Eco-friendly taxi SMW chooses Lombard for sale and leaseback
Leading fleet company, Lombard Vehicle Management has secured a deal with pioneering environmentally-friendly private hire service greentomatocars to buy and leaseback its fleet of Toyota Prius hybrids and supply new vehicles on an ongoing basis. The sale-and-leaseback solution involves 54 vehicles, with up to 20 new Priuses scheduled for delivery in the first half of 2009.
The majority of the greentomatocars fleet has to date been funded on hire purchase, largely through Lombard but, as company co-founder Jonny Goldstone says, improving cashflow was not an important factor in developing a new fleet funding strategy.
“When we started the business in 2006, hybrid residual values were uncertain as the vehicles were new to the market, and this had to be reflected in contract hire rates. Residuals are now much more solid as the vehicles are established and legislation is encouraging their use.
“In these circumstances we can confidently commit to a leasing strategy and can enjoy the benefits. Not only are we free of residual value risk but the administrative burden of disposing of the vehicles is removed. With a large and growing fleet of vehicles we were in danger of becoming a used car dealership rather than a private hire company. In addition, our vehicles are highly-visible, liveried marketing tools so it is important for us to have up-to-date, well-maintained vehicles on a regular change cycle and contract hire helps ensure this.
“Lombard was the first funding provider to offer support to us as a new business with a new proposition, and their proposal for the next three years made us very comfortable. Their customer service has been really excellent and they have consistently offered the most competitive rates whatever funding methods we have looked at.”
The deal was handled by Lombard Key Fleet Business Development Manager Stuart Brown.
Greentomatocarsbased in Brentford, Middlesex was recently featured on our sister publication, TheGreenCarWebsite.co.uk. The company double-funds carbon offset projects to compensate for unavoidable emissions, and does not charge a premium for going green.
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