Corporate Vehicle Leasing and Finance - Expert needed!
Discussion
At the moment my fleet is financed on Hire Purchase agreements. Basically I've financed over 5 years to keep cashflow healthy in the first couple of years.
As you may have gathered from another thread, there is the opportunity to get hold of a much larger company with a right old mixed bag of vehicles.
Now, if I went for the takeover, I would want to eliminate car problems immediately. It sapped too much of my time and attention in the early days of my firm, and wouldn't want the same problems x10
At the moment, we are borrowing money at better than prime rates from our bank and from outside finance companies. Would I be able to borrow at these great rates if I took on an unknown entity in a new firm?
Is there a better way to do this? What with unlimited mileage warranties becoming the norm, is it sensible to stick with HP, or can leasing come into play if I go for cars that have a high residual value and roll them every six months to a year, always keeping an immaculate fleet of brand new vehicles.
There's got to be a way that the big boys do it. Chequer cars at Stanstead for example. Hundreds of new Galaxy's every few months, he can't be stupid enough to BUY them surely
So, what would be available if I wanted a rolling lease arrangement on say a fleet of 40+ vehicles? I'm happy with Skoda and VW, but what would be the damage if I looked at Mercedes?
I pay £204 per month for each of the skoda's and about £230 a month for the sharans. I'm worried how much they are gonna cost me when they come out of warranty and still owe the finance every month
Come on, what's really available if you order in bulk?
As you may have gathered from another thread, there is the opportunity to get hold of a much larger company with a right old mixed bag of vehicles.
Now, if I went for the takeover, I would want to eliminate car problems immediately. It sapped too much of my time and attention in the early days of my firm, and wouldn't want the same problems x10
At the moment, we are borrowing money at better than prime rates from our bank and from outside finance companies. Would I be able to borrow at these great rates if I took on an unknown entity in a new firm?
Is there a better way to do this? What with unlimited mileage warranties becoming the norm, is it sensible to stick with HP, or can leasing come into play if I go for cars that have a high residual value and roll them every six months to a year, always keeping an immaculate fleet of brand new vehicles.
There's got to be a way that the big boys do it. Chequer cars at Stanstead for example. Hundreds of new Galaxy's every few months, he can't be stupid enough to BUY them surely
So, what would be available if I wanted a rolling lease arrangement on say a fleet of 40+ vehicles? I'm happy with Skoda and VW, but what would be the damage if I looked at Mercedes?
I pay £204 per month for each of the skoda's and about £230 a month for the sharans. I'm worried how much they are gonna cost me when they come out of warranty and still owe the finance every month
Come on, what's really available if you order in bulk?
KingRichard said:
There's got to be a way that the big boys do it. Chequer cars at Stanstead for example. Hundreds of new Galaxy's every few months, he can't be stupid enough to BUY them surely
As I understand it all the cars run by Chequer are actually owned by Ford and are loaned out as "development" cars to assess wear under hard use.I used to work for a courier co that did the same thing (with the same bit of Ford) we were provided with a LWB Transit, a Fiesta, A Yaris, a Clio and a MIcra (all from Ford) and they were regularly returned to Ford for "testing" for a couple of days every two months or so.
Hope that helps.
WRT to discounts for bulk purchases, feel free to PM me, as I also used to run a car brokerage and still have some contacts for "bulk buy"
HTH
Chris
Chris, YHM.
I'd really like to explore the different finance options. Can you keep the monthly payments low and then lob the car back after a short period of time? Even 2 years would be ok.
The problem, I imagine, would be that they are being used as Taxi's.
Our cars don't have anything drilled or screwed into them. It's all stickers. Private Hire Plates, door signs, computer systems etc are all fitted with a mixture of suckers, sticky pads and self adhesive vinyl. It takes literally seconds to convert a 'Taxi' back to a normal private vehicle.
Hit me with your ideas about balloon payments, contract hire, leasing etc etc.
I'd really like to explore the different finance options. Can you keep the monthly payments low and then lob the car back after a short period of time? Even 2 years would be ok.
The problem, I imagine, would be that they are being used as Taxi's.
Our cars don't have anything drilled or screwed into them. It's all stickers. Private Hire Plates, door signs, computer systems etc are all fitted with a mixture of suckers, sticky pads and self adhesive vinyl. It takes literally seconds to convert a 'Taxi' back to a normal private vehicle.
