A common and very worrying misconception amongst directors and businesses across many industry sectors, is that grey fleet is not the responsibility of the business. This points to a dangerous lack of awareness; legally, morally and financially. And Total Motion is here to help businesses fully understand their responsibilities regarding grey fleet and how it effects their organisation.
Grey fleet is defined as any mileage driven by a person on company business, but in their own vehicle. The legal ramifications of this are the same whether that company business was a one-off, is occasional or constitutes 100% of the mileage a driver undertakes for their work. So whilst grey fleet might not have the same influence on every cost centre in a business, it still needs managing in exactly the same way.
Concerns have been raised over the general perception of the responsibilities of a business towards grey fleet, after survey results were recently announced by the Driving For Better Business organisation. They found that half of the senior management surveyed believed grey fleet was not their responsibility. A third thought that grey fleet drivers didn’t need their licences checking. Whilst it also emerged that a third of grey fleet drivers were not on the right insurance policy.
Understanding your responsibilities towards grey fleet
The results opened up a real can of worms when you consider that grey fleet drivers and vehicles still need their fuel use recording and monitoring, still have an influence on business lead times and on-time delivery KPIs, their time still needs managing adequately, and the business still needs them to be driving safe, functioning and legally roadworthy vehicles. This is in addition to countless other responsibilities the business has to grey fleet drivers, and vice versa.
Underlying attitudes and behaviours have been highlighted by this general lack of awareness relating to grey fleet management, and how the risk management procedures of a business should incorporate grey fleet just as it would company cars. Indeed, the black and white of the situation is that grey fleet needs to be managed in exactly the same way as a business will manage company cars.
So first and foremost you will need a “Driving For Work” policy. This should be a formal document which presents a top-level overview of the obligations and responsibilities expected of both the driver and the employer, whether the vehicles in question are company-owned or employee-owned. Individual drilled-down procedures relating to each scenario can then come in lower-level working documents, but fundamentally, the message relating to grey fleet management needs to come from the top of the organisation.
How Total Motion can help a business manage its grey fleet
Total Motion can help your business develop a “Driving For Work” policy and all the intertwining procedures required within it. These will detail and define the responsibilities of all parties, help log, trace and manage all individual vehicles and put systems in place to address actions and obligations on-time and at every subsequent interval required.
Ultimately, grey fleet needs to become an integral element of your fleet management system and should be managed accordingly. This will bring financial benefits, but will also ensure you have compliance from a safety, human resources and legal viewpoint. So get in touch with Total Motion today and we can help you incorporate your grey fleet into your fleet management programme to bring robust and comprehensive management, along with seamless compliance across the board.
