Research shows small to medium fleets prefer van purchase28 July 2011

Outright purchase remains the most attractive method of acquiring light commercial vehicles, vans and company cars for small to medium size fleet operators, according to a survey by MIB Data Solutions.

Out of 1,317 fleet managers interviewed, 1,163 purchase vehicles, 685 use some form of leasing and 259 do both. The fleets of those companies questioned range from one to 200 units.

Nick Boddington, MIB's managing director, explains that, while several other surveys had shown leasing gaining ground across the fleet industry as a whole in the post-recession climate, this research indicates that SMEs still largely prefer to buy.

"There is no doubt that leasing has become a more popular part of the acquisition mix in recent years," says Boddington.

"However, in the SME sector, this snapshot research shows that outright purchase is still very much the most widely used acquisition method. In this part of the market, managers that often own and run their own businesses have traditionally liked to own their assets, and it appears that this is still very much the case with cars and vans."

Boddington also believes that the research indicates that there is a fairly consistent relationship between fleet size and acquisition method. "If you look at the range of zero to 200 vehicles, fleets at the top end of the scale are much more likely to make some use of leasing than those with a handful of cars and vans," he explains.

Author
John Challen

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