At All Car Leasing, we understand that everyone has different needs when it comes to car leasing. While we are specialists in personal car leases, we are also experts in leasing cars for businesses, having done both for over 20 years. We understand that a business car lease may just be the beginning and that many companies need more. This is where fleet management comes in.
We can help you build a new fleet using fleet car leasing, upgrade your existing fleet or add new vehicles to a growing fleet. All Car Leasing offers full fleet management services too.
When a company needs a fleet of vehicles to function, whether it's delivering goods or transporting employees from a to b as part of their job, there's a lot to think about. While smaller businesses may only have a handful of vehicles in their fleet, a larger company could have hundreds spread out over their workforce. This is where we can help, offering fleet leasing services so companies can lease all the vehicles they need without the stress of buying.
All Car Leasing can help your business if you're looking to create a new fleet of vehicles for your company whether it's cars, vans or both. We know how important the right van, car or other vehicle is to the smooth running of your business. We can put our decades of experience to good use and help you find the perfect vehicles for your fleet.
Give us a call today on 01565 880 880 to get the ball rolling, or enquire online through the site to talk to us about our fleet car leasing offers.
For more information on eligibility, or how fleet leasing works, please visit our FAQs page and Leasing Guides section. To see our latest business special offers click here.
Leasing out a whole fleet of vehicles is a big commitment with a large financial outlay, but fortunately, there are a number of options when it comes to fleet management. You can enter a contract hire agreement, a finance lease or consider purchasing the vehicles outright.
Each of these methods for building a fleet has pros and cons and the best option for your business may not be the same as someone else's. There's options to purely rent your vehicles and give them back, to own your cars or vans outright or to keep monthly costs lower but pay more at the end. Some fleet management solutions come with balance sheet benefits or tax advantages.
Contract hire is, as you'd expect from the name, a hiring agreement. You never own your fleet outright, but instead rent it from a leasing company, paying a deposit upfront and fixed monthly payments.
Fleet car leasing is an excellent option for a business that only needs a small fleet, especially those who can't allow themselves the time to get bogged down in additional admin or overheads. While the amount you pay each month will vary depending on your deposit and your estimated mileage, the whole deal will generally be created with your company's needs front and centre.
There are a number of bonuses to managing your fleet with business contract hire. These include:
Flexible deposits - you can make your deposit as big or as small as you can afford, with a minimum of three months advance rental.
Fixed monthly payments - you'll arrange a date and amount for your repayments which won't change until the end of the term, allowing you to forecast accurately and with ease.
Balance sheet - as the cars don't belong to you, you don't have to show them on your balance sheets!
Minimise admin - as you're renting the cars from the leasing company, you won't have to do any additional admin as that will sit with them.
Road Tax is taken care of - All vehicle excise duty, or road tax, is paid as part of the agreed monthly payments and is the responsibility of the company leasing you the vehicles.
Give your keys back and walk away - once the term comes to an end, you don't have to worry about selling the vehicles and replacing them, you simply return them to the leasing company and, if you carry on with your agreement, you'll get a new one in its place.
Maintenance & roadside assistance - these are often wrapped up in your monthly repayments, so it's another thing you haven't got to worry about.
Tax - With business contract hire you'll find that tax relief varies depending on your usage. For commercial vehicles it's up to 100%, but for any cars that are being used for personal use too, it's 50%. You'll be able to claim your 100% of your VAT back for your maintenance costs though!
Corporation tax & emissions - If you opt to lease cars that offer low CO2 emissions, you can claim back 100% of the lease rental against corporation tax. This drops to 85% for other vehicles that aren't as eco-friendly.
"With over 20 years of experience in car leasing, we know how well contract hire works for building your fleet. We can give you the best advice on what vehicles you need to build or upgrade your fleet and then help you manage them. From affordable maintenance costs through to installing trackers and helping you save on VAT, All Car Leasing are here to help."
You'll find that a finance lease agreement is only available on vehicles that are entirely for commercial use. As this is another lease agreement, your company will never outright own the fleet and will continue to rent it. It does however differ from a contract hire agreement in a couple of key ways.
With a finance lease you will own the value of the vehicle and, at the end of the agreement, you'll owe a balloon payment. With a contract hire your monthly costs are essential rental fees, but with a finance lease you are paying off the cost of the vehicle each month, and the final payment is whatever is left to pay. This means that the lower your monthly payments, the larger your balloon payment may be.
