Seasonal fleet replacement cycles return for rental companies

The UK’s corporate rental industry is returning to pre-Covid levels of seasonality, according to Liquid Fleet. 

The vehicle leasing company reports that rental firms are growing and then de-fleeting their vehicles in a structured way for the first time since 2020, due to improved vehicle supply and increased corporate demand. 

This, says Liquid Fleet, spells good news for both the new and used vehicle sectors.

It has been made possible by manufacturers suppling higher volumes of cars to the rental sector over the past six months, some coming back to the sector for the first time since Covid.

From Liquid Fleet’s perspective in the past year, it has expanded its choice of carmakers on the fleet from three to 10 as manufacturers embrace rental once again. 

It has already supplied almost 1,000 rental vehicles to rental brokers in Q1 and into early Q2.

Another recent trend which Liquid Fleet has experienced is for companies to onboard their cars in Q2 and then keep them until September the following year, which covers two seasons of rental activity. 

This ensures the rental company can fix their costs and cover two full seasons of peak demand with Easter, May bank holidays, the summer period, Christmas, New Year and a second Easter, May and summer for the entire period.

“Daily rental is once again becoming an integral part of an OEM’s channel supply strategy as they look to further grow their UK sales and market share,” explained Martin Potter, Liquid Fleet’s operations director.

“It also spells good news for the used market as a steady supply of ex-rental cars at less than 18 months of age are coming back into the second-hand market during Q3 and Q4 which are coveted by franchised dealers.”