Council staff in Moray could be encouraged to use their own cars for work as part of cost-saving plans.
But under the proposals, mileage expenses on personal vehicles could be slashed by a third.
The cash-strapped local authority wants to reduce the reliance on its fleet of 126 pool cars while cutting repair bills.
At a meeting this week, Councillor Chris Tuke told authority staff the £130,000 savings made from the shared vehicles were being inflated by the high allowance for staff using their own cars.
The Heldon and Laich member has repeated a demand for investigations to be done to slash the expense rate from 45p per mile to 30p to reduce congestion across the region. A total of £1.6million was paid on the expense claims last year.
He said: “We’ve only ever looked at one side of this equation. The savings only stack up against the higher rate. I have asked several times for a lower rate for private cars to be investigated.
“The amount of time staff spend trying to book pool cars and then physically finding them is all time they are spending away from their primary roles.
“We’ve got an increase in the number of cars compared to a reduction in the amount of miles they have done. We’ve got cars sitting idle for two thirds of the year due to out of work hours taking up car park spaces in Elgin and other places while duplicating cars on the road.”
The total amount of miles done by the fleet has dropped by more than 100,000 from 2013/14 to 1.2million miles last year.
At the meeting of the audit and scrutiny performance this week chief executive Roddy Burns said a lower mileage rate was already being considered as part of the council’s push to save £12million over the next two years.
However, roads maintenance manager Mark Atherton warned the mileage rate for personal cars was set nationally.
The officer said a new system was being designed to make it easier for cars to be booked so the service could deliver more than the current savings.
He said: “It will tell staff that if a car is not available at headquarters that there is one at Lossie Green, Ashgrove or 500 yards down the road so they are fully utilised.”