Mike Waters' blog: 6 February 2012 - Information is power

Date: 06 February 2012

Mike Waters is senior insight & consultancy manager at Arval, the leading vehicle leasing and fleet management company.

We shouldn't expect this flow of information to diminish in the near future. When it comes to measures - like cost, performance, environmental impact and safety - manufacturers and suppliers are being leant on further to not only share relevant information but also to make sure that it is uniform and easy to understand.

A great example is the introduction of a new EU tyre-labelling system that comes into force in November this year. Under the new regulations, all tyres sold have to carry eco labels similar to those for domestic appliances such as washing machines and fridges.

The labels will highlight three key areas of performance: fuel efficiency, on-road noise levels and wet braking. The regulations also state that before buying any new tyre the customer must be informed of the tyre's scores or shown the label.

I suppose more information can bring with it a set of challenges. For example, how will a variation in rating be reflected in the price? Will the price rise because a tyre has a good eco rating, in the same way that some vehicles have higher list prices today because they are eco models?

There are also still questions around relative performance. For example, if you select the best tyre for wet grip, will you have to accept a reduction in rolling resistance performance, or will some tyres achieve the highest rating across all categories?

So with a raft of information, the key is to understand which factors are most important to you and then make sense of it all.

Irrespective of whether you use it all or not, having this information has to be better than making a decision without the facts. And we now have the comfort of knowing that any tyre not able to achieve a rating will not be on sale.

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