Case Study - ING Car Lease UK Ltd

Profile

Company Name:

ING Car Lease UK Ltd

Business Sector:

Vehicle leasing and fleet management

Postal Address:

Phoenix House, Cookham Road, Bracknell, Berkshire

Postcode:

RG12 1RR

Fleet Size Overall:

50,000 leased vehicles. 100+ staff members regularly driving on company business. 60 employees with an allocated company car.

HGV:

0

LGV:

0

Company Cars:

60

Private vehicles used for business purposes:

 

0

Company Overview

ING Car Lease provides a full range of funding and fleet management services to both private and public sector organisations and can offer advice to customers on all issues relating to both car and commercial fleets. Sitting within the top 10 largest leasing companies in the UK, ING has the expertise and ability to support a full range of vehicle management requirements.

We take a proactive view to developing services which support the changing demands of managing a fleet. We offer customers a number of services designed to address specific issues, and look to advise them on how best to approach changes within the industry. Our aim is to make our customers’ life as easy as possible when it comes to managing their fleet.

Customers have access to our in-house experts, so we can support them as a true fleet business partner and someone they can turn to with any fleet related issue.

We currently fund and manage a fleet of 50,000 vehicles within the UK and are part of a wider ING Car Lease network covering 8 European countries, managing a total fleet of 235,000 vehicles. We are fully supported and funded by ING Bank N.V.

Nature Of Operation And Driving Activities

As a vehicle funding and fleet management provider, ING provides a full range of fleet-related products and services to customers in both the public and private sectors. These services include:

  • Contract Hire
  • Vehicle Leasing
  • Risk Management
  • Accident Management
  • Environmental Fleet Reporting
  • Daily Rental Services
  • Fleet Management
  • Fuel Card Management
  • Online Fleet Services
  • Breakdown Cover
  • Maintenance Management
  • Direct Driver Liaison
  • Fleet Policy Advice
  • Financial Fleet Audit
  • Commercial Vehicle Fleet
  • Management
  • Fleet legislation advisory services
  • Public Sector Fleet Management
  • Vehicle movements and storage
  • Salary Sacrifice

ING Car Lease employees are required to travel on business between ING offices, to visit customer sites and to meet with suppliers. 60 employees drive allocated company cars. All other drivers use pool cars or daily rental cars. The use of privately owned vehicles on company business is not permitted by ING Car Lease.

With over 1,000 customer accounts and managing 50,000 vehicles, the ING approach to driver safety is to lead by example, demonstrating best practice both within our own organisation, and those of our customers

Organisational Structure

ING Car Lease

 

Road Safety Structure

Commercial Director Greg Taylor commented, “Work-related road safety is critical to any fleet operator working in today’s environment. ING Car Lease wants to demonstrate our commitment to this by practicing what we preach and making sure our own fleet is managed in the safest way possible”.

Work Related Road Safety Policy & Procedures

Developed by a Fleet Risk Manager specifically recruited for the project, ING Risk Assist is a full service risk management package designed to manage the risks faced by each driver on an individual basis, depending on their specific circumstances and work requirements.

The process began with a full policy review, assessing the existing document for errors and omissions and the production of a completely new Driver Safety Policy that helped ING drivers do their work in the safest possible manner, and comply with the relevant legislation and guidance. The policy has been updated regularly to ensure the best possible advice is given to drivers.

All business drivers (allocated company car drivers and occasional business users) are required to complete the three-stage online process before they are allowed to drive on business.

  1. All drivers complete an online survey, where they are asked for information on their driving history and patterns, including mileage, time spent behind the wheel, shift patterns, type of vehicle driven, accident and insurance history, etc.

  1. All drivers are required to sign a mandate giving ING access to their driving licence records held by the DVLA. Checks are made at least annually, with higher risk drivers being checked up to four times per year.
  1. All drivers are required to complete a series of online assessments, covering knowledge checks on the Highway Code and on the ING Car Lease Driver Safety Policy, as well as undergoing a Psychometric Test to identify potential thrill-seeking or antisocial tendencies.

The information gathered on each individual is analysed to identify any unacceptable risks faced. Drivers who are rated as “Above Average Risk” or “High Risk” are offered interventions as appropriate. This may be in the form of training (either on-road or online) or a practice review where the individual work patterns are examined to help reduce mileage/driving hours etc.

The information is refreshed annually to help identify any changes in an individual’s profile that increases the level of risk they face.

