Equalease, which offers three-to-12-month car leases, says that the average fleet size of its customers is between 25-50 vehicles.
Managing director of Equalease, Paul Ashton explained that short-term leasing seemed to be finding afit with the recessionary thinking of SMEs who were finding that traditional company car acquisition routes unattractive.
He said: “For many of our customers, the desire to move away from traditional company car acquisition methods such as long-term leasing is not just a crisis in confidence caused by the challenging economic climate but also reflects a desire to remain highly flexible as the economy begins its slow recovery.
“They believe that avoiding long term commitment to costs will mean that they can respond best to changing market conditions in an uncertain future.”
Ashton added that smaller companies were also more easily able to make rapid changes in company car acquisition policies without having to undergo the wide ranging reviews that would be required in larger organisations.
He said: “Importantly, short term leasing is a minimal enough commitment that when a need for a car arises, managers or directors of SMEs are able to take an on-the-spot decision without worrying about the possible ramifications for the future that would accompany a three or four year lease. It is product that matches the mood of the times exactly, we are finding.”
Ashton explained that demand from larger fleets for short term leasing was slowly increasing and that larger customers were starting to emerge.
He said: “Short term leasing has just as many advantages for large companies as for smaller ones. It just takes them longer, we believe, to change their behaviour and put new managerial policies in place.”
Vehicles provided by Equalease on 3-12 month leases are taken from its fleet of cars, all of which are less than two years old. Leases include a standard annual mileage allowance of 15,000 miles a year or 1,250 miles a month and include all maintenance, breakdown recovery and road fund licence.
For a full list of fleet suppliers and contract hire companies, come to our suppliers page.