13 August 2010
Buyers must move fast to beat next years VAT rise
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A shortage of new cars means buyers must move fast if they are to beat next year’s VAT rise, according to CAP, the used car pricing experts.
There is now an unusually long wait between order and delivery for many new cars after last year’s recession which, coupled with a weak Euro, led manufacturers to slow down car production and focus on supplying other countries.
In some cases even cars ordered today will not be delivered until after VAT rises to 20% on January 4, 2011, adding £375 to the VAT-inclusive price of an £18,000 vehicle, says CAP.
However, the problem is not confined to the usual luxury and exotic car sectors, with many mainstream brands now reporting lead times of several months.
For example a Skoda Superb ordered today will not be delivered until mid-November. Some Volvo and Audi models will not be available until well into 2011. Volkswagen is seeing lead times of 12-14 weeks when normally a new car can be delivered in five or six weeks. Even the ubiquitous Ford Fiesta cannot now be supplied until mid-September.
Mark Norman, of CAP, said: “Anyone with imminent plans to buy a new car needs to move now, especially if they have a specific model in mind because they may already find they cannot beat the VAT increase.”
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06 August 2010
Government launches comprehensive MOT review
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The Government is to launch a comprehensive review of MoT testing for cars and commercial vehicles later this year.
Transport Minister Mike Penning has told the Retail Motor Industry Federation that he is concerned that the industry is testing low mileage, well maintained cars too often, whilst at the same time missing out on cars and light commercial vehicles that have high annual mileages.
The current MoT test scheme is nearly 50 years old and has changed little since its introduction, except where demanded by vehicle innovations.
For some time the RMI has voiced concerns that MoT Class 7 (3-3.5 tonne) commercial vehicles have arrived for their first MoT test with over 150,000 miles on the clock.
This, says the RMI, has huge ramifications for road safety as well as vehicle reliability. The RMI has been recommending to the Government, the adoption of annual testing from year one for such vehicles, however, so far that recommendation has not been implemented.
The RMI’s MoT and Truck chairmen and a specialist from RMI’s cars division have already met with Mr Penning to discuss MoT testing for cars and commercial vehicles.
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Salary sacrifice schemes are touted as the ‘new’ employee benefit
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Salary sacrifice schemes are being touted by vehicle providers as the ‘new’ employee benefit for 2010 and beyond, but a survey by ACFO, the UK’s leading fleet operators’ organisation, reveals that interest levels are lower than marketplace comments would suggest.
The accelerating arrival from vehicle manufacturers of low-emission cars twinned with ‘attractive’ corporate and personal tax rates on those vehicles is making company car salary sacrifice a fast-emerging concept within employee recruitment and retention packages.
While the concept is in its relative infancy, vehicle financial experts believe that salary sacrifice schemes represent a sea-change in the fleet industry that is set to become a huge part of organisations’ remuneration strategies in the future.
But, according to ACFO’s voluntary and anonymous on-line survey interest levels are relatively low. Results included the facts that:
• 24.2% of respondents have never looked at the salary sacrifice option
• Only 36.6% are thinking about looking at salary sacrifice
• 21.7% have ‘no interest’ in salary sacrifice schemes
• Just 17.1% are currently analysing the salary sacrifice option
Decision-makers responding to the survey operated fleets ranging in size from under 50 vehicles to more than 1,500.
ACFO membership secretary and director Stewart Whyte said: “According to our findings, interest levels in salary sacrifice schemes appear lower than general market comment seems to suggest. Comments from salary sacrifice scheme providers suggest there is a great deal of interest in the concept.”
However, Mr Whyte said: “We know that many ACFO members have seen merit in a salary sacrifice-type arrangement, as an extension to the range of employee benefits on offer. Some have also seen this as a complete alternative to the use of more traditional fleet operating methods. This range is a major feature of the depth of experience across ACFO and the diversity of demand forms across the membership.
“As a result, most providers will, I’m sure, acknowledge that salary sacrifice schemes can be an excellent product under specific fleet operating circumstances but cannot be considered as having universal relevance.”
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19 July 2010
Avoidable fleet driver fault severity rises
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Although the number of breakdowns caused by fleet driver error is falling, the severity of avoidable faults is causing longer periods of downtime.
Driver-induced faults prompted almost 100,000 call outs, with figures indicating that fleet drivers caused at least 14,818 working days of downtime - or around 40 years - for the top five fleet driver induced faults in 2009.
A driver’s lack of familiarity with the vehicle, or a failure to conduct basic maintenance checks, are causing expensive and time-consuming repair bills
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