The data, which was based on an analysis of Lex Autolease’s accident management fleet of 120,000 vehicles, revealed that company drivers were involved in 43,293 accidents last year and were “at fault” in more than 18,000 cases.

Almost one in five accidents were caused by a company driver colliding with an immobile object such as a bridge, a building or a wall and 22% were the result of company drivers hitting a third party vehicle. Despite the high frequency of accidents, just two% involved collisions with pedestrians, cyclists or animals. 

The average cost of each ‘at fault’ claim including repair costs, third party liabilities and rental costs for replacement vehicles was £1,033, meaning that Lex Autolease customers paid out more than £18.6m due to poor driving by their employees.

Richard Harper, head of accident services at Lex Autolease, said: ‘Although the average cost of each accident is just over £1,000, the true cost to businesses is significantly higher. Following an accident a company vehicle can be off the road for more than a week, causing immeasurable disruption and inconvenience.

‘The fact that company drivers were responsible for 40% of accidents last year suggests that businesses need to do more to raise standards and eradicate poor driving behaviour. The need to address this problem is more acute at this time of year following the end of British Summer Time.

‘The starting point for businesses is to understand why accidents occur. Once they have this information they can take steps to reduce collisions such as driver training programmes, assessing time and work pressures on their drivers and eliminating unnecessary journeys.’

Accidents involving a Lex Autolease owned car or light commercial vehicle during 2012: