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Grey fleets still cutting corners on safety

Companies with grey fleet drivers are being urged to get to grip with their duty of care as new evidence shows drivers are still cutting corners with safety.

drivingman

The survey found that 41% of drivers use a personal car that’s over six years old for work.

According to latest Enterprise Rent-A-Car research shows many grey fleet business drivers don’t carry out vital maintenance checks – and that a high number are using vehicles much older than typical company cars.

The survey found that more than four in ten grey fleet drivers (41%) use a personal car that’s over six years old for work trips, and almost one in five (18%) use one that’s more than a decade old.

The study also found that more than a quarter (27%) admitted they currently have a warning light on in their car, a clear sign that something is wrong with the vehicle, while 21% said that they take longer than a week to take action if a warning light appears.

Less than half (43%) have ever checked their tyre pressure, only 41% have checked the tyre tread, and fewer than half (46%) have looked at their engine oil levels.

The research also revealed that one in six grey fleet drivers (17%) only get their vehicle checked at its annual MOT or service, and that 2% have never had their car checked at all.

Even worse, one in ten (10%) say they’ve had a road accident that was either probably or definitely caused by a lack of proper vehicle maintenance.

And latest research by Licence Check shows drivers are taking risks with both vehicle maintenance and usage as well as insurance.

The firm’s analysis of the most common offences found on licences for grey fleet drivers found a worrying level of incidence of insurance and construction & use offences. Construction & use offences are often associated with the vehicle itself, such as bald tyres, defective brakes or carrying an unsafe load, while insurance offences usually feature vehicles uninsured against third party risks.

Richard Brown, managing director of Licence Check, said: “The BVRLA in their recent report on grey fleet management refer to DfT figures showing some 40% of eight-year-old vehicles (average vehicle age in grey fleet) fail their MoT when first presented for the test.  This figure drops dramatically for newer vehicles. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the number of construction and use endorsements correlates with this figure.

“It is a widely recognised truth that drivers are reluctant to spend money maintaining older vehicles and will ignore faults, or cut corners accordingly.  The same is true with insurance. Drivers may try to save a few pounds at the expense of proper business insurance cover – particularly if they know their employer isn’t likely to check. In other cases drivers may not fully understand the implications of driving without the appropriate business cover.”

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Natalie Middleton

Natalie has worked as a fleet journalist for over 20 years, previously as assistant editor on the former Company Car magazine before joining Fleet World in 2006. Prior to this, she worked on a range of B2B titles, including Insurance Age and Insurance Day.