The provision of company cars in a company is considered a bonus and motivation for top performers or employees in a certain field of activity, where a company car is unavoidable. However, not every employee is provided with their own vehicle by the company, which is why many companies resort to pool vehicles. We take a look at how you can successfully integrate and manage pool vehicles for your fleet.
What are pool vehicles
Pool vehicles are vehicles that can be used by several employees in the company rather than one, and are also called corporate car sharing. The difference to company cars is that these vehicles are not permanently assigned to anyone, but employees have free access to the vehicles. Often, companies provide one or more vehicles per department (here it depends especially on the size of the company), which makes it easier to localize and allocate costs. The integration of vehicles in the fleet enables the fleet manager to save costs and time, as there is the possibility to simplify the administration through digital booking and allocation software.
How to manage pool vehicles
The responsibility of managing pool vehicles in a fleet should lie with the fleet manager. This includes carrying out driver's license checks and accident prevention inspections, damage management and vehicle inspections, risk analyses, and training employees on how to handle the pool vehicles. Furthermore, the fleet manager should also be available as a contact person for questions regarding bookings of the vehicles.
The easiest way to solve these tasks is to use digital fleet management software. Here, fleet managers can manage both regular company cars and pool vehicles, thus saving time and money.
As a fleet manager, you should also set up a system for bookings within a company that can accurately track the booking and utilization of pool vehicles. This gives you room to maneuver and make decisions, and you can see whether it is worthwhile to expand or perhaps even reduce the number of pool vehicles in your fleet.
Costs
The costs of the pool vehicles in the fleet result from the number of kilometers driven as well as a daily or hourly rate which must be determined beforehand. A logbook helps to determine the costs, which records when which employee drove the car and for how long. This is particularly important in cases of damage, so that the company can track exactly what happened when with which car.
If your employees are also allowed to use the pool vehicles privately, you are obliged to ensure that the monetary benefit is recorded. Non-cash benefits are employee benefits that must be taxed as income. For example, the 1% method can be used as a flat rate for taxing private use. This states that one percent of the gross list price at the time of the initial registration of the car is credited as a monetary benefit. In addition, 0.03% of the gross list price per distance kilometer is also assessed if the vehicle is used on the way to work.
Recognizing cost savings
In addition to the cost of pool vehicles in the fleet, there is also the possibility of identifying cost savings. With transparent fleet management software, you can see exactly how much demand the vehicles have and, if necessary, make savings on the cars, for example for UVV inspections or maintenance.
Compliance
Owner's liability is an important issue in the fleet, whether the fleet includes company cars or pool vehicles. For this reason, the fleet manager must ensure that regular driver's license checks are carried out for both vehicle models, drivers receive regular instruction on the subject of vehicles and safety, and UVV inspections are carried out on the vehicles.
The quickest and easiest way to manage driver's license checks and owner's liability is via a digital fleet management tool such as Avrios.
