Lex Autolease survey reveals company cars mean fast cash for UK businesses

By Amanda White 16 March 2010

Lex Autolease, the UK’s largest company car and van provider has recently commissioned a survey, in partnership with YouGov, which has highlighted the growth funds being raised through ‘sale and leaseback’ agreements with one in four (27%) financial directors intend to offload company-owned vehicles in a bid to raise more cash.

The survey reveals that UK firms benefited from a cash injection of over £50 million in the last 12 months as a result of purchasing thousands of company owned vehicles. The popularity of this form of funding , essentially a switch from ownership to contract hire, has seen a growth spurt brought about by the recent credit crisis.

Andrew Kirby, regional sales director for Lex Autolease says: “For many firms who are looking at ways to finance their business, sale and leaseback is often an ideal solution. It provides an immediate cash injection to service debts or fund investment priorities.

“More companies can benefit from releasing the capital tied up in their vehicles and begin the process of using managed contract hire arrangements to drive down the costs of mobilising employees.

“Speed is often the key issue and our experience in dealing with this form of finance ensures that we’re able to move quickly and get the funds released immediately. It’s faster than many other forms of funding and firms have the reassurance that we have both the financial capability and fleet management expertise. Sale and leaseback often means we will stay with them for at least three or four years to help run all aspects of their fleet.” 

Lex Autolease says that within a small time frame, often only a matter of days, it has been able to value customers’ entire fleets and provide immediate access to funds. The company retains its fleet, employees keep driving the same vehicles, and day to day operations are unaffected. There’ll be a positive impact on the balance sheet and then three or four years later, when the leases end, a fleet of new vehicles can be ordered and delivered.

Andrew Kirby concludes: “Contract hire is preferable in many ways to ownership, not least because of the reduced risk of vehicle depreciation and maintenance. But on the employee side, it’s also a more flexible way of offering staff greater choice within their benefits package and enticing high-quality recruits with the promise of a new company vehicle rather than an old or shared pool car.” 

Key reasons to switch to sale and leaseback: Instant cash injection, Tax savings from removing vehicles from the balance sheet, Removes risks associated with vehicle ownership, Fixed monthly payments for easy cash flow forecasting, Access to services such as maintenance and fleet management, Reduced administration, Easy, straightforward process.

To find out how much your fleet could be worth, or for more information on sale and leaseback, visit www.lexautolease.co.uk/sal, call: 0845 769 7381, or email: sale@lexautolease.co.uk

Categories: Fleet news , Lex Vehicle Leasing

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