FLEETS are waiting for Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown's next Budget before reviewing their company car policies. A new survey of company attitudes on transport policy by Arthur Andersen's Human Capital Services practice has found that 84% of companies will review their fleet policies if company car tax changes.

But only a quarter of the 169 companies surveyed will carry out a review prior to the Budget, with the rest awaiting developments before undertaking any wholesale reappraisal of company car provision. Some companies do not intend to carry out any review, however, citing the combination of cars being essential business tools together with a perceived lack of real alternatives from public transport as their main reasons.

Of the companies which have already carried out a review, 34% decided to offer a cash alternative to the company car, 18% limited car allocation to essential users, 18% changed their fleet funding arrangements, and 12% maintained the status quo. Overall, the survey found that corporate transport policies were driven first by cost (42%), then by employee taxation (23%), with environmental concerns a poor third (8%).