Minicab alternative Addison Lee has appointed remarketing company Aston Barclay to manage the disposal of its fleet.
The London-based car and courier firm has a mixed fleet of 5,000 Ford Galaxys, Mercedes saloons and V-Class minibuses, as well as a mix of Ford LCVs.
Previously, Addison Lee had a retail sales strategy, but switched to remarketing its unwanted vehicles following a month-long trial.
During the trial, Aston Barclay achieved a 100% conversion rate and 800 vehicles will now be offered at alternate weekly sales during July and August at sites in Chelmsford and Westbury.
“As we aim to reduce the age profile of our fleet it is important to have regular sales in place, which is why we went to market to appoint a new remarketing partner,” said Martyn Legg, Addison Lee’s vehicle sales and logistics manager. “Aston Barclay’s flexible, friendly and bespoke approach fitted in with our needs and they saw off many larger suppliers to win the contract.”
Neil Hodson, Aston Barclay group’s CEO, said: “We are excited to win this competitive tender when we were up against much larger providers. We are pleased to work with such an iconic brand to dispose of its quality used vehicles.”
Last month, Hodson, with private equity group Rutland Partners, led a management buy-out of the business owned by the Scarborough family. Major investments in people and infrastructure are planned to drive growth and double sales in the next five years from 80,000 to 160,000 vehicles a year.
That equates to an increase in market share from 5% to 10%. At present, the firm caters mainly to used-car buyers – the ratio is 95:5 cars to vans. “We’re the underdogs taking on the big corporates,” Hodson – who has more than 25 years’ automotive experience and previously worked for Manhein – told BusinessCar.
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