FLEETS have a greater number of avenues for disposing of their vehicles than ever before, from traditional auctions to the internet - and these firms are targeting decision-makers with new products and new ideas. Business-auctions.com is in the process of developing a specialist auction site to be launched on March 1, after its first online fleet car auctions proved successful in the disposal of ex-fleet vehicles.

Director Tony Ley is enthusiastic about the growth in the number of vehicles becoming available for disposal online. 'Our sales statistics have far succeeded what was budgeted for,' he said. Marketing manager Ali Cassels added that fleet sales to date were an average of 104% of CAP clean.

Internet disposal company Auto Online will be launching a new site aimed at giving buyers the opportunity to make advance, or timescale bids online. David Wright, chief operating officer, explained: 'Timescale bids are effectively a tender sheet. It's a way of automating a closed or sealed bidding process and does away with the administration involved. And there is no collation work involved because the system does it all for you.'

Another company also planning a significant increase in the number of cars it aims to dispose of is internet sales firm Autobytel. Chief executive Kevin Turnbull said: 'We have a target of many thousands. But we are not quite sure where the market is going.'

He said that much of last year had been spent developing the technology that he hoped would make a success of this year by matching fleet disposal requirements with retail buying requirements. 'We have had 4.5 million unique visitors to our website generating 55,000 purchase requests,' he said. The figures brought the amount of hits on the site to a quarter of a billion since it was launched in April 1999,' said Turnbull.