Kia cars has appointed Andrew Sellars at its head of fleet and remarketing.
Sellars replaces Bob Austin who has left Kia.
Sellars’ key role will be to make the company a bigger player in the business car market, he will also manage the brands residuals.
Sellars has worked for Kia since 2003 as a regional business manager and was then area manager for the North of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Kia Sales Director Yaser Shabsogh said: “Andrew is the perfect individual for this role because he has such extensive experience of our dealer network. He has been with the Kia brand throughout the last five years and so has seen how our growth has been built on dramatically improving product quality and a closely focused retail strategy that is delivering sustainable and profitable growth for both the dealer network and the brand nationally.”
Simon McBride

Software giant Chevin Fleet Solutions has launched a new system designed to make managing your fleet of vehicles even easier. The software should help your fleet avoid parking ticket escalation charges.
It is a common occurrence for some employees to pick up several of these parking tickets a week. Now the fleet manager can stamp this out by introducing this new kit.
The new system is called PCNPAL and is designed with delivery drivers especially in mind, as they are more likely to get ticketed when dropping off and picking up goods.
The product is available as a stand-alone system or as a add-on for existing companies that already use Chevin Fleet Solutions.
According to the maker, PCNPAL will reduce administration and manage the procedure including appeal tracking, case numbers and hearing dates. It will also record the driver payment details and keeps an accurate record of the penalty codes to challenge validation criteria where appropriate.
A spokesman from Chevin said “Fleets are wasting large amounts of money by not paying tickets on time and being hit by the escalation charge, which normally doubles the cost of the offence.”
Simon McBride

 Who is to blame for a fall in retail value of used small executives? Well, if you listen to the price experts at CAP its fleet managers that should shoulder their share of responsibility.

CAP is one of the leading providers of residual values data in the UK and has examined the fall in value of certain models in what is widely considered an especially tough marketplace. The BMW 3-Series in particular has seen its price slump by around four-five per cent from the CAP target price last month. By contrast, the market has fallen by 2.6 per cent.

This fall has been attributed to the large number of low-spec vehicles which are entering auctions. CAP argues that fleet managers should be doing more to prevent users from picking up the lowest rung of cars.

Robert Hester, Black Book valuations relationship manager at CAP, commented: “Fleet managers need to be very careful about specs. That’s particularly true with the 3-series: the ES is not too bad in itself, but put it out in a non-metallic you’re going to suffer at the back end.”

He continued: “Typically what happens is that on somebody’s company car list, the choice is between a reasonable-spec Mondeo or Passat, or a basic model 3-series or A4. They’re always going to go for the base model executives.

“It’s mainly the big fleets, the leasing companies. Smaller fleets can control it more, especially if the purchasing manager works closely with the disposal manager.”

 You may pick up a Coca-Cola to keep yourself refreshed, but the company’s operators have a different approach to tackling the thirst of their fleet of cars and SUVs.

Atlanta-based Coca-Cola has gone green - turning to hybrid cars to solve the problem of its fleets guzzling too much ‘gas’. The company has already transitioned 325 of the 800 cars and SUVs used by its sales staff to hybrid vehicles and expects to move a further 225 over to the green side before the end of the year.

It’s not just the company itself which has seen the green light - its affiliate companies are also making an environmental push. Charlotte-based Coca-Cola Consolidated, Coke’s second largest US bottler, now has 400 hybrid cars in its fleet of around 800 vehicles. Coca-Cola Enterprises, the largest bottler has around 30 hybrid cars and 140 diesel-electric hybrid delivery trucks.

The move comes after a massive leap in petrol prices in the USA. When Coca-Cola originally proposed the hybrid car switchover, petrol was around $2.70 a gallon in the USA - now it costs around $3.70 a gallon.

The move also represents a drive towards environmental projects by the company.

Bruce Karas, director of sustainability, environment and safety for Coca-Cola in North America, said: “If you look at the price of fuel now, it’s going up. The whole picture is continually getting better in terms of the financial benefits of going to a hybrid.”

Indeed Coke estimates that it is saving around $1,100 a year per vehicle compared to the non-hybrid cars. The hybrid SUVs meanwhile save approximately $800 a year per vehicle. They also pick up their largest savings during city driving, where the stop and go electric motor assists acceleration.

With the recent Corporate Manslaughter Act it is very important for companies to take preventive action rather than wait and then react to a possible charge to be brought against you or your business.

We have compiled a ten to tick list.
1. You should check all drivers’ licences regularly with the DVLA (don’t just photocopy it)

2. Make sure your drivers are assessed (start with a simple assessment of accidents, then online testing, then driver training)

3. Monitor and record ‘incidents’; readily available fleet software can help with this

4. Act on information that is recorded

5. Keep your driver handbook updated

6. Become familiar with the Health and Safety documents

7. Give your vehicles a regular health check - lights, tyres, oil, screenwash levels and windscreen wipers should be inspected regularly

8. Don’t just include company cars in your checks, also check private cars that are used on work business

9. Ensure all health and safety process records, insurance documents, and driver and vehicle records are stored and accessible

10. Make sure journeys are necessary and sensibly planned

Simon McBride

 Fleet managers are being urged to look beyond their drivers when making investigations into accidents.

