CONTRACT hire company Arma has launched an all-inclusive package for van fleets.

By including fuel and fully comprehensive insurance as part of the monthly rental, in addition to the normal finance and maintenance, Oxford-based Arma claims it is the first contract hire supplier in the UK to offer truly fixed costs within a single monthly rental.

Parent company Arma Beheer, which manages 17,000 cars and vans in the Benelux countries, has seen a big move to the all-inclusive product, and Arma's managing director, Liam Donnelly, sees this happening with UK van fleets.

He said: 'In Holland 70% of contract hire is delivered this way, and we believe all companies who run vans can save on administrative time and cost through working with a single supplier. This approach has seen one-in-10 of our UK customers choose this product, and we calculate they will save up to 10% in costs over the life of the vehicle contract, a significant saving.'

Arma writes to each driver where possible after their vehicle has been serviced, clearly identifying the work completed and provides a quarterly update on the vehicle's performance, including items such maintenance performance and fuel consumption by type, all of which makes the driver more aware of the vehicle running costs and their responsibilities.