Standard Toolbox The basics to manage your fleet...

Track-back: Manager | The Standard Toolbox

A Driver’s Handbook

Please see below an abbreviated example Driver’s Handbook. The full edition can be obtained from us in a word format, so that it can be personalised and edited to suit your Company or business.

This service is free of charge, on request by email or phone.

DRIVER’S HANDBOOK

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION - KEY PRINCIPLES

Key Principles

(Your Company Name) aims to offer a competitive reward and benefits package and the company car policy outlined in this handbook is a key part of this.

The key principles of the policy are as follows:

Trading Up/Down

Everyone eligible for a company car will be allocated a monthly allowance according to job role (see ‘CHOOSING THE RIGHT CAR 1. Your Monthly Rental Allowance’).

The policy gives you the option to go under or over your monthly car allowance, so you can choose the right car to meet your needs. You can:

a) Choose a car to your full monthly entitlement; or trade down to a car with a monthly rental that is less than your entitlement. You will receive the difference in your monthly salary, from a minimum of £10 per month to a maximum of 15% of your monthly entitlement; or

b) Trade up to a car with a monthly rental which is up to 15% higher than you are entitled to under the car policy (with or without optional extras). If you opt for this you will pay the difference from your salary every month.

More details on trading up or down can be found later.

Early Termination

There may be a business/commercial reason to early terminate a company car contract. Drivers are not entitled to terminate their contract early through personal choice. In addition, drivers are not entitled to contribute to the cost of any early termination penalties.

Where there is a business/commercial reason to terminate, approval from the Company is required.

Deviation From The Car Policy

From time to time there may be a business/commercial reason, where the application of the key principles of the car policy is not appropriate. In these instances, authorisation must be sought from the Company.

Changes To The Policy

The company car policy is applied at the discretion of the Company, who has the right to change the policy without notice and compensation. However, every effort will be made to give drivers advance notice of any changes to the policy.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE FOR A COMPANY CAR?

1. Essential Users

Essential users are employees in customer-facing roles who have to travel over
12000 miles a year on company business and therefore need a company car in order to do their job.

2. Perk Users

Perk users are employees who are in non-customer facing roles and do not necessarily need a car for company business. Cars will be supplied at the Company’s discretion. However, these cars will be deemed to be available for company business as and when the need arises.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT COMPANY CAR

1. Your Monthly Rental Allowance

Under the car policy you will be allocated to one of the following car groups
depending on your role. This determines your monthly rental allowance:

Benchmark Quotation

All quotes for company cars will be based on 25000 miles per annum over a 36 month period. When you have made your choice, the actual contract will be written to take into account your anticipated actual annual mileage.

Manufacturers are restricted in the essential user groups B, C and D. Also in these groups, no petrol engines, convertibles, 4x4s, or MPVs will be allowed.

2. Trading Up

You can choose a car that costs more than your monthly allowance (up to a maximum of 15%). If you do this, you will be responsible for paying the difference in the rental cost, and the extra National Insurance cost. Taken together, this means that the amount you will pay will be the actual additional rental plus the current tax year’s employer’s NI. Payroll will action national insurance at the current year’s rate.

The money will be deducted from your net monthly salary by Payroll.

If you leave the Company in the middle of your contract period you will have to pay the Company any remaining additional rental cost and national insurance which would be due for the rest of the contract period.

2.1 Essential Users cannot trade up

2.2 Any trade up costs towards the vehicle may be considered by the Inland Revenue as a contribution towards private use and might therefore be classed as a deduction from your taxable earnings. You should ask your local Inland Revenue office for advice based upon your personal circumstances.

2.3 Your contribution is the difference between your monthly entitlement and the car’s monthly rental cost plus the additional employer’s National Insurance contribution.

2.4 The maximum upgrade contribution is 15% of your monthly entitlement.

2.5 Your upgrade contributions will be collected through an authorised monthly deduction from your salary for the term of the vehicle contract.

2.6 If you leave the Company before the end of the full rental period, you will be required to pay the remaining rental cost (i.e. for the remaining period of the rental) of any upgrade that they have asked for and the Company reserves the right to deduct this from any final payment you receive.

2.7 When the upgrade includes fitting accessories, the accessories are owned by the contract hire company / (yourcompany name).

3. Trading Down

If you wish you can trade down, subject to the approval of the Company, taking a
car that costs less than your monthly rental allowance. If you do this you will receive the difference in your monthly salary (trade down maximum is 15% of your monthly allowance).

Essential car users are not eligible to receive any cash back from trading down.

3.1 If your monthly rental is less than your monthly allowance, you will be paid the difference in your monthly salary. The minimum you can receive is £10 the maximum is 15% of your monthly allowance.