Hit me with your ideas about balloon payments, contract hire, leasing etc etc.
Richard,
I like your train of thought. I would much prefer to send my nan shopping in a car ran by a firm who have clen, newer cars, same colour/branding/logos etc than an old mondeo with squeeky brakes etc.
You only need look to the big transport firms now and how some of them compare image wise with the other smaller family firms.
Have you thought about talking to one of the many firms who just deal in taxis? think there is one called taxi's direct? As for bulk I had a friend who ran a car supermarket and he always raved about the discounts he could get on bulk but it was hit and miss in terms of getting the same over and over, sometime it would be Vectras, sometimes focus and so on.
I think you are right in terms of sticking with one brand.
I would be interested to see what Merc would say if you said you wnated 40+ Merc C200cdi's etc figures wise? I know you would prob get a reputation for having the smartest fleet, and if you could back it up with the service (I am sure you do already) you could be onto a winner!
Apologies for the rant - I am on energy drinks.
I like your train of thought. I would much prefer to send my nan shopping in a car ran by a firm who have clen, newer cars, same colour/branding/logos etc than an old mondeo with squeeky brakes etc.
You only need look to the big transport firms now and how some of them compare image wise with the other smaller family firms.
Have you thought about talking to one of the many firms who just deal in taxis? think there is one called taxi's direct? As for bulk I had a friend who ran a car supermarket and he always raved about the discounts he could get on bulk but it was hit and miss in terms of getting the same over and over, sometime it would be Vectras, sometimes focus and so on.
I think you are right in terms of sticking with one brand.
I would be interested to see what Merc would say if you said you wnated 40+ Merc C200cdi's etc figures wise? I know you would prob get a reputation for having the smartest fleet, and if you could back it up with the service (I am sure you do already) you could be onto a winner!
Apologies for the rant - I am on energy drinks.
I suspect that the biggest problem you will have is getting underwritten for that amount of vehicles. Given the type of business you will need to have a very strong balance sheet to get funding on 40+ cars.
With regards to "bulk buying" it is certainly not as easy as once was. The majority of manufactures have got much better stock control and don't have the same problems with over supply, even a Transit is 12wks+ factory order these days!
That said there certainly are people out their who would be happy to help providing they can get you underwritten and you are not specific about the exact vehicles. Personally I would say fixed monthly costs have to be the way forward and that means some form of lease/hire, changing the vehicles when the warranty ends. The short term deals you will see are often limited to a finite number of vehicles where the discount given out weights the excessive depreciation a car suffers in its first year, again this is fine if you are flexible.
If you are serious about this then feel free to pm me attaching a copy of your latest accounts and I will be happy to point you in the right direction.
With regards to "bulk buying" it is certainly not as easy as once was. The majority of manufactures have got much better stock control and don't have the same problems with over supply, even a Transit is 12wks+ factory order these days!
That said there certainly are people out their who would be happy to help providing they can get you underwritten and you are not specific about the exact vehicles. Personally I would say fixed monthly costs have to be the way forward and that means some form of lease/hire, changing the vehicles when the warranty ends. The short term deals you will see are often limited to a finite number of vehicles where the discount given out weights the excessive depreciation a car suffers in its first year, again this is fine if you are flexible.
If you are serious about this then feel free to pm me attaching a copy of your latest accounts and I will be happy to point you in the right direction.
1, YHM
Adam, as I said in the other thread - I'd really need to be confident I was buying profit, or the opportunity to make a profit.
If it makes enough to fire £10k a month to the vendor on a buyout, will it be able to pay me £10k a month while that's happening?
Where do you go when you're the market leader? You can only get smaller.
I think I'm swinging more towards kicking some arse with what we've already got. I just need to cover the big expenses - 24/7 operation, marketing, laying on cars and drivers (not easy until the new volume of work is steady).
Adam, as I said in the other thread - I'd really need to be confident I was buying profit, or the opportunity to make a profit.
If it makes enough to fire £10k a month to the vendor on a buyout, will it be able to pay me £10k a month while that's happening?
Where do you go when you're the market leader? You can only get smaller.
I think I'm swinging more towards kicking some arse with what we've already got. I just need to cover the big expenses - 24/7 operation, marketing, laying on cars and drivers (not easy until the new volume of work is steady).
Gassing Station | Business | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff