Despite these challenges, the majority of respondents use more than one leasing provider.

Only just over a quarter (28%) of respondents that lease as their main funding method have one provider.

Another 28% have two, 16% use three and 28% have four or more.

So why do they use more than one leasing company? The main motivation is a financial one.

Two-thirds say “it generates competition” and around half (51%) say “I get better leasing rates”.

While most fleet managers have stayed with the same provider, some are prepared to switch. Nearly a quarter (24%) are either switching leasing providers now or have done so in the past year.

The main reason for switching is service levels dropping or another provider offering a better deal than the current one.

More than one in five (22%) have switched as a result of their leasing provider putting its price up while nearly a fifth (20%) say the switch took place because their provider was bought by another company (See panel below for more on mergers).

Switching providers isn’t always rosy. “Something to watch out for when you go out of contract with a provider is that they may decide not to let you have the same level of benefits you had when you were purchasing cars with them,” warns Liz Hollands, fleet and facilities manager at the Freight Transport Association.

The overall message from the survey is that while fleets are generally satisfied with funding there are still areas providers need to work on.

What happens when leasing companies merge?

Almost half (49%) of survey respondents who lease vehicles have experienced a merger between their leasing provider and another provider.

And around a quarter (26%) experienced no problems when the merger took place, rating it as ‘excellent’.

Of those that did experience problems, some of the main issues were down to communication – a lack of contact from their leasing provider and not enough information about the merger.

One fleet manager said he read about his leasing provider being bought by another company in Fleet News before he received the letter from his provider.

The other major issue was a drop in service levels. However, few experienced problems with driver services.