An increasing number of fleet operators are following up on accidents but they are failing to look at the wider issues, such as company culture and journey planning, according to Dr Will Murray a research director at Interactive Driving Systems (IDS).

He said: “An increasing number of organisations are implementing processes but are just focusing on the driver - they need to focus on the wider processes as well.”

“If drivers are completely negligent they should be held accountable but it is important to go beyond the driver when looking at corrective action.”

IDS has recently released a guidebook outlining the actions fleet managers should take following a collision. It includes tips on recording details at the scene of an accident, a self-audit tick sheet to assess where companies currently stand and a guide to the Haddon Matrix, which is highly recommended by Dr Murray.

The matrix examines all surrounding issues for fleet managers including the pressures for a driver to perform, journey planning and driver education.

“No amount of driver discipline or training will make any difference if the management systems are not right,” Dr Murray said.

“You have to make sure that your company policy addresses corrective action.”

Leasing giant Alphabet has created two guides to aid companies with the Corporate Manslaughter Act.
The first explains the requirements and enforcements of the act. While the second guide, highlights road traffic law and common offences.
The Corporate Manslaughter Act was introduced earlier this year allows an organisation to be found guilty of corporate manslaughter if a senior management failure causes a breach in duty of care. This means anyone driving on company business should be protected by the company’s duty of care.
If there has been a breach by the company then the police investigating a work-related road death would consider three elements: the vehicle, the driver and the journey. If a car isn’t roadworthy, a driver isn’t fit to drive, or if he/she was asked to undertake too long a trip, then a company can be held liable.
If found guilty a company can expect to face large fines that the Sentencing Guidelines Council aims to base on turnover rather than profit. Further more Senior officials can still be prosecuted under existing manslaughter laws and can receive custodial sentences of around two-three years.
Both of these guides from Alphabet can be obtained for free by calling Alphabet on 0870 50 50 100
Simon McBride

If your business needs to outsource vehicle accident management then this new service, Total’s ‘Accident Management by Design’ concept may be what you’re after.
The Fleet 1-Call module covers fleets of any size and insurance programme the option to completely outsource its vehicle accident management needs, or choose one or more of the modules to complement an existing operation.
The system is spit up into four modules, with the remaining three including Fleet Indemnity, a specialist Credit Hire, Credit Repair and Personal Injury service for non-fault claims, Fleet Complete, a full accident management service best suited to larger fleets and fleets carrying self insurance or high excesses, and Tpro, a pro-active approach to controlling the cost of Third Party claims
Penny Stoolman, Sales & Marketing Director of Total said, “We became increasingly aware that professional accident management in the SME sector had fallen into a gaping hole! We have designed Fleet 1-Call to plug that gap so SME fleet customers and ECOS can benefit from first class customer care and reduced overall accident management costs normally seen by larger fleets.”
Full details of Total’s products & services are available on its website, www.totalaccman.co.uk.
Simon McBride

 Accidents are a hassle few fleet operators look forward to addressing but it’s an unavoidable part of running a profitable fleet service. Now however, some of the stress has been removed with the development of a new product that plugs the gap in the sector.

Total Accident Management has launched the Fleet 1-Call Service which offers a full claims management service to both small-medium enterprise (SME) fleets with one-20 vehicles and companies that run employment car ownership schemes (ECOS).

With the Fleet 1-Call service both ECOS and SMEs with fully comprehensive insurance or a low excess can benefit from a full and hassle free accident management service that incorporates the collection and repair of a vehicle, along with managing third party claims and providing a hire car.

“We became increasingly aware that professional accident management in the SME sector had fallen into a gaping hole,” said Penny Stoolman, sales & marketing director of Total Accident Management.

“We’ve designed Fleet 1-Call to plug that gap so SME fleet customers and ECOS can benefit from first class customer care and reduced overall accident management costs normally seen by larger fleets.”

The Fleet 1-Call Service is just one of the modules available from Total Accident Management. Others include Fleet Indemnity, which provides credit hire, credit repair and personal injury service for non-fault claims; Tpro, a way of controlling the cost of third party claims; and Fleet Complete, a full accident management service for large fleets.

For more information visit: totalaccman.co.uk.

 Worries over wasted fuel could soon be a concern of the past thanks to a new development from Merridale fuel management.

The company has developed a switching module for commercial diesel pumps that allows users to choose between a low flow rate for smaller vehicles such as estate cars, 4×4s and car-based vans; and a high flow rate for fuelling lorries.

The device could offer an ideal solution for fleet operators who own a mixture of vehicles - such as company cars and service vans.

It works by modulating the output of a standard high flow dispenser - which is typically around 90 litres per minute. It can be adapted for use with new pumps or it can be fitted to existing installations.

The development is the latest fuel management system brought to life by Merridale - a company that aims to offer solutions for any size of fleet whether they are large fleets with multiple depots or small operators. Sales and marketing director Stephen Hannan believes this device is a response to large demand in the fleet sector.

“Customers have asked us to provide this facility, to maximise their utilisation of in-house and depot fuelling facilities,” commented Mr Hannan.

“The main advantage of the switching module is to make self-serve fuelling easier, and less wasteful, for office staff and other personnel, using company cars and vans.”

For more information visit: merridale.co.uk.