News - Page 2257

FLEETS which use bodyshop courtesy cars will see costs rocket as repairers pass on in labour rates the impact of massive increases in monthly lease rates. Vehicle repairers are railing against colossal increases in contract hire rentals for typical courtesy car superminis, and insisting they will either have to pass the cost on to customers via inflated labour rates or cease offering free replacement vehicles.

BODYSHOPS urgently need to restore profit margins or the industry faces collapse, the Vehicle Builders and Repairers Association has warned. Ron Nicholson, director general of the VBRA, said four of the association's members had gone out of business this month, and more would follow unless major steps were taken to improve hourly labour rates and reduce external costs.

CORE company cars wear out tyres at vastly differing rates, creating huge variances in vehicle running costs according to Kwik-Fit Fleet. The fast-fit giant has analysed the tyre replacement cycles of 250,000 vehicles on its tyre management programme and drawn up a league table of tyre longevity for the 20 most popular fleet models.

ROVER Cars has won a contract worth more than £25 million to supply 1,600 vehicles to LucasVarity, the global automotive and aerospace parts manufacturer. Rover has supplied cars to LucasVarity since 1993 and the new three-year agreement follows a competitive tender process in which all major manufacturers were invited to compete.

GE Capital Fleet Services has assimilated the 3,600 vehicles of Woodchester Corporate (formerly Lookers Planned Motoring) into its own fleet, with the loss of 22 jobs. Bradford-based Lookers Planned Motoring changed its name to Woodchester Corporate after the finance house bought out dealer group Lookers' share in the contract hire company.

PHH Vehicle Management has launched a new service to target the UK's burgeoning alternatively-fuelled vehicle parc. This parc is set to exceed half a million vehicles by 2002, and manufacturers will have to include 'clean-fuelled' vehicles in their ranges to retain fleet customers, according to a new report from research organisation Marketline International.

FLEETS are losing millions of pounds in fuel and time because their drivers are relying on out-of-date maps and not planning their journeys. Motoring organisation the AA says fleet drivers make up the majority of motorists who waste an estimated 350,000 tonnes of fuel a year backtracking and sitting in lay-bys looking at directions because they are lost.

HEREFORDSHIRE County Council has awarded a three-year contract to supply vehicles for its 100-strong user-chooser-car fleet to a trio of contract hire companies. TransLinc, First National Vehicle Contracts and Vauxhall Master Hire will supply equal shares of vehicles to the council on a contract hire basis.

THE debut of SEAT's new Toledo at the end of this month will start the company's bid to double fleet sales over the next four years. The Spanish manufacturer, which is a sister company of Volkswagen, Audi and Skoda, believes the Toledo will lead the way in its fleet sales growth when it goes on sale around Easter of next year.

DEALERSHIP group and contract hire company Pendragon increased the size of its contract hire fleet by a quarter as it searched out new business to counter the effect of dropping residual values. The firm's fleet size grew 25% to about 13,000 last year making up for the lower profit on disposal of used cars returning from contracts.

TRAFFICMASTER is set to announce major new contracts for its traffic information systems with two manufacturers - believed to be Citroen and a luxury car manufacturer - at next month's British International Motor Show at the NEC.

FLEET managers are being cautioned to check all vehicle security systems meet new standards or they may find insurance premiums increasing. Thatcham, the Motor Insurance Repair Research Centre, has for the past two years been warning aftermarket security system manufacturers, vehicle manufacturers and insurers of the delisting of all 'Issue 1' security systems and introducing 'Issue 2' standards.

BRITAIN'S largest Ford dealership group, Dagenham Motors, has reported record interim results for the six months to June 30 despite the 1998 slide in used car values. The company, which has 10 dealerships, saw pre-tax profits increase 7.4% to £3.04 million (1997: £2.83 million) on turnover up 11.6% to £162 million (1997: £145.23 million) largely as a result of increases in new car sales.

AUDI A3 and Volkswagen Golf drivers could find one of the security features of their vehicles compromised if they have had the windscreens replaced. The first batch of about 150 windscreens for the A3 and Golf supplied by Pilkington to Auto Windscreens, met European specification, but blacked out the clear area required to see the VIN number.