Work Related Road Safety Guidance For Drivers

The ING Risk Assist Driver Safety Policy offers guidance to drivers in a range of areas relating to both business and domestic driving. This includes best practice in the areas of:

Vehicle choice
Vehicles used for business will be suitable for their intended use, and where possible have a EuroNCAP score of more than 4 stars.

Vehicle servicing and maintenance, including safety checks
All company vehicles are fully maintained by the company. Drivers are advised how to carry out safety checks and reminded at regular intervals. Car-park inspections are carried out by the contracted maintenance providers.

Mobile phone use
Drivers are strongly advised not to use a mobile phone whilst driving, either hand-held or hands-free, and it is made clear that this is not required of any ING employee. Where the driver chooses to use a mobile phone, hands-free equipment is provided.

Driving-related health issues
General health advice is given to drivers on such subjects as proper seating/ergonomics, safe use of medication, etc, as well as offering subsidised eye tests/glasses to all drivers.

Drink and drugs
Driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol is totally prohibited and constitutes gross misconduct under the ING Car Lease policy

Driver fatigue
Drivers are required to take regular breaks as per Department for Transport guidance. Where appropriate, overnight accommodation is provided by the company.

Journey planning
All ING offices are required to have a dedicated videoconference suite as a matter of policy. Drivers are given guidance on selecting the most appropriate method of meeting customers or suppliers, whether in person or via videoconference. Where face-to-face meetings are required, drivers are required to consider all travel methods and to select the most efficient.

Breakdowns and accidents
All drivers are covered by a comprehensive roadside assistance service. In the event of a breakdown or accident, specific advice is given as to how to deal with the situation, and assistance is available to the driver via a 24-hour helpline.

Personal safety
Drivers are not required to enter any situation where their personal safety may be compromised. The policy gives general advice to drivers as to the steps they should take to keep themselves safe.


This is reinforced through regular e-bulletins to all drivers at intervals during the year. Subject for these bulletins include Winter Driving, Vehicle Safety Checks, Driver fatigue, Driving Overseas, etc. A sample bulletin is attached.

Two areas were very quickly identified as being important to drivers. The first was licence validation, where data security was an initial cause for concern. This was addressed through a series of individual and group discussions explaining the mechanics of the process and reassuring the drivers that the objective of the system was to make compliance easier rather than trying to catch anyone out.

The second issue identified early in the process was one of driver fatigue. Following a business restructure, more and more employees were required to attend both internal and external meetings in different offices. This led to an upgraded video-conference suite being made available, as well as a significant relaxing of the criteria required for the provision of overnight accommodation.

Specific Examples Of Procedures

See above

The ING Car Lease policy is designed to cover all the areas we feel are required to demonstrate best practice and keep drivers as safe as possible, whilst still allowing them to carry out their roles. The policy makes it clear what is and is not permitted by the company, but it is also realistic in what it expects drivers to do. We acknowledge the fact, for instance, that some drivers will continue to use a mobile phone even if we prohibit the practice. We therefore state clearly that the company advice is not to use a mobile phone in any circumstances, but should the driver make the decision to do so, we will provide the equipment necessary to keep them legal and as safe as possible.

Employee engagement is a very important factor in policy construction. Without buy-in from drivers, no policy will be effective.

Auditing And Review

The fleet performance is reviewed by the Fleet Manager and the Fleet Risk Manager on a regular basis to analyse data from Risk Assist and Accident Management and identify trends as they emerge. Amendments and mitigation processes are then applied to reduce the risks as they are identified.

As a process, ING Risk Assist is reviewed regularly with customers and supply partners to ensure it continues to be relevant and effective. Wherever an improvement can be made, either to the electronic system or to the managed process, it is done quickly and with the minimum of fuss to help encourage driver participation and compliance.

Performance Measures

The main performance measure used is annual accident rate and annual accident cost. Alongside these measures, general trending is monitored to identify other issues such as high mileage, driving hours, endorsements, etc.

 

Accident Reduction

Incident Ratio 2006:                71%     Total Cost 2006:          £21k
Incident Ratio 2007:                43%     Total Cost 2007:          £26k
Incident Ratio 2008:                41%     Total Cost 2008:          £26k
Incident Ratio 2009:                40%     Total Cost 2009:          £18k
Incident Ratio 2010:                23%     Total Cost 2010:          £22k

 

Financial And Other Benefits

Accident costs reduced from £483/driver in 2006 to £183/driver in 2010

Lessons Learned

Driver communication is key to the success of any programme. ING Risk Assist was and continues to be developed with the input of the drivers it is designed to help. If a programme is imposed on a driver population, they will not engage with it and it will not succeed.