The top three reasons for those respondents who manage fleets when choosing their most predominant fleet models were found to be; appearance (43%), environmentally friendliness (42%) and fuel efficiency (32%).

Eco friendly models, hybrids and EVs are increasingly being considered as more models become available. According to the 150 fleet managers surveyed, the eco-friendly proportion of their fleet will increase to 42% in the next five years.

Once the car is within the fleet, the top reported method of working cost efficiently was found to be setting vehicle budgets per employee grade, followed by monitoring the total cost of ownership and setting KPIs associated to costs for the running of the vehicle. Kia promoted its Care-3 package (which gives operators a fixed price package on the first three services), in the report, which may come as good news to the 17% who admitted budget worries when it comes to servicing their fleet.

Respondents reported an average of 17 incidents and 14 accidents per year. By analysing data provided, Kia Motors UK found that, individually, businesses spend an average of £11,256 each per year covering these incidents and accidents, which in turn is costing UK businesses a total of £7.5bn.

Commenting on the findings, John Hargreaves, head of fleet and remarketing at Kia Motors UK said: “What our research clearly shows us is that while cost efficiency is high on the fleet manager’s agenda, it might not always be the deciding factor when choosing cars for their fleet. There are many things to consider outside of costs such as employee satisfaction and providing benefits that will attract new employees, and also the image the business may want to portray in their choice of vehicle. It is also interesting to see that eco-friendly features such as ISG and efficient engines are now as important as the appearance of the car.”