As you actually own the value of the vehicle, it will appear in your balance sheet. The final payment is agreed upon with the leasing company at the beginning of the term. In some instances, the final value of the asset may end up being more than you actually pay, in these cases there is a chance to get some credit back, but this is not always the case.
There's a number of great reasons to consider a finance lease deal when you're looking at a car. These include:
Flexible payments - while your payments will generally be fixed, you can arrange for flexible payments with your leasing company so you can manage your cash flow in a more fluid manner.
Flexible deposits - you can put down as little as 3 months' deposit so you don’t have to worry too much about putting down a lot upfront.
Claim back VAT - as the vehicles are for commercial use, you can claim back 100% of the VAT, plus 100% of the VAT on any maintenance costs. Some restrictions may apply so always check what those are before claiming.
Offset costs - as you own the value of the vehicle, you can offset the cost of the rental when calculating taxable profit.
No mileage restrictions - where business contract hire will have strict mileage and usage restrictions, lease finance won't. This means you're free to drive your vehicles as far as you like. It's worth keeping in mind the value at the end of the term will be affected by excess mileage.
Lease extension - at the end of the term, you have the option of extending your lease. This means you can agree a rate and carry on using the vehicle for a new term.
Balance sheet - as you own the value of the vehicle for the duration of the lease, it'll show up on your balance sheet. This means the value of your company's assets will increase.
Getting vehicles for your fleet through a contract purchase agreement is the final option. This is only available to VAT registered businesses.
The purpose of an outright purchase contract is for a business to own its fleet at the end of the term. This is done by paying a deposit at the start of the agreement, followed by fixed monthly payments and an option agreed balloon payment at the end to own the vehicle. The monthly payments are not subject to VAT.
Once you've paid the balloon payment the vehicle belongs to your company.
So what are the bonuses of purchasing your fleet outright? There are a number of things you'll want to consider and these include:
Fixed monthly payments - this allows you to plan for the future knowing exactly much you'll be paying each month.
VAT - you don't have to pay any VAT on any of your monthly payments.
Own the vehicle - a purchase contract will give you the option of buying the vehicle outright at the end of the agreement, but you still have the choice to give it back to the company you're leasing it from.
Maintenance costs - while it doesn't come as standard with your monthly repayments, there is an option to enter a maintenance contract that allows you to pay for maintenance in monthly payments alongside your term.
Balance sheet - as you're paying off the value of the vehicle, it will show up as an asset on your company's balance sheet. This means it will increase the value of your company's assets. It also means it can be written down against taxable profits.
Editor's Note
"Purchasing your fleet outright isn't for everyone and shouldn't be done lightly. While you may be able to add additional maintenance costs as a monthly retainer, you're still likely to be paying more for vehicle maintenance, and as your fleet ages this will add up. You'll have to manage your fleet entirely yourself too, which makes a large amount of work for someone internally at your business. When you add this to the potential large upfront costs and the need to sell the vehicles yourselves at the end, it may be too expensive and time consuming to be a good option for many."
If you have an existing fleet and your transport manager needs support keeping it on the road then why not get in touch with us to see how we can help. Just give us a call on 01565 880 880 to speak with our company fleet management team.
Fleet car leasing doesn't have to be a complicated or daunting task. Hiring or leasing your fleet allows you to take a lot of the hard work out of fleet management. A lot of the administration, management and maintenance problems are solved with business leasing as the company that leases you the vehicles remains responsible for all of these tasks.
With 20 years of experience we know everything there is to know about the right vehicles for your fleet. Our experts are waiting to give you the best advice possible, whatever type of fleet you are trying to build. We understand that each fleet is different and what works for one may not work for another.
We can make the purchasing process as smooth as possible for your team. We can help you build out a new fleet or replace your existing vehicles. We can help you find the best van for your needs or the best fleet lease cars for sale.
We know that vehicle repairs and fleet maintenance can seem like a giant expense that's hard to keep on top of, but with our fleet leasing deals we can wrap up all of these costs into one simple monthly fee that's part of your monthly repayments. This means you can budget long term with full knowledge that your fleet maintenance costs are already covered and that if the worst happens, you'll not have to worry about shelling out more.
If you're concerned about the usage and safety of the vehicles in your fleet, we can assist you with tracker installation. This means you'll have full insight into what your fleet is up to and how your vehicles are being used.
Once your term is over and you're ready to return your vehicles, we will arrange the collection of the entire fleet, so you don't have to worry about returning the vehicles to us.