Last year PoolFleet - ALD Automotive’s short-term flexi-lease programme - averaged 650-700 ‘live’ car rentals at any single time. However, in the first half of 2010 demand has soared to around 900 vehicles ‘on the road’ with demand continuing to rise both for cars and commercial vehicles. For the first time, LCVs are being offered with over 100 Volkswagen Caddy, Crafter and Transporter vans joining the fleet in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, demand for the high-specification nearly-new cars - typically renewed at six months/12,000-miles - remains high with resale values bucking the trend of falling values reported recently by price guides and auction houses.

Commenting on the increase in the number of PoolFleet vehicles, PoolFleet operations manager Adrian Temple said: “Corporate demand for vehicles on short-term contracts is high as employment conditions are changing and businesses report signs of recovery from recession.

“Meanwhile, a combination of circumstances including long lead times for new models and a shortage of high quality nearly-new vehicles means that dealers are prepared to pay above guide prices for ex-PoolFleet cars to satisfy consumer demand.”

Cars on the 1,100 strong PoolFleet are predominantly high specification diesel Skoda, Vauxhall, Volvo and VW models with many having Bluetooth connectivity and satellite navigation as standard.

The average rental is for 12-14 weeks, and customers have the ability to terminate the hire at 48 hours notice. In addition, clients do not have to be leasing customers of ALD Automotive to benefit from PoolFleet.

Mr Temple added: “PoolFleet provides a hugely flexible solution to businesses, which is why we are adding vans to the fleet to meet client demand. Some customers require additional light commercial vehicles for specific short-term contracts or are reluctant to commit to a long-term lease arrangement or buy a vehicle themselves until they are more certain that business levels will remain high as the economy recovers.”

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