COMPANY car drivers could soon be able to pay car park charges at Britain's NCP car parks on their fuel cards. Cendant Business Answers (Europe), which owns PHH Vehicle Management, Fleet Cost Management and the PHH AllStar, Overdrive and Dialcard fuel cards, has begun a trial which sees motorists being able to use their credit cards to pay NCP car park charges.

A BUYER for Kia, the bankrupt Korean car company, has yet to be found after wrangles over who would take on its massive debts ended with a decision that bids should be re-submitted. Expectations were high that a new owner would be announced at the start of this month, but the four bidders - Ford, Hyundai, Daewoo and Samsung - all said they wanted the car firm's estimated £6 billion debt to be written off.

BMW is making changes to the specification, interior and exterior design of all 7-series cars produced from this month. Exterior revisions include the front headlamps, which now resemble the new 3-series design, two new alloy wheel designs and five new metallic paint colours.

THE Association of Car Fleet Operators is discussing the future of its Fleet Business Day after deciding to cancel this year's event. ACFO is said to have decided that there are already too many fleet events in the market and it has questioned whether another one is needed.

FLEET operators and drivers are being urged to become informers in a bid to fight a light commercial vehicle crimewave which is costing British business hundreds of millions of pounds a year. The charity Crimestoppers Trust says there are almost 50,000 thefts of LCVs in a 12-month period, representing one in nine of stolen vehicles of all types.

SHELL Fuel and Fleet Services is seizing 200 fraudulent fuel and credit cards a month at its service stations. The company has more than doubled the number of seizures after joining the Association for Payment Clearing Services' Card Watch scheme.

SPECIALIST luxury motor distributor H R Owen's early 1998 stance to safeguard against weakening used car values has paid dividends. The company saw a 42% rise in 1998 interim pre-tax profits on a 6% rise in turnover.

A GROUP of dealers is playing a vital role in helping Jaguar seek out fresh opportunities for corporate business next year. Nine outlets are testing a fleet programme which has been devised to support the new S-type saloon, Britain's crucial challenger for sales in the medium luxury sector.

THE Society of Motor Manufacturer and Traders' five-year campaign programme to change public attitudes towards the car started this week with the launch of Stop Fuming Week. The campaign's aim is to position the industry as an environmentally responsible one.

BRISTOL Street, the Birmingham Ford dealer, is investing £100,000 in a vehicle delivery service to ensure contract hire companies' customers receive their cars in pristine condition with minimum mileage on the clock. The company will deliver cars on one of a fleet of converted vehicles, complete with the livery of the contract hire company.

MAJOR fleet growth at Tunbridge Wells Equity Friendly Society has led the financial company to outsource the management of its company cars to PHH Vehicle Management. The society originally managed its 100-strong fleet in-house, but found the day-to-day administrative duties became too time-consuming as the company increased in size.

A GROWING recognition of the importance of formal training for fleet managers has led to management changes at specialist training company Fleet Audits so it can enhance its service to industry. Chris Chandler has been appointed director of training for the consultancy, which he joined two years ago.

SELF-registration of new cars reached record levels in August, sowing the seeds of a potential residual value catastrophe in the nearly-new car market. By the middle of last month it was clear that earlier predictions of bumper new car sales were hugely optimistic, leaving dealers under pressure to register cars to qualify for volume bonuses.

COMPANY car drivers are habitual law-breakers who frequently exceed the national speed limit on motorways, according to the biggest annual survey of fleet drivers. This found that 65% of company car drivers admitted to driving usually at 80mph on the motorway, while a further 10% drive even faster.

FIRMS' future fleet plans are flying in the face of Government objectives to reduce reliance on motor transport and increase the use of public transport. A survey of 100 leading fleet decision-makers has found that more employees are qualifying for company cars, and that businesses are allocating larger budgets to pay for them.

EMAP Automotive, publisher of Fleet NewsNet, has bought motor industry newspaper Automotive Management for an undisclosed sum. The title, which focuses on the franchised dealer market, will play a crucial role in Emap Automotive's motor industry strategy.