A COVENTRY-based manufacturer of industrial chemicals has signed a solus contract hire and outsourcing agreement which could see it cut fleet operating costs by £20,000 a year.

Applied Chemicals, which operates a fleet of 85 vehicles, was previously supplied by five different leasing companies, including British Car Contracts. All vehicles will now be supplied by BCC under a three-year full maintenance agreement. The vehicles will be used by the salesforce and will be changed on two and three-year cycles. Applied Chemicals has a user-chooser fleet policy, but individual drivers will have no facility to trade up to higher specification models.

Under a separate outsourcing agreement BCC will take control of full driver liaison, accident management, invoice validation, processing of driving fines, preparation of reports and quotations for new vehicles.