Member Article

Driving your business a better way

Here at Zipcar, the UK’s largest pay-as-you-drive car network, we recently undertook research into the transport usage behaviour of small businesses. We found that for nine out of ten (91%) SMEs transport is a fundamental part of doing business. While company vehicles are one of the main costs to businesses, they sit idle for an incredible two-thirds (63%) of the working week. What’s more, we found that 17% of business decision makers are completely unaware of their total annual transportation costs.

When it comes to transport options for small businesses, a complex range of influences can make it hard to get a full picture of costs. This lack of visibility can lead to costs escalating quickly. Careful consideration of transport requirements could lead to costs being significantly reduced by moving towards more flexible, cost-per-use models.

Through our research, Zipcar learnt that 31% of businesses do not have a transport policy in place and – of those that do – 38% recognise that their current plan could be improved. Understanding how your business is using transport, and why people are travelling in the first place, is really the starting point. It’s only with this in place that decision-makers can understand where potential cost-savings lie and look to re-design their proposition as part of this.

Amongst Zipcar business customers, the most common usages are meeting a client, travelling to jobsites, deliveries and running business errands. Shared characteristics of businesses using Zipcar include a strong need for convenience and flexibility but also access to a scalable model that will allow them to respond to a rapid rise in demand, perhaps due to seasonality or a one-off contract - without incurring any additional costs or risk.

Ronan Quigley, Head of Logistics at onefinestay, found himself in just this position. He explains, “We manage hundreds of homes across London, so the multiple locations and instant access offered by Zipcar is the perfect fit for our operations. The most important aspect, especially over busy periods like the Olympics and Christmas, has been the ability to expand our fleet without making longer commitments to vehicle leasers. With Zipcar there are no hidden costs and it’s an all-inclusive alternative, from fuel and tax through to insurance and Congestion Charge.”

Many of today’s smart business recognise that a range of pay-as-you-drive vehicles will better suit their needs than making a longer term commitment of leasing or purchasing a number of vehicles. Lowering costs and increasing the flexibility of your business, making it more agile and able to grow faster are key benefits. Improving your environmental credentials is another perk: the carbon footprint of a car club member in London is less than half that of the average driving license holder. This is one of the main reasons why the business side of Zipcar in Britain has grown faster than the consumer side; those who choose to use us find that it makes financial sense. We know this trend is consistent with other car clubs in the country.

Zipcar works with thousands of businesses in the UK that are looking to improve their transport management. We are helping businesses understand how they can improve their transport management with the recent launch of our our Business Calculator. With just a few basic details, a business can access a tailored report that shows potential time and cost savings of switching to a ‘pay-as-you-drive’ solution and creating a more effective and efficient transport policy for your business.

Zipcar’s Business Calculator is available at http://businesscalculator.zipcar.co.uk/

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Zipcar UK .