HMRC took part in two e-auctions last year and saved on average more than £4,000 off the unit cost of a range of vehicles.

A spokesman for HMRC said an additional benefit of e-auctions is that “it removes a layer of procurement activity from HMRC and transfers it to a central government body”, in this case Government Procurement Services.

“In the past there would have been several government departments managing e-auctions,” he added.

“Now for vehicles there is only one which frees up resource time in the satellite government departments.”

The Ministry of Defence is also understood to have acquired its white fleet through e-auctions this year and has been happy with the vehicles coming through such as the Nissan Note and Kia Ceed.

Cons

E-auctions require a minimum number of vehicles for a lot to take place – set at around 20 – but there is no minimum requirement from each individual fleet.

That’s the point of e-auctions: a fleet requiring just one vehicle can still benefit from bulk purchasing becuse that vehicle is bundled in with everyone else’s.

Where this becomes an issue is when a fleet requires specialist vehicles; e-auctions are not set up to handle these procurement needs.

In addition, as HMRC discovered, if the lot does not hit the minimum threshold, then it will be cancelled.

HMRC’s spokesman said: “If HMRC’s requirement is small and a government department with a larger requirement withdraws from the e-auction, this can lead to GPS removing the entire lot.”

The University of Warwick prefers to use framework agreements rather than e-auctions.

Its transport manager Graham Hine benchmarks the manufacturers on the GPS framework to determine the best price and he believes this approach is more appropriate for his organisation.

Damian James, head of transport provision at Bracknell Forest Council, rejects e-auctions because he wants to retain an element of quality when choosing vehicles. “It’s not just about cost,” James says.

This is a key drawback: fleet operators have no control over which manufacturer wins at an e-auction.

It’s entirely possible that a make and model that a fleet manager ruled out in the past is successful at an e-auction and it ends up on the fleet.

In addition, the specification levels of vehicles offered can change from one auction to the next, depending on which model derivatives a manufacturer wishes to sell at the time.

This can create dissatisfaction among employees on the same company car bands who receive the same model in different trims, according to some public sector fleets.

“What drivers might get can be a bit random,” Eynon admits.

“But no one has had a car which they have said hasn’t been fit for purpose.”

Nothing can be done to reverse the decision.

Once a government department enters into an e-auction it is committed to those vehicles, although there is some wriggle room with numbers.

Another downside is that getting standard specifications across many government departments “can prove bureaucratic”, according to HMRC.

The Environment Agency has traditionally had Ford and Mitsubishi on its commercial vehicle fleet, but this has now changed as other manufacturers were also successful at the last e-auction in July.

The Agency will need to move from having bespoke vehicle racking to standard fittings, but Eynon believes it’s a small price to pay for the improved savings.

He also believes the upfront savings will compensate for any loss at vehicle disposal time.