News - Page 2320

DAIHATSU has launched a London-based sales team, City Daihatsu. It has no dealership, nor showroom, but deals direct with customers in their own homes or offices. City Daihatsu, which operates within the M25, will handle retail customers and business users with fleets of up to around 15 vehicles.

PROPERTY and house building company Swan Hill has become the latest company to opt to lease its fleet. The Esher-based company has signed a sole supply contract with Hertz Leasing for its 70-strong user-chooser fleet which encompasses vehicles from Mercedes-Benz and BMW as well as Ford Mondeos, Vauxhall Vectras and Renault Lagunas on a three-year replacement cycle.

FUEL prices have risen by an average of 2p a litre/9.1p a gallon since the Budget - and not by the Budget increase of 4p a litre/18.2p a gallon. The latest PHH AllStar monthly fuel report from PHH Vehicle Management Services says fuel prices are expected to rise further.

TRANSPORT Development Group has blamed a £700,000 drop in pre-tax profits to £15 million for the first half of this year on 'disappointing' performance by its hire division, including TDG Vehicle Rental. However, operating profit was up at £14.5m, against £14.3m, helped by good growth in the company's logistics division. Turnover was down from £255.6m from £254.8m. Operating profits for the hire division, made up of TDG Vehicle Rental and plant hire business Cox, dropped to £1m, from £2.8m in 1996.

KONICA Business Machines (UK) is to replace its 400-strong mixed-badge fleet with Vauxhalls. Konica group facilities manager Keith Smith said the company would continue to use existing contract hire suppliers Masterdrive Leasing & Rental and Lex Vehicle Leasing, choosing between the two according to which offered the best deals at any one time.

ROBINS & DAY Leasing has joined forces with driver training specialists NDI and Eagle Star to offer a unique one-stop insurance package for small fleets. In an industry-leading initiative, the three-way partnership will offer fixed price insurance cover over three years to fleets which agree to undertake an NDI driver training package and fit Thatcham-approved immobilisers to their vehicles.

INTENSE negotiations between dismissed Cowie director Neil Pykett and his former employer led to a last minute settlement just moments before his case for unfair dismissal was due to go before an industrial tribunal. The agreement reached between the two parties is full and final and lays the case to rest after a bitter six-month battle.

A REPAIR industry IT standard for video imaging has moved a step forward with an agreement between motor insurer ITT London & Edinburgh, BodyMaster and Audatex. This could signal the end of repairers having to buy more than one imaging system.

ACCIDENT management specialist AutoManagement has added a driver training service to its product portfolio. The Peterborough-based company aims to bridge the gap between accident management and prevention, and is currently conducting trials with two driver training organisations before it nominates a preferred supplier.

RESIDUAL values of top-of-the-range 4x4s are struggling to match their previous good performance, according to CAP and Glass's. Fashionable 4x4s went through a period of value adjustment some time ago, heralding predictions of a residual value crash. Now it appears to be the turn of the more upmarket models.

GAS-guzzlers will retain their values and popularity with senior executives despite the prospect of price increases hitting their secondhand values. With fuel prices predicted to be as much as 25% higher in three years' time, the leading price guides are divided over future residual values of thirsty executive vehicles and 4x4s.

TRANSCOLD Refrigeration has secured a cool deal for 54 refrigerated box bodies for quality meat distributor Fairfax Meadow. Work is already beginning on the conversions at TCR's Poole headquarters and the contract is worth over £600,000.

COMPANY drivers should not automatically accept the blame for road traffic accidents, but submit contested claims to professional accident investigation.

FIAT has launched a quieter and cleaner version of the Punto van with a light pressure 'soft' turbodiesel. Designed to meet new EU noise and exhaust emissions regulations, the TD60 van features exhaust gas recirculation and an oxidising catalyst.

BRITISH Car Auctions has introduced new sales schedules at its Birmingham and Newcastle centres. At Birmingham, Monday and Thursday car sales will start earlier, at 10.30am, with fleet, finance and contract hire vehicles followed by dealer, distributor/part exchange cars being offered at about 1pm.

MERSEY Regional Ambulance Service has taken on 17 new Fiat Ducatos for the Mersey Ambulance Patient Transport Service. The Patient Transfer Service makes up to 3,500 patient journeys to 260 treatment centres in the Cheshire and Merseyside areas each day and employs 300 staff.

