8 minute read
CARS & NEWS
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
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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 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.
The 2021 wish list: Flexible and agile fleet options
The economic outlook postpandemic makes fleet rental options a better bet for many businesses, says Stuart Russell, LCV Sales Director, Europcar Mobility Group UK
The pandemic rapidly altered the UK economic landscape and as we gradually ease out of lockdown, companies are still navigating its consequences.
The changes have created winners; online retailers and delivery companies have seen an unprecedented uptick in demand, but others have found their business model is no longer fit for purpose and need to find new ways of operating.
Last autumn Europcar Mobility Group UK commissioned research among UK fleet managers to discover what their priorities and concerns were for the coming 12 months. For more than half (58 per cent), top of the list was improving fleet utilisation. Delivering fleet efficiencies through pro-active management was also high on the agenda for 43 per cent of respondents.
An optimistic outlook
Our research also showed an optimistic outlook, with 52 per cent of fleet managers expecting to increase the number of vehicles in their fleet this year. However, the financial impact of the pandemic has hit many businesses hard, and along with new rules and regulations coming into play as a consequence of Brexit, the need to make every penny count means that the optimal use of vehicle resources will be key to the ongoing success for many companies.
This could be a challenge for the three in 10 fleet managers who admitted that they do not currently have the ability to up-scale or down-size their fleet at short notice.
Traditional leasing or the outright purchase of vehicles does not give businesses the agility they need to meet fluctuations in demand. Long-term rental, such as our Flex solution however, offers a viable and more flexible alternative, with all the benefits of leasing but without the associated downsides, such as long-term financial commitment.
With long-term rental, businesses have the ability to access vehicles as and when they are needed and to hand them back when they are no longer required. This takes pressure off the balance sheet and keeps hard earned cash where it is most needed.
Quick access to vehicles is another advantage. Europcar, for example, can provide a wide range of vehicles with as little as five working days’ notice, unlike the three months lead time that’s par for the course for leasing.
Financial planning also becomes easier when opting for a long-term rental solution rather than leasing. The flat monthly payment covers everything – apart from the fuel. And taking a vehicle – a car or van – from three months to three years with the option to cancel, extend or
swap vehicles as and when requirements change, with no exit penalties, is crucial. Europcar’s Flex long-term rental solution also includes maintenance, relief vehicle and breakdown cover, following an accident or breakdown. Insurance cover can be included too, if required.
A flexible fleet for a flexible workforce
Another factor that fleet managers were starting to consider at the time of our research was the work from home culture precipitated by Covid-19. As the country moves out of lockdown and, hopefully, back to some sort of normality, the question remains about employee mobility and where that leaves the ‘company vehicle’. There is no point having a three-year commitment to a vehicle that could sit on the driveway for long periods of time, costing the business and employee money. Renting is a much more cost-effective option and offers greater control over associated P11D and BiK costs.
‘Usership’ instead of ownership takes the headache out of being a company car driver and for the fleet manager it can reduce admin time as the rental provider takes care of everything.
Sustainability is also something that featured high on the list of priorities among our respondents, yet 41 per cent of the average fleet is reportedly over three years old. Balancing the sustainability agenda against cost is difficult to do; to replace 41 per cent of a fleet with vehicles that meet the new emissions regulations would involve huge expense.
Again, long-term rental could provide the answer with access to the latest low emission cars and vans, helping to keep a fleet ‘fit for purpose’, without the financial burden of outright purchase.
No business wants to tie up cash or put funding arrangements at risk with depreciating assets sitting on the balance sheet. Europcar Flex is the perfect off-balance sheet solution to help businesses navigate changing times and to keep employees moving.
For more information on how Flex can support your business with long-term rental solutions, call 0371 384 0140, email businesssolutions@europcar.com or visit https://www.europcar.co.uk/ business/long-term-solutions
