Company car drivers lose 8 days per month of company time

Research by the Energy Saving Trust has found businesses are losing 8 days of every company driverís time per month due to the journeys they undertake for their business. For companies with a large number of drivers this will result in a significant loss of time throughout a year.

It also found that company car drivers are using their cars on average six times a week (some as many as 23 journeys per week) to travel as short a journey as under two miles.

The Energy Saving Trustís advice service for business car fleets estimates that by implementing environmental practices including smarter driving and teleconferencing, a business with a fleet of 100 vehicles could save 90,000 a year.

If companies and their drivers used eco-friendly cars for their fleets this could save them nearly 3 billion per year in reduced fuel and national insurance costs. There is now a much wider range of eco-friendly cars such as BMW, Volkswagen and Ford.

As part of the research the Energy Saving Trust also identified different types of driver ìtribesî within a business. It identified different characteristics that are held by a driver depending upon their attitudes, driving techniques, car of choice and their love of driving.

34 per cent of female company drivers were described as ëResponsible Roadiesí who, although not choosing the most environmentally friendly car, do make an effort to drive in a greener way, revealed the research. Men though, cancel out this good work. Male ëPetrolheadsí are the speed machines of the road who know a lot about the cars but not about smarter driving.

The research identified there are five different ìtribesî of company car driver:

Responsible Roadies (27 per cent)

Calm, respectful middle managers, a high proportion of whom are women, who are not fussed about the carís brand. They are interested in green issues, but donít necessarily drive a more environmentally friendly car.

Petrolheads (27per cent)

Status-driven middle-aged male speeders who love knowing about cars and have little interest in green issues.

Eco Drivers (19 per cent)

Younger middle managers, who are sympathetic to green issues. Whilst they see the company car as necessary for their jobs, they want to see companies pay more tax if they run high emitting fleets.

Cash Counters (15 per cent)

Younger, junior executives (aged 30 and under) for whom the car is a piggy bank. They are ambivalent about green issues, disrespectful of other drivers and admit to driving fast and dangerously. Their aim is to make money out of their car.

High Milers (13 per cent)

Older managers (aged 31 ) who spend a lot of time on the road, donít care if they irritate other drivers, and donít bother much about green issues, brand status or whether they can make money out of the car. Quite frankly, theyíre sick and tired of driving for work.

For the ëPetrolheadsí, ëCash Countersí and ëHigh Milersí they can now change their behaviour with tailored support from the Energy Saving Trustís new smarter driving training programme which can help reduce fuel costs by 200 to 250 per year for each driver*.

Nigel Underdown, Head of Transport Advice at the Energy Saving Trust commented:

ìItís basic dashboard management – get your employees saving you money and being safer on the road to boot. Getting smarter driving implemented in to businesses will help eliminate these wasteful driver ìtribesî and put everyone in to the ëResponsible Roadiesí and ëEco Driversí.

ìLarge savings can be made and if every business in the UK followed green fleet practices across the UK, we could save up to 3 billion per year. Businesses should take this opportunity to work with us and receive this free and impartial advice to help their company save money and energy.î

To find out what driver ëtribeí you belong to, enter our competition to win free smarter driving training for up to 32 employees by visiting the website at www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/drivertribes. If you are interested in getting your company free impartial advice for your fleet call 0845 602 1425 or visit www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/fleet.