THE most common form of damage to company cars occurs when they are parked, and not while they are on the road. An analysis of incident claims handled by Lease Plan on its 35,000 strong accident management fleet, reveals that 'hit while parked' topped the cause-of-damage league table, responsible for 2,114 incidents in the year to March 31, 1997, and averaging 176 cases per month.

BONDS Worldwide Express is adding 30 Berlingos to its 100-strong fleet of vans, luxury cars, people carriers and motorbikes. The company, which provides courier services and chauffeur-driven passenger trips, already operates around 60 Citroen C15 Champs and Relay 1000s.

ENGINEERING company Tickford has unveiled a new research and development vehicle to spearhead an awareness drive on the benefits of alternative fuels for vehicle manufacturers and fleet operators. The modified Ford Transit long wheelbase panel van has been equipped to run in various forms including: bi-fuel operation on petrol or compressed natural gas (CNG), mono-fuel dedicated operation on CNG and bi-fuel operation on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

THE Energy Saving Trust's Powershift programme started its second phase in earnest last week, when grants were awarded to help fleets fund 318 alternatively fuelled vehicles. Powershift's first phase involved placing alternatively fuelled vehicles for trials with fleets, such as the Coventry Electric Vehicle Project.

AMERICAN stolen vehicle recovery system LoJack - known as Tracker in the UK - causes a reduction of one vehicle theft for every three Tracker devices installed and there are signs of the same effect in the UK, according to a new report. The study by Harvard and Yale Universities looked at the effect of LoJack on vehicle theft and professor Steve Levitt, of Harvard University, said: 'My preliminary analysis of figures taken during the first three-and-a-half-years of Tracker operation in the UK appears to mirror that which we have found in America.'

LDV has launched a pair of new additions to the Pilot range in the shape of the Pick-up and Dropside. Like the rest of the LDV range, special adaptations are carried out in-house at the LDV factory.

HONDA has increased prices by an average 0.6% in its second price realignment of the year. Honda has also increased its delivery charges by £25 to £475 to 'bring it into line with other manufacturers', affecting the on-the-road price of all vehicles.

WORLDWIDE sports management and marketing organisation, the International Management Group, has taken delivery of additional Mercedes-Benz V6 saloons and estates. The move takes the number of cars funded through Mercedes-Benz Finance Fleet Sales on its 120-strong fleet to more than 50%.

NEW calls to axe the 18,000 business miles company car tax threshold, slash fuel consumption by 25% by 2005, abolish vehicle excise duty, encourage employers to provide changing rooms and secure parking facilities for cyclists and to pay cycle mileage allowances are contained in a wide-ranging mobility report from the RAC. 'Policies for Personal Mobility' sets out the RAC's mobility agenda and examines how various forms of transport - car, bus and train use, cycling, motorcycling and walking - can be integrated to meet the Government's aims of reducing car dependency and at the same time give travellers more real choice and stop the stagnation of the UK's transport system.

HIGHWAY Vehicle Leasing has taken over operational responsibility for the 4,000-strong White Arrow external contract hire fleet. The move, according to Highway Vehicle Leasing managing director Colin McLean will significantly improve customer support and provide the added benefits of on-line technology.

GLOBAL production over-capacity will ensure that the nearly new car market is here to stay and the rapid growth witnessed over the last five years is likely to be sustained. According to a comprehensive new report from MarketLine International, the European market in 'newsed' cars is booming as private buyers latch on to the benefits of letting someone else take the initial depreciation hit.

PROTON is gearing up for an attack on the UK fleet market following the appointment of Dominic Spence as corporate sales manager. This year Proton expects to sell around 14,000 cars in the UK with around 30% going to fleets - mainly daily rental companies. Spence claims an increasing number of fleets are opting for Proton vehicles and expects Proton sales and fleet share to increase in the future.

THE British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association has launched a campaign to cut the time it takes for police to catch criminals who use lease or rental vehicles. Currently, it can take up to a week to trace the driver of a leased or rented vehicle via its number plate, but under new proposals, that period could be slashed to just 24 hours.

CATALYTIC converters may not be as effective at reducing emissions as was at first hoped, according to the Vehicle Inspectorate. The agency's annual report says that during the last year catalyst-equipped cars failed the MoT emissions test at a rate of 4.5% - a figure which it expects to rise as such vehicles get older.