How to make car-sharing work

For car sharing to work the vehicles need to be kept in close proximity and at a location with a high headcount. It is important to adopt an online booking and management system to be able to manage the process efficiently. You need the technology and tools to efficiently capture usage and book-out vehicles. These systems should also log late returns and provide the opportunity to reprimand for continuous late returns that impact on the cost of the service to that individual. When a car-sharing scheme allows you to access a vehicle whenever you need it, then it is likely that the pool is too big. On occasion where there are no car-share vehicles available then a rental company can be relied upon to fill the gap, which should ultimately cost less than providing another under-utilised vehicle.

In order to understand your fleet’s true car-sharing opportunities you can look at vehicle utilisation rate and where there is low utilisation compared to your target then sharing this vehicle with another employee could improve overall utilisation and save costs. Specialist vehicles can often be shared across departments rather than remaining under-utilised. It is important to remember however that a vehicle not being on the road all of the time does not necessarily mean it is under-utilised as the shear nature of business vehicles will mean they are often parked at an office of site during a meeting but still being used.

Make a profit from car-sharing

With the emergence of more car-sharing services being available some companies are even looking into the possibility of offering their car-sharing pool at reasonable prices for personal use to employees in order to turn their fleet into a profit generating solution. If managed well this solution could completely turn the management of a fleet on its head by going from being a cost centre to potential profit generator. This option could be seen as a huge benefit to employees who will potentially have access to new, high quality vehicles even when they would otherwise not have been eligible for an employee-owned company car.

Ultimately with the current focus on reducing traffic congestion and the environmental impact of too many vehicles on the road, car-sharing schemes for fleets are set to rise.

Written by Mark McKenna

Mark is a commercial insurance specialist. Starting work in the insurance profession in 1985 he has over 30 years’ experience in all areas of commercial insurance. As National Sales Manager for Bluedrop Services. Mark currently specialises in Motor Fleet Insurance and offers advice and support to customers in this area.