What colour is your fleet

Now I'm not talking about the actual colour of the cars you use in your business. Maybe you have heard of "grey fleet", maybe you haven't. It's not that you drive boring cars, or dull colours. It's about how your business handles keeping you and your staff moving.

Over the last few weeks I've spoken to a few connections and potential customers, and there is a lot of people who are running a grey fleet without realising it - especially in the #SME world. So let's see what that means in real terms.

You've started a #business...you're [insert product or service here] is doing well. To get to your clients or meetings, you grab the keys to your trusted #car from the desk or table. Maybe you have an awesome #coworking space that you drive to and use as your base of operations. It's that same car you have had for a while, you got it nearly new and it's been good.

Maybe you started small, and now you have 2-3 members of staff or more. You're staff all dive into the office/co-working space in their cars. Sometimes they need to go to clients, or you have someone who looks after a particular area. That means they spend most their week out and driving. In their car.

Maybe the car is a newish model, maybe it's a cheap runaround that's one major breakdown away from big repair bill, or just getting another car cheap again. But it's a car that is part of your shop window to the world. That gets seen as you arrive to a client, and talks about your values as a business.

"We're an innovative, forward thinking, social responsible supplier of [X], who want to help you embrace sustainable change in the marketplace" doesn't arrive in a slightly shabby looking 8 year old car. It arrives in something better, hybrid or electric.

Does any of this sound familiar? If it does - you are driving in a grey fleet. Using personal vehicles to support, grow, or run your business. It seems like a simple choice, but in reality comes with a number of headaches for you, and you could be missing out on some important benefits.

Every vehicle in a grey fleet (maybe it's just yours, maybe it's 4-5 including staff) needs to be insured properly, needs to be able to be shown to be roadworthy, needs maintained, and needs paid for.

Even if it's just you in the business, you pay everything you need to for that car out your pocket, and maybe you claim back the 45p per mile, tracking it, trying to offset it against a car purchase payment, or purchase. It seems like an ok way to drive your business, but in reality, it's hurting you.

Why?

If you are running a business as a #soletrader, or maybe as a small limited #company, there are ways to use this to your advantage. Why not look at how using a tax efficient contract hire. Not only does this let you offset the lease against your tax bill and reclaim some of the VAT on the payment, but also will cover road tax and can be set up to include maintenance as well. You can drive a car with better image, drive the latest technology to help you stay connected to your business, and with the latest drivetrain technology - a #phev #hybridvehicle or make the leap to #electricvehicle driving.

Now I'd love that to be a #BMW or #Mini - we have stunning cars, and some attractive prices. But I want to talk to you about your #fleet, show you what #leasing can do for you, or your business #connections. Who do you have in your #network that's the one who rocks up to important meetings in a car that doesn't fit their professional image?

(PS - we do have a choice of colours...including grey)