Withdrawing private fuel benefit

Pentland Brands has cut tens of thousands of pounds from its fleet budget and reduced fuel use by 16% by successfully withdrawing private fuel benefit with the help of The Miles Consultancy, so says Fleet News in an article published recently.

Can the same approach help you make the same sort of savings on any level?

Family-owned, Pentland Brands, the multi-award-winning brand management company behind global brands such as Speedo, Mitre, and Berghaus, has successfully withdrawn private fuel benefit from 130 of its company car drivers.

Can you cut your fleet costs?

“Private fuel has become an archaic benefit,” said Steve Osborne, the company’s fleet manager. “All too often, it leads to employers subsidising drivers to make long commutes rather than move nearer to work. It used to be seen as necessary and cost-effective. But high fuel prices are here to stay and fuel benefit tax is only set to increase to a level that is too frightening to think about.”

“Between the employee and employer, they are spending nearly £4,000 to provide fuel that has a real cost of just over £2,000.” said Osborne. “This analysis shows it doesn’t make sense.”

As fleet manager, Osborne had to show drivers that they would be no worse off. At the same time, he had to convince the business that it would still save money despite compensating the drivers. The problem was to collect and organise all the factual information needed.

The answer he chose was the TMC Mileage Audit system, which combines data on mileages and fuel use. Drivers report journeys to the system via the Internet, while fuel data comes from fuel card providers and other sources.

The Mileage Audit system has enabled Pentland to build a complete picture of each individual driver’s business, commuting and private mileage, fuel consumption, pence-per-mile and CO2 emissions.

If you’d like to read the full article on withdrawing private fuel benefit you can do so here