How important is vehicle safety in the new vehicle purchase/lease process for fleet vehicles?

Despite the potential benefits that fleet vehicle purchase decisions could have on road safety, the role that vehicle safety plays in fleet managers' purchase decisions is poorly understood.

In this study, fleet managers from Sweden and Spain completed a questionnaire regarding the importance of vehicle safety in the new vehicle purchase/lease process and the importance that is placed on safety options/features relative to other convenience and comfort features.

The findings of the current study suggest that vehicle safety is generally not the primary consideration in the vehicle purchase process and is consistently outranked by factors such as price and dependability/reliability. For example, when asked to indicate the vehicle factors that are included in their company's criteria for purchasing/leasing a new vehicle, fleet managers from both Sweden and Spain were more likely to list the vehicle's price, reliability, running costs, size, and fuel consumption than the vehicle's safety (defined as the vehicle's EuroNCAP rating/other safety reports). In addition, the findings of this study suggest that the importance of vehicle safety did not differ across the two countries. For example, there was no significant difference in the proportion of fleet managers who indicated that EuroNCAP ratings were part of their official policy across the two countries.

The findings highlighted the need to educate fleet managers about vehicle safety in the new vehicle purchase/lease process. In addition, vehicle safety information, such as EuroNCAP results or other crash test results need to be promoted more widely and effectively so that they play a more prominent role in their new vehicle choices.