Cut your company car fuel bills

Fuel bills have stumped us all recently, hitting the headlines on a regular basis and not because it is good news! However recently some London taxi and private hire drivers have taken part in a smarter driving programme, run by  the Energy Saving Trust’s (EST’s) in a bid to cut their fuel consumption and drive more economically. The drivers have managed to, on average, save an impressive 24% on fuel.

In 2009 a report was carried out and showed that taxi drivers in London travel on average a whopping 8000 miles per year which can cost them £2,224 on fuel!  However using the new techniques they have learnt on the programme, they could now save themselves more than £500 a year – not too shabby!

The training focuses on avoiding unnecessary breaking and acceleration and training the drivers to drive more smoothly. Bob Saynor, Smarter Driving programme manager for the EST, said “It’s great to see cabbies adopt the techniques so readily, as the combined reduction in emissions will contribute to a real difference in air quality in the city. We hope they keep up the good work.”

So, could this work for other companies with company fleets? The course is available to all businesses in any industry and is 50 minutes long.  The Department for Transport subsidise the cost of the course at £25 per driver. They also provide  the vehicles and insurance, and the course can be carried out at the workplace so as not to disrupt the working day too much. With the rising cost of petrol prices if this something you can afford not to do? Sounds like a good deal to us at RunYourFleet!

To find out more you can go to the website –  www.est.org.uk/smarterdriving

You can see the full story on Fleet News.