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The start point for the best source of fleet information |
Looking across the table of this year's BC50 (overleaf) shows healthy growth from a lot of the big players and some jostling for position further down the table.
Lex Autolease continues to lead the way by a significant proportion with 289,317 vehicles, a 5.6% rise on 2013. Its closest rival, Leaseplan, would have to increase the amount of vehicles on its books by 107% to be the biggest in the UK.
However, the top five leasing companies have all posted impressive growth this year with increases across the board.
The most dramatic rise has come from Volkswagen Group Leasing, which has grown by 31.6% in volumes from 70,345 to 92,601 vehicles. VW Group Leasing is intending to overtake Alphabet to become the third-largest leasing company in the UK before the end of the decade, and looking at the growth within the past year you wouldn't bet against it. It offers all makes and models, not just those within its brand, and a push towards multi-marque and reaching more customers explains the rapid growth.
Matt Dyer topped the highest profile job move in the past
12 months, taking over from David Brennan as managing director of Leaseplan.
The big news this year was Hg Capital's £200m acquisition of Zenith in January this year, following on from its purchase of Leasedrive in December
2013 to form a new power
player in the leasing industry within the top 10. The combined group boasts 57,464 vehicles, although it is some way off
fourth-place ALD Automotive, which now stands at 96,618.
ALD won a 1100-vehicle deal with Imtech UK earlier this year and deals such as this will help it back towards the top five again.
Arnold Clark has seen a slight decrease in volumes, by 1.7%, this year following a reduction in cars and light commercial vehicles to a total of 50,116.
Hitachi Capital has dropped by two places this year, with a fall of 7.3%, mainly from a reduction in the amount of cars on its books, down from a total of 47,745 to 44,238.
There have been small movements up and down the middle of the table this year,
but one of the biggest jumps has come from Lookers Leasing, which has seen an increase of 647 vehicles, gaining five places to settle to a position just outside of the top 30. This has meant that the likes of Fleet Financial, Agnew Corporate and GKL Leasing have been pushed further down the table.
BVRLA chairman Gerry Keaney believes the growth the industry has seen this year has been very healthy, with increased business across the board from existing clients and new customers.
Leasing fleets have continued to grow, with the latest BVRLA quarterly survey showing that the number of cars on fleets rose by nearly 6% in Q2 2014 versus Q2 2013. The corresponding van figure was up by more than 10%.
Keaney says: "This growth is the best kind - a combination of increased business from existing clients and new customers.
"Our quarterly survey showed that members' fleets are cleaner than ever. The average car added to members' fleets in Q2 2014 emitted 117.8g/km - more than 6% below the SMMT's estimated average for all new cars registered in the UK during that time."
As the Government looks to widen its focus from CO2 emissions to air quality, Keaney will be reminding the Government that "it is the test cycles that are broken, not the tax regime".
There is also still more work for the industry to do around the key issue of data access and security, with the DVLA moving its processes online.
Keaney says: "It remains to be seen just how the Government will legislate around developments in technology. We know we have a lot more work to do in this area."
There have been victories for the industry in the past year, with the BVRLA working to eliminate the tax disc, which went into affect from 1 October, a move Keaney believes will save fleets millions in administrative costs.
He says: "We continue to lobby the Government to ensure fleets' needs are recognised when the paper driving licence is abolished and the DVLA pushes forward with its online fleet portal."
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