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Cost overtakes duty of care in fleet minds
Date: 18 February 2009
Fuel prices and economic considerations have pushed corporate manslaughter and health and safety out of fleet managers' minds, according to research.
GE Capital Solutions Fleet Services' quarterly Company Car Trends report showed that 99.3% of fleet decision makers now rate fuel prices as a key influence, 11.7% more than twelve months ago.
In contrast, only 69.1% of managers rated corporate manslaughter legislation as being of paramount importance, 21.2% down on last year.
The other two most important factors were general economic conditions, mentioned by 98.8% respondents - 12.2% more than last year - and a decline in business, affecting an extra 10.9% at 97.1%.
"These statistics show the impact of the recession on fleet thinking," said GE's commercial leader Gary Killen. "For the time being, this change has pushed green and safety issues to one side, but what we believe is already becoming apparent to fleet decision makers is that all these issues go hand-in-hand."
The role of the company car remains of high priority, though, with 95.5% of respondents labelling it "important" to job-need company car drivers.
