When and where are your travellers safe behind the wheel – and when should they be in the passenger seat? Catherine Chetwynd looks at best practice on the road and other issues in the car rental sector
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY and duty of care are commitments that weigh heavy on the conscience of the travel manager and, where car rental is concerned, this includes considering whether or not travellers should be allowed to drive in certain destinations. This could be because of terrorist activity or other security issues, but in fact, it’s more likely to be because road conditions and standards of driving are hazardous, to say the least.
Avis sales director Ollie Woodmansee says the firm’s chauffeur-drive service is available across the global network but has a particularly strong presence in the Chinese and Indian markets.
“Safety is our prime concern, so we strongly recommend chauffeur-drive when travelling in countries with extreme driving conditions,” says Woodmansee. “Also, in China, a Chinese driving licence is a prerequisite, so foreign travellers using Avis are provided with a uniformed, trained chauffeur for the duration.”
Demand for Hertz’s chauffeur-drive business fits the typical profile. “Customers use it in India, the Middle East and China, where either travelling is dangerous, driving is hazardous or road signs are not in English – for example, Japan,” says UK general manager for Hertz Neil Cunningham. “Chauffeur-drive is a rather glamorous name for a car with driver, and that is all we do with our operation in China. In some destinations in India, when you get there, you would want a car with driver – you would not want to pick up a taxi to go point-to-point.
“A car with the same driver over several days is worthwhile and, from an employer’s point of view, that is duty of care.”
The Middle and Far East – China, Singapore and India, in particular – are the destinations where companies most often arrange chauffeur-drive cars, although one buyer for an aerospace company said: “We would not insist on chauffeur-drive – taxis are more than adequate.”
Deloitte tends to avoid chauffeur-drive. “We have hotel pick-up at the airport or use an airline service, such as Virgin’s,” says Simon Brown, who provides travel services for the firm. Only where there is a security issue does he take other action. “In Russia,” he says, “we always have cars.”
The need to drive in most major cities is relatively small because public transport or taxis do a perfectly good job. Not all the car rental companies offer chauffeur-drive services, although some will set it up on request.
National Car Rental does not have a chauffeur-drive arm, but “we will endeavour to provide a car and driver service on request”, says regional director Mark Lister.
As representatives of their corporate clients, travel management companies also have to be concerned about duty of care. HRG works with security specialists Red24 to rate the risk in certain countries. “We look at a host of factors, including crime, conflict and also the level and adequacy of a country’s infrastructure,” says HRG’s director of ancillary products, Brian Merry.
“This includes the general driving conditions, adherence to the rules of the road and congestion levels in the travel area. By considering what threats exist and how severe they are, Red24 will make recommendations for driving in a country.
“This may be that self-drive is suitable, or that a chauffeur with knowledge of the local environment and conditions is advised. At the far end of the scale, an armed security escort may be recommended,” he says.
Issues with local law enforcement, such as bribes, are also on the radar and Red24 constantly monitors developments in-country and alerts clients of incidents or events that may affect road travel, such as strikes and protests.
Hillgate Travel’s repository of information is its travel information portal Gateway, which contains security information, travel maps and Foreign Office-designated “dangerous” cities. Although keeping costs down is still the driving force of travel managers, Hillgate’s head of client communications, Andrew Burch, emphasises this does not impact on safety issues. “Cost consideration is not part of the decision-making when companies are looking at chauffeur-drive,” he says, adding that one credit card company client mandates chauffeur-drive in some destinations.
Technology
Management information (MI) is always a key area for travel buyers, and this applies as much to car rental as other sectors. Inevitably, technology is playing an ever-increasing role in the transactions between rental companies and their clients.
Ease of booking is paramount, and new technology also contributes to greater reporting accuracy, according to Enterprise Rent-a-Car business development director Rob Ingram.
This is an area in which the previously mentioned aerospace company’s travel manager has problems: “We struggle with back office: getting invoicing correct, or getting charges that match the agreement,” he says.
In addition, many rental companies now have MI online, so that customers can access every conceivable detail – who hired what car and when, how often, where they picked it up and returned it, what they paid and whether the driver adhered to travel policy. Hertz, Enterprise, National Car Rental and Sixt all fall into this category.
