April 6, 2019
Will Bullen
Grey Fleet is the term given to personal vehicles being used for business use. In most cases this means that the vehicle is owned by an individual and is being used on more than one occasion for business travel. This will include employees that take a car allowance to source their own vehicle and use this vehicle for work.
It is the businesses responsibility to ensure that these vehicles are fit for purpose, even if it is a driver with a car allowance who maintains the vehicle out of their own pocket, the business needs to make sure that the vehicle is serviced, MOT’d, insured for work use and is fit for purpose.
Is Grey Fleet better than standard Fleet?
Managing Grey Fleet for smaller companies can normally be a more cost-effective solution rather than running your own fleet. The purchase or lease of the vehicles falls on the individual and not the company, as does the cost to maintain the vehicle, which for a smaller business can save thousands.
Additionally, covering the cost of fuel for business use rather than owning and maintaining the companies own vehicles can see huge savings, even more so when business trips are few and far between.
There are still advantages to owning fleet as a business, new tax laws now mean that even lease vehicles, (the balance of the lease) and owned fleet, albeit depreciating assets, are still assets that are owned by the business, thus adding more value to your company.
Why is Grey Fleet So Popular?
Depending on your company car policy, allowing drivers to source their own vehicle by offering a car allowance normally means that they don’t have any restrictions when they look at their next car. There is also a saving to be had based on their company car tax. As the government increases taxes for cars with high Co2’s the monthly tax to a driver (Company Car Tax) is going up and up forcing them to jump to more fuel efficient and lower Co2 vehicles.
Now this does mean that giving the driver an allowance may mean that your “Go Green” policy may take a hit, but it does mean the driver has more choice in what they can drive, so this can be used as an incentive.
As mentioned above this also proves a popular choice for smaller companies as there is a saving to be had when paying for business fuel rather than outlaying a cost for a fleet of vehicles.
What’s the Costs of Grey Fleet Management?
Well, here is the magic question, aside from the reimbursement of fuel for business use, there isn’t a direct cost associated with Grey Fleet. However, it is vitally important that as a business you don’t neglect your Duty of Care and ensure that vehicles are correctly maintained and are kept to a high standard.
This is where Wessex Fleet can help, our online management system and admin team can ensure that your drivers are insuring the vehicles for work use and doing monthly checks on their vehicles highlighting any issues they can see.
Implementing this to your business, whether it is using Wessex or not, is critical to your business. If a vehicle is being used for work purpose and isn’t correctly checked or maintained, not only is the driver at risk, so is the business.
Is Grey Fleet right for my business?
There isn’t a right or wrong answer here, the important bit is to make sure you assess your traveling as a business and weigh up your options and costs.
In some cases, we do advise companies that leasing your own fleet or running a grey fleet isn’t the way forward and that you would be better suited to a daily rental or pool car programme.
If you would like to find out more about grey fleet or would like us to show what we can do to help please email info@wessexfleet.co.uk