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Rosy future for rentals
Page 14
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• A major new report on vehicle rental and contract hire predicts that rental companies will merge and diversify as 1992 approaches.
The Keynote report, Vehicle Leasing and Hire, says competition in the short-term hire market is intense. Last year the sector grew by 9.5% in the UK, but long-term rental and contract hire is growing at an annual rate of 18.7%.
Keynote estimates there were 88,400 trucks in the UK's rental parc and 106,450 vans last year. Rental companies spent a total of g1,075 million on new commercial vehicles last year, an increase of over 35% on the previous year.
The report suggests that UK contract hire companies stand to benefit from the open ing of the European market. "Gaining a foothold is likely to prove relatively easy for the large and medium-sized companies", says the report, "some of which are part of major short-term rental organisations and thus have ready access to overseas markets. Others are subsidiaries of ma jor financial groups and thus have a similarly easy route to expansion".
It seems likely that many commercial vehicle manufacturers will take an increasing interest in the rental market, says the report.
Rover Group has already agreed a long-term rental deal with Coventry City Council, Volkswagen owns InterRent, and Volvo and Ford both have shares in Hertz.
For more details of the report, call 01-783 0922.
o Wincanton Group has bought Brighton-based BVH Truck Rentals which operates a fleet of 560 light commercials, vans and cars.
The company will form part of Wincanton's light vehicle division, but the BVH name will he retained.