Safety is far and away the most influential factor when purchasing tyres, rated as ‘very important’ by 86% of fleets surveyed.

Just over half (53%) said longevity was very important – a factor not actually taken into consideration by the tyre labelling scheme.

The reason is down to the difficulties in grading the life of a tyre. There’s a “one to 10 ratio tyre wear difference depending on use, tyre pressure and other factors”, says Pascal Couasnon, Michelin head of technical communications.

According to the Campaign for Better Tyres, which is promoting the uptake of ‘better’ tyres ahead of the labelling regulation, fleet managers could improve a vehicle’s fuel efficiency by as much as 10% by choosing the right tyres.

It points out that there is a small price premium on fuel efficient tyres, but this will be paid back by the fuel savings achieved.

The payback period for switching to the most fuel efficient tyres from average tyres is estimated at around 6-8 months for cars and 2.5 months for vans.

Awareness of the link between brand of tyre and fuel savings is high among fleet operators with 71% answering that they believe brand can impact on their fuel budget.

However, fleets who use Advisory Fuel Rates are not convinced about the benefits of fuel efficient tyres.

One survey respondent says: “Because we use HMRC rates, improved fuel consumption through lower rolling resistance tyres wouldn’t impact our fuel costs.”

A compromise between safety and fuel efficiency

Although survey respondents say safety is the most important factor when deciding which brand of tyre to purchase, this may result in a compromise when it comes to fuel efficiency.

Professor Dr Egon-Christian von Glasner, president of the European Association for Accident Research and Analysis (EVU), says: “Less rolling resistance often also means less braking performance on wet roads.”

Crinson agrees, pointing to official test data which shows that tyres which do exceptionally well on wet braking tend to do poorly on fuel economy.

He advises fleets to consider tyres which show consistent performance across the ratings.

Other factors

Fleet operators also need to remember that there are a number of other important performance indicators beyond fuel efficiency, wet grip and noise.

Goodyear Dunlop points out that its engineers analyse and test more than 50 parameters and the key factors the label doesn’t cover are: aquaplaning resistance, wet and dry handling, dry braking, high speed stability, durability, internal rolling noise and heavy handling.

However, Huw Williams, group marketing director at ATS Euromaster, adds: “We believe labelling will help to spark the debate about what else is important to tyre performance – such as wheel alignment, balancing and accurate inflation.”

Leasing company perspective

Major leasing companies such as Hitachi Capital Vehicles Solutions and LeasePlan opt for premium tyres already and do not believe the tyre regulation will have much impact on their policy.

Malcolm Roberts, fleet services manager at Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions, says: “I don’t see an issue arising as we are confident in the quality of the brand we use, and expect them to be highly rated in all key aspects.”