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How we run our business cars – By Adrienne Wells, director, Kidstaff

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15 February 2011

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Adrienne Wells: duty of care is important

Cars: Lexus IS 220d company car/private cars

Finance method: outright purchase/AMAPs

CARS are not really Adrienne’s thing. She chose her current car on reputation (Lexus reliability and customer satisfaction) along with the colour (red). But beyond that “it’s just a comfortable car to get me between the office and Birmingham”, she says.

However, while Adrienne might not profess to be passionate about her company cars, the company itself takes a highly professional approach to the management of the private cars operated by its staff on company business.

Adrienne’s company, Kidstaff – a teacher supply agency to the West and East Midlands – started life on Adrienne’s kitchen table back in 1995, but now has an office in Castle Bromwich, near Birmingham with a full-time staff of eight. In addition, the company has 250 nursery nurse and primary education supply teachers on its books.

“My job is to make sure all our supply staff are properly vetted. So when a school or nursery requires cover, we can supply high-quality staff,” explains Adrienne.

“One of our key offerings is that we monitor our temporary staff in the workplace, so four of us are constantly travelling the 40 minutes into Birmingham to ensure this is carried out.”

Although Adrienne as the company director has a company car, Kidstaff is a small business and like many such companies could not afford to equip the remainder of its staff with company cars. “We’d simply go bust,” explains Adrienne.

So Kidstaff uses the Approved Mileage Allowance Payments (AMAP) rate of 40p per mile to reimburse staff for business mileage in their private cars.

“We take our duty of care seriously,” explains Adrienne. “Jules Donaldson in our office looks after the administration side, checking that the cars have a valid MoT, the drivers a current licence, relevant business insurance and that the maintenance is up to date. We do this on a yearly basis.”

As for Adrienne, she has her own company-purchased Lexus. “It’s red, pretty and comfortable,” she says, explaining that her preferred method of company car acquisition for her business is outright purchase.

“I’m old-fashioned like that,” Adrienne admits. “I buy things if I can; otherwise I wait until I can afford it.”

About Kidstaff

Kidstaff is a supply agency for schools and nurseries in the West and East Midlands since 1995. It is noted for its service, quality and security. For more on Kidstaff visit: www.kidstaff.co.uk.

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Ralph Morton

Ralph Morton

Ralph Morton is an award-winning journalist and the founder of Business Car Manager (now renamed Business Motoring). Ralph writes extensively about the car and van leasing industry as well as wider fleet and company car issues. A former editor of What Car?, Ralph is a vastly experienced writer and editor and has been writing about the automotive sector for over 35 years.

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