Sometimes it is not operationally practical for companies to use vehicle tracking or telematics.

A delegate at the Fleet News Van Summit said he was convinced about the benefits of telematics but the challenge was physically installing it as vehicles are spot hired and may only be used for a week owing to short-term business contracts.

Speed limiters are only used by around a fifth of survey respondents despite claims that driving at 85 mph instead of 70 mph increases fuel consumption by 20-25%.

Witterick has considered fitting speed limiters but as most journeys are in 30 or 40mph areas rather than motorways he does not believe it would be practical.

Bonney is also not convinced that speed limiters are necessary.

“People who work for us are socially conscious and we don’t have a problem with speeding,” he says.

“We have parking and manoeuvring accidents rather than accidents where there is excessive speed.”

Clearly, techniques that work for some companies don’t necessarily suit all but, as a general rule, fleet managers should look at three key areas to manage fuel costs – the vehicles, the drivers and the journeys – and ensure they are taking steps in each area.

AFRs mean companies are not concerned over fuel costs

Many companies reimburse drivers for business mileage at Government set Advisory Fuel Rates and one survey respondent commented: “As we pay AFR rates to drivers there is no real incentive as a business to worry too much about fuel costs.”

Companies that pay AFRs still need to drive down mileage figures – an area which many may be over-looking given that only 10% of respondents stop drivers ‘rounding’ mileage claims.

Worryingly, more than a fifth of drivers admitted to exaggerating mileage claims in a survey last year by GlobalExpense and the HMRC is known to be clamping down on mileage fraud.

The Milage Consultancy claims that companies with a mileage capture system can expect to reduce their mileage by a quarter.

If the company sticks with AFRs, savings could be achieved by downsizing engines or an alternative approach could be taken – Astrazeneca, for instance, has only one fuel rate for reimburse-ment which encourages drivers to choose a fuel-efficient car.

There is corporate social responsibility (CSR) to consider too. David Graham, fleet manager at Eon, believes that fuel efficiency is part of CSR and that all drivers should be engaged in the company’s sustainability programme.

Case study: The Countryside Council for Wales

1. Vehicles

More than half of CCW’s fleet of 57 vehicles are now sub-100g/km of CO2.

“We evaluated the make and model of our fleet in 2009 when it was time to procure new vehicles,” says Roberts.

“We decided we could do a lot better than 145-150g/km and procured Ford Fiesta Econetics, which are sub-100g/km. The vehicles are high mpg and we save on running costs as well as road tax.”

All new vehicles are also fitted with Michelin Energy Saving Tyres with expected fuel savings of 2-3%.

“We benchmarked the price against the current price of tyres and there was about a £15-20 difference,” Roberts says. “But the energy-saving tyres are longer lasting and we will save on the fuel bill.”

CCW now runs its four vans and 32 4X4s on a 50% biodiesel blend. Roberts says the switch to biodiesel was for environmental reasons but there are fuel savings too – about 4 pence a litre.

Each office has to achieve a 70% vehicle utilisation and this has enabled CCW to reduce its fleet from 73 vehicles to 57 over the past two years.

2. Drivers

Roberts stresses the importance of filling up at cheap supermarket forecourts. and has negotiated a rebate with his fuel card supplier giving additional savings if drivers use supermarket forecourts.

All drivers also receive eco driver training, with the driver achieving the highest mpg being awarded £100. Roberts is considering offering annual rewards to incentivise drivers to drive in an eco-friendly manner, using monthly fuel reports for benchmarking.

He anticipates a 10% saving on the fuel bill with an 18-24 months payback period.

Implementing the programme has been “effortless” as CCW opted for a managed solution which means that the provider arranges the bookings with staff.

3. Journeys

CCW has set a target of reducing mileage by 15% this financial year and has developed an in-house mileage capture system for vehicle bookings.

Transport managers at each of CCW’s offices are responsible for completing mileages using the system as Roberts found that drivers were submitting inaccurate mileages with their fuel cards.

CCW has a ‘travel decision tree’ or ‘travel hierarchy’ in place which means that each driver must consider whether a journey is necessary or whether a tele- or video-conference could take place instead.

If it is necessary to travel they must consider public transport and, if that is not viable, the possibility of car sharing.

Staff are issued with a ‘safe journey planner’ via the intranet site which advises them to plan trips in advance and to take the shortest route, as well as health and safety aspects such as taking a rest break every two hours.

However, a telematics trial was rejected on the ground that it was “big brother”.