The specialist fleet management company, which is owned by The Grosvenor Group, warns that whilst most business agree the economy is improving, there is very little evidence of this attitude toward vehicle acquisition changing back to pre-recession times – but this need not be the case.

The firm’s corporate finance specialist, Giles Bolton recalls that prior to 2009 vehicle options had expanded to offer drivers a far wider choice of company car.

However the credit crunch changed attitudes, with many businesses reigning in vehicle selection for cost control reasons and it appears that for many this practice has remained.

‘Prior to the economic downturn, many companies were setting their vehicle policies based on upper whole life cost or rental limits per job grade. Although there were certain restrictions around soft tops and 4x4s, drivers could, in the main, have whichever car they wanted within their cost bracket,' he said.

‘During the recession, this began to change. While still wishing to offer drivers a choice, many companies exercised far stricter control over the vehicles being added to their fleet and carefully selected models with strong residual values, low maintenance costs, strong fuel consumption and those which were easy to re-allocate to other drivers if someone left the company.’

Bolton added that now the recession seems to be behind us, there are many benefits to widening vehicle choice.

‘Our team at Interactive Fleet Management is very experienced at creating vehicle choice lists that please both HR and FD objectives, and there is an ever-growing range of low emission cars being launched that make great additions to most fleet policies because they are motivational, tax efficient and make sound operating sense.

‘Offering a diverse choice of efficient yet desirable vehicles will allow companies to attract and retain the very highest calibre employees, and at the same time take on vehicles that will be cost-effective during their entire life on fleet.’