ALD AUTOMOTIVE S IN-CAR TELEMATICS SYSTEM HELPS POLICE RECOVER STOLEN CARS WORTH

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1 29 April 2008 ALD AUTOMOTIVE S IN-CAR TELEMATICS SYSTEM HELPS POLICE RECOVER STOLEN CARS WORTH 500,000 Stolen company cars worth almost 500,000 have been returned to their drivers thanks to being equipped with ALD Automotive s unique ProFleet2 telematics system. More than 15,000 cars and vans on ALD Automotive s fleet of over 47,000 vehicles are now equipped with the company s multi award-winning ProFleet2 system, which was chiefly designed to enable companies to efficiently and proactively manage their duty of care obligations by recording data such as journey time and miles travelled. However, one spin-off benefit, greatly appreciated by a number of fleet customers, has been that the technology has enabled the police to recover a total of 17 stolen vehicles since the location service was launched last year. This is because ALD Automotive s Fleet Services team has been able to immediately activate the locater functionality delivered through the unit s SIM card, giving police officers a full detailed description of the car s movements and general location. In each case the location monitoring functionality within the ProFleet2 system was activated by ALD Automotive after written permission was obtained from the client company and the vehicle s driver. The cars stolen and subsequently recovered include four BMWs including a 630i two-door convertible 3.0 Sport automatic with a list price of about 60,000 - the most valuable model to date stolen by thieves - a 35,000 BMW 525d M Sport saloon and a 32,000 BMW 330d SE saloon as well four Audis, three Saabs, two Toyotas and a Mercedes, Peugeot, Citroen and a Volkswagen.

2 In 2008, already nine vehicles worth almost 250,000 have been recovered, including the BMW 630i, which was leased to David Perry, managing director of London-based shipbrokers Howard Houlder & Partners Ltd. The keys to the car were stolen in a burglary at his Essex home and the vehicle was located as it was being driven around the M25 and on to the M20 en-route to France. Police intercepted the car and arrested the driver. Mr Perry said: We were obviously delighted that the car was recovered. Had the vehicle not been equipped with ProFleet2 then we would have been faced with an expensive insurance bill. Six of the stolen cars were on contract hire to mobile phone provider O2, which has a total of 1,000 leased vehicles from ALD Automotive all equipped with ProFleet2. O2 self-insures its company cars and employee benefits manager Mark Spriggs said: We use ProFleet2 mainly to ensure that our vehicles are serviced on schedule, which is important from both a duty of care viewpoint and ensuring costs are controlled. The fact that the technology has helped the police to recover our leased vehicles when they have been stolen has been an added value benefit because it minimises the cost to O2. As we self-insure, incidents such as vehicle theft are a direct cost to the company. Recovery of the vehicles has significantly reduced that cost as we would otherwise have had to write off the cars.

3 Cars and vans fitted with security equipment such as ALD Automotive s unique ProFleet2 telematics system are 10 times safer than vehicles without, according to the Home Office s website The effectiveness of ProFleet2 in helping to defeat car crime was recognised when it won the Security Award in the 2007 Fleet World Honours. After the Metropolitan Police were able to use the technology to recover a 26,300 BMW 320i, which had been stolen from an O2 employee s London home following a burglary, Detective Inspector Nick Linfoot, of the Metropolitan Police s Stolen Vehicle Unit, said: Installing any kind of marking or tracking device on your vehicle enables a far higher potential for it to assist in recovery and identification should it be stolen. ALD Automotive marketing director David Yates said: ProFleet2 has established an enviable record in helping police recover stolen cars. Vehicle theft can obviously impact on fleet insurance premiums so companies that lease vehicles from ALD with the system fitted are clearly guarding against such costs raises. And, for businesses such as O2 that self-insure there are clear tangible financial savings as any losses that have to be paid out impact on the company s bottom line. The technology is therefore both helping to combat vehicle crime as well as keeping costs down and improving efficiency for fleets and their drivers. Exclusive to ALD, ProFleet2 was the first practical solution launched into the fleet sector to overcome both cost issues and potential employee resentment often associated with in-vehicle telematics products.

4 The cutting edge PF2 software has been welcomed by fleet decision-makers for the wealth of management and driver information transmitted and then analysed online, thereby helping companies comply with duty of care legislation. As well as ensuring vehicles are serviced on schedule through the triggering of a two month/2,000-mile vehicle service reminder that also eliminates the risk of in-life or end of contract recharges caused by poor service history, PF2 is also proving invaluable in helping drivers record accurate business mileage. This ensures they are not overly exposed to risks and companies can keep a thorough audit trail of vehicles and drivers by business mileage being reported separately. Whilst ProFleet2 has been operating successfully for more than three years it has been evolving continuously and, recently, ALD Automotive launched Fleet Manager. Its reporting suite provides fleet managers with comprehensive journey data detailing length of journey, time of travel and miles clocked up. To view a ProFleet2 demonstration go to For further information please call David Yates, Marketing Director, ALD Automotive, or david.yates@aldautomotive.com Notes to Editors: About ALD Automotive ALD Automotive is the operational leasing and fleet management arm of the Société Générale Group. ALD Automotive is one of the largest providers in Europe and a company of reference on its market: - Operates now in a total of 39 countries in Europe, Northern Africa (Morocco), Brazil, China, Egypt and India

5 - Employs 3,600 persons dedicated to customer satisfaction - Manages more than 685,000 vehicles Combining professionalism and quality of services and providing companies with value-added integrated solutions at both national and international levels, ALD Automotive provide a complete range of vehicle financing and management solutions to both major corporates and private individuals. ALD Automotive is committed to delivering high quality service solutions from tailoring outsourced fleet management and contract hire options to implementing structured employee car ownership schemes. Within the top tier of contract hire companies in the UK, in fleet size terms, ALD Automotive operates 46,000 vehicles on contract hire, contract purchase, conditional sale, fleet management and PCP. In May 2006, ALD Automotive won the Editor s Award in the 2006 Fleet World Honours for its innovative DriveSafe one-stop shop programme of risk management initiatives. Meanwhile, in July 2007, the Institute of Transport Management named the company s Car Allowance Road Risk Solution, an integral part of DriveSafe, the winner of its On-line Risk Management Solution Award Additionally, in May 2004 ALD Automotive won the Best Fleet Management Service Award in the 2004 Fleet World Honours for its unique ProFleet2 telematics system. In May 2007 the technology won the Security Award in the 2007 Fleet World Honours. The company also received the highest Customer Satisfaction Index rating in the apd (alchemy performance development Ltd) Landmark Pre and Post Sale Surveys of fleet operators over the period featuring 20 of the UK s top leasing companies.

6 In March 2003 ALD acquired Hertz Lease, based in Northampton. The company now operates customer service centres in Bristol and Northampton. About Société Générale Group Société Générale is one of the largest financial services groups in the eurozone. The Group employs 120,000 people worldwide in three key businesses: - Retail Banking & Financial Services: Société Générale serves more than 24 million individual customers worldwide. - Global Investment Management & Services: Société Générale is one of the largest banks in the euro-zone in terms of assets under custody ( 2,580 billion) and under management ( billion, June 2007). - Corporate & Investment Banking: Société Générale ranks among the leading banks worldwide in euro capital markets, derivatives and structured finance. Société Générale is included in the five major socially responsible investment indexes.