New Europcar research of employees who drive for work has found that 84.5% use their own vehicle, not a company, pool or rental car for business travel. Certainly this high level of grey fleet usage reduces the financial burden of owning a fleet. However, it can make it harder to meet duty of care requirements, vehicle checks and compliance. It also makes it more difficult to meet emissions targets as grey fleet vehicles are typically older and therefore less fuel efficient.

With vehicles on UK roads now an average of more than nine years old, this reliance on grey fleet gives fleet and travel managers several areas of concern.

Safety first

First and foremost, of course, is the issue of safety. Research amongst employers found that only 40% claimed to do mandatory vehicle checks on employees’ own vehicles and just 39% required proof of MOT or servicing. The challenge, however, arises because, according to the Europcar research, a large proportion of business journeys are for short distances. Nearly half (45%) of drivers said they are using their vehicle for business travel for between 2 and 8 hours per week. Providing company vehicles for this type of usage is arguably uneconomical and unsustainable. Providing access to rental vehicles makes more sense.

Going green

The other issue is the age of grey fleet vehicles. As businesses face increasing pressure to reduce their emissions, the unknown emissions of a grey fleet presents an increasing challenge. In particular, employers could find the savings they believe they are making through grey fleet usage is a false economy. As the number of clean air (CAZ) and ultra low emissions zones (ULEZ) around UK cities grows, managing toll payments and fines when they aren’t paid for non-compliant vehicles, is both an administrative and financial burden that fleets could do without.

The Rental Solution

Providing employees with access to rental vehicles – by the day, week, month or even year – not only provides more certainty over vehicle safety and condition. It also means emissions can be reduced by using modern rental vehicles, as well as accessing the latest electric models. And it can all be achieved without having to make any long-term financial commitments to vehicles that may not be required in the future.

Download the Europcar Grey Fleet report here