It’s a natural human impulse to start a new year by looking ahead at what it may bring. By almost any measure, 2016 was a momentous year economically and politically, and there are signs that this year might turn out to be nearly as eventful.
However, to look at many aspects of the next 12 months is to speculate wildly. Instead, I thought it would be more useful to look at some of the areas where we are much more sure there will be developments that will affect fleets.
One subject that we expect to receive quite a lot of attention is fuel costs. If oil prices rise as expected, there is a strong chance that, by December, pump prices will have increased by 20% over a two year period. This is a figure that should concentrate minds and see concerted managerial action taken.
We are also seeing increasing interest in minimising overall fleet running costs among our customer base. This should prompt increased interest in new strategies and products that have hitherto been less than fully exploited. These should include telematics and driver management – areas that we know can produce genuine savings.
However, 2017 won’t all be about nuts and bolts fleet management. It will also see the arrival of several mainstream EVs with longer, more practical ranges. We hope to see more progressive employers start to gradually redraw their choice lists to take account of this exciting change, especially if fuel prices do become widely recognised as an issue.
Finally, there are some legislative points to note, including the new VED measures, which will affect all new car purchases from April. It is worth becoming fully conversant with these as they affect many popular fleet cars, often not in ways you would expect.
