Ian Leonard: I’ve spoken to some other fleet managers who are stopping specifying rear parking sensors and training drivers to get out and look before reversing because the parking sensors weren’t preventing damage.

John Heussi, head of fleet services, Cheshire Constabulary: We’ve had the opposite effect with reversing sensors. The incidents are usually lower in cost and higher in number.

The sensors are a warning system just in case you haven’t seen someone walking nearby. You can get them for as little as £40 these days.

Can the benefits of certain extras outweigh the costs?

John Heussi: It depends how far you go and whether you trial the options first to test the benefits. There is so much equipment in police vehicles today and we’re trying to reduce that.

Ian Leonard: Something might cost £500 but it could have a residual values uplift and have saved the company money in use.

Steve Little, fleet driver trainer, Sceptre Leisure: We got payback in a year with telematics on fuel, but we didn’t purchase it for that – we wanted it to improve a poor accident record.

John Heussi: After collisions we hold driver assessment panels. We use Google Maps and analyse the accident scene.

Our objective is to ensure we stop the person who is quite a ‘sporty’ driver becoming the one that drives into a bus shelter.

Years ago we fitted incident data recorders to vehicles and the accident rate plummeted in the following year.

But when drivers knew there would be no action taken against them, the rate began to rise again. So taking action is important.

Ronnie Wilson, head of leasing, NG Bailey: You can put whatever extras you want on the vehicle, but first you must get the driver right. You need to ensure he or she is behaving correctly.

You do that and you’ve got safety. You put telematics in and use the data, then you’ve got lower costs and a greener fleet.

Craig Warburton, transport manager, Portakabin Group: We’re doing live trials with telematics now. We’re measuring hard maneouvres and it will be interesting to see if it results in a change.

Ian Leonard: My experience with telematics is to know what you want and be confident enough to deal with the data when it comes.