How to save money on company car costs
There’s a useful article on ways to save money on running company cars by Emily Swift over on the Peninsula.co.uk blog
The area of company cars and to what extent employees are responsible for their running and maintenance costs on company cars often confuses employers.
Our key takeaways for you:
A few simple changes to the way in which staff and employers view their driving behaviour could impact dramatically on cost cutting.
Tips to help save money on fleet management
It’s important to encourage all your company drivers to be as economical and efficient as possible with their fuel. By ensuring the wheel alignment of their car is correct, and by checking the air pressure in the tyre, you will ensure the engine is able to run more efficiently and use less fuel. Wheel misalignment alone could lead to a loss of 10% fuel efficiency – interesting statistic, don’t you think?
Check with your employees that their vehicle’s fuel cap is not broken or missing – this will also improve fuel efficiency.
Their speed and driving style on the road also has a dramatic impact upon fuel consumption and the vehicle running costs. By encouraging your staff to avoid unnecessary brake pedal use, jerks and stopping by predicting what’s coming up on the roads in front of them, you could reduce your overall company car fuel bill. If it’s possible to keep the weight carried by their vehicles to a minimum, then that will help as well. Perhaps you can look at running a company car drivers course covering ways in which your employees can make a difference – obviously there’s a green aspect to all of this as well, and as a company, you can look at ways to reduce your carbon footprint through your company vehicle fleet.
Other solutions that are suggested include; switching off the car’s engine if stood stationary for periods longer than 30 seconds and reducing the use of air-con in place of open windows as a far cheaper and more economical alternative, although recent articles I’ve read have suggested that open windows are less fuel efficient – more drag! Take your pick on that one…
What do you think? Could you see a way to get your employees on board and motivated to help you make these savings? What other tips can offer? Leave your ideas in the comments below.
