Petrol prices will continue to rise during 2008 so adopting a structured approach to fuel management is vital for businesses, according to fleet solutions provider cfc.
The organisation is warning companies to take action now to tackle the issues of rising petrol and diesel prices, despite the announcement in the recent Budget that the proposed 2p a litre tax rise would be put off until October.
"The delay gives fleets a little breathing space but the
fact is that price rises seen in the last year dwarf the duty that has been
delayed," said Alison Southcombe, marketing leader at cfc.
"While there is no evidence to suggest that we will see a further 20p per litre price rise repeated in 2008, two pence might not make that much difference. Instead, a structured fuel plan is needed.
"There is a perception among many fleets that you just have to grin and bear rising fuel costs but, in fact, there is much that can be done to manage down the amount of fuel your vehicles use and the pump prices that you pay," she added.
cfc recommends the following pointers when looking to reduce fleet running costs:
Measure your fuel use
A large number of fleets simply don't know how much fuel they use overall or
per driver or per vehicle. You need to put a monitoring system in place. The
easiest way to do this is to buy all petrol and diesel through specialist fuel
cards. You can then access the information collected as paper or software
generated reports that will give you an overall picture and highlight
individual problems
Formulate a fuel policy
Having a policy on fuel use is a signal to your organisation that you are
taking the issue seriously. There are a number of areas to consider but even
simple steps can produce good long term results, for example, don't add cars to
your fleet that do not meet a pre-agreed government combined average fuel
consumption figure
