A recent article on the BBC website, reported an article published by the AA. It highlighted how people are struggling to keep up with fuel price rises. The same trend is being reflected in the car leasing market where private leasing and business leasing choice is driven by miles per gallon and whole of life costs
In Spring this year the OFT raided several large oil companies after suspicions were raised that price fixing was rife in the industry. After four months, the investigation was stopped after no evidence was found. Many have questioned whether this was too soon. At the time, demand for fuel was reduced by 10-20% due to extreme Winter weather, petrol costs at the pumps rose by 10p per litre, this sparked the investigation
Under the Mileage Allowance Payment Scheme, a driver can claim up to 45 pence per mile for the first 10,000 miles of business use of a car.
Clearly then, the more economical a car, the better this scheme is for the driver whilst not impacting on the employer
Factors such as this are further pushing demand for so-called eco cars. Hybrids from Toyota and Honda, with rivals to come from Mercedes-Benz and several others are also a reflections of European 2014 regulations for emissions, which go hand in hand with economy
There is no doubt that fuel is not going to get cheaper and eco-cars are going to continue to be the growing market. Where a company has high-mileage lease cars, the savings will prove too tempting to refuse, especially as fuel consumptions are getting lower and lower
