Volvo tackles £1.2bn company car collision bill with Co-Pilot driver safety scheme
Businesses are haemorrhaging an estimated £1.2 billion every year through their vehicle fleets due to uninsured losses incurred from accidents involving company cars and drivers. Every day, more than 150 vehicles being driven on company business crash1 with uninsured losses stacking up to an average £22,000 per vehicle.2
Uninsured costs include hire cars, absenteeism and loss of productivity, missed deadlines, legal and administration fees, and even damage to brand and reputation. Worse is the human cost. According to the Department for Transport, more than a quarter of all road traffic accidents on British roads involve someone driving for work, and accidents involving business drivers cause 20 deaths and 200 serious injuries every week.
Despite this, research shows just one in five firms operate a culture of driver safety best practice. A further 22% don’t even have a company driver policy, while a third of fleet managers admit to not having a written risk assessment and more than half fail to check licences against the DVLA database – a serious breach of their duty of care under Health & Safety legislation.3
As part of its mission that by 2020 nobody shall be injured or killed in a new Volvo, Volvo Car UK has launched a new support programme designed to help SMEs get on top of their legal and social obligations, and ensure the safety of their fleets and drivers.
Co-Pilot was developed in conjunction with Volvo’s driver risk consultancy partner, Fleet21 and will see Volvo give £495 worth of risk management consultancy and practical support free of charge to every company buying or leasing its first Volvo. The package includes a fleet policy drawn up by legal experts, licence checks, driver handbooks and online risk assessments for up to 20 drivers.4 Further advice and discounted services will be provided by a consortium of fleet support specialists brought together by Volvo.
Co-Pilot partners include: Transport for London, Driving for Better Business, Road Safety Support, Alere Toxicology, Fuel Card Services, Road Hawk, Specsavers and Romex. More partners, including insurance, daily rental and research providers, will be announced over the coming weeks.
Selwyn Cooper, head of business sales at Volvo Car UK, said: “It’s not enough that with the V40, Volvo makes the safest car tested by Euro NCAP, nor that our award winning City Braking technology has reduced the number of collisions on some customers’ fleets by a third.
“SME fleet managers tell us they find it difficult to dedicate sufficient time to looking after the vehicles on their books, never mind worrying about what drivers are up to. We also know driver behaviour is a major factor in more than 90% of all accidents. That’s why we’ve launched Co-Pilot, to help businesses fulfil their duty of care to their employees and other road users, and cut the cost of accidents to society and their bottom line.’
Simon Turner, director of Fleet21 Driver Risk Management, added: “Many businesses don’t realise they legal obligations to manage the risk of asking employees to drive for work or, if they do, they lack the resources to implement it properly. Co-pilot removes this headache and gives fleet managers everything they need to make their business compliant.”
For more information, call the Co-Pilot Business Helpline on 0844 4905 209 or visit www.volvocars.co.uk/business
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