FUEL card companies are unveiling a host of value added services to woo the small fleet sector. Success in this market is essential if the companies are to win their share of the extra 300,000 new cards forecast for UK fleets over the next four years, according to MarketLine International's new report, 'UK Fleet Fuel Cards'.

The report states: 'The majority of the UK corporate car market is composed of small fleets of vehicles. Indeed, 38% of company cars are in the 25 cars or less category, and 65.1% of company cars are in the 50 cars or less category. Only 25.7% of fuel cards are operated by the former and only 52.1% are operated by the latter. Therefore the main potential growth in the fuel card market lies within the small fleets where fuel management is a less prevalent form of managing fleets.'

Market leader PHH, which operates Allstar, Overdrive and Dialcard, puts much of its success down to discovering the lucrative world of small fleets early on and says there are about 800,000 vehicles in the UK which fall into this category. Esso has also realised the market potential of the small fleet sector and has a team of telesales agents targeting small companies on its behalf.