Fleet drivers - more accidents, less care taken with vehicles

The RAC claimed its latest 'Vehicle Fault Analysis' report showed that UK businesses could avoid around 40,000 vehicle breakdown call-outs every year if company drivers carried out simple maintenance checks and undertook driver training.

Elvin Ravenscroft, tactical development manager for RAC, said: "Our research shows that fleet drivers are causing downtime. Add this to the hidden cost of replacement or hire cars, missed appointments, lost business contracts, warranty disputes over vehicle repairs, and the impact to businesses can be significant."

Punctures accounted for over 100 days of business downtime in total last year, according to the report. The RAC said many such incidents could easily have been prevented if fleet drivers had conducted regular tyre checks on their vehicles.

Diesel contamination counted for almost a quarter of the top 20 fleet "driver induced" faults, with 9,770 call outs. Flat batteries ranked as the second highest reason for fleet call outs, leading to 13,222 hours of downtime for businesses in 2007.

"Fleet vehicles have become like mobile offices with more and more current-hungry gadgets, such as mobile phones, PCs and navigation systems, and drivers seem to think their cars are bottomless pits of energy," said Elvin.

Accident costs

He went on to say: "Fleet managers should not rely on vehicle servicing alone, but ensure that their drivers carry out basic weekly checks, such as engine oil and water levels.

"A work vehicle should be checked every time before use and fleet managers should introduce a driver log book to record all vehicle checks.

"Robust procedures should also be in place to have fleet vehicles independently inspected at least every three months to improve their general condition and to demonstrate mitigation in the event that an accident lands a company in court. However, it's important when companies are purchasing inspections that they identify an independent provider with sufficient knowledge."

The data also revealed that fleet drivers were twice as likely to be involved in a road traffic accident compared to the average motorist.

"RAC responds to over 16,000 fleet road traffic accidents a year, the cost of which is far reaching for businesses," said Elvin. "This includes at least two hours to arrange repair during which the driver is probably off the road, equating to 1.333 days of lost time."