1
The Company Car’s time and place:
Establishing the spatio-temporal
patterns of a unique form of car
ownership
Scott Le Vine ([email protected])
Peter Jones
John Polak
RGS-IBG Conference
August 2013
2
Relevance
• Car as compensation
taxed at a lower rate
than salary – accident
of history with
substantial inertia
• Transport policy
‘success story’
• Under-appreciated
contributor to broader
trends
3
Motivating questions
• Company car use is
reducing – is it shifting
to personal car use?
• Does another family
member having a
company car mean
you drive less?
• How, when and where
are company cars
used? -4,000
-3,500
-3,000
-2,500
-2,000
-1,500
-1,000
-500
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,500
-3,500 -3,000 -2,500 -2,000 -1,500 -1,000 -500 0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500
Ch
ange
in a
vera
ge a
nn
ual
co
mp
any
car
dri
vin
g m
ileag
e (
fro
m 1
99
5/7
)
Change in average annual personal car driving mileage (from 1995/7)
Men aged 30 to 59, in full-time employment
Average for all SEG classes
Employer/manager
Professional
Non-manual
Personal service
Manual
Self-employed non-professional
Other
2000/2
2005/7
2008/10
-
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75
Ave
rage
an
nu
al c
om
pan
y ca
r d
rivi
ng
mile
age
Age (5-year-of-age moving average)
Men, 1995/7
Men, 2000/2
Men, 2005/7
Men, 2008/10
Women, 1995/7
Women, 2000/2
Women, 2005/7
Women, 2008/10
4
A middle-aged, male phenomenon
-
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75
Ave
rage
an
nu
al c
om
pan
y ca
r d
rivi
ng
mile
age
Age (5-year-of-age moving average)
Men, 1995/7
Men, 2000/2
Men, 2005/7
Men, 2008/10
Women, 1995/7
Women, 2000/2
Women, 2005/7
Women, 2008/10
5
Limited evidence of substitution
-4,000
-3,500
-3,000
-2,500
-2,000
-1,500
-1,000
-500
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,500
-3,500 -3,000 -2,500 -2,000 -1,500 -1,000 -500 0 500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500
Ch
ange
in a
vera
ge a
nn
ual
co
mp
any
car
dri
vin
g m
ileag
e (
fro
m 1
99
5/7
)
Change in average annual personal car driving mileage (from 1995/7)
Men aged 30 to 59, in full-time employment
Average for all SEG classes
Employer/manager
Professional
Non-manual
Personal service
Manual
Self-employed non-professional
Other
2000/2
2005/7
2008/10
6
Further investigation of substitution
• Multivariate regression
(with controls for
confounding effects)
of driving mileage
by British adults (‘95-
’10)
• n=201K; r2 = 0.36
• Individual-year
dummy variables to
capture exogenous
shifts
-250
0
250
500
750
1,000
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Mile
s p
er y
ear
Year-specific error terms
-2,500
0
2,500
5,000
7,500
10,000
12,500
Keeps a company car Keeps a company car & receives free fuel
Does not keep a company car, but
another household member does
Does not keep a company car and
receive free fuel, but another household
member does
Mile
s p
er y
ear
Effects of interest
7
Further investigation of substitution (2)
-2,500
0
2,500
5,000
7,500
10,000
12,500
Keeps a company car Keeps a company car & receives free fuel
Does not keep a company car, but
another household member does
Does not keep a company car and
receive free fuel, but another household
member does
Mile
s p
er y
ear
Effects of interest
8
Changing profile of CC drivers
Average income of company car drivers
1995/7 £41.5K
2000/2 £42.7K
2005/7 £39.7K
2008/10 £37.5K
(2010 prices, RPI-adjusted)
9
When are company cars used?
Distribution of journeys by journey start time
10
How are company cars used? (1)
11
How are company cars used? (2)
Company car
Personal car
All other purposes
10 miles 7 miles
Business 35 miles 16 miles
Commuting 17 miles 9 miles
Average journey length
12
How are company cars used? (3)
13
Where are company cars?
• More prevalent in
Greater South East
than rest of GB in
1990s; less so
today
• We analysed
personal car and
company car
movements using 5
concentric
geographies
A: Central London
(within Inner Ring Road)
B: Rest of Inner London
C: Outer London
D: Greater South East
(SE and Eastern GORs)
E. Rest of GB
A B C D E
14
Where are company cars kept?
15
Where are company cars used?
• More likely than
personal cars to
travel radially
• Company cars are
9% of car-trips
in/out of Central
London;
8% of all radial trips;
4% of others
16
Where are company cars used? (2)
17
Where are company cars used? (3)
• Half (48%) of London
personal car trips are
O.L. to/from O.L.
• 35% of company car
trips are O.L.-O.L.
• But a greater
proportion of company
car travel is between
O.L. and Home
Counties
18
Summary
• Some evidence that company car mileage is
‘excess’ – i.e. not a perfect substitute for
personal car mileage
• No evidence of a company car driver’s presence
in HH suppressing other HH members’ driving
mileage
− But we looked at people, not vehicles
• Company car trips are disproportionately radial,
in peak periods, in peak direction
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