THE AA is demanding a 'cashback' system where drivers would get refunds on their car tax when the Highways Agency fails to meet its targets. John Dawson, the AA's policy director said the Agency's Road User's Charter seemed reasonable until you checked the figures.

A BEDFORD-based contract hire company has reported Mazda to the Office of Fair Trading because, it says, the firm's dealers all offer exactly the same fleet discounts. Martin Keepfer, a director of Vehicle Contracts (UK), wrote to each of the 112 dealerships asking for quotes and 57 replied all quoting the same prices.

VAUXHALL has launched an assault on the lower medium sector with a major support package to boost fleet and retail sales of the Astra. Dealers are being offered £2,000 per car to register up to five Astras during the last week of June as long as they hold on to them until December before selling. In the fleet sector, Vauxhall is offering to support the Astra to the tune of £5,000 by guaranteeing a residual value of 45% of cost new.

FRIENDS of the Earth wants to raise the price of every new car sold by £500. The idea would leave the motor industry sitting on a cash mountain growing at the rate of £1,000 million a year.

GREEN Flag national Breakdown is celebrating its 25th anniversary with the introduction of a superfast mobile information system.

FLEET operators who stayed loyal to hot-hatchback drivers three years ago are being rewarded as the cars go to auction. However, many more fleets have banned the cars from user-chooser lists as insurance companies reacted to the rising tide of car theft by boosting premiums.

MORE than 50 major UK fleets operating 250,000 vehicles have joined Ford's computer controlled central billing invoicing programme. The new service marks the third phase of Ford Customer Service Division's fleet development programme first launched in 1994.

A NEW driver training company, New Driving Initiatives, has been launched with the support of fleet industry companies, including PHH Vehicle Management Services, Eagle Star, and Securinet. Paul Austin, who set up the company after resigning as managing director of BSM Qualified Driver Training earlier this year, will be managing director.

ALMOST every company car driver is likely to be a victim of road rage during their working life, according to the 1996 Lex Report on Motoring - 'Listening to the needs of Company Motorists'. Of Britain's 2.8 million company car drivers, 2.24 million are likely to be victims of some form of road rage.

ONE in three company car drivers are now women compared to just 7% in 1989, according to the 1996 Lex Report on Motoring - 'Listening to the needs of Company Motorists'.

FLEET managers are failing to invest in software to run the company car fleet, despite declaring that jobs such as monitoring servicing and maintenance and managing accidents or repairs were wasting time.

PRESSURE group Transport 2000's anti-company car report which claimed the Treasury was losing £1 billion through fiddles and undertaxing has been blasted by the 1996 Lex Report on Motoring - 'Listening to the needs of Company Motorists'.

MORE than 70% of fleets have not reviewed or changed their company car policies as a result of the August 1, 1995 VAT changes, according to the 1996 Lex Report on Motoring - 'Listening to the needs of Company Motorists'.

IN praising the fleet industry and car manufacturers for actions they have taken in recent years to stem vehicle pollution - such as the introduction of unleaded fuel and catalytic converters on cars - the 1996 Lex Report on Motoring, 'Listening to the needs of Company Motorists' says government action is now essential. And it backs the view first touted by Ford chairman and managing director Ian McAllister for a scrappage tax.

HEAVY benefit-in-kind tax, congestion and road rage have all failed to impact on the company car, according to the 1996 Lex Report on Motoring - 'Listening to the needs of Company Motorists'.

SWIFT'S new operations manager for its Scottish rental division Andy Neilson has helped Securicor Omega Express and the local SCOPE squad raise more than £1,500 for charity.

AVIS Europe is considering a return to the London Stock Exchange, seven years after it left following a takeover. David Maloney, group finance director of Avis Europe, said this was just one of a number of options under consideration which would change the ownership of the company.

A STRONG performance by Alexanders Contract Rental helped parent company Alexanders Holdings to recover from pre-tax losses of £304,000 for the six months to March 31 1995 to profits of £9,000 in the half-year to March 31, 1996.

ONE of the most famous fleets in the world has recently taken delivery of five Fords.

FAST-expanding Ace Vehicle Deliveries has made three new appointments to further boost its business potential.

MORE than 25% of all drivers have been tempted by other drivers to resort to 'road rage', even though only 5% had been on the receiving end of an actual attack. MIL Motoring Research, part of NOP Research Group, questioned 476 drivers about their behaviour behind the wheel.

THE Vehicle Builders and Repairers Association has pulled out of a proposed alliance arrangement with the Confederation of British Bodyshops, blaming both the Scottish Motor Trade Association and the Retail Motor Industry Federation.

THE UK car rental industry is heading for record volumes, yet faces restricted supply of vehicles and smaller discounts. A new report predicts rental volumes will increase by a further 15.5% by the year 2001, with a market value of £731 million.

SKODA'S new upper medium Octavia, due in the UK in early 1998, will be launched at the Paris Motor Show, and goes on sale in its left hand drive variant in the Czech Republic this November.

VAUXHALL has reported a 21% increase in demand for air conditioning following introduction of the £395 option in lieu of a sunroof on Vectra LS and GLS models.

FOLLOWING another record year, Caffyns Motor Contracts is considering expansion by opening an office in the north.

FIAT has added a 1.6 version to its Bravo/Brava range and at the same time increased prices by an average 1.6%. The three-door 1.6SX is powered by Fiat's 103bhp 16 valve Torque engine and is capable of 114mph. 0-62mph comes in 11 seconds and fuel consumption ranges from 30.3mpg on the urban cycle to 51.3mpg at a steady 56mph.

TOYOTA has announced £2.5 million expansion plans for its engine plants in Wales for the assembly of 1.3 litre engines to go into a new British-built Corolla from 1998.

SOFTWARE company Kinesis Systems has handed over the management of its 30-strong fleet to Fleetlease and expects to cut operating costs by thousands of pounds a year.

FORD is recalling 47,000 new-shape Fiestas for safety checks on clutch mechanisms and brake pipes.