Enterprise gives businesses more options for staff travel

Enterprise has launched a free, interactive online journey planning and booking system to help organisations better manage how their employees travel for work. 
 
Enterprise Travel Direct (ETD) is a journey assessment and booking system that enables customers to compare the cost of daily rental, hourly car club and grey fleet based on a planned journey and real-time vehicle availability.
 
ETD enables employees to compare the actual cost of a specific journey at a determined time depending on whether they use a private vehicle and recharge mileage, a car club or a daily rental car. Employees can then choose the best option, such as selecting the lowest rate or the most sustainable choice, depending on the company’s travel policy, which is programmed into the system to ensure complete compliance and control.

Its launch comes following a 12-month pilot programme in partnership with several of the UK’s largest public sector fleets.

A key benefit is that ETD requires employees to log details of every planned journey before the trip is taken, including trips planned in a private vehicle, to assess whether daily rental from Enterprise Rent-A-Car or automated access and hourly hire from Enterprise Car Club could offer a more cost-effective option. This gives businesses unprecedented control as all too often grey fleet travel is only recorded after it has happened, when the mileage is reclaimed through expenses.
 
ETD also requires employees to confirm that their private vehicle is suitable for business use, so organisations that allow grey fleet as an option can be reassured that these journeys are risk assessed before employees travel.
 
The web-based user interface is simple and easy to use. Employees input a range of variables including the date, time, duration as well as start and end point of a proposed business trip. 
 
ETD then offers employees a range of options based on their company’s corporate travel policy and enables them to select the most appropriate and cost-effective option. It automatically calculates whether daily rental or automated 24/7 hourly car club hire would be best for that particular trip and shows the rental cost and the location of the nearest available vehicle in real time. 
 
The system also shows the cost of the grey fleet journey if this is permitted by the travel policy. This means employees can make an informed choice based on total cost as well as vehicle availability before booking their preferred option.