Founded in 1968 and currently with an annual turnover of around $1.5bn, Caparo has global interests in steel, engineering, hotels, innovation and investment and has more than 10,000 employees in Europe, North America and Asia. 

Following an extensive tender process in which the company invited proposals from a variety of fleet suppliers, Caparo appointed CLM to handle every aspect of the management of its UK fleet of 160 cars, which are used predominantly by sales personnel and managers across the UK.

In appointing CLM, Caparo has switched away from its previous solus supply finance lease arrangement to contract hire for the entire fleet, and has also introduced a carbon cap of 160g/km for cars in all but one of its five job grades.  

New cars will be sourced from a panel of three lenders under CLM’s class-leading competitive tendering solution, Contract Management, which has been shown to reduce contract hire acquisition costs by around 8-10% on average.

The competitive tendering process forms part of the umbrella outsourcing solution, so that Caparo experiences the benefits of dealing with only one supplier and does not have to take on the administrative burden of handling the process.

With over 100 vehicles due for replacement over the coming months, initial indications are that from a wide choice of manufacturers and models, Caparo drivers are generally opting for CO₂ efficient diesel vehicles and so far, VW Passat and Audi A4 have proved popular choices.

Environmental and financial concerns are helping to fuel the switch, as the lower carbon emissions of the more fuel-efficient VAG vehicles will also help reduce the benefit-in-kind taxation liabilities and national insurance contributions for the company car drivers, as well as reducing the NIC liability for Caparo.

As part of the outsource arrangement, CLM is also managing the maintenance of the new vehicles and has changed from fixed price maintenance to a pay-as-you-go strategy , an initiative that has been shown historically to result in savings for each client of more than 8% of the maintenance costs.

CLM is also responsible for the mileage management of the Caparo company cars which are being run for 48 months, but with mileage limits tailored to the actual mileage of the drivers and all contract mileages pooled. In this manner, excess mileage charges can be managed out of the cost equation.

CLM managing director, Tony Hulatt (Inset), commented: 'We are delighted to have been awarded this outsource contract by Caparo, a company we greatly admire for its drive, business acumen and strong family values. 

'We look forward to forging a long and mutually rewarding business relationship, and will seek to generate efficiencies and cost savings across Caparo’s UK fleet as a fundamental part of our outsource agreement.'