News - Page 2259

THE retirement of its long-standing fleet manager Jim Brown has left the way open for Warner Howard to outsource the management of its fleet. The supplier of hand dryers, hygiene and laundry equipment, has appointed FCM to manage its fleet of 120 cars and vans.

PHH Accident Management Services has joined with PHH Insurer Services to create Cendant Claims Plus. The new company combines the repair and claims management expertise of both parties in a bid to serve better fleets, insurers, brokers and loss adjusters.

ALFA Romeo has increased its prices by an average of 1% with effect from September 1. The move adds about £200 to the price of the 145 and 146 and £400 to that of the 156.

COMPANIES are once again recognising the value of fleet managers, after suffering a loss of control when outsourcing their fleets. This is the view of gamekeeper turned poacher turned gamekeeper again Martin Hannan, who this month joined London-based IT company Logica as car fleet manager for its 800-strong user-chooser fleet.

RENAULT has written to fleet customers assuring them that its vehicles are millennium compliant. Year 2000 compatibility continues to be a pressing concern for fleet managers, but Renault fleet director Mike Power said companies had nothing to fear from Renault product.

SHELL has teamed up with Ford and Daimler-Benz to help with the development of the ultimate clean source of power - hydrogen fuel cells. The Anglo-Dutch oil group joins a partnership between Daimler-Benz, Ford and Ballard Power Systems, which aims to become the world's leading producer of fuel-cell powered electric drivetrains and components for cars and vans by using hydrogen technology.

GAS power will be taking on the best petrol can throw at it where performance really matters - on the race track. Vauxhall is competing with a liquefied petroleum gas-powered Vectra in the remaining rounds of the 1998 Vectra SRi V6 Challenge one-make saloon car race series.

FORD has introduced a new skills initiative for dealer technicians throughout its franchise network. The programme will see Ford revamp its training, measure and enhance its technicians' technical competence and recognise their achievement with a range of qualifications.

CATALYTIC converters are pumping out potentially hazardous chemicals as well as cleaning up the environment, research by a university professor has revealed. Roadside tests have found that levels of platinum were 1,000 times normal background levels next to roads and have linked the findings to particles being blown from catalytic converters as they disintegrate during their working life.

MANDATORY standards of energy efficiency for vehicles would be supported by UK business, a new survey has revealed. A survey by consultant Moffatt Associates of 500 managers, including those in charge of fleets, revealed that industry and opinion-formers give strong backing to an energy policy designed to promote cleaner, more energy efficient use of resources.

THE massive growth of the nearly-new car market saw the UK's used car market reach record levels last year. UK buyers spent £28.1 billion on used cars in 1997, £2 billion more than the previous year, and 52.7% of the total car market, according to the British Car Auctions '1998 Used Car Market Report', produced in association with Sewells International.

THE fleet industry has a major challenge on its hands to educate used car buyers to the benefits of ex-company cars. Low mileage featured as one of the three key criteria prioritised by buyers when selecting a used car, second only to the make and model, and ahead of specification, body style and age, according to British Car Auctions' '1998 Used Car Market Report', produced in association with Sewells International.

THE UK has the most vibrant and efficient used car market in Europe. While Germany and Italy both have more cars on the road, and more cars per head of population than the UK, this country leads the European league table when it comes to the number of used car sales. And this is the critical measure of a smooth-running market, according to British Car Auctions' '1998 Used Car Market Report', produced in association with Sewells International.

CONTRACT hire company Dial is developing a new fleet insurance package to be unveiled during the first quarter of next year. News of the plan coincided with an announcement from Barclays Bank, Dial's parent company, that it is to enter the insurance market via a joint venture between Barclays Insurance Services and Privilege Insurance, the company set up by Peter Wood, founder of Direct Line.

CAR Fleet Control has created a new department to cope with increasing demand for customised fleet software. The new support services department is designed to help customers identify the type of specialisation they need, says Greg Connell, Car Fleet Control's managing director.

EUROPE'S largest independent security distributor, Gardiner Security, has switched from outright purchase to contract hire and rental for its 170-strong fleet. The company runs 42 Ford and Vauxhall cars for its sales representatives, and these vehicles will now be contract-hired from Newcourt Automotive Services in a two-year deal.

MITSUBISHI is making a proud boast of its fleet reliability after two taxis topped 300,000 miles each on their original engines. Taxi operators Margaret and Ray McLeod contacted Mitsubishi to tell them of their trusty 1990 Space Wagons which are operated on the Isle of Skye. One has notched up 363,000 miles and the other 316,000.

MORE than 160 leading fleet decision-makers have already booked to attend the first Automotive Congress Europe conference, scheduled for Geneva on September 29 and 30.

FLEET Management Services has accused franchised dealers of operating a 'repair by replacement policy' because poorly trained technicians are incapable of using the diagnostic equipment required to deal with modern cars' on-board computer systems.

ACL has leapt into the UK's contract hire superleague with the £83.2 million acquisition of Birmingham-based Autolease. The mega-deal adds 23,000 vehicles to ACL's 25,000-strong fleet, making the combined business the fifth largest leasing and fleet management company in the UK.

THE Government has launched an investigation into UK new car prices which could open the floodgates for 'grey' imports from Europe. A House of Commons cross-party trade and industry select committee began canvassing motor industry opinions on UK new car prices at the end of July, and will sit down to analyse the evidence on October 27.

MITSUBISHI has released first details of its new Space Star, due for its world debut at the Paris Motor Show at the end of September.

A HUGE tranche of public sector fleet business is up for grabs in a major tender for the supply of new cars to the Inland Revenue, Department of Social Security, and 21 Government departments and agencies. The Inland Revenue and DSS are leading the tender process on behalf of the others in a deal worth between 4,000 and 5,000 new cars over a three-year period.

THE Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders is launching a £12 million campaign to change public attitudes to the car. The SMMT is eager to promote the benefits that the car brings to society, and the progress car makers have made to reduce vehicle emissions.

THE National Health Service Transport Managers Association has set up its own car lease scheme in a deal for more than 10,000 cars. The new contract appoints nine leasing companies as nominated suppliers to NHS transport managers, significantly widening the choice available to them via the official NHS Supplies contract.

COMMERCIAL vehicle hire specialist TLS has criticised as 'an excuse to increase prices' the decision by rental companies to levy a daily surcharge to offset the new £25 vehicle registration fee. TLS has announced that it will not follow suit, joining Practical Car & Van Rental as one of the few daily rental operators not to impose the surcharge.

VAUXHALL will increase prices by an average of 1% across its range from August 31. Details were sketchy at the time of this Fleet NewsNet update, but are expected to coincide with enhanced specification on 1999 year products.

VAUXHALL has axed its four-wheel-drive flagship, the Monterey, which shares a platform with the Isuzu Trooper. A spokesman for the manufacturer said there were no plans to replace the luxury five-door off-roader, which at its peak sold 1,400 a year in Vauxhall livery.

MOTOR industry information service Equifax is promising compensation for any financial losses incurred by motor dealers and finance houses if it fails to identify a car as a grey import. Equifax has enhanced its HPI Goldcheck and Guarantee to include the new peace-of-mind feature.

DEALERSHIP group Gowrings has announced a 33% increase in operating profits to £721,000 (1997: £541,000) for its motor division, on turnover up 11% to £34.6 million (£31.2million) for the first half of the year. The group has reaped the benefits of centralising the administration and fleet operations of its three main Ford dealerships and three bodyshops, achieving better margins on both new and used car sales.