Noddy wrote:
> "Doug Jewell" <ask@and.maybe.ill.tell.you> wrote in message
> news:476ccc9a$0$20643$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-
> .
>> Uhm... so who made the sweeping statement?
>> I said "most companies i've been associated with", whereas you said "like
>> any company". I guess it's to be expected that someone who thinks magnas
>> are good cars, would also be a little confused as to what constitutes a
>> sweeping statement. Reality obviously isn't your strong point.
>
> Indeed.
>
> A vast majority of my business was fleet service, from companies with fleets
> ranging in size from a few cars to a few dozen, and *none* of them let their
> staff go out and pick the cars they wanted within a certain budget. In most
> cases (if not all) the cars were purchased in bulk from the one manufacturer
> after the person responsible for making the purchase had negotiated the best
> deal for the *lot*.
>
> 99 times out of 100 what brand of car the fleet would be was usually
> whatever one they could get for the best price that fell within their
> selection criteria, and most times the amount of choice afforded to the
> staff who would be driving them would be what colour they wanted.
>
> People who pick their own cars usually salary sacrifice, but then that ain't
> "fleet".
Yep, that's been my experience as well.
One company that offered me a job was going to give me my
choice of car up to a certain $ value - but the car was to
be part of my salary package (ie, for personal use as well
as work), not part of the company's fleet.
Otherwise, the vehicles have been purchased with no regard
for the person who would ultimately be driving it -
purchasing decisions were generally based on price so long
as it met their requirements[1]. In most cases fleets were
kept fairly uniform, and there are advantages in keeping
consistency, such as service schedules, single point of
contact for servicing issues, if there is a recall (and what
new car doesn't get recalled) then you only need to keep
track of 1 brand, even minor things like your logos can be
kept uniform.
[1] It is not unusual, especially in government purchasing,
to draft the selection criteria so as to exclude all except
the desired model. Requirements such as wheelbase, interior
space, engine capacity, tray size, warranty etc are pretty
easy to draft so that the only car that qualifies is what
the purchasing officer already wanted to get.
>
> --
> Regards,
> Noddy.
>
>