“They were able to understand the problems of having vehicles over 160g/km, but by being able to try the vehicles below that threshold they knew they didn’t have to compromise.”

It’s a process that will start again next year, as Weeks reviews all company car policies and procedures every three years. Next time around it will inevitably again involve some tough decisions.

“Everything is up for review when we look at the car policy next year,” says Weeks. That includes a potential lowering of the CO2 cap to 140g/km and reducing the engine sizes of available vehicles.

“The cost of the vehicles has gone up and up and we need to think differently,” she continues.

“If that means examining the engine sizes or looking at spec levels, so be it.”

However, an increasing awareness amongst drivers is making it easier to have those sorts of conversations.

“For the first time in the entire time I’ve been dealing with fleet, drivers want to know what it’s going to cost them,” she says.

“It seems that one of the good things to come out of the recession is drivers are now focusing more on cost.”

Tackling rising fuel costs

Weeks says the biggest challenges she faces at the moment are keeping fuel costs in check and keeping drivers informed.

She re-introduced fuel cards two years ago to better manage fuel expenditure and believes that if she hadn’t the company’s fuel bill would be more than 5% higher.

However, that hasn’t taken fuel out of the equation.

Last financial year, the company spent £363,000 on fuel - £100,000 more than it had budgeted – and the increase was simply down to rising fuel costs.

Weeks is looking at incentivising drivers on fuel efficiency to help keep costs in check and regularly auditing mileage records to check for any inconsistencies.

But when managing drivers based all over the country, communication is key to working with staff to keep costs down and ensuring they’re all informed about a range of issues.

Line managers provide the face-to-face fleet management, while Weeks relies on regular email contact with all drivers to ensure they receive key messages.

“It’s focused, it’s measured and it’s not drawn out,” she says. “A lot of running the fleet is about driver education, making people aware and reminding them of their responsibilities.”