Corporate Vehicle Rentals (CVR), the corporate rental arm of CLM, has extended its mini-lease offering to 12 months to provide fleet operators with greater flexibility in the length of contract to which they can commit and help bridge their mobility gap.

With economic recovery still patchy in many industries, many fleet managers are reluctant to commit to long term leases for their vehicles as this ties up valuable cash flow, says CVR.

At the same time, it claims new vehicle lead times are steadily increasing and on some popular models look set to be anything up to 12 months, a situation exacerbated by the recent Japanese earthquake, which has caused a global shortage of some vehicles and components.

Shorter term, more flexible rental products are one possible solution, helping companies to bridge their mobility gap, say CVR and it has now added a 12-month mini-lease product to the three-month and six-month solutions it currently offers.

Gemma Bathurst, rental sales manager of CVR explained the rationale behind the decision.

“With companies still scrutinising the costs of their fleet very closely, and with new vehicle delivery lead times increasing, we thought this was the appropriate time to launch this new solution and give fleet managers greater flexibility for periods up to 12 months,” she said.

“Also, many companies have interim mobility requirements, such as with new starters on a probationary period or interim staff taken on to meet the needs of a specific short-term project.

“A mini-lease solution bridges the mobility gap between daily rental and longer-term contract hire, and provides tailored rates for vehicle hires for up to 12 months. It also offers significant reductions against standard spot hire with no reduction in quality or service standards."

CVR operates a multi-supply network with a range of rental suppliers, who between them have over 1,000 outlets in the UK.

The company uses a web-delivered rental management system, which enables clients to book, extend and cancel vehicle rentals online, as well as monitoring existing rentals and accessing a range of management reporting and invoicing.

The system also allows vehicles to be sourced by location and by price to ensure it meets the specific needs of corporate customers.
 

More articles on: