The Commonwealth Bank of Australia is an Australian multinational bank with businesses across New Zealand, Fiji, Asia, USA and the United Kingdom and currently operates a tool of trade fleet of 2,451 passenger vehicles and a further 1,200 novated leases.

A comprehensive review of the CBA’s “tool of trade” fleet operations has achieved fleet savings over 4% for the past 12 months. In addition, a further 12% saving is estimated over the coming five years.

The review found that two areas stood out for improvement. The first area was the “vehicle types”, and the second was the “mandatory driver compliance” elements. These two areas represented the biggest opportunity for fleet cost reductions as well as greater fleet utilisation.

As a result of a review with internal and external stakeholders, a manufacturer RFP (request for proposals) was launched and nine vehicle manufacturers representing 72 vehicles were invited to participate. The range of vehicles included Electric, Hybrid, Diesel and Petrol fuel types.

The tender outcome resulted in a change of vehicles for the CBA that represented best-in-class features, stronger residual values and presented a significant forecast rental and FBT savings.

A separate initiative was designed to test the productivity of the existing Tool of Trade vehicles. This analysis compared the business usage against the reported private usage via the CBA’s 2012 FBT data. The analysis highlighted approximately 300 units travelling less than 10,000km business kilometres per annum. In consultation with Business Unit CFOs and Fleet-Coordinators, about 200 vehicles from the preceding 12 months were returned without replacement delivering a combined rental and fuel savings of over AU$1million.

A review of the CBA relationship with its Business Unit fleet managers identified a need for better communication with regular and structured meetings. Over the past 12 months, the review meetings have provided an excellent exchange of ideas and identified numerous areas for improvement for both parties. This included the introduction of an SMS notification service to staff that alerted them to actions that needed to be undertaken with their vehicles, such as motor vehicle servicing.

These initiatives have resulted in significant operational efficiencies, greater cooperative fleet knowledge and expertise, and cost savings.