– By Marc Sibbald –
It’s taken a while but business and governments may have finally realised the benefits of using a car share service to reduce their fleet size and save money.
Pool cars fleets are still popular with the government, education and non-for-profit sector. They are a great way to reduce your fleet size, increase utilisation and reduce FBT costs associated with vehicles allocated to a dedicated custodian. But they can be an administration nightmare.
Many organisations consider the company vehicle an asset that is available to any employee for business purposes. In reality the employee see that car as part of their salary package. It’s theirs to use as they want and letting another employee have access provokes a range of emotional responses.
Though even with a pool car fleet there’s administration and fleet management required. Some of this can be outsourced and technology has made the process of booking cars and allocating costs easier for fleet managements. Issues still arise because the fleet manager (or another internal department) still needs to organise servicing, maintenance and other repairs such as accidents.
GoGet is one car sharing organisation that has developed a major footprint in Sydney and now has over 2,000 vehicles nationally available for use by its 65,000 members.
Car sharing seems like a niche idea used by hippies and inner city types that live in suburbs that don’t encourage vehicle ownership. Though a quick poll around the Fleet Auto News office suggests everyone knows someone that has used the service.
There are studies that suggest GenY and the next group of young people (GenZ) aren’t as interested in car ownership. Most people born before 1980 saw the car as a symbol of freedom and getting their licence represented a coming of age and independence.
It appears the latest generation to reach the legal driving age see the car as a practicable tool to perform certain tasks. And that public transport is a better mode of transport that allows them to stay connected which is a pastime valued more than the spirit of driving.
For businesses that are serious about carsharing its easy to get started. With GoGet you apply online and you’re off and sharing before you know it. If you run a large business and you to get serious about reducing your fleet size, you could organise a POD. This is a dedicated parking area for GoGet cars that can be on the street or within your building.
The membership system is already setup to handle multiple billing points. The cars will be maintained, cleaned and replaced without any involvement from the business. Other admin issues like fines and tolls are also managed by GoGet. The booking system is also online or via a smartphone app. It just becomes another invoice to process.
There are several other companies offering carshare arrangements for business such as Hertz 24/7, Flexicar and GreenShareCar and they all report that business customers is the fastest growing segment for them.
