LEX Vehicle Leasing has secured a solus contract to supply the Scotsman Publications group with 200 cars on contract hire. The company beat off competition from eight other contract hire companies to win the tender to provide cars and servicing under the Lex One-Call scheme.

The majority of the vehicles will be supplied by Edinburgh dealership Lex Vauxhall. Some 50 cars will be supplied immediately with the remainder replacing existing cars as they come up for renewal. Vehicles will be supplied on contract hire over three years with full maintenance and Lex is also supplying full accident management and fuelcards. Transport manager Alf Brach will oversee the contract as part of his continuing responsibilities within the group's transport department.

The Scotsman group previously purchased its cars outright, but switched to contract hire to capitalise on the benefits of freeing up capital to be employed elsewhere in the company. Following contracts with the RAF (Fleet News, August 2) and Connect South West, the deal is the third contract Lex has won in the past two months involving customers switching from outright purchase to contract hire involving some 3,300 vehicles in total.