FLEET managers must tackle company car drivers' macho instincts to drive fast if vehicle fuel efficiency is to be improved. That's the view of Keith Greenhead, PHH Vehicle Management's director of fuel, who says fleet managers concentrate too much on the price of a gallon and not on the use of fuel.

'People drive the wrong kind of cars in the wrong way and throw away pounds' worth of fuel yet they chase around trying to get the best price per litre,' Greenhead told a recent Institute of Car Fleet Management conference. 'It is an issue fleet managers need to grapple with. But the problem is the fear of tackling a driver's macho instinct.

'They associate such a move as a need to drive more slowly, which means seeing fewer clients, selling fewer products and doing less work. But by driving smoothly and reasonably company car drivers will get to their destinations as quickly as driving like a bat out of hell. That is where money can be saved on fuel rather than wasting it trying to find the cheapest gallon and screwing every last penny out of their fuel supplier.'