legislation governing access to towns and cities.

MOTOR manufacturers support moves towards new car price harmonisation but, for it to occur, the Government must pursue the goals of a single European currency and tax harmonisation across the European Union with more enthusiasm. Speaking at a Guild of Motoring Writers lunch, Roger King, deputy chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said that over time prices would harmonise across the continent.

WIDESPREAD industry speculation that Ford - Britain's No.1 car retailer - was about to slash UK new car prices has been dismissed by the company's chairman and managing director, Ian McAllister. And in launching a unique 'price promise' to customers buying new Ford cars from September 1's introduction of the V-plate, he has effectively ruled out any round of price cuts being led by the Essex-based manufacturer.

THE Co-operative Bank has cut the size of its company car fleet and overall car usage and is outlawing diesels on its essential-user fleet in a concerted effort to reduce the company's 'damage to the environment'. The bank reduced its car fleet by 15% from 366 vehicles in 1997 to 311 in 1998 and reduced the number of cars hired on a temporary basis over the same period period by 45% from 100 to 55 a week.

A CALL to action from the Government has given one of the strongest indications yet of the path fleets must take to reduce emissions. Fleet managers still have a long way to go to improve their environmental performance, despite running some of the cleanest vehicles on the roads today, they heard at the third annual City of Westminster Driving the Change conference.

AN ambitious bid to put 100 hydrogen-powered taxis on the roads by the end of this year is still on the starting blocks. Zevco was behind Britain's first hydrogen car, which took to the streets of London in August last year.

OVERCOMING a key hurdle in the development of fuel cell technology has brought zero emission vehicles one step closer to production. Zevco, the zero emission fuel company, has developed a refuelling system that conquers the difficulties in supplying vehicles with the hydrogen fuels they need to run.

A HEARTFELT plea has been made to oil companies for them to work together with the Government to co-ordinate the roll-out of alternative fuel filling sites more quickly throughout the country. Jonathan Murray, manager of the Energy Saving Trust's Powershift programme, which provides grants to encourage the purchase of alternative-fuelled vehicles, said he could help target new refuelling sites where there would be most demand for clean fuels.

A CLAIM that alternative fuels will provide little or no environmental benefits over conventional fuels within six years has sparked renewed controversy in the fuels industry. Malcolm Watson, who is responsible for fuel and air quality at the UK Petroleum Industry Association, claimed that petrol and diesel fuels and engines would become so clean under European requirements, that any difference in pollutants would be tiny.

THE Automobile Association has successfully re-tendered for the £10 million contract to supply accident and breakdown recovery to General Motors vehicles in the UK. The AA beat off competition from the RAC, Green Flag and Mondial Assistance to win the five-year contract which covers about 500,000 Vauxhall and Saab vehicles.

SHELL UK is closing the fleet department at its Strand headquarters, leaving two staff redundant. The move comes as part of cost-cutting programme which will see the company close one of its London headquarters, Shell-Mex House, and concentrate operations at the second site, Shell Centre, at Waterloo.

HONDA'S flagship model for its recently launched Accord five-door - the Accord Type-V is making its world debut at Frankfurt ahead of its official UK launch date next month. Whereas the Type-R is the fire-breathing sporting variant, the Type-V is the flagship luxury model and will be available in five-door format only with the manufacturer's 2.0-litre engine, combined with leather seats, electronic climate control and satellite navigation option.

JAGUAR is showing the 2000 model year changes to its S-type, XJ and XK vehicle line-up at Frankfurt and has revealed across-the-range price rises of between £100 and £2,700. Specification changes include an array of new standard and optional equipment across the range, and there are improvements to the supercharged engine in the XJR, XKR and Daimler Super V8.

LEXUS unveiled its RX300 4x4 concept car, giving an insight into a production four-wheel-drive model which will be on the road by autumn next year. It has 19in alloy wheels and leather interior, and is powered by a 220bhp V6 3.0-litre VVT-i engine.

TOWN & Country Assistance has won the Securicor Cash Services account for accident management, claims handling and uninsured loss recovery.

FLEET industry leaders have condemned the Government for revealing too little information too late, when it announced on Thursday that the new graduated Vehicle Excise Duty system will categorise cars into one of four bands. A Treasury spokesman said the new VED regime would be based around cars' carbon dioxide emissions and that it would come into force in autumn 2000, in line with Chancellor of the Exchequer's March Budget pledge.

THE new Vehicle Excise Duty will place cars registered after September 1, 2000, into one of four bands, based on their carbon dioxide emissions. Each band will have a separate annual tariff, used as an incentive to encourage new car buyers to select vehicles from a lower band. From October 1999, all new cars in the UK will have their CO2 emissions noted on the V55 document which is sent by dealers to the DVLA which creates the V5 document.

A PROFESSIONAL services giant has resurrected fleets' long-running campaign to recover the VAT levied on company cars by urging Customs & Excise to change the law and adopt European protocols. PriceWaterhouseCoopers wants fleets to be accorded the same VAT recovery rights as franchised dealers when buying new cars.

FLEETS are confident that residuals will be protected from a chaotic fall, with manufacturers voluntarily bringing new car prices into line with those in Europe rather than face the embarrassment of Government intervention as pressure mounts over what consumer groups have called the 'Great British Rip-Off'. This week, CAP Motor Research published its first CAP Index, a tracking source for new and used car values, which suggested UK new car prices have fallen 0.4% compared with last September and, for the first time, price cuts now outweighed price rises.

ARRIVA has confirmed its future as a leading motor retailer and rental operator following a substantial company re-positioning in the first half of this year which culminated in the sale of its contract hire business. Following the July sale of Arriva Automotive Solutions for more than £520million, Arriva is focusing on the expansion of passenger transport in both the UK and mainland Europe. This largely involves bus operations, although June signalled its first move into rail with a joint venture in Holland.

THE parent company of Avis Europe is in the final stages of multi-million pound negotiations to buy Autoglass, which has been the subject of buy-out speculation for more than six months. A statement from D'Ieteren, the Belgian parent company of Avis Europe and sole importer of VW Group cars to Benelux countries, in a joint venture with investment company Cobepa, said it was in the final stages of talks with South African Breweries, an industrial conglomerate which owns 68% of Plate Glass & Shatterprufe Industries, Autoglass's parent through its largest subsidiary, Belron International.