Ogilvie Fleet has launched a standalone daily rental division following a continuing boom in short-term hire business.

In recent years, Ogilvie Fleet’s short-term hire business has been transformed into a £4.5 million a year operation - up around 27% on the previous 12 months - with an expectation that turnover will top £5m in 2018.

The significant growth in business - rental days increased by around 30% over 12 months to 193,883 in 2016/17 from 147,655 in 2015/16 - is due to Ogilvie Fleet maximising short-term hires with existing contract hire and leasing company customers while also winning business in the wider marketplace.

The Ogilvie Rental team has also expanded to nine people from seven in the past 12 months and further sales people are due to be recruited.

Additionally a dedicated website has been launched  through which customers and prospects can discover a  information including access to hire rates.

Ogilvie Rental is able to offer customers a flexible short-term hire choice with access to 500,000 cars and commercial vehicles at more than 2,000 locations for periods ranging from just a single day to 12 months. Vehicles can be delivered within a two-hour timeframe if required.

The developments come more than 12 months after Ogilvie Fleet strengthened its daily rental business under the leadership of daily rental manager Ian Bennett with the appointment of Mike Yardley to the newly created post of daily rental sales manager.

The company has also introduced its own fleet of around 130 vehicles - comprising early-terminated leased vehicles from a wide cross-section of makes and models - that enables it to also offer customers a flexible lease product.

Jim Hannah, operations director, Ogilvie Fleet said: “Our daily rental team has been phenomenally successful in building up the customer base to the extent that we now see the short-term hire business as a standalone division within Ogilvie Fleet.

“The personal service our team offers is key to the success we are achieving, alongside the very competitive rates we are able to offer due to our buying power and scales of economy, access to the entire UK short-term rental network and the flexible solution offered.”