Fleet News webinar: Covid-19 - impact on fleets and business travel

Fleet News hosted a webinar discussion on July 28 looking at the UK business response to the fleet challenges presented by Covid-19 and what it means for future fleet policy.

With large numbers of employees working from home, a panel of experts offered insight, with questions from delegates, on how future working practices, changes to travel policies and opportunities offered by mobility solutions will affect fleet sizes, replacement cycles, funding methods and vehicle type.

The webinar was sponsored by Sixt.

Topics covered included:

• Short and long-term changes to working practices (agile/remote/office working)
• Short and long-term changes tor travel policies (travel to work, travel to client, travel to supplier etc)
• Impact on future fleet sizes 
• Impact on replacement cycles and annual mileage
• Impact on demand by vehicle type (EV, Hybrid, Petrol, Diesel)
• The role of active travel policies (walk, cycle, other)
• The role of public transport policies (to work, at work)
• Other mobility preferences (car share, car clubs, mobility budgets)
• Changes in funding preference (traditional contract hire lease agreements versus subscription and flexi-hire contracts)

Chaired by editor in chief Stephen Briers, in this 45-minute webinar, he was in conversation with:

• Dale Eynon is director of Defra Group Fleet Services and gave a fleet operator view of how covid-19 is affecting fleet operations
• Kit Allwinter is senior consultant at AECOM and is a specialist in sustainable and active travel including shared mobility. He provided a view on how Covid-19 is changing the way people travel and business working practices, etc. and the implications for travel and fleet activity, especially in urban areas.
• Paul Hollick, chair of the Association of Fleet Professionals. He represented the views of UK fleets, providing insight into how their operations are likely to evolve and change.
• Simon Turner, campaign manager at Driving for Better Business, which has created a Covid-19 toolkit, driver app and management portal to help fleets back to business.
• Stuart Donnelly, global sales director, Sixt (sponsor).

> Watch the webinar on business responses to Covid-19