Grey Fleet Management
The Grey Fleet is an important, but often neglected, aspect of Fleet Management. It consists of vehicles owned by employees in which any business travel is carried out.
Effective Management of the Grey Fleet is crucial with respect to three key policy areas – Duty of Care and Health and Safety, Financial Efficiency, and Corporate Environmental Responsibility.
- 14 million Private Cars used for Business Journeys – 40% of all vehicles on the road *
- Employers pay more than £5.5 billion a year in mileage claims and car allowances. *
- Average Vehicle age is 8.2 years (older than the average UK car) and contributes to Poor Air Quality (low proportion of Euro 6 compliant vehicles)*
What is a Grey Fleet Driver?
Grey fleet drivers are employees that drive their own cars for business. Most organisations will, on occasions, find it highly convenient to allow staff to use their private car for business travel. Indeed, having grey fleet drivers can be more beneficial for some organisations that do not travel high business mileage.
However, recently there has been a rise in the costs and legal responsibilities for employers in relation to employees using private cars for business. Financial impacts of Grey Fleet usage include excessive mileage claims, staff demands for additional remuneration, added administration and unexpected driver downtime due to accidents or breakdowns.
Legally, employers have the same Duty of Care towards employees, irrespective of whether they drive their own car on business or a company provided vehicle. The Health & Safety at Work Act and the Corporate Manslaughter Act (to name but two laws out of nearly a dozen that affect business journeys) make no distinction between the use of corporate and Grey Fleet cars.
How we can help?
GMP offers expert assistance in managing every aspect of your Grey Fleet, from Mileage Management reporting to Accident Management and Driving Licence checks for your employees to ensure Duty of care. Our Fleet management team will work with you and your employees to ensure that they and their vehicles are compliant.
For more information regarding Grey Fleet Management Contact Us using the Enquiry Form below.
Grey fleet can be an expensive option compared to company cars and there are three main reasons for this.
- Drivers may round up their mileages if organisations don’t audit grey fleet mileage claims.
- Grey fleet is typically reimbursed using AMAP or greater than AMAP rates.**
- Grey fleet may be an expensive option for longer journeys.
The Warnings
- The HSE estimate that “more than a quarter of all road traffic incidents may involve somebody who is driving as part of their work at the time.” ***
- In 2016, 529 people were killed, 5,269 seriously injured and almost 40,000 slightly injured in collisions involving a driver or rider driving for work. ****
- Between 2006 and 2014, over 62,000 people have been killed or seriously injured in accidents involving a driver on a work time journey, and over half a million slightly injured in work-related road crashes. *****
What to consider
- How large is your Grey Fleet?
- What existing compliance checks are in place?
- Are you able to evidence the results of the existing compliance checks – is the data readily available?
- Are you confident that your organisation has a defendable position should a Grey Fleet driver be involved in an accident?
The Solution
GMP Drivercare Grey Fleet Management service will assist you in managing the financial, legal and environmental issues that surround an employee’s use of their privately-owned vehicle for business.
GMP offers an ongoing service for the checking and upkeep of Grey Fleet Drivers. This includes the following:
- DVLA Licence Check with online access to 3 year driver mandate.
- MOT Check/ Road Fund Licence check.
- DVLA V Look Up – confirms full vehicle make, model, colour, fuel type, service information required, CO2 data, Engine CC and Date of Registration.
- Business Use Insurance Check – Through a database of recognised Insurance Certificate formats.
- Grey Fleet Policy documents
Example
- In the latest round of checks for one of GMP clients only 76% of their Grey Fleet drivers could evidence compliance
- 7% drivers did not have business use insurance cover
- 1% Did not have a valid MOT certificate
- Based on a Grey Fleet of 3000 vehicles 700+ may be non-compliant
Testimonial
Reducing Grey Fleet – Environmental Responsibility
Norfolk Community Health & Care NHS Trust (NCH&C) serves nearly 90,000 people and provides care to patients in their homes, places of care, community hospitals, outpatient units and health centres.
With the assistance of GMP the Trust implemented their Travel Policy saved £500,000 in its first two years, reduced carbon emissions and improved risk management.
The fall in grey fleet mileage has far exceeded the increased in mileage in lease, pool cars and rental cars. Fewer miles are now being driven by employees, and where journeys are undertaken, they are more likely to be in newer, less polluting, well-managed vehicles. On average, staff mileages have fallen by 25%, without compromising patient care or service delivery.
Between 2015/16 and 2016/17 (latest available figures):
- grey fleet mileage fell by 19% (752,000 fewer miles driven)
- miles driven in company cars have increased by 42% (202,000 more miles)
- miles driven in pool cars and daily hire has decreased by 19% (73,000 fewer miles)
- total mileage decreased by 13% (623,000 fewer miles)
- total spend on travel fell by 13%.
Since 2007/08, total annual mileage has fallen by 44%. Grey fleet mileage alone has fallen from over 5 million miles to 3 million miles.
At the 2017 Fleet Hero Awards, the Trust won the Smarter Travel award in recognition of its excellent progress on reducing grey fleet mileage.
GMP Drivercare also offers variety of other products for Public and Corporate Sector. Click here to see our other services https://gmpdrivercare.com/services/.
Our Driverlink Magazine can be found on https://www.driverlinkmagazine.com/
Get In Touch
0330 100 4910 – Option 2
info@gmpdrivercare.co.uk
