COMPANY cars remain the cornerstone to ensuring employees who need to travel on the country's roads use the newest, cleanest vehicles. Research in the Lex Fleet 2000 Report, in association with Fleet News, provides concrete evidence that employer-provided cars are younger and replaced more often, ensuring new, cleaner technology is used in significant volumes more quickly.

The survey shows that an employer-provided car is bought new in 78% of cases for an average price of £14,900. Vehicles are on average 2.1 years old and are replaced every 2.5 years. However, cars used simply as a business expense are new in less than 31% of cases, average 4.6 years old and have longer replacement periods of 3.6 years.

The only redeeming feature for non-company car drivers is that they tend to drive fewer miles, a total of 17,100 per year, compared with 22,400 miles per year covered by the company car driver.

The Lex/Fleet News survey revealed that on average, the 367 fleet managers questioned bought 5.2 cars each in the past 12 months.

Fleets of 75 or more, which averaged 206 vehicles in size, expected to buy a total of nearly 75 vehicles over the next year, up from 70 last year, while smaller fleets of 10-24 vehicles expected to buy nearly eight.

The increase in acquisition rates among large fleets is evidence of the healthy state of the economy and of the company car market.