News - Page 2349

VAUXHALL is mounting a campaign to discourage its employees from using their cars in a bid to cut congestion and improve air quality. The manufacturer will be enabling some employees to work from home one day a week by providing them with modern communications linking them with the office and their customers.

HOTPOINT has taken delivery of 14 Fiestas from Airflow Ford in Northampton. The Peterborough-based company has bought the cars outright and has an option to take on four more.

FAST-growing UK car rental company Alamo is to open a new hi-tech customer communication centre for the whole of Europe in Brighton next month. Employing more than 100 staff in its first year it will be fully operational by April when it will replace separate operations in West Drayton and Germany.

PHH has won a contract to manage Perpetual Investment Services' 56 vehicles. The Oxfordshire-based financial services company is outsourcing all aspects of fleet management with the exception of funding.

RENAULT has been chosen to supply more than half of Iceland Frozen Foods' management fleet. Iceland, which had a single badge agreement with Vauxhall until this month, is taking on 150 Meganes and Lagunas as part of its 272-strong fleet.

FLEET chiefs should weight their vehicle allocation policies to take account of the risk represented by the ages of their drivers, according to VELO.

VEHICLE management and leasing specialist BCH Vehicle Management has presented 15 Ford Mondeos to the charity ChildLine. The cars, which will be provided free for two years to enable the charity's fund-raising managers to travel around the country, were handed over to ChildLine chairperson Esther Rantzen by BCH managing director Richard Pepper in London.

VISITOR registrations for the 1997 Fleet Motor Show are almost 150% up on last year just two weeks after advance booking began. To date 2,367 fleet chiefs have registered to attend the show to be held at Silverstone from April 29-May 2 - compared with 992 during the same initial two-week period last year.

NATIONAL Tyres and Autocare has launched a fast-fit phone service for its customers. Initially being run on a three-month trial across the Midlands, the new service is primarily aimed at fleet customers and offers a freephone number - 0800 708070 - which drivers can call to arrange on-the-spot service or for their vehicle to be collected, fixed and returned to their home or office.

MAINTENANCE and accident management on the 250-strong fleet of financial services giant Scottish Life is to be undertaken by Fleet Cost Management.

LAND Rover is recalling almost 23,000 Discoveries after pinpointing a fault which could potentially allow the driver's door to fly open suddenly. Vehicles affected are those built between April 1995 and July 1996, some of which were found to have a fault which caused the door to 'bounce' on the door seal, resulting in incorrect or non-latching.

BMW'S new finance operations in the UK have recruited two well known fleet industry figures.

THE Vehicle Builders and Repairers Association has predicted a rise in motor insurance premiums of between 15 and 18% over the next 12 months, and has urged members to increase their labour rates accordingly. Major insurance companies, however, denied increases would be that high.

PEUGEOT'S car price rises, due to come into force on Monday (January 20), have been postponed following Vauxhall's announcement that air conditioning is now available as standard on all models in the Vectra and Omega ranges.

AIR conditioning is now available as standard on all Vauxhall Vectra and Omega models as the company aims to give fleet chiefs and company car drivers increased value for money following its new year price increase.

RYLAND Multifleet has formed a partnership with the National Federation of Builders to provide its 5,000 members with advice and special packages on contract hire.

FORD Motor Company has sold Budget Rent A Car for $350 million to its largest US franchisee Team Rental Group. The sale of the world's third largest rental company followed a series of changes in the ownership of major daily rental companies, which has seen Avis, Alamo and National Car Rentals change hands in recent months.

CAR retail giant Evans Halshaw has bought Peterborough-based accident management specialist AutoManagement for an undisclosed sum.

NATIONWIDE Crash Repair Centres is planning to double the size of its accident repair business. The company, owned by Perry Group, is aiming to increase the size of its 35 strong accident repair centre network through both acquisitions and start-up ventures.

HERTZ Leasing UK's sales and marketing director Henry Hopkins has left the company to pursue his own business venture. Hopkins, who joined Hertz Leasing in 1995 from Lex Vehicle Leasing, is continuing to work for Hertz Leasing on a consultancy basis for sometime to come but is planning to establish his own business communications company.

10 facts from the new Lex Report

MORE than 100 submissions have been made by fleet industry companies for the 11 service company awards in the 1997 Fleet News Awards. The award categories are: Best New Service Award, Best New Product Award, Customer Service Award, Training Award, Best Contract Hire Company Award, Best Fleet Management Company Award, Best Rental Company Award, Best Disposal Company Award, Best Fast-Fit Company Award, Best Breakdown and Recovery Company Award and the Quality Award.

BMW and Rover have confirmed plans to amalgamate their various leasing ventures under one umbrella organisation controlled by the German parent company. Both companies' finance operations will be subsumed within a new wholly-owned subsidiary of BMW AG.

NISSAN has announced the replacement for the Almera will be built at its plant in Sunderland, creating 800 jobs at the plant and thousands more in the supply industry. The new model will be introduced in the year 2000, meaning all three of Nissan's volume European models - the Micra, Almera and Primera - will be built in the UK.

FORD has announced that the Halewood plant on Merseyside will become the European source for a planned new vehicle - as long as government investment levels, union agreements and performance targets are all met. Although the plant will continue to produce the present model through to the year 2000, a new car - probably an MPV version of the next Escort - will be made at Halewood.

THE deadline for fleet managers to enter the 1997 Fleet Manager of the Year Awards is looming. Fleet chiefs have until January 31 to enter for the seven fleet manager awards - UK Fleet of the Year, Fleet Manager of the Year in charge of small, medium and large fleets, the Fleet Safety Award, Fleet Security Award and Fleet Environment Award.

LOMBARD Motor Finance has agreed to buy British Car Contracts, but has ruled out a complete merger with Lex Vehicle Leasing in which it already has a 50% stake. But it admits it is looking to create synergies between the UK's two largest contract hire companies when it completes the purchase in April for an undisclosed sum.

FORD is introducing a radical new sales strategy which aims to restore profitability and foster closer links between fleets and local dealers.

A NEW recruitment consultancy, dedicated to the automotive sector, has been launched by Anna Waddington, the former manager of Curtis Shaw.

MAPLE Commercial Vehicle Security has provided the security measures needed to keep West Lothian Council's new batch of fleet vehicles in safe hands. The fleet has been updated with 30 new vehicles following Scotland's local government reorganisation, which resulted in West Lothian becoming a unitary authority.