Job of fleet executives 'harder than ever'

The job of fleet decision-makers has never been harder and leasing companies are having to adapt to meet new demands, members of the Fleet200 Executive Club heard.

Speaking at the club’s June meeting, held alongside Company Car in Action, at Millbrook, Bedfordshire, Tom Brewer, head of fleet sales and marketing at Volkswagen Financial Services said the industry was currently experiencing a “incredibly challenging environment” and a “spaghetti bowl of complexity.”

He told the seminar: “Remember when tax policy, Brexit, WLTP, Cazs and electrification was all we had to worry about? That was in the heady days of 2019. Things have taken a real turn and none of us could have known what would come next.

“In my opinion, your job as fleet decision makers has never been harder. Our job as leasing companies has changed beyond all recognition.”

Brewer said he was pleased that we were getting back to some sort of normality post Covid-19, but said many changes caused by the pandemic are here to stay.

Customers are seeking out better digital offerings as that’s what they’ve been used to in their private lives during the past year, he added.

 “There is a rapid acceleration of digital – what we expect in our personal lives as consumers, such as buying things at the touch of a button and online shopping arriving on our doorsteps the next day. “We‘ve got every right to expect that in our business lives, people want the same digital experience.”