Upward pressures on car and van daily rental prices are seeing fleets carry out increasing numbers of transactions online, say e-commerce specialist epyx.

The company points out that fleets are using online bookings partially because they offer a lower cost method of processing, but also to benefit from multi-supplier pricing and service levels.

Epyx has noticed these trends through recent use of its 1link Hire Network e-commerce platform, designed to allow major fleets to manage their daily rental requirements online.

Ken Trinder, head of business development at epyx, said: "All daily rental companies are facing increasing costs and are under pressure to increase their prices but this does tend to be a fairly price sector of the fleet market.

“Against this backdrop, processing a daily rental booking online is a win for both supplier and customer because an online booking is the cheapest and fastest way to process a transaction. Telephone and paper based bookings are becoming things of the past.

“However, we are also seeing fleets increasingly looking at multi-supplier quotations to find the best combination of price and service. E-commerce technology lets them make comparisons quickly and easily.”

Trinder added that these comparisons were infrequently based on lowest cost but on each fleet’s definition of value for money.