The global cost of running a vehicle fleet – both in financial and environmental terms – is a key issue facing many European CEOs.  Volatile fuel prices and growing ‘green’ legislation have led companies to scrutinise how much they are spending across Europe on both fleet running costs and the vehicles themselves.

What they find can be shocking – most major corporates would be spending millions of euros every year just to keep the workforce mobile, so clearly even a small percentage cost reduction can save a significant amount. Understanding the carbon footprint of the total vehicle fleet can also be staggering.

There is increasing pressure to reduce these costs and improve environmental performance at the same time.  Many large companies are considering sourcing their fleet on a pan-European basis, not only to use their financial clout to drive economies of scale but also to achieve consistency and give them more control over the environmental impact of their vehicles.

The traditional approach has been to source fleets with different leasing firms in each country.  However, more recently there has been a general trend towards companies using just one or two suppliers across the whole of Europe.  This can achieve significant cost savings and global consistency if implemented in the right way.

However, while the offer of complete consistency on a Europe-wide level across all aspects of your vehicle fleet may sound tempting, consider how this would actually be implemented at a local level.  Company cars are a very sensitive issue, with many local factors in each country to consider.  For example, being told they can only have one type of vehicle could be very controversial with drivers in most countries, particularly with nationalistic buying preferences to consider.  There are also significant differences in taxation, environmental and health and safety legislation as well as cultural sensitivities to be aware of – attitudes to company cars and the way they are driven varies enormously from one country to the next.  It must not be forgotten that company cars are a key factor in recruitment and retention of staff and this has to be considered in any change in vehicle policy.

At Masterlease we believe that the best European fleet deals get the right balance between cost and benefits by combining international expertise with detailed local knowledge, i.e. by using central co-ordination and management but taking into account tax differences, local customer requirements and legislation.  These deals can offer significant cost savings while ensuring smooth implementation and keeping the company car as a highly valued benefit.

Although Masterlease is one of the fastest growing international leasing companies, we strongly believe in balancing global presence with local expertise.  Headquartered in the United Kingdom, Masterlease manages more than 210,000 vehicles and operates in a total of 17 countries across the world including Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK.

Our most recent expansion was in December 2007 which saw Masterlease’s first entry into the Scandinavian market, launching in Norway and Denmark.  With plans to further expand into other countries, our strong geographic presence and consistent branding enables Masterlease to offer a cohesive service across the Continent.  However, our approach is to work with experienced local staff in each country, so that means we appreciate cultural sensitivities and help you to develop a consistent European fleet policy that takes these into account.  This ensures we can offer customers a personalised approach within the framework of a large and successful organisation.

Although each country has its own local need, consistency of quality and service are vital.  One of the key factors in ensuring successful pan-European fleet management contracts is to ensure systems and processes are in place to maintain a consistent level of quality and service in each country.

Masterlease is working to become an internationally recognised leader in the leasing market.  One of our key initiatives is the use of Lean Six Sigma, an internationally-recognised quality culture programme of customer-focused process improvements that shares best practice across the leasing borders in order to achieve consistent service worldwide.

For further information:
www.masterlease.net
info@masterlease.net