How time flies, whether or not you are having fun. It’s almost a year since we instigated our fleet’s mileage capture scheme and as HMRC mileage reporting has been in the news again recently, I thought I’d report back on the results.

Our chosen provider ensured the mechanics of setting up the scheme were simple enough. Logging on to the system and entering trips is no more difficult than our previous internal scheme. What’s really important is keeping driver change information up to date, particularly if you habitually pass on registration number based fuel cards from one driver to another when they switch cars. And you need to be really sharp with updating starters and leavers.

The time constraints for submitting information are necessarily tight, to meet our internal payroll process, but the capture site is available 24/7 and if a driver keeps up to date with recording the trips, it’s not a problem to submit information by the required date. We are running at well over 99% compliance. That’s hardly surprising since after an initial three months’ honeymoon period, we advised drivers we would deduct the whole cost of their monthly fuel purchase from salary if they did not submit information on time.

Auditing by the mileage company is thorough, and reporting is clear. Drivers are quizzed on journeys which are much longer – or shorter – than the agreed comparison site allows. Often there are good reasons for this such as local route knowledge, diversions, or simply getting lost. There has been some resistance in that some drivers can feel they are not trusted, which then spills over into other employment issues, but these are in the minority.

A few drivers can now prove that they do not use their company car for any private miles, usually because they have other vehicles at their disposal or, by the time the weekend comes, they have spent quite enough time in a car during the week to want to drive anywhere else. For these folk, it appears we would be unable to convince HMRC that there is no private use, so they continue to be taxed on the benefit of the company car. The car is available to the driver, even if he chooses to sit in it on his driveway and listen to music, rather than drive it, however unlikely that is. I think this is an area where there ought to be scope for negotiation with the Revenue in the future.

The bit which gave all the angst was communication to our drivers, who were wary of change, particularly since we took the opportunity to change from driver reimbursement of private mileage at HMRC rates, to charging them actual fuel cost. Whichever system you employ, when you change from one to the other you will get winners and losers but we felt that actual cost reimbursement was fairest to all parties, and gave the greatest incentive for our drivers to ease up on the right foot. Communication was thorough, and took place over a number of months. We provided clear guidelines on the scheme and a detailed FAQ.

The results following implementation are quite startling. Although it’s clear that generally our drivers are extremely honest folk, there is no disputing that private mileage reimbursement has increased. Prior to instigating the new scheme we had put drivers through the EST’s subsidised efficient driving course so they had the tools necessary to better their fuel consumption. Now that everyone is paying at cost, there is an incentive for them to put that knowledge into practice. So overall fuel consumption has improved too, and our fuel purchase costs have gone down. Of course, a reduction in fuel price during the same period has also helped, but is by no means the major part of the saving.

Given fuel purchase is one of the biggest expenses in any company, as well as the subject of a Revenue clampdown, we are delighted with the scheme because it has enabled us to reduce cost significantly but also be confident we are HMRC compliant; and both of those are issues any fleet manager should be worried about.