Getting SME fleets back on the road

LESSONS can be learned from Germany as SMEs get their businesses back on the road

Because lockdowns began to ease months before the UK, German SMEs are already dealing with the next economic phase and adapting to the ‘new normal’ UK fleet managers will soon face. 

Research by Vimcar, the fleet management software for small and medium-sized companies, revealed that more than half of the SMEs surveyed (55%) have introduced new hygiene regulations for their business fleets, although worryingly two-thirds (65%) of those businesses admitted that their disinfection of vehicles was not being documented.

Of the 18% that were documenting hygiene procedures, most were doing so manually with hand-written lists. These findings suggest that, whilst necessary, extra hygiene regulations will inevitably prove a cost and resource drain on UK SMEs, who are already struggling to get back on their feet. 

The latest figures from the Department for Transport reveal that light commercial vehicle traffic in the UK has returned to pre-lockdown levels, Vimcar’s survey of German SMEs provides a useful steer as to what these businesses can expect.  

As businesses adjusted to lockdown, it’s not surprising that 59% of SMEs were seeing a decrease in business trips. During lockdown, employees were using pool cars for personal trips, with 35% of German SMEs having seen this. 

Despite these challenges and with travel restrictions easing, almost two thirds (60%) are not planning to reduce the size of their fleet, and 15% are actually planning to invest in more vehicles.   

 Andreas Schneider, founder and Chief Executive of Vimcar said: “As consumers have become more reliant than ever on home deliveries and engineer visits it’s notable that German businesses aren’t planning to reduce their fleet or halt plans to order new vehicles.