News - Page 2340

A RECORD-breaking performance by Fleet Cost Management and the elimination of loss-making fleet deals by dealers helped Evans Halshaw to report an £11.1 million profit before tax and exceptional items for the year to December 31, 1996.

THE fleet industry has little to fear from whichever one of the two major political Parties wins the May 1 general election, according to the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association and the Association of Car Fleet Operators.

EUROPE'S largest fleet accident management company has been created by a joint venture between VELO Insurance Services and Aon Risk Services. The company, called VELO Motor Accident Management, will manage more than 110,000 fleet cars, vans and heavy commercials from its May 1 launch, and is expected to handle between 150 and 200 new claims per day. VELO and Aon will each own half of the company, which will operate from VELO's head office in Marlow.

DISMISSED Cowie Interleasing managing director Neil Pykett is to fight to clear his name and wants his job back. Pykett insists he has nothing wrong, following claims from the Cowie Group that he had lost interest and motivation in his job after being told he would not automatically become group chief executive, in succession to Gordon Hodgson.

MERCEDES-Benz will not be joking when it introduces the ultimate car warranty plan. Bosses at the German company were deadly serious at the Geneva Show when they revealed a standard package which will allow owners to set a remarkable free service in action each time they run out of petrol.

LEASE Plan has secured a £2.5 million sale and lease-back deal with mailing machines and paper handling equipment manufacturer Pitney Bowes. Harlow-based Pitney Bowes has sold more than 300 vehicles to Lease Plan as part of the contract, which is set to expand over the next 12 months to include supplying replacement and additional new cars. The contract may also be extended across Europe.

CAR crime in England and Wales dropped last year as the combined effects of manufacturers improving vehicle security, retro-security devices being fitted and greater awareness in how to combat vehicle theft took hold.

SUCCESS in used car sales and crash repair activities helped Perry Group's operating profit rise from £8.1 million in 1995 to £10.3 million in 1996, according to chairman and chief executive Richard Allan. The company's preliminary results for 1996, published on Thursday, show that the group's turnover increased by 10% to £456 million and pre-tax profit rose by 26% to £8.3 million.

VEHICLE valuation specialist CAP has signed a contract with computer estimating company Audatex which will make CAP valuations available to more than 1,200 users of the AudaNet electronic communications network.

BMW has streamlined the leadership of Rover with the appointment of Dr Walter Hasselkus as company chairman.

THE AA and CCN Group have launched a new service enabling buyers of used cars to check whether they are unrecovered stolen vehicles, have previously been written off or are owned by a finance company.

WILSONS Rover in Whitley Bay has clinched a deal worth more than £1 million to supply Rovers to Newcastle Computer Services for three years.

BSG International is to sell its 26-strong Bristol Street dealership group and Jessups Vehicle Contracts in a £72 million deal expected to receive shareholder approval at an extraordinary annual meeting next Friday (April 4).

CARS Direct and Woodchester Credit Lyonnais have launched a monthly programme of finance company repossession sales. The first of the sales saw over 100% of CAP clean achieved on all the 55 vehicles and Cars Direct says it aims to realise the same sales returns for repossessed cars as it does for former fleet vehicles.

VISITORS and exhibitors to Fleet Motor Show - which takes place at Silverstone from April 29-May 2 - will be kept up to date with the general election result.

LABOUR leader Tony Blair has renewed the Party's attack on company cars in the National Health Service. In recent years the amount of cash spent on NHS vehicles has been regularly blasted by the Labour Party and the row resurfaced at the penultimate Prime Minister's question time.

THE UK leasing industry is cutting its own throat by writing cut-price contracts destined to end unprofitably unless there is a major increase in residual values in the year 2000.

FLEETS which maintain their cars according to specifications have little to fear from the air quality objectives. Technological developments and better car maintenance can help achieve standards outlined in 'The United Kingdom National Air Quality Strategy', says the AA.

GOVERNMENT is pressing fleets to cut vehicle emissions. Business generates pollution through company cars, commuting, urban delivery fleets and long distance haulage trips, says the Department of Environment's new report 'The United Kingdom National Air Quality Strategy'. It calls for savings by route planning, mobile communications and load-sharing with other firms.

COMET Group's top 40 drivers have contested the sixth annual company Driver of the Year awards. Company car drivers on the 1,300-strong fleet joined van-driving colleagues for the first time.

TWO new companies will exhibit at the Fleet Motor Show this year, bringing the total stands to 132. Unicom, specialists in software for the daily rental industry and AAA Insurance Services will exhibit beside car manufacturers and service companies.

VAUXHALL'S new 2.5 litre diesel Arena van is on sale in the UK at £13,820 on the road for the long wheelbase standard roof model and £14,645 for the high-roof.

LAND Rover's new Freelander - the small off-roader - is due to go on sale early next year. Priced between £15,000 and £20,000, the Freelander will compete with such vehicles as the Toyota Rav 4. Petrol and diesel models sell in three and five-door versions.

ROVER has lost to Ford the contract, worth up to £24 million, to supply cars to Severn Trent Water's 1,700-strong fleet for the next three years.

VOLKSWAGEN has combined with New Driving Initiatives to provide fleet driver training at reduced prices.

LLOYDS Bank-TSB subsidiaries Lloyds Bowmaker and United Dominions Trust have merged their motor finance and leasing businesses including Black Horse Vehicle Contracts and First Service Management.

DAEWOO has defended its used car marketing programme after new speculation about resale values. Weeks after predictions that Daewoo residuals would go into freefall, Glass's Guide has marked its prices down by up to 10%.

PEUGEOT has won its largest van order worth £10 million to supply 1,000 106 vans to AccuRead, a new company set up to read household utility meters.

ROVER has slashed prices of selected 200 and 400 models by up to £1,300 to boost struggling sales. This week Rover unveiled two cut-price entry models and eight 'S'-badged models with alloy wheels undercutting current 200 and 400 prices. This follows criticism from fleets that the 400 Series was too expensive and that the 200 was expensive against the competition.

COMPULSORY driver training for Britain's three million company car drivers could save millions of pounds. In the M42 pile-ups involving 90 vehicles in which three died and 62 were injured police said motorists were driving too fast in fog, too close to the car in front and not concentrating.