Despite the chancellor’s reduction in fuel duty today, the average cost of a gallon of fuel will still be over £6 per gallon so the profitability of businesses of all sizes is still being undermined by fuel costs at record levels. A recent poll by the Federation of Small Businesses revealed that most small companies will have to find an additional £2000 in revenue over the next six months just to accommodate rises in fuel costs.

AA DriveTech’s new Fuel Save 15 courses provide a spectrum of fuel saving techniques. The product name alludes to the percentage of savings that should be achievable if all are applied correctly and the vehicle is in optimum condition. Equally applicable to car and van drivers, there is no call for a dramatic change in driver behaviour and the techniques suggested can be easily accommodated in a typical working day without compromising journey times.

AA DriveTech’s fleet director Paul Holmes puts the potential gains into perspective: “If you compare the cost of fuelling a 100 vehicle fleet between now and this time last year you could be looking at £365,454 now as opposed to £289,090 . That’s a staggering 26% increase!

“If all those drivers completed a Fuel Save 15 course and continued to apply those techniques during every trip you could expect to claw back well over £50,000 worth of fuel cost. You have to sell a lot of products or services to generate profit of that magnitude.”