What do Clean Air Zones mean for company car fleet managers? Car News

Uniquely, London has two distinct regimes.

The Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) applies 24/7 and charges £12.50 for pre-Euro 4 petrols and pre-Euro 6 diesels. It covers the entire Northern region Circular and southern circular routes.

The Congestion Charge operates between 7am and 10pm in a much smaller area of ​​central London. All combustion engine vehicles – including plug-in hybrids – are charged £15 a day to enter the zone, in addition to the ULEZ fee.

What does this mean for fleets?

For now, that shouldn’t be a big deal. Most fleets operate cars less than three years old, which meet the required Euro standards and will therefore be exempt from most clean air zones.

However, the gray fleet is more difficult. With less attractive tax breaks in the late 2010s, HMRC estimates that the population of company car drivers in the UK has risen from 950,000 to 800,000 over the past decade. This has pushed some towards cash allowances or using their own cars instead, which are more likely to be older and therefore non-compliant.

Commercial vehicles are a bigger potential headache. Data from the Department for Transport suggests that only 40% of company-owned vans are less than three years old, while one in six are over ten years old. With five additional cities (Bath, Bradford, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield) planning Class C zones, the recent surge in demand for used Euro 6 compliant vans comes as little surprise.

Alexander Grant