The weekly round up of fleet news. This week featuring Jaguar Land Rover plans in the market, Alphabet making a parking partnership, Lex counting the costs of poor driving and more.
Jaguar land Rover takes aim at fleet market
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Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is aiming to increase the proportion of its sales which are fleet from approximately 17% currently to 25% by 2020.
The company said it hoped that the Jaguar XE and Land Rover Discovery Sport, due to launch in 2015, would be more in tune with fleet needs, due to a lower cost of ownership compared to over Jaguar Land Rover model.
The manufacturer is also planning on growing it’s retailer network from 2,600 retailers across 180 countries to over 3,300 by 2020, with specialist fleet and business centres accounting for 20 to 5% of these.
JLR has also launched a new international fleet and business website, fleet-business.jaguarlandrover.com, in an effort to expand its fleet presence.
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By GlobalDataKen Forbes, (JLR) global fleet and business sales director said; "This is the biggest, most important global fleet and business strategy we have ever implemented. It is crucial in order for JLR to grow, as it will see us build on the incredible renaissance of the last six years, most of which has been focused on retail sales."
Lex Autolease counts the cost of poor drivers
Company drivers were at fault for 49% of 44,448 accidents recorded by the UK largest fleet provider in 2013, according to Lex Autolease.
Almost a quarter of accidents (24%) were caused by company drivers colliding with a third party.
As a result of these accidents, Lex said business paid out over £26m in excess insurance payments, though it noted the total costs would likely be higher once additional costs such as repairs, replacement vehicles, third party damage and personal injury liabilities were factored in.
Richard Harper, head of accident services at AutoLease, said: "These figures are certainly food for thought, and it is clear that businesses need to do more to improve the driving standards of their employees. Road safety is paramount, of course, but there are additional economic benefits to be reaped from educating drivers to act more responsibly on the roads."
Alphabet partners JustPark
Fleet services provider Alphabet has partnered with online parking initiative JustPark to give Alphabet customer employees discounts on spaces booked through the service.
In addition, customers will be able to rent out unused parking spaces of electric vehicle charging points on JustPark to generate additional income.
Mark Gibson, head of marketing and business development at Alphabet said: ""Parking is an element of Business Mobility that is often forgotten.
"Our collaboration with JustPark means that employees no longer have to circle for a parking spot, scramble for a parking ticket or top up a meter, when travelling to business meetings. The experience for customers becomes extremely easy."
JustPark has over 18,000 spaces nationwide.
DLB: 2 in 5 van drivers unfamiliar with telematics
Two in five van drivers are unfamiliar with the concept of telematics and how it works, according to a survey of 332 UK van drivers by small business insurer Direct Line for Business.
The company also found the approximately 90,400 van drivers use telematics, compared to the UK total of 3.35m van drivers.
Jazz Gakhal, head of business at Direct Line, said: "More than half of van drivers in our research stated that they would be more
likely to try telematics if they could make a saving on their insurance."
Chevin appoints software support lead
Chevin Fleet Solutions has appointed Flyss Williams as the team leader for the companies software support team.
Williams will be responsible for managing the team in liaising with fleet customers and tackling their problems.
She has joined from electronic payments specialist Atos Worldline, where she worked as technical team leader.
