Specialising in servicing company cars

In certain industries in the UK, workers will receive a company car, which may be used either solely during work hours or privately too. A number of employers offer this perk to help attract the best talent. Having a company car is fantastic but it can create issues too, most notably when trying to decide who is responsible for the servicing and upkeep of the vehicle.

New research from Venson Automotive Services claims that 58% of company car drivers believe it is their employer’s responsibility to maintain the vehicle. They surveyed 200 people with company cars in June 2015 and found out that many people could potentially be shirking their responsibilities, leaving vehicles at risk of breaking down and requiring expensive repair costs.

The most shocking figure from the research is that 17.5% of company car drivers would not tell their employer about minor damage to the vehicle. Failing to do this could result in the car losing a great deal of its value by the end of the lease period. Ignoring the damage may also leave underlying problems untreated; a bump may seem slight on the surface, but underneath it could have caused more damage than you expected. This in turn could increase the likelihood of breaking down or higher costs in the future.

The research also found that 28% of people would ignore lights on the dashboard, 48% would not top up water coolant and 34% wouldn’t check tyres. All three of these issues could result in the company car failing its MOT as well as running the risk of worse problems occurring.

In order to avoid problems employers and employees should be absolutely clear on who is responsible for the upkeep of company cars. There should be guidelines in place to determine who needs to arrange vehicle servicing, what type of damages need to be reported and who is responsible for checking fluid levels, tyres and other factors. We can provide full vehicle servicing in Sevenoaks and beyond to ensure that your company car remains in top condition, and are ready to work with all makes and models of vehicle – just get in touch to find out how we can help.