SPECIALIST chemical company Allied Colloids has opted to sell and leaseback its fleet of 175 company cars through Lease Plan. The company previously bought its cars outright, but decided to take up a sale and leaseback contract in order to take advantage of the tax benefits of leasing and streamline fleet administration.

Safety and production services director Brian Wilson said: 'It made more sense for us to invest the capital previously tied up in company cars into our chemical plants. It was also an administration issue. Running a fleet of 175 cars was very time-consuming and we feel our time will be better spent concentrating on the core business.'

The contract was put out to tender and Lease Plan was chosen, partly thanks to its Open Calculation system which provides a quotation for the monthly rental charges and discloses such factors in the costing calculation as vehicle purchase price, dealer discount and fees charged.

Allied Colloids also runs a fleet of pool vehicles which are supplied by Lease Plan and operates its own on-site garage, which carries out the majority of maintenance and repair work for all its cars and commercial vehicles. The garage liaises with Lease Plan's technical department regarding the maintenance of the company cars.