PERSONAL Contract Hire will continue eating into the company car parc, says the BVRLA in its industry outlook for 2018.
As company car taxation rises, and more customers are lured towards taking cash and one of the enticing PCH deals offered by leasing brokers, so the traditional company car bedrock of business car leasing will be eroded.
“Demand for essential use and high-mileage company cars may be entrenched, but no-one is expecting any growth from perk users,” explained the report, which also said that there would be an increased demand for fleet management of those grey fleet drivers.
The report also pointed to the fact that PCP remains under the spotlight, particularly over the way it is sold, and negative connotations could end up harming legitimate and fully compliant businesses.
Such views coincide with the Leasing Broker Federation Attitude Survey 2017, which found that: “Personal contract hire is a key focus area for brokers, respondents suggesting there remains huge pent-up demand for the product, along with contract hire, finance lease and personal contract purchase,” according the Federation’s report.
Copies of the Federation’s Attitudes Survey were available at the recent Leasing Broker Federation Conference.
Elsewhere, the BVRLA’s Industry Outlook found that commercial vehicle market would polarize between firms working with HGVs and those with LCVs. It noted that the rising use of safety technology would avert any requirement for LCV market regulation, although the risk profile of the generation of self-employed ‘gig-economy’ van drivers would become a concern.
Gerry Keaney, BVRLA chief executive, said that the industry could expect a lot of change next year as more customers move from vehicle ownership to usership and that the industry should be primed to provide “the expertise to guide customers and businesses to the right transport solution, considering affordability, sustainability and cost-effectiveness”.
