RENTAL NEWS
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Fleet solutions, the Northgate way Reduce costs, increase efficiency with Northgate’s range of mobility solutions for your whole fleet, says Neil McCrossan, Sales & Marketing Director Northgate is the largest LCV rental provider in the UK with a network of 67 locations and a fleet of around 50,000 vehicles. Our core business is the hire of Light Commercial Vehicles to business and Public Sector users on flexible contracts. This provides customers the ability to manage their vehicle needs without capital outlay or long-term commitments. The modern business environment calls into question the rationale of owning LCV fleets. At a time when little is certain and businesses need to be agile and flexible, it is increasingly less viable to own company vehicles. As a result, we’re seeing more businesses than ever turn to us to take care of their fleets. Our LCV and specialist vehicle rentals all include Fleet Management, servicing, maintenance, 24/7 breakdown cover and replacement vehicles as standard – providing you peace of mind. In-house workshops ensure ease and quality of work. We also provide mobile servicing to minimise downtime. Northgate also offers a full range of Fleet Management services to help customers manage their entire fleets more effectively. We offer a flexible, account-managed solution, looking after vehicles for whole of life, taking away the burden of administration, minimising vehicle downtime, reducing fleet costs and saving time. Also on offer for owned vehicles, our end-to-end Accident Management Service will take care of your fleet from First Notification of Loss (FNOL) through to insurance and repair, all through a single phone number. Northgate is at the forefront of the move to
greener vehicles with a comprehensive Electric Vehicle offering providing expert consultative advice across all aspects of operating EVs and solutions. This includes everything from helping you to choose the right e-LCV through infrastructure to driver training and advice – we’re ready to help you make the switch! Switching out of an outmoded fleet ownership model has never been easier. We will buy or help you to dispose of your existing fleet at fair market value, enabling you to access our range of flexible fleet options and support services. Our range of Telematics options have been upgraded with improved dashboards and includes fuel card integration. Our Vehicle
Inspection App supports your compliance needs through delivering paperless daily vehicle checks. We also provide Driver Risk Management including a four-stage driver assessment and e-Learning modules that can be used at any stage of the driver cycle from recruitment to reviews. Our Fuel card – which is free of charge to customers – offers an average of 8p per litre saving on pump prices (correct at time of writing). So, if you thought that Northgate was just a rental company, think again. We are an integrated, specialist LCV fleet and mobility solutions provider. Our customers demand more than just a van. We provide Vans as a Service (VaaS) releasing our customers from costly fleet acquisition and management chores to run their businesses. Find out more See northgatevehiclehire.co.uk or call us on 0330 042 0903
Rental and leasing drives shift to electric Andrea McMahon Communications Manager, BVRLA The vehicle rental and leasing industry has long been operating the cleanest vehicles on the road, and an increasing number of businesses and individuals are turning to the sector to access flexible and affordable, low- and zero-emission vehicles. This vital demand-side of the automotive industry buys around 50 per cent of all new vehicles, including over 80 per cent of those manufactured and sold in the UK every year. Their vast purchasing power and fast fleet cycles continue to drive the transition to electric, with EVs representing a growing 04 | April 2021 | Company Car & Van
proportion of their fleet mix. During the past two years the pace of road transport decarbonisation has accelerated, and the rental and leasing industry has been driving the demand-side of that acceleration. By 2025, BVRLA members expect to be registering around 400,000 new battery electric cars and vans per year – up from around 50,000 in 2018. The BVRLA’s latest Quarterly Leasing Survey shows that in the third quarter of 2020, members’ Battery Electric Vehicle registrations surged to take a 15 per cent share of new lease car registrations – no doubt boosted by the Government’s Benefit-in-Kind (BiK) tax incentives. Having financial incentives and long-term tax
certainty helps to instil confidence among those investing in electric vehicles, and with the Government not always aligning its fiscal and environmental policies – as we saw recently with the cut to Plug-in Grants – the BVRLA continues to regularly remind policymakers of the impact of these decisions on fleets, drivers, and the UK’s ability to meet its ambition zero-emission goals. The rental and leasing industry is on hand to provide advice to those looking to switch to electric, and by choosing a BVRLA member, customers can have the reassurance of knowing that they are dealing with a professional organisation adhering to an industry Code of Conduct. www.companycarandvan.co.uk
