Search
Close this search box.
Sign up for our weekly Newsletter

Can you cut costs when offering company cars to your staff?

753_Honda_CR V_company_Car
Company cars:

Share

22 August 2013

Honda CR-V company car
Company cars: useful perk – but how do you keep a lid on company car costs?

IT’S great to be able to offer members of staff company cars as a perk of working for your company. This is certainly a really good way of engendering higher morale among the team and ingratiating new starters to the values and vision of your business.

Nothing quite takes the pressure off members of staff like sorting out their travel arrangements for them. Company cars tend to have a really positive impact however you use them.

In a lot of businesses, company cars are used as perks for managerial and directorial positions. They represent something of a reward for people’s commitment to the business, as well as the talent and imagination they bring to the job and the long hours they put in to make things work.

People generally associate company cars with the executive lifestyle and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s all about raising the aspirations of your workforce and demonstrating that people do get rewarded for the hard graft they contribute in order to make your company a success.

 The costs and the rewards

Of course, running a company car scheme for members of staff obviously presents costs. The entire reason people are so grateful for a company car scheme is because it takes the pressure off driving the sort of prestigious vehicle that goes with their job title. This is a cost that transfers from the employee to the employer and you have to okay with this.

The advantages to you are enormous in the sense that you are able to exercise some control over the impression your representatives make on your clients and stakeholders. You can be certain that their image reflects well on the whole organisation and you don’t have to burden them with the cost. Morale remains high and your reputation soars.

How can you make company car schemes more viable?

So we’ve established that a business always incurs the costs of its company car schemes, but the schemes pay dividends in the form of an enhanced reputation and a happy workforce, both of which help the organisation to grow and attract more business.

Nevertheless, there are pays that you can cut the cost of your company car scheme to make it more viable and perhaps to extend it as your business grows, creating an even greater flavour of aspiration throughout the team.

Repairs

The first way you can cut costs is by holding a contract with a repairer and making sure that all the company cars you offer are serviced regularly. This reduces the likelihood of expensive repairs a great deal, especially when your representatives clock up a lot of mileage in the course of their jobs. Anticipating problems and correcting them usually works out cheaper than fixing acute problems.

Protecting your investment

You want to protect your investment as best you can. Each company car could be sold on at a good price or used as part exchange in the future, so it’s worth making sure every vehicle remains in great condition. This is something you can do in a couple of different ways.

One way is to help employees buy into your philosophy with relation to the cars they drive. These vehicles are meant to reflect well on their drivers and the companies that own them. As such, your team have a duty to look after them, to keep them clean and to take proper care of them.

Another way is to reduce the likelihood that your fleet will suffer cosmetic damage. Paint protection film from a provider such as AutoFX Paint Protection is a good idea because it stops chips and stones from damaging paintwork and reducing the value of your cars.

Provide the means for better car care

It’s worth looking once more at car care. The fact is that you can put measures in place to ensure employees look after their cars more proactively. For instance, you could invite a valet service to operate on your premises on a particular day of the week. If the price structure is attractive then busy employees are quite likely to use the service to save them time and to make sure a really good job is done when it comes to cleaning.

Share this article

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
WhatsApp
Reddit
Email

Want more motoring news?

Sign up here for our free weekly serving of motoring.

Sign up here for our free weekly serving of motoring.

Ralph Morton

Ralph Morton

Ralph Morton is an award-winning journalist and the founder of Business Car Manager (now renamed Business Motoring). Ralph writes extensively about the car and van leasing industry as well as wider fleet and company car issues. A former editor of What Car?, Ralph is a vastly experienced writer and editor and has been writing about the automotive sector for over 35 years.

Latest news

Top