However, as ownership becomes less important to people, as a result of the emergence of driverless vehicles for example, there is appetite to try car sharing (when a vehicle is used by more than one person) and ride sharing (when more than one person makes the same journey), the research found.
It revealed that 48% in the UK would consider using car and ride sharing in the next three years, the highest percentage across a dozen European countries included in the survey.
Interest was highest among larger organisations. For example, 7% of businesses with more than 250 employees were interested in ride sharing and 5% in car sharing.
“This makes sense. Ideas such as car and ride sharing are much more practical, in almost all cases, if you have more employees,” commented Ailsa Firth, HR director at Arval. “A greater number of people opens up options in terms of sharing both journeys or vehicles to generate cost and environmental efficiencies.
“What needs to happen now is for employers to work out the best way of making use of mobility solutions as an additional travel option to the car, providing methods of making car and ride sharing practical.”
Firth added that the transition to less emphasis on individual car ownership would take time however.
“We know from our customer base that human resources departments want to find out more... However, the company car has been the number one business travel solution in the UK for approaching 50 years now,” she said, adding that “there is no denying the way in which it is ingrained into our corporate cultures; playing a key role in employee recruitment and retention.”
Arval’s Corporate Vehicle Observatory 2018 Fleet Barometer surveyed 3,718 UK and European managers responsible for fleets.
