Graham Hill, Car Finance Expert Explains The Drop In Emissions Resulting From Scrappage

Sunday, 21. March 2010

It would seem that companies are more environmentally aware than private motorists. According to statistics issued last year, as part of Fleet News Intelligence Report, and more recently backed up by information from the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA), average CO2 emissions from cars put onto fleet leases dropped from 149.9g/km to 144 g/km following a drop of 9 percentage points on the 2007 figure. Whilst the average on all cars, including private cars, only dropped from 149.9 to 149.4 it means that private drivers increased the CO2 emissions from the new cars they bought. As a result of the scrappage scheme, for the first time in years, more new cars were registered to private buyers (55.8%) compared to fleet buyers (44.2%), down from 52.1% in 2008. Tax changes were given as one of the main reasons why companies opted for lower emission cars enabling employees to pay less in benefit in kind tax. Companies also benefit of course as a result of lower fuel costs, insurance and road fund licence so I wouldn’t say they were all simply putting the environment first! By Graham Hill