THE internet has taken a vital place among the tools available to a fleet manager to help carry out their work, a new survey from the Centre for Automotive Industries Management at Nottingham Business School, backed by HSBC Vehicle Finance (UK), has revealed.

At least two-thirds of decision-makers on 100-plus fleets use the internet for fleet-related business, with an average of 80% of 500-plus vehicle fleets using the 'web to help their work. However, fleet managers with less than 100 vehicles are much less inclined to use the internet in their work, with up to 78% saying it is not involved in their fleet role.

Of those who used the internet, the two most common reasons were obtaining price and product information, while the third most common reason was to look for potential suppliers and obtain finance information. Just 3% of respondents currently use the internet for products such as booking services.

Fleet managers said they mainly used the information gathered through the internet to collate and compare data, while 19% said their research would influence fleet policy. A further 17% of 100 to 249 vehicle fleets said the internet helped with disposal pricing.