Feature
What can fleet operators expect from rental companies? Jack Carfrae mystery shops the big names and quizzes a fleet manager and the BVRLA.
Last year, the BVRLA claimed business customers accounted for 58% of car rentals and 82% of van hires, while the sector saved more than 25,000 tonnes of CO2 a year over private vehicles, because rentals are, on average, eight years younger, and the rental EV fleet was up 200% on 2022.
All good news, but the reality of dealing with rental can differ from the headlines. AFP board
Hire or lower? I
t is hard to knock the convenience of rental. Having a vehicle dropped at your door, often at short notice, is pretty impressive, and plugs the gaps in many a fleet.
director, Lee Jackson, operates a 1,300-vehicle fleet, around 150 of which are rentals. He says availability and turnaround times have significantly improved since the worst of the new vehicle shortages, when fleets took a back seat next to more profitable retail sales, and praises hire firms for delivering EVs with 50% charge (although he notes how expensive they are and that drivers would benefit from a brief ‘this is how it works’ on delivery).
However, his “biggest bugbear” is the way in which damage charges are handled: “I’ve had instances of really long reports on damage, highlighting every
little scratch, where you can’t see a damn thing in the photo. I’ve even had ultraviolet light checks to show me blemishes and scratches I would never have seen with the naked eye – which didn’t happen when the vehicle was delivered.”
According to Jackson, a recent development is increased scrutiny of van loading areas for dirt and marks: “I’d never seen charges for panels or plylining being dirty, or even marks on interior sills. Challenging loading areas was never really a thing, but it seems to be every opportunity now.” It is not the first time we have heard such comments from fleet operators, and Jackson’s
28 | March/April 2025 |
www.businesscar.co.uk
peterschreiber.media/
Shutterstock.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53
