Rental and mobility firm Europcar Mobility Group UK is looking to significantly lower the CO2 emissions of its company car fleet by appointing fleet management specialist, CBVC Vehicle Management.

The new UK agreement aligns with Europcar Mobility Group’s ‘One Sustainable Fleet’ program which aims at the ‘greenification’ - or decarbonization - of the Group’s fleet on a yearly basis.

Europcar says the new fleet management agreement with CBVC will support the Group’s aims by encouraging staff take-up of electric vehicles (EVs), which will also allow drivers to take advantage of the significant tax benefits available to company drivers choosing a zero emission vehicle.

Ron Santiago, managing director of Europcar Mobility Group in the UK, offered:

“Europcar Mobility Group has a clear aim to reduce emissions across the entire fleet and that has to include the company car vehicles we offer to our employees. In the UK we are supporting that mission by working with CBVC, which has worked hard with us over recent months to produce and deliver whole life cost based choice lists benefiting both the company and our company car drivers.”

The new company car scheme uses whole life costs (WLC) or total cost of ownership (TCO) to establish multi-brand choice lists, rather than choice lists based on monthly rental rates.

Europcar benefits from cost savings thanks to CBVC’s multi-bid acquisition policy, which places the required vehicle out to tender with a variety of funders and places the contract with the lowest rental on the day.

According to Mike Manners, managing director of CBVC,  “It allows us to provide clients with the best leasing rate on the day from a basket of funders, yet still deliver a consistently excellent service level. On average it can save up to £20 per month per vehicle.”

Europcar Mobility Group UK employees choose a vehicle through the CBVC Driver Vehicle Portal, and are actively encouraged to choose an EV which enables them to automatically move up a grade. Previous cash allowance drivers - those taking cash instead of the company car - are also coming back into the company car scheme. Manners says he’s seeing a 50% take-up of previous cash drivers.

He added: “We have been clients of Europcar Mobility Group UK for some considerable time through our rapidly expanding rental business, and it’s a great accolade for us to be awarded the contract to supply and manage its company car fleet. We have been working with many clients to reduce CO2 emissions and our technology incorporating video review and trade-up option is really quick, informative, and straightforward to use. Early orders from Europcar Mobility Group UK employees are showing a 90% EV take-up rate, so we are feeling confident that we will be able to deliver significant CO2 reductions across the company car fleet.

“EVs are a win-win with known tax rates and by using whole-life costs to produce driver vehicle lists we will further support Europcar Mobility Group UK in its ambition to drive down CO2 emissions.”

A global leader in car and van hire, Europcar Mobility Group UK operates from over 120 locations in the UK offering its business and leisure customers a choice of petrol, diesel and electric cars and vans. Volkswagen is currently leading a consortium looking to purchase the Europcar Mobility Group.