Majority of fleets deal with only one leasing company, survey suggests

Fleets have become more savvy over recent years when it comes to getting the best prices and will, in most cases, go out to tender for contract hire deals.

It is also not uncommon for companies to have agreements with more than one contract hire and leasing company.

In the latest Fleet News poll, we asked fleets how many contract hire/leasing companies they used and the findings revealed that a third of respondents use three or more companies.

The poll revealed that 17% of respondents use two different contract hire companies, while 8% only use other funding methods. The majority, 42%, use one contract hire or leasing company for their fleet.

Jayne Pett, operations director of Interactive Fleet Management, warns that in the current market, price fluctuations can be quite severe between suppliers and new business is often won with loss-leading prices that are unsustainable and will inevitably increase.

“When companies review the market for a contract hire provider, they often use a basket of vehicles based upon a fixed term and mileage, such as three years and 60,000 miles. They then benchmark prices across a number of companies,” said Pett.

“This is a sensible approach because at that moment in time you can draw fair pricing comparisons based upon standard terms with vehicles relevant to your own fleet. You can also tie this into your budgets based upon your vehicle grading and the numbers of drivers per grade.”