LEX Vehicle Leasing is claiming a groundbreaking fleet first with the launch of an online auction system for the purchase of new company cars for customers that could lead to online buying for all its business needs.

The leasing firm uses the system, developed in-house over the past four months, to send out tenders for vehicles to dealers that are patched into its password-protected site. Dealers then enter bids for the contract to supply the cars, with the best offer chosen as the winner, helping drive down costs and ensuring low leasing rates for customers.

Called Lex On-Line Auction, or LOLA, the extranet system has been trialled with preferred supplier dealerships belonging to Inchcape, Pendragon, Lancaster Group and Norton Way and has now reached two sales per day, each running for two hours.

The list covers all cars and vans that Lex wants to buy that day and the best price offered for the vehicle is displayed so that dealers can come back with a lower price where possible.

Jon Walden, managing director of Lex Vehicle Leasing, said: 'We will end up buying 30,000 vehicles in 2000. With more than one dealer looking at bidding for our business, we should benefit from better value prices as well as being able to detect cars that are in stock throughout the UK.'