For a flexible option, daily hire or rental arrangements can be appropriate, especially where vehicles are only required on a short term or irregular basis.

“Many companies find that such arrangements provide the best solution where an employee without a dedicated company car is required to drive for a business journey,” explains Tonks.

There are also a company’s ‘duty of care’ responsibilities to ensure the vehicle meets certain standards, even if it belongs to the employee.

“Drivers using their own vehicles on business can be a huge issue because they are not always fit-for-purpose,” adds Hall. “This is where rental can come in, protecting drivers and mitigating risk.”

• Pros: flexibility; simple to administer; and no service, maintenance or repair costs.
• Cons: availability of cars at a reasonable price; and risk of additional ‘unforeseen’ costs through late returns or damage.

Case study: CEL Technology

Expanding IT company CEL Technology chose a rental option from Stockton on Tees-based Transmore Vehicle Hire, because of the flexibility of its Norflex funding solution.

Transmore Vehicle Hire is a subsidiary of Northgate Vehicle Hire and is initially supplying three Volkswagen Caddy vans.

“As a new business we need our fleet to be able to adapt to the challenges of our business very quickly and efficiently,” explained Kris Bunting, managing director of CEL Technology.

“The flexible rental solution provided by Transmore Vehicle Hire and Norflex has given us the confidence to know that as our business grows and develops our fleet can respond promptly and effectively.”