{"id":2241,"date":"2018-05-06T18:46:14","date_gmt":"2018-05-06T16:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/en.advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/?p=2241"},"modified":"2018-05-06T18:46:14","modified_gmt":"2018-05-06T16:46:14","slug":"2241","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/advancedfleetmanagementconsulting.com\/eng\/2018\/05\/06\/2241\/","title":{"rendered":"6 steps to successful grey fleet management"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Andrew Ryan looks at how an organisation might set about developing successful approaches to grey fleet management in six simple steps.<\/p>\n

Allowing employees to drive their private cars on business can have consequences for an organisation.<\/p>\n

The British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA) Getting to Grips With Grey Fleet report found that employees travel 12 billion miles a year in 14 million grey fleet vehicles, costing employers around \u00a35.5 billion.<\/p>\n

It also has duty of care implications, as the vehicles used by grey fleet drivers are often not as new or well maintained as company vehicles.<\/p>\n

\u201cOrganisations should take a proactive approach to road safety for moral, financial, environmental and legal reasons, but many employers apply less stringent regulations to grey fleet vehicles, failing to manage the safety of these vehicles or the safety standards of their drivers,\u201d says road safety charity Brake, which has produced a Managing the Grey Fleet guide.<\/p>\n

However, costs and risks can be controlled and reduced by implementing a grey fleet policy, covering drivers and vehicles, as well as providing staff with alternatives for business travel.<\/p>\n

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The first step towards developing a grey fleet policy should be to establish how and why employees use their own cars for business.<\/p>\n

Sometimes it may simply be for convenience, or it could be that the employee doesn\u2019t know any better, says Chris Endacott, owner of sustainable travel consultancy Gfleet.<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting quality data is a critical first step. You are not going to be able to control the grey fleet until you understand what the journeys are, so you cannot then put alternatives in place,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cRobust data gathering is vital and one of the key steps towards confirming grey fleet mileage is to have a mileage claims system that records every trip.\u201d<\/p>\n

Journey patterns and mileage can also be collected automatically by using telematics or a mobile phone app.<\/p>\n

\u201cOften when we do a grey fleet analysis, the kind of reports we see are \u2018Joe Bloggs, April-May, 237 miles\u2019,\u201d says Endacott.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are left thinking \u2018was that a very long single trip, or 10 trips of 20 miles, or 100 trips of two miles?\u2019. You have no idea.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no information there that enables you to ask \u2018what are you making these trips for?\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Once the type and length of journeys have been determined, an organisation can then put in place appropriate alternative measures, such as pool cars, car clubs or daily rental vehicles.<\/p>\n

Brake recommends that employees should avoid unnecessary travel and, instead, transfer essential travel to more sustainable modes of transport other than driving, such as public transport, walking or cycling.<\/p>\n

\u201cManagers should consider applications to work at home, and encourage use of video- or audio-conferencing, telephone or email instead of travelling for meetings,\u201d it adds.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll travel should be approved in advance by the appropriate manager, who will check whether travel by grey fleet is the best option or not.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important that staff are made aware of alternative transport schemes such as cycle-to-work initiatives and car clubs, and can access them wherever possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust launched a travel bureau in 2012 which is essentially \u201ca one-stop shop for staff and managers to review their travel\u201d, says Jim Thomas, head of logistics at the organisation.<\/p>\n

Employees are able to contact the bureau by phone or email, where they will be given access to a range of initiatives, such as a pool car fleet of 28 low-emission vehicles spread throughout the organisation\u2019s 65 sites, information on and booking of public transport and route planning.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s working really well for us,\u201d says Thomas.<\/p>\n

The initiative has helped the trust reduce its grey fleet mileage from six million miles to around 4.2m \u2013 a fall of 30%.<\/p>\n

Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust (NCH&C) operates a travel hierarchy which is based on travel requirements and puts grey fleet as a last resort while promoting pool bikes, pool\/hire cars and public transport.<\/p>\n

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Employee-owned vehicles are often much older than company cars, which means they may lack modern safety equipment as well as being less fuel efficient. The BVRLA found that the average age of a grey fleet vehicle is 8.2 years.<\/p>\n

However, for those occasions when a grey fleet vehicle has to be utilised, a robust policy should clearly set out what can be used.<\/p>\n

\u201cA grey fleet policy should outline the minimum vehicle standards that employee-owned cars must meet for the following: minimum Euro NCAP safety ratings, vehicle age, emission levels, required safety features and essential breakdown cover,\u201d says Brake.<\/p>\n

Freedom Group, for example, has set a five-year age limit on its cash allowance cars, compared to the four-year cycle employed on company cars.<\/p>\n

The additional year helps employees offset extra costs such as insurance, says head of group fleet Paul Brown.<\/p>\n

The policy should also state that the employee is responsible for ensuring their vehicle complies with laws on roadworthiness, is being serviced in line with manufacturer guidelines and has the appropriate level of insurance and breakdown assistance cover, and that the employer will require paperwork to prove this, says Brake.<\/p>\n

It can also outline the need for drivers to check fuel, lights, oil, rust, water, electrics, indicators, windscreen (including wipers), mirrors and tyres at the start of each journey.<\/p>\n

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Drivers should receive the same scrutiny as employees with company-owned vehicles, says Brake.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach driver should provide evidence of a valid and clean driving licence, as well as details of insurance and breakdown assistance cover,\u201d it adds.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach driver should be properly inducted into the fleet safety policies and practices of the organisation, and their risk level assessed and managed.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir incident record should be stored alongside information about the vehicle they drive, so that trends can be spotted and rectified as they occur.<\/p>\n

\u201cEmployers should remember that anything they do for staff using company-owned or leased vehicles must be done for grey fleet drivers, for example, practical driving tests, eyesight tests, vehicle check walk-throughs and an explanation of how to report vehicle defects and crash procedures.\u201d<\/p>\n

Documents should be checked regularly, with the frequency tailored to an individual\u2019s circumstances.<\/p>\n

For example, Speedy Services carries out driver licence checks on a weekly, monthly, three-monthly or six-monthly basis dependent on the number of points they have and their risk profile.<\/p>\n

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Once the grey fleet policy has been formulated, Brake recommends it should be communicated to employees at all levels.<\/p>\n

NCH&C, in partnership with its fleet management partner GMP Drivercare, holds regular \u2018Travelling in the Right Direction\u2019 roadshows to inform staff of existing practices and promote new facilities and technologies which help reduce and manage risk, cost, carbon and the incorrect application of the expenses policy.<\/p>\n

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Speedy Services stores all grey fleet driver and vehicle documents on its fleet management software system, which allows it to easily identify employees whose documents are out of date or are about to expire.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore this we used an Excel document, split between transport and HR, so it was never really fully up to date and you couldn\u2019t edit it if someone else was in it,\u201d says Mark Woodworth, head of transport and logistics at Speedy Services.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an admin nightmare so to move to a system that everyone can view or edit at the same time was brilliant.\u201d<\/p>\n

The software system prompts the driver and transport team if documents are about to expire.<\/p>\n

\u201cHR then tries to contact them through their line manager and if we still don\u2019t get the documents, we cancel their cash allowance, although we haven\u2019t had to cancel any yet,\u201d says Woodworth.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are a very safe business and we pride ourselves on that, so we need to go out there and be safe.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can\u2019t be safe, then our employees can\u2019t have the benefit of the cash allowance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some organisations are set up so the fleet team is responsible for triggering mileage expenses authorisation. This means that they can withhold payment until all relevant documents are up to date<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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