News - Page 2379

EDINBURGH Council is to consider imposing tolls on vehicles entering the city centre and levying an £800 charge on city centre company parking spaces. The proposals are part of a raft of measures designed to raise money for solutions to the city's traffic problems.

RESTRICTED supply of ex-rental cars is forcing dealers to buy discounted new vehicles to entice buyers on to their forecourts with the prospect of a tempting nearly new deal.

CONSERVATIVE think-tank proposals to tax company parking provision as a means of reducing urban pollution and congestion will not hit businesses in greenfield locations.

THE Government has committed the remaining participants in its motorway tolling trials programme to tests at the Transport Research Laboratory later this year.

PUBLIC sector fleet managers are preparing to defend their positions against private competition as the Government prepares to broaden the scope of its Private Finance Initiative.

DAN Farrar, managing director of fast-expanding GE Capital Fleet Services in the UK, is returning to the United States. Farrar has been appointed senior vice-president North American operations of GE Capital Fleet Services and will be based at the company's Minneapolis headquarters.

A NEW device has been launched to protect contract hire companies against excessive mileage use if a vehicle's speedometer has been disconnected by an unscrupulous fleet. Rochdale-based Sailes Marketing has launched Mile Guard, which costs under £100 fitted.

FLEET operators are increasingly using high technology to keep tabs on their outsourced operations according to Car Fleet Control. The fleet management software specialist is attributing strong demand for its products to company car operators using computer systems to monitor the performance of their suppliers.

CHAUFFEUR and courier company Direct Response, which operates a fleet of more than 50 cars as well as 70 vans and bikes has replaced its two-way radio system with mobile phones from One 2 One, the mobile phones arm of Mercury Communications.

A MIDLANDS-based company is launching a product it says will cut smoke emissions from diesel vehicles by at least 40%, cut fuel consumption by at least 8% and boost vehicle performance.

THE battle against vehicle theft and fraud is to receive a major boost with the market arrival of one of Europe's largest credit and business information providers. CCN Motorfile has launched its live database into a sector which was previously monopolised by HPI Equifax.

HONDA has joined the growing band to adopt on-the-road pricing, starting with all its media and advertising communications. The quoted prices will include delivery charges, road fund licence and number plates, said national corporate sales manager David Strangeway, but the invoices sent to business buyers will continue to distinguish the separate elements of the price. The price lists will be redesigned with the next round of price increases.

ZENITH Vehicle Contracts has won another major fleet management contract with a blue chip client. The Leeds-based operation has clinched the £15 million deal to manage accountancy and consultancy giant Arthur Andersen's 560-vehicle fleet over the next four years. The deal is the largest single piece of business Zenith has won since its inception seven years ago.

EMPLOYEE-sponsored personal leasing and contract purchase schemes are set to boom - but the taxman may challenge schemes such as the Whitechapel Car Scheme, according to Hertz Leasing managing director Len Clayton. He believes that as employees appear to benefit from the bulk buying arrangements of their employers, the Whitechapel arrangements are 'a form of tax evasion'.

MORE than a dozen of Britain's biggest fleets have introduced an innovative car scheme which removes employees from car scale charge tax. The scheme - effectively employer-sponsored 'personal leasing' - is the brainchild of Whitechapel Corporate Services, a subsidiary of Sedgwick Group, the international insurance brokers.

MOTABILITY Finance Limited - the privately owned funding arm of the disabled mobility charity - has again come under fire. The workings of Britain's largest fleet buyer and the secretive funding organisation behind it were the subject of an in-depth report by Channel 4's Dispatches programme.

THE Vehicle Builders and Repairers Association is warning its members against slashing labour rates to win insurance company business.

BLUE chip companies like Microsoft and Pfizer are among the front-runners in The Times-Lease Plan Company Car Driver of the Year competition. In the most recent heats - held in Maidstone and Oxford - Malcolm Cooper of Direct Line Insurance and Richard Crow of Pfizer emerged on top in Maidstone, while Microsoft's Kevin Gemmel and the Decision Group's Kevin Roberts were triumphant in Oxford.

MERCEDES-BENZ engineers have developed an intelligent cruise control to prevent drivers from getting too close to the car in front.

HYUNDAI predicts that demand for the Lantra Estate will leap by 25% thanks to the arrival of its new entry level model. The 1.6 LSi is priced at £10,999 and provides the most luggage space in the upper medium sector.

THE quest for individuality has boosted sales of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency's personalised registration numbers through the £200 million sales barrier. The DVLA has sold more than 400,000 personalised number plates since the scheme was launched in 1989 and fleets have been buying them to 'get noticed'.

RISK management specialist Town and Country is offering fleet operators two free risk analysis reports a year to help companies drive down their insurance premiums. The reports take into account all vehicle accidents and thefts above and below the excess limit and break down incident details and compare them with a database compiled from a large number of fleets.

FLEET Cost Management has won the contract to supply fuel cards to London Electricity's fleet. The capital's largest power provider chose FCM's fleet card to cash in on the savings afforded by the petrol price war currently being waged by the major retailers.

PEUGEOT dealers have launched an initiative that will raise £45,000 a year for BEN - the Motor and Allied Trades Benevolent Fund. The dealers will donate 30 pence to the charity every time they sell a new Peugeot. For an average dealer selling 400 units a year it will cost just £10 a month.

COWIE Financial Holdings, which comprises Cowie Interleasing, has signed a five-year loan facility of £200 million to be used in funding its growing contract hire, finance and leasing operations.

PEUGEOT has announced prices for the facelifted 106 range which hits UK showrooms next month. The new-look supermini is 11 cms longer than its predecessor and features an extensively reworked front end from the windscreen pillars forward (Fleet News, May 10).

RENAULT'S Megane Classic - the saloon version in the six car range - will go on sale in the UK in the first quarter of next year at the same time as the Scenic - the MPV version of the Megane. At 4.40 metres in length, the saloon is long for its class and (for non-metric types) nearly a foot longer than the hatchback version. The boot has a capacity of 18 cu ft. Engines for the Classic will be the same as the hatchback but without the lead-in 1.4 petrol model.

ROAD rage is nothing new - despite the spate of recent newspaper reports - according to driver training specialists Drive & Survive. Although recent research shows company car drivers feel more vulnerable than ever at the wheel (Fleet News May 24), Drive & Survive managing director Paul Catlin said the phenomenon has been around for years.

SUPERMARKET group Asda has shaken the petrol retailers with a promise that all its hypermarket petrol is to be sold at cost price. The company's declaration of the 'profit-free zones' was immediately attacked by the major fuel companies as a 'PR stunt' and they said that they would not be cutting prices to retaliate.

TOP GE Capital Fleet Service's sales executive Barry Monks has been rewarded for achieving 58% of his annual target in the first quarter of 1996.