An increasing number of businesses want to offer a broader mix of vehicle solutions to their entire employee base, including those not entitled to a company car, according to Arval.
The vehicle leasing company believes that a range of products, including personal lease and salary exchange (salary sacrifice), could effectively meet this demand.
Richard Cox, fleet consultant at Arval, said: “Many businesses are looking for ways to improve their benefits offering to employees but at zero or little cost. Extending vehicle provision is an excellent solution to this need, especially as a wider range of product offerings are becoming available right across the market. It is now possible to provide a car solution for just about any corporate setting.â€
He added that this approach was also changing the mix of stakeholders getting involved in the fleet conversation.
“HR departments are becoming much more engaged so that they can better understand which products we can offer their employees and the value we can add.”
Offering modern vehicles to employees has spin-off benefits, including a reduction in the managerial difficulties surrounding grey fleet usage and improved environmental performance, according to Cox.
“In offering new, or nearly new, vehicles alongside maintenance and insurance packages, employers can mitigate some of the duty of care issues that are inherent in grey fleet.
“Of course, putting employees into newer cars will almost always also create environmental benefits, with lower polluting cars and potentially wider adoption of hybrids and EVs (electric vehicles). This is a definite win from a CSR point of view.â€
Cox suggested this could become one of the fleet industry’s main drivers of growth in the 12 months ahead.
“Certainly, we are seeing much higher levels of interest from many different kinds of businesses and it could well develop into a key fleet trend in 2019.â€
