Citroen and Toyota have won a major contract to supply AccuRead with its new company cars.

The meter-reading company signed the deal, which will see the French carmaker supply 80% of its cars and Toyota the remaining 20%, after ending a solus contract that saw Vauxhall supply it with Corsas.

AccuRead shortlisted the manufacturers it wanted to supply it with new vehicles and then asked its lease provider, Hitachi Capital Solutions to work alongside it to secure the best deal.

Hitachi Capital “played a role in clarifying detail around the manufacturers’ offering,” explained a Hitachi spokesman.

“However AccuRead already knew which six to seven manufacturers it wanted to compare.”

Neither Hitachi nor Citroen was willing to disclose the terms of the contract nor the scale of incentives that were offered, but the incentives are believed to have been significant to have tempted Accuread away from the solus Vauxhall contract.

Citroen has already begun supplying 1,320 C1 cars and will distribute the five-door, 1-litre models - which have CO2 emissions of 106g/km - amongst its 2,000 employees.

Jeff Cooke, AccuRead’s area service delivery manager, said the C1 was chosen for its ease of accessibility, comfort, ease of parking and because it is “highly cost-effective due to its low running cost”.

Unusually the cars are supplied on an 18-month, with-maintenance contract hire agreement with an option to extend to 24 months, rather than a typical 36-month contract.

There are significant advantages to such short-term contracts, as Hitchi explained: “Traditionally, AccuRead has operated the cars initially on a short-term contract to ensure they satisfy operational requirements and also traditionally the discounts it has been able to secure support a very low rental for a short-term contract,” said the spokesman.

“This is much the same for the latest deal but the operational requirement is even more critical as there has been a significant downsizing from Corsa to Citroen C1.

“In anticipation that the cars meet the operational requirements and there is no better commercial offering when the vehicles reach 18 months of age, we have already agreed favourable rental terms with Accuread for extension to 24 months or 36 months.”