Mobility’s OK but hands off my company wheels!
Commercially owned fleet car drivers in the UK reveal a major stumbling block to diversified corporate mobility solutions by refusing to give up their company cars, reports Paul Myles.
Research reveals that while nearly half of businesses say that they are interested in trying corporate mobility solutions, just 2% would consider giving up their company motors.
A study by, Arval UK a vehicle funding and fleet management specialist, showed that 98% of those business managers surveyed would not give up their company cars for a car-sharing scheme, whether for when a vehicle is used by more than one person or for ride-sharing, when more than one person makes the same journey.
The findings from the 2018 edition of Arval’s Corporate Vehicle Observatory Barometer covering 3,718 fleet decision makers, did find that 48% of fleets said they would consider using car and ride-sharing in the next three years – the highest percentage across a dozen European countries included in the survey.
Shaun Sadlier, head of Arval’s Corporate Vehicle Observatory in the UK, said: “There has been quite a lot of talk in the media and elsewhere about the rise of mobility solutions. We support this discussion – we have recently introduced a range of mobility products ourselves and believe that they will come to play a larger role in business travel.
“However, the fact is that the company car has been the number one business travel solution in the UK for approaching 50 years now for a long list of very good reasons. It remains the most efficient, cost effective and popular way for most employees to undertake the journeys they need to make. This is especially true when you look at the real-world routes that company car drivers take, which often include multiple stops or travel to places where there is simply no practical public transport alternative. Plus, with the attention that is given to controlling the emissions of company cars, there is an argument that they are also among the more environmentally friendly solutions available.”
Sadlier said that there was evidence in the research that interest in mobility solutions was highest among larger organizations. For example, 7% of businesses with more than 250 employees were interested in ride-sharing and 5% in car-sharing.
“This makes sense. Ideas such as car and ride sharing are much more practical, in almost all cases, if you have more employees. A greater number of people opens up options in terms of sharing both journeys or vehicles to generate cost and environmental efficiencies.”
