Fleet funding - Page 15

By Erik Fairbairn, Pod Point CEO and founder

By Gary Smith, managing director, Europcar Mobility Group UK

Two councils - Mid-Devon District Council (MDDC) and Exeter City Council (ECC) - have joined forces for the first time to source vehicles.

Current uncertainty in the fleet market should be seen as an opportunity for procurement departments to rethink supply chain strategies and reshape their fleet policies.

But tax office says new pay reporting option could have skewed figures, with fall much less than suggested.

Pricing experts at Cap HPI say that average used car values for 3years/60,000 miles models fell by 2% in June.

Cazana and Experian announced a new partnership, which sees Experian and Cazana’s data sets merge to help lenders understand risk.

The demand for electric vehicles (EVs) is beginning to grow, but businesses are hesitant to ‘take the plunge’, according to Lombard’s managing director Ian Isaac.

Kingspan Insulated Panels has awarded the supply and management of its 73 company cars to JCT600 Vehicle Leasing Solutions.

Name change to better reflect customers’ requirements as the business continues to evolve and expand.

SMMT figures also show that plug-in hybrid registrations were down by more than 40% in May.

British electric truckmaker says agreement with Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions “will open the way for fleets to move from fossils fuels to electric”.

The Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Association is taking on 26 new Seat Aronas to support its high-mileage fleet.

JCT600 VLS has supplied specially adapted Ford Focus estate vehicles to Silverstone racing circuit to be used as their medical response vehicles.

BNP Paribas Rental Solutions moves into traffic management market, with A Cones announced as its first customer.

On average, used values fell by 3.1% in May at the three-year, 60,000-mile point, following a 2.3% drop during April, says Cap HPI.

A new dashboard tool from Arval UK aims to give customers with complete visibility over contracting options for their company cars and vans.

By Eddie Flanagan, partner and head of asset finance at Corclaim

Lex Autolease has become the first vehicle leasing business to achieve the BSI (British Standards Institution) Kitemark for customer service.

Lex Autolease has already committed £467,000 from its £1 million electric vehicle (EV) fund since it launched at the start of the year.

Network Rail has awarded a £136 million, four-year fleet management contract to Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions.

Arval says fleets should think twice before considering extending their company car contracts.

Nationwide car retailer network Perrys Motor Sales is targeting small businesses with a new leasing service.

Fuelled by no government clarity on company car benefit-in-kind (BIK) tax rates beyond the 2020/21, fleets are increasingly looking for shorter more flexible terms, says Goodwood Corporate Mobility.

Contract hire with maintenance is the only risk-free funding solution in today’s uncertain business and economic times, says Activa Contracts.

Brexit chaos, the suitability of FORS, WLTP and salary sacrifice are the diverse range of issues fleet decision-makers are currently concerned with.

The growth of medium-term rental is giving fleet operators a wide choice of acquisition methods, says Meridian Vehicle Solutions.

Computacenter has announced that it has gone live with Inchcape Fleet Solutions’ competitive tendering product Autobid, following Master Vendor supplier status.

Marshall Leasing’s risk fleet has broken through the 8,000-vehicle milestone during its first full year of ownership by Northridge Finance.

Arval’s leased fleet grew by 8.2% last year, reaching 1,193,910 vehicles and the number of vehicles ordered increased by 9% year-on-year to 353,302 units.

The car industry is urging MPs to remove the prospect of a ‘no deal’ Brexit today (Wednesday, March 13) after the Government lost its latest vote.

Short-term vehicle leasing company, Cars on Demand, has achieved a year of record results, announcing its highest double-digit profit growth yet.

Octopus Investments incorporates cost of vehicle, charge points and grid upgrades into single pay-on-use contract.

ARI Fleet UK is now offering customers lease vehicles with no mileage limits, or end-of-life damage charges.

By Professor Colin Tourick, University of Buckingham

Fleets are being warned they could face price increases and longer lead times for vehicles and spare parts, if the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

Overall, the UK’s new car market enjoyed marginal growth in February, up 1.4% following five straight months of decline,

Tony Donnelly, chief executive of Goodwood Corporate Mobility, parent company of GoodLease, believes demand for company cars on contract lengths up to 12 months is set to accelerate.

On-car advertising platform Adverttu says ad wrapping cars could subsidise leasing costs by 90%.

The agreement, which runs for five years, will see LeasePlan UK provide 69 Vauxhall commercial vehicles.