There are a number of unknowns – what kind of support service will they receive from different manufacturers? And will the change in manufacturers have an impact on service, maintenance and repair costs?

The latter shouldn’t be too much of an issue as the prices at e-auction are based on wholelife costs.

“The modelling that went into the first e-auction was pretty crude and was largely based on front-end price,” Eynon says.

“The model has developed now and it’s more like a wholelife cost, so they are looking at things like SMR, mpg and carbon.

We are seeing the sort of models you would expect to see rather than those with cheap front-end prices.”

The fleet manager has no control over where a car is supplied from – it could be through the manufacturer head office or a local dealer.

“There are lots of downsides but the overall upside is you do get reasonably good cars at a very good price,” Eynon says.

n Public sector organisations interested in participating in the e-auctions should email fleet@gps.gsi.gov.uk

 

What the manufacturers think

Manufacturers generally accept that e-auction is the mechanism the government has chosen to achieve fleet savings and they need to work with it.

However, not all of them are happy about the situation, complaining that too much emphasis is put on pricing and not enough on developing long-term sustainable relationships.

“TOO MUCH FOCUS ON PRICE”

Ed Hummel, head of corporate operations at Honda, says: “We are open to doing whatever is right for the customer. If customers are telling us they want to go down this route then we’ll respond accordingly.”

However, he adds that most manufacturers think that e-auctions “have a habit of focusing on the short-term and very much on price”.

“RELIABILITY IS OVERLOOKED”

Gail Chambers, national corporate sales manager at Honda, doesn’t believe it is “healthy” to be so price-driven.

She suggests there are many aspects that e-auctions overlook, such as the reliability of the cars, the strength of the brand and customer care. “I’d prefer to sit in front of a customer and understand their business and form a partnership,” she says.

“The e-auction process is cold in my opinion.”

“DEALER RELATIONSHIPS NOT CONSIDERED”

According to a Ford spokesman: “The e-auction process does not fully consider all the factors in running the fleet. Some public body departments have excellent supplier/dealer relationships which can help them run their fleet more efficiently. The e-auction process may
overlook this, with its focus on best wholelife costs.”

“CAN BE TOO COMPLEX”

Ford’s spokesman adds: “E-auctions can be complex as they are divided into lots by model type and there is much preparation required.”

“MINIMUM VOLUMES ARE GUARANTEED”

Vauxhall says: “The major benefit is the guarantee of a minimum volume from each lot of the e-auction.”

It has participated in all of the GPS e-auctions where it has a suitable product that meets the requirements and has not experienced any major problems

“EXCELLENT VISIBILITY”

Andy Dunsdon, national leasing and rental manager at Kia, says: “It gives us excellent visibility” while the knock-on benefits for Kia have been “a steady growth in sales on the normal GPS framework”.