“Travel managers will have an account manager who will work with the client to measure compliance,” says Hertz’s Neil Cunningham. “Some managers insist on a robust fleet mix, with many different types of cars; some companies would have their own portal to filter out details for approval, to check compliance or so that large organisations can check that a person is an employee of the company and covered by the insurance; or we have booking tools that can do that.”
Enterprise provides similarly detailed MI online and has introduced an approval process so that each booking goes straight to the driver’s line manager for approval. “Companies can use the online tool to encourage employees to book smaller cars,” says Ingram. “And once drivers have set up their profile, the next time they just need to tell us the date or time because the rest is already in the system. This saves time and also reduces errors.”
In addition to the above MI, travel policy can be built into the Sixt system so that it shows only the class of vehicle allowed. “We are moving toward having booker profiles online this year and are revamping the CRM system to power that,” says Sixt marketing manager Drew Post.
New technology is also playing a part in facilitating car collection for Hertz customers with the upgrading of automated kiosks at Heathrow to include video chat technology, allowing drivers to see and talk to an agent. The service allows rental with or without a booking, accepts credit card payments and validates driving licences. It is particularly useful for picking up a car at night or for bypassing queues at the desk during the day.
Apps are also beginning to feature, in particular those from Europcar (for iPhone), giving access to rates, terms and conditions, extras such as satnav, the ability to change or cancel a booking, and special offers. Similarly, Sixt’s iPhone and iPad app accesses these services and also allows users to get quotes, complete a booking and use their Sixt accounts.
Savvy sharing
The car club model has also made its way into the car rental sector – and with notable success. Hertz launched Hertz on Demand in 2009, which is largely used as a pool car solution for travel managers. PwC is a case in point, where a lot of its employees were spending a fortune on travelling from its More London and Embankment offices to other PwC buildings across the capital.
PwC took Hertz on Demand membership, through which it has two electric Mitsubishi i-MIEVs across the two sites. “People book them online and access them through an RFID [radio-frequency identification] card or fob. They do not pay the congestion charge or for use of parking meters in Westminster. PwC has visibility and control, and taxi spend has gone down significantly,” says Hertz’s Cunningham.
Enterprise’s Wecar offers hourly rental for customers and vehicles are also kept in a dedicated location
on customer sites and booking is conducted online.
Adding up the add-ons
One German car manufacturer has a reputation for elevating the add-on to art form: “Oh, you want a steering wheel, sir – that will be another £500.” And car rental has a similarly insidious reputation, so it’s worth considering every possible permutation before signing on the dotted line.
Cost and compliance are still the major considerations for travel managers, and car rental companies are responding to this. “We have put a lot of emphasis on account management and have dedicated account managers at a very senior level,” says Enterprise’s Rob Ingram. “We have made it a much more strategic role and they are tasked with making the businesses we work with more efficient. They have rental experience from working in branches, plus account experience, so they can tie the two together.”
Possible component parts to any contract include daily rental rate (unlimited free mileage or free
up to, say, 250 miles and then a mileage charge), insurance, winter tyres, GPS, airport pick-up, home delivery, Bluetooth technology, one-way journeys and environmental considerations.
Larger cars often come with GPS and, as it is a feature of most smartphones, it should not be necessary to pay for it. In fact, Enterprise’s Ingram says Bluetooth is almost more important to clients than GPS. Winter tyres are mandatory in some countries and will have to be negotiated for others. Some companies may already have insurance cover in the UK and may need it only for countries elsewhere.
Environmental issues can be quite complex. Hybrid and electric cars are expensive and have low residual value, so rental companies are reluctant to invest in them.
“Many more organisations are now actively monitoring the advent of hybrid and electric cars for rental and fleet use,” says HRG’s Merry. “For this option to become a commercial viability for corporate travellers, a tried and tested infrastructure on a national level – for charging and so on – will have to be in place. But as ever, cost appears to be king and ‘green’ will only increase with the advent of competitive pricing.”
Nonetheless, stop-start (engine cut-out) and other green technologies help rental companies keep their overall emissions relatively low. “We have seen a lot of corporate demand for diesel engines because they give better mileage than petrol,” says Sixt’s Post, “and we have increased the number of diesel cars across our fleet to make sure we are geared up to support that.”