Coronavirus pandemic leads fleets to alter their funding policies

Fleets are adjusting their funding and vehicle policies in the light of new travelling behaviours due to the impact of coronavirus on working practices.

This was the evidence of a session at the September meeting, held virtually, of the Fleet200 Executive Club.

It asked: how are you adapting and flexing your vehicle funding models? How important is having a more flexible approach to funding following the experiences of the coronavirus pandemic? Will the way you run your fleet change; will any policies change?

· One fleet is changing its funding policy from contract hire to outright purchase to give it greater flexibility to lengthen or shorten vehicle lifecycles without penalties. IT believes this is the most effective policy, even for electric vehicles with typically cost more upfront.

· One fleet is holding off from making any vehicle purchases until it has been able to properly assess the impact of Covid. One consequence of this decision has been a rise in SMR costs on the older vehicles, so it recognises that it needs to start replacing them soon. However, it is also mindful that lead times have extended following widespread production shutdowns during lockdown.

· This was supported by another fleet which had seen significantly extended lead times on vans.

· One fleet which leases its vehicles is changing it car policy to try and switch to electric vehicles. They will remain on the same three-year replacement cycle.

· Another fleet, which already has an EV policy, has widened the bandings to bring the cars into the scope of more employees as they tend to be more expensive.

· Fleets have seen mileages fall which has helped in some cases to justify keeping them for longer. One fleet recorded a 15% drop in the first month of lockdown, even though they were still working.

> The above was shared with Fleet News at the September meeting of the Fleet200 Executive Club.