Not the only leak in your company
A survey of 1200 company car drivers by flexed.co.uk has revealed that 9/10 company car drivers are faking their mileage reports.
From logging their personal driving as business miles or being uninformed about recording their driving habits accurately, the drivers could be costing their company millions.
Flexed.co.uk, a short term car lease company, spoke to 1200 company car drivers and found that:
- 89% said they had submitted an inaccurate mileage claim in the past
- 63% had added personal miles to their total for personal gain
- 20% said they’d added private miles “by mistake”
- 36% didn’t keep accurate records of the business and private mileage, so “just made something up that looked right”
- 12% didn’t realise they had to keep personal and business mileage separate
Mark Hall, spokesman for Flexed.co.uk, said: “It’s an epidemic that’s costing businesses millions of pounds per year, but very few are ever actually caught,
“Those that are usually face internal discipline rather than bringing the attention of the law down on a company, and drivers we spoke to usually paid the money back if questioned.”
In response to the news, Paul Chater, sales director of Vertivia – a company who specialise in mileage and driver management – said:
“Alarming though these statistics are, and certainly they are at higher levels than we ourselves have experienced, there is no reason for companies to put up with such practices, nor to settle for them as being acceptable losses,
“An online business mileage system can be employed to accurately capture drivers’ mileage records, eradicate bogus claims and ensure that companies are only paying out appropriate levels of mileage reimbursement,”
Vertivia’s own research shows that companies see a dramatic fall in recorded business miles after installing a mileage management system, with one major UK fleet witnessing a fall of 5,546 miles a year per driver, nearly 26% of the company’s total business mileage, following the introduction of Vertivia’s mileage capture system.
This solution also reduces administration for drivers by eliminating paperwork and improving accuracy via postcode mapping.
Where do you stand on the issue? Would you rather your company invested in a mileage management system or do you think companies should continue to take their drivers reports in good faith?
