Comments from Phil Moorhouse, Managing Director Northgate Vehicle Hire, for Fleet World daily rental feature April 2009
April 2009
“As a result of the recession, we expect an increasing number of companies to turn to rental rather than commit to the significant holding costs of owning or leasing vehicles for a ‘set’ period of time.
“All fleets, irrespective of size, should view rental as another vehicle acquisition route. It is competitive in comparison with other methods of acquisition, particularly when there is no long-term funding commitment and businesses are able to eliminate the risks of ownership. An increasing number of companies are recognising this flexibility as a result of the current economic difficulties and are turning to Northgate.
“The majority of our customers understand the flexibility that vehicle rental provides, while still leaving them in full control of their operations with a fully utilised fleet. But, we need to convince more organisations of those benefits and to focus them on the idea of vehicle usership and not ownership.
“One of the reasons why we launched our ‘sale and rentback’ solution 12 months ago (see press releases attached to email) was because we anticipated the operational dilemma facing fleet decision-makers.
“Businesses must continue to function in an economic downturn. However, companies are undoubtedly loath to commit to either funding new vehicles or being tied into leasing agreements when the outlook remains so uncertain. But, ‘sale and rentback’ enables companies to operate an efficient and modern fleet as cost-effectively as possible.
“Consequently, we have seen significant demand for our ‘sale and rentback’ solution - more than 1,000 vehicles across many deals - and we expect that trend to continue.
“Whether renting a car or van, Northgate’s modern range of vehicles delivers emission-friendly, fuel-sipping motoring to fleets.
“All vehicle manufacturers are striving to bring low emission models to the marketplace as quickly as possible because of the legislative drive from both Brussels and Whitehall.
“Due to our fleet replacement cycles our strategy is always to offer to customers the most environmentally-friendly models available from our manufacturer suppliers.
“As more low CO2-rated models have been launched by manufacturers so that has been reflected in the cars on our fleet. Today virtually all models on our fleet are below 160 g/km.
“Additionally, vehicles are serviced and maintained in accordance with schedules laid down by manufacturers through our national network of 60 workshops.”