Family furniture business Hammonds has appointed Activa Contracts for a sole-supply, fully outsourced company car deal in response to driver calls for a wider vehicle choice.

Hammonds has outsourced its car operation to Activa as fleet co-ordinator Charlotte Eccles-Gray increasingly focuses on the CV fleet

Although the business had operated a dual-badge contract hire fleet for a few years, its drivers were looking for increased options and the firm called in Activa Contracts, which had historically supplied some vehicles, to advise on the way forward.

The fleet, which includes almost 60 company cars, now embraces Audi, BMW, Ford, Jaguar Land Rover, Toyota/Lexus and Volvo brands and the firm has also opened up its previous all-diesel fleet policy to include hybrid cars, offering the potential for reduced driver Benefit-in-Kind tax. The vehicle choice list, which has four grades, is based around vehicle ‘effective rental’.

Activa Contracts has also taken on fleet management responsibility for the company cars, which now includes a no-quibble tyre replacement policy. Further additional services likely to be added in the near future include fuel card management, responsibility for managing any fines incurred due to non-payment of the London Congestion Charge and management of the company’s Motor Insurance Database compliance.

Additionally, Activa Contracts has supplied six diesel Citroën Berlingo vans and Hammonds is just completing a trial of Lightfoot in-vehicle driver behaviour technology, which is part of Activa Contracts’ suite of vehicle and driver risk management solutions available to customers. The firm is looking at equipping all vans and company cars with the technology.