The number of medium-term leases that are being renewed on a rolling basis has doubled during the recession, according to Equalease.

The company, which has developed three to 12-month car leases as a specialist product, says that a year ago rolling three and six-month leases represented 28% of its business, but that has risen to 57%.

Managing director Paul Ashton said: “Anecdotal evidence suggests that the increase has been caused by two factors.

“One is that the employers have been using rolling medium-term leases as a way of postponing the decision to buy or long-term lease a new car until their business prospects become clearer.

"We have seen customers following this strategy for both existing employees and new recruits.

“The second is that we now have some customers, especially SMEs, who are using medium term leasing as their primary source of fleet acquisition.

"They are happy to pay the slight premium over a traditional three-four year lease in order to retain the high degree of flexibility that medium term leasing brings.”