COMPANY car operating businesses that resisted being drawn into clocking up more business miles on cheaper diesel prices have saved nearly £1M at the pumps in just a month.

While official figures show UK business mileage rising in response to lower fuel prices, customers of The Miles Consultancy (TMC), whose drivers use its audited mileage capture solution, covered three million fewer business miles year-on-year last.

By contrast, HMRC has reported that total UK sales of diesel rose by 4.5% in the same period. It attributed the increase to drivers clocking up more miles as pump prices fell – eroding the financial benefit of cheaper fill-ups.

TMC analysed mileage reports from 42,500 drivers employed by 72 of its customers. The drivers clocked up 29M business miles in February 2015, down from 32M miles the year before. Private mileage was unchanged at 11M miles.

The companies’ controlled approach to business driving netted them more than £370,000 in business fuel savings on top of a £580,000 windfall from the 22p per litre drop in fuel prices.

Paul Jackson, managing director of TMC, said: “The report by HMRC illustrates the so-called ‘rebound effect’ where lower prices lead to higher consumption. Had the fleets in our sample followed the national trend, they would still have benefited from the drop in fuel prices. But, because of the extra mileage, they would have saved around £490,000 instead of nearly £1M.”

He added: “Mileage is the primary driver of fleet operating costs. Fleets that use effective tools to manage their drivers’ fuel purchases and mileage claims are able to maximise the benefit from low oil prices and minimise the financial pain when they rise again.”