When it comes to the disposal process, an awful lot of companies just shove their vehicles out to auction. It’s surprising there isn’t greater creativity in this area, for example selling them to your drivers. Yes, what some may want in a second car may not be what they want in a company car; often what they want is somebody else’s company car. Most people don’t want two of the same car. As the leasing provider, you know what’s due to come off fleet, so it would be a simple thing to offer all of the used vehicles to your clients’ staff ahead of the end of the lease. Efficiencies abound, no need to wait for them to come off fleet before offering them to staff, and the ones you don’t sell you can push out to auction. You’re sure to be able to get a far greater margin from a personal buyer than you’ll get from the trade at auction. Factor in auction house fees, transport and storage costs, and the story is even more compelling.
Most leasing companies have a known market among their base of drivers that they are failing to make the most of. With the right systems you can offer drivers a great deal and make it very easy for them to buy. Some of them might even be looking for cars for their kids.
There are significant benefits in this for buyers who are more likely know exactly what they’re getting in terms of history and condition. Such vehicles are a very tempting proposition for anyone looking to opt out of the company car scheme too. It’s a great way to allow people to trade up. People can have sight of all of the cars coming off fleet in the next period. As you’ve been managing those vehicles you’re able to give greater guarantees as to their quality and pedigree because you’ve 100% confidence in the SMR for the vehicles.
The lemons of the fleet you can remove and take out of the selection. It is estimated that fleet owners could be getting 15-20 per cent more for each car while their staff can benefit from a bargain too. It is a win-win as it is possible to substantially undercut the dealer and retain a good profit as well, operating in the space between forecourt price and off-fleet price. Leasing companies also have secondary contract opportunities to go with this such as warranties and insurance, or even should they so desire, lease the used vehicles coming off fleet. The other big market opportunity is marketing early terminations and cars coming off of two-year or less leases to smaller businesses, the SMEs, that are interested in high quality used recent vehicles rather than new. Those organisations can get much better cars for their money.
Time to make sure you’re not throwing money away on disposals.
