Other moves include the introduction of 'virtual teams', with each customer backed up by specific individuals in each department of Lease Plan, which operates 65,000 vehicles in the UK, in order to improve communication and service.

Commercial director Steve Dunn said: 'I have a personal quest to get us to the stage of being a paperless office. By the end of the year we will have the majority of our customers, at least our larger customers, linked direct and we will also be introducing EDI invoicing.'

LP Direct, LP Link and LP Office, which have been gradually launched this year, give customers access to an on-line quotation and ordering system, process all their administrative queries and produce customised reports on any aspect of the client's fleet. Meanwhile 'virtual teams' have been set up with the aim of ensuring that when a customer has a query in a specific area, the account manager can go straight to the correct Lease Plan employee, who should be fully aware of the customer's needs.