This includes the 40 or so drivers who qualify for a perk car but opt to take cash instead.

Rental periods are typically one or two days with vehicles supplied via LeasePlan.

Daley created a booking system on the company intranet with all requests requiring line manager sign-off.

The pivotal feature is the fact that staff can no longer select the car. They fill in details such as number of passengers and mileage and a matrix calculates the best car for the job.

This has resulted in smaller, more fuel-efficient cars being used and has had a significant impact on expenditure. Rental costs have fallen by 20% – a five-figure saving.

The second hire requirement is interim rental for new starters or to fill the gap between de-fleet and delivery of the new car.

The service is managed by Leeds-based Global Autocare using a matrix-based system which offers several car choices dependent on employee grade.

Global Autocare also manages Carlsberg’s reallocation scheme. If a member of staff leaves partway through the lease contract, Global collects the car, checks and cleans it, and puts it on its own fleet ready to allocate to a new starter.

“We find they are better placed to manage this process; they are more focused on our business requirements,” says Daley.

He manages GE Capital, Global Autocare and his five manufacturer partners by exception reporting.

“I set core processes and anything that falls outside of the core I want to be involved; anything within I expect the supplier to control,” he says.

Daley believes that an important element to supplier relationships is the ability to share ideas and best practice.

“I regularly go to GE and say ‘if this was your fleet, what would you do’ and I base decisions on that,” he says. “I don’t have to be an expert on tyres for example; they are the experts.

“If you can’t trust your suppliers, why would you outsource your fleet management? We trust, but with all the KPIs set in the background to measure all the key areas in case there is an issue.”