DESPITE the growth in full electric and range extenders, diesel is still the dominant force in corporate fleets.

This was one of a number of facts highlighted in the latest ExpertEye Fleet Industry Review that surveys over 200 fleet operators.

This review revealed that, with a question mark over diesel powered cars in the UK, the proportion of fleets with hybrid fuel vehicles has increased from 32% to 62%, with the proportion of full electric cars on fleets also increasing from 8% to 22%, although diesel is still the most popular company fleet choice.

Nevertheless, the report suggests that diesel is on the decline, with more fleets willing to embrace petrol and AFVs onto their fleets.

Finance lease on the rise

Another interesting trend to arise from the ExpertEye Fleet Industry Review was the increasing usage of finance against contract hire.

While author Professor Colin Tourick from the University of Buckingham said in the report that contract hire remained the predominant method of vehicle finance, it was on the decline, while finance lease was on the rise.

This is what Professor Tourick had to say on the matter:

“One simple answer could be because more leasing companies have added it to their portfolios. In the past most didn’t offer it, so it wasn’t available to buy.

“Demand may be growing because of the activities of private equity companies. These businesses buy and sell companies and price them on multiples of EBITDA – earnings before tax, interest, depreciation and amortisation – rather than pre-tax profit.

“They do so for good reasons (which are beyond the scope of this report). Contract hire rentals are included within an EBITDA calculation (in other words, they reduce EBITDA), whereas finance lease rentals aren’t.”

Leasing companies missing opportunities to sell services

The ExpertEye Fleet Industry Review also indicates that there’s still plenty of opportunity for leasing companies and fleet management companies to sell their services to UK fleet managers.

According to the survey:

• 8% of respondents don’t have (and don’t plan to have) satisfactory arrangements for checking licences;
• 11% aren’t managing their duty of care properly;
• 13% aren’t getting proper reports from their leasing providers; and
• 17% aren’t getting accident data which they can analyse and on which they can make decisions.

While Tourick describes these findings as “staggering”, he goes on to say:

“There is still a lot of opportunity here for the fleet industry and no doubt we will continue to see prosecutions of employers for breaches of health and safety regulations, prosecutions that could have been avoided by introducing simple procedures to ensure compliance with the law.”

Copies of the report can be accessed from ExpertEye.