Company car drivers cannot live without their wheels

Despite the recession, the majority of company drivers are not allowing rising costs to get between them and their vehicles, according to RAC.

RAC’s 2009 Report on Motoring reveals that 85pc of company car drivers would find it very difficult to adjust their life to being without a car, despite 87pc seeing the cost of driving rise.
Drivers appear to have only a minority interest in alternative modes of transport, with 73pc of company car drivers never car sharing, 37pc using buses or trams less than once a month, and nearly half (46pc) using the train or tube less than once a month. In fact, over 50pc disagree that they could use public transport as an alternative to their vehicles.
When it comes to issues that concern company car drivers today, less than 50pc consider the cost of driving to be of most concern. The research also shows that there is no change in those opting for lower consumption cars during the past 18 months, though three quarters are driving more efficiently to conserve fuel. And nearly 40pc say that higher road tax will not make them choose a greener vehicle.
Fifty-seven percent said they would not reduce the number of journeys to work made by road and 32pc said it was not at all likely that they would reduce the number of journeys made for personal use.
Over the past 12 months, 55pc said that they continued to use their vehicles for local journeys, with 27pc doing more shorter journeys than they did before, 16pc doing more longer journeys and over one fifth (21pc) travelling in excess of 24000 miles a year.
Adrian Tink, motoring strategist for RAC, comments: “Fleet drivers are more likely to be using their vehicles out of necessity. But it’s interesting to note how cost is not dissuading drivers from doing more journeys overall.”
“Although it seems concerns over greener motoring issues are being sidelined by fleet drivers, the majority of them are driving more responsibly to conserve fuel, which has a welcome environmental side effect. However, the challenge is to make sure that fleet drivers continue with this thrifty environmentally friendly behaviour once the economy has improved.”
Even though the majority of fleet drivers (62pc) are planning to change vehicles within the next 18 months, 50pc won’t be buying smaller vehicles. However, a direct correlation between a necessary expense and an impact on fleet drivers’ wallets is evident in the report; almost three quarters (73pc) said that if there was a further increase in petrol or diesel prices at the pump, they would be more likely to consider a vehicle with lower emissions/engine size in a bid to save money.
And despite 50pc of fleet drivers saying they won’t be buying smaller, more cost effective vehicles, nearly half (46pc) say they have, or intend to, shop around for cheaper car insurance as a way of keeping costs down.
According to the report, when it comes to looking ahead, fleet driver behaviour is unlikely to change in the next 18 months, since 87pc do not intend to car pool, 88pc do not intend to car share and 87pc also say they won't cut down to one car for the whole family, which would reduce costs.
Tink concludes, “There are a number of actions that can be taken to reduce motoring costs, such as finding a better insurance deal. However, it seems fleet drivers will continue to motor-on until the overall cost of motoring has a major impact on them.”