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tinding the silver lining
Page 75
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A slowing economy and tumbling residuals might be bad for the market, biit one rental firm believes this combination is boosting its business.
t the start of the month, George Alexander, chief CV editor at Glass's Guide, reported that after six strong ye rs a slowdown in the UK economy will hit de and for used vehicles,which is bound to hit res duals.There is also a lack of clean stock.
lexander is optimistic that the trend will re rse in the new year "if common sense prc vails"— but in the meantime these factors are boosting demand in the rental sector.
Rentals benefit
At LS, for example, business levels have acdelerated during the tail end of 2005. Marketing director Sean Welham says: "Anecdotal feedback from its customers during the past few months reinforced the impression that fleets were using rental to meet shortto medium-term demand."
Overall demand for vans has not fallen to any great extent during 2005. He adds:"In many respects, the economy is still doing well and many large companies in key sectors are looking to expand their fleet capacity.
"However, falling figures in October for new light CV sales show that fleets are not necessarily satisfying this demand by buying vehicles — possibly because of a slight loss in economic confidence. Instead, these businesses are looking at other options, and the indications that we have experienced arc that many are satisfying their needs by opting to rent." •