3.2 You will receive this money through an authorised monthly payment as part of your salary for the term of the vehicle contract. The Payment will be liable to tax and, where appropriate, national insurance deductions, but is not pensionable.

4. Choosing A Nearly New Car

You can choose a nearly new car. If you want to choose a used car, it must meet the following criteria:

4.1 It should not be more than 12 months old. It should not have more than 15000 miles recorded on the clock. It will not be possible to view nearly new vehicles in advance of ordering.

5. Allocation Of Existing Vehicles.

Wherever possible you will have the opportunity to choose a new car:

• When you join the Company.
• Receive a promotion to a role which is eligible for a company car.
• Reach the end of your existing company car contract.

However, in order to manage the car fleet efficiently, the Company may decide to reallocate a ‘spare’ vehicle from the existing fleet for the remainder of the contract term. If this happens, the car which is allocated will be in line with your car entitlement under the policy.

If you are allocated a vehicle which costs more in rental than your monthly allocation, you will not normally have to pay upgrade contributions. In this case any contributions would be at the discretion of the Company.

6. Excluded Vehicles.

In line with our environmental policy, cars which achieve less than 24mpg based on Extra Urban Driving Cycle are excluded from this policy on the basis of poor emission control and uneconomical running costs.

Levels B, C and D – exclude MPVs, convertible, coupe/cabriolets, 4x4 and petrol engine cars

Levels A and E – at the Company’s discretion.

7. Accessories

To ensure your comfort and safety, the Company has determined a level of accessories to be fitted to company cars, the cost of which will be included in the monthly contract allowance. These are as follows:

• Bluetooth hands free phone kit
• Alarm and/or immobiliser
• Driver airbag
• Radio/single CD
• First Aid Kit

You can add other accessories, eg. SatNav, metallic paint; as long as the total cost of the car is still within your monthly allowance or the maximum 15% trade up option. As with the car itself, the accessories are owned by the contract hire company/XYZ Engineering Ltd.

ORDERING AND RECEIVING YOUR COMPANY CAR

Follow these eight steps

1. You are responsible for contacting your line manager/fleet manager direct to order your company car.

2. You will be given a Car Order Approval Form CO-1 to be completed with the assistance of your line manager/fleet manager.

3. At the same time the line manager/fleet manager will provide a quotation for the proposed car based on the standard benchmark 25000 miles per annum over a 36 month period with full maintenance.

4. If your chosen car’s quotation fits within these parameters for your given Group/Level, then the order form with the quotation attached is presented for formal approval and the car ordered.

5. A copy of the order to the Contract Hire Company will be given to you for reference.

6. Remember, the actual contract will be written to take into account your anticipated actual annual mileage.

7. When the vehicle arrives in stock, the Company will contact you to arrange a convenient time for delivery. Where requested, a mobile phone handset will be fitted/transferred.

8. You should inspect your car fully on delivery. You must complete the delivery note to either confirm the acceptability of the vehicle or to bring attention to any faults, problems or difference in specification from that ordered.

RUNNING YOUR COMPANY CAR

1. Defining Business And Personal Journeys

You can use your company car freely for personal as well as business journeys subject to the conditions outlined in ‘Authorised Drivers’ below.

In order to avoid confusion, business travel is defined as:

Journeys you have to make to or from a workplace as part of your job, but which are not your ordinary journeys to and from work.

Ordinary commuting, which is classed as a personal journey is defined as:

To and from home to your permanent place of work.

2. Fuel And Mileage

As a company car user you can choose to take a company fuel card to buy fuel and oil in the UK for both business and private mileage, although you should consider the tax consequences of doing this.

The fuel card will not cover any fuel you buy outside the UK. You can only claim back the cost of fuel bought outside the UK if it was used directly for business purposes.

2.1 Opting out of private mileage benefit

You can opt out of the private mileage benefit at anytime during the car contract period. If you choose to opt out of private fuel, you must return your company fuel card to your line manager/fleet manager. You should then reclaim the cost of any fuel and oil you use on business travel through expenses. With effect from 1 July 2006 this will be based on the rates set out by the Inland Revenue shown below.

The rates represent average fuel costs.

The Inland Revenue aim to provide employers with as much certainty as possible by keeping fuel rates unchanged where there are modest variations in fuel prices. In line with the commitment made when they were introduced, the rates will be reviewed during a tax year only in the event of a variation in fuel prices of greater than 10% from the prices used at that time.

When you reclaim business mileage you should do this on a normal expense claim form giving the following information:

• date of travel
• journey details
• number of miles
• cost of the journey (no of miles multiplied by the pence per mile)
• running annual total of business miles for self assessment taxation purposes.

Continued...

^ back to top

All of the documents can be obtained from us in a word format, so that they can be personalised and edited to suit your company or business. This service is free of charge, on request or phone 01908 262662.