That’s the finding of the latest Corporate Vehicle Observatory (CVO) Barometer, which interviewed more than 4,500 fleet decision makers in businesses of all sizes and across 15 countries.

Held annually since 2002 to provide a neutral and international insight into fleet trends, the latest CVO Barometer found that 63% of businesses still rate quality in the top two of their list of motivations for selecting a fleet management. It also found that 46% of the largest businesses place factors other than price at the top of their list, which include quality, flexibility and reputation.

Mike Waters, senior insight & consultancy manager for Arval in the UK, commented: ‘Of course, price remains important and a range of factors will have kept this high on the list. They are likely to include the difficult economic conditions we have experienced in the past few years and the growing role of procurement teams in the fleet management process with a clear remit to manage costs.’

He added: ‘It is sensible that businesses manage vehicle related pricing as one of several ways to keep costs under control. However, a single minded focus on price can be a short sighted one, nullifying other benefits that a fleet provider can deliver and the added value services which support fleet efficiency and longer term, more sustainable cost savings.’