Davenport also acknowledges the importance of customer retention.

He points out that “you can lose a customer for not a lot” and it is “crazy” to allow that to happen. “It’s very expensive to build a good relationship with a customer and understand their business,” he says.

Motiva has invested in Deloitte’s fleet and car tax analysis system, which is typically used by the larger contract hire providers rather than small independents.

The company is using it to offer a free consultancy and internal audit tool for existing and potential customers.

“We can use it to advise the fleet on the best method of funding,” explains Davenport. “It comes up with the total wholelife cost, which is crucial.”

He points out that choosing a vehicle based on its headline rental or opting for a one-off ‘spot’ deal rather than its wholelife cost may end up costing the customer more over the length of the contract.

Deloitte’s system allows almost every financial variable to be taken into account, including rental costs, all known and future tax legislative changes, inflation, insurance, depreciation and the weighted average cost of capital rates.

Pilot projects with existing customers have highlighted potential savings for both employer and employee running to tens of thousands of pounds.

Motiva is also developing its fleet management software. It plans to launch a web interface whereby customers can log in and see a series of dashboards and are able to run exception reports.

“At the moment it’s fair to say that where they get the information from isn’t all in one place,” Davenport says.

Motiva’s in-house rental division has seen success throughout the recession with a number of customers that had extended their contract hire agreements switching to Motiva’s long-term rental product (Lite-Lease), which is based on three, six and 12-month agreements for cars, vans and HGVs.

“Our Lite-Lease product is ideal for those people that don’t want to run on with the extension any longer because of the age of the car and yet don’t want to commit to a new car,” says Davenport.

He expects the Lite-Lease fleet to double to around 400 vehicles by 2014.

Also in the pipeline is a salary sacrifice offering, which Davenport hopes to go live with in Q2 this year.

Fuel management has recently been added to Motiva’s service offering.