in Hire Business Looks Good for Growth
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I.' who mostly hires our vans ?", asked the the man from Hertz. is, what kind of person? What customer ?" These were some y questions I found myself asking 'heading a reception held in two weeks ago to announce the lion of The International Hertz Car organization with Godfrey Ltd. Having had it impressed te from several directions that the 'renting business was on the "up ", hearing talk of expansion and ;marks as "nothing can stop us I wondered where all this s was coining from.
ever. I never really found out; it seems there is no specific to that specific question. The man said: "There is no pattern c of person hiring a van—or : for which it is required. They ed a lot by private personstg the Beatles, who hired a van heir truck broke down. But they o used by the fleet owner who )1 finds himself short of a as Hertz (at the time of the in) had a van fleet of 279, of (I was told) 70-80 per cent are in at any one time, that sounds like asonable business.
eet to be Doubled
not, apparently. reasonable —namely, the association with y Davis and the fact that Hertz to double the (van) fleet in the ! months ". Big thinking from a mpanyI How big? The Inter1 Hertz Rent A Car System is I to be the world's leading motor renting and leasing organization. ly operating more than 115.000 ; through some 2.600 service Is in 83 different countries.
considerable fleet expansion in perhaps it is not surprising that rast covetous eyes on the Godfrey aeilities. For Godfrey Davn have r been running more than 5.000 d "between 150 and 200 vans on .o-day rental basis", These vans rd models) are in the weight range cwt. Equally attractive to Hertz. ;, were the 150 Godfrey Davis service depots—because with the 100 or se vehicle stations that the firm already, has at its disposal, Hertz, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Daintier Hire Ltd., will now be in a position to offer vehicle hiring facilities at more than 250 locations throughout the UK.
That then is the set-up with this association, Hertz wanted to expand and have done so—painlessly (without the need to raise money). And Godfrey Davis? The rumour had been making the rounds recently that this company was the likely subject of a -take-over hid---and one might reasonably conclude that a liaison with Hertz was found to appear that much more attractive a proposition than an actual take-over. For there is no question of take-over in the present arrangement All that has happened is that Godfrey Davis Ltd., which was Britain's largest vehicle-hire company, has been granted a long-term franchise by Hertz (see The Cfmunercial Afotor, October 15), When this matter was raised with a spokesman from Godfrey Davis he told me. "There is now just a link between the companies which will mean that we will use each other's vehicles and depots."
This link, according to one report 1 read, was brought about by Treasury pressure. Hertz profits. it was stated. come from using short-term borrowed money to finance vehicle purchase—the total, at present. standing at "about £3 m." And, the report went on. the Treasury indicated that further expansion would have to come front an injection of dollars.
It is encouraging to note that it is Hertz policy to operate British-made vehicles. Recently they have had more than 3,000 cars available for hire. And the 279-strong van fleet comprises 30 vehicles in the 6 cwty, class. 50 in the 30 cwt. class, and about .200 15 cwt. vans. In addition a range of 2-tonners will be operating in the London area this autumn on an experimental basis. These vehicles arc all bought new and, according to Mr. D. Hyde. Hertz district manager in London/SE England. "the vehicles run for 18 months and arc then traded-in ".
Basically there is little variation hi the rates for van hire charged by these two
BY E. JAMES MILLEN
companies. The main difference seems to be that in their rates list the minimum period quoted by Godfrey Davis is " per day ", whereas Hertz include an hourly rate. Apart from the period charge both firms impose a mileage charge of 4d. per mile. And in both cases rates include insurance, maintenance, and oil—but exclude petrol. It is interesting to observe that Godfrey Davis advertise a night concession" Rental may be started or extended overnight (5 p.m.-9 a.m.) for the small charge of 50 per cent of the daily rate."
Rent it here—leave it there
A great facility offered by both Hertz and Godfrey Davis is the " Rent it here
leave it there " service. Under this • scheme customers can pick up a van at any one of a number of stations, make use of it, and then return it to any other named station—no return charge being made. A Godfrey Davis service of this nature has been available at the Following depots: London (SW1, NW10, WI4, NI6 and London Airport). Birmingham. Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds. Leicester. Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle. Nottingham, St. Albans and Southampton.
The Hertz "one-way rental " scheme is based on a number " key cities". These are: Birmingham. Bristol, Cardiff, Coventry. Darlington, Edinburgh. Gatwick, Glasgow. Leeds. Leicester. Liverpool. London (Herbrancl Street and Heathrow). Manchester. Newcastle upon Tyne. Sheffield and Southampton.
Being told that a large City stationery firm with a fleet of about 40 vans (mostly L5 cwt.) of its own hired Hertz, vans regularly. I asked the property manager (he's in charge of transport) why this was. He told me that basically there were four reasons. Pointing out that his company had large numbers of deliveries to make—mostly ill London and the Home Counties, hut also in Manchester. Liverpool, Birmingham. Cardiff. and Glasgow -he said that hiring took place when: (a) a vehicle broke down. (b) a vehicle had to he taken off the road for repair, lc) a vehicle was taken off the road for service. and (d) there were exceptional circumstances, such as too much work for his own fleet to deal with.
What did he think of Hertz? "It is a very, very good service." Any further comments? " We are quite unreasonable at times with our requests, but they usually manage. In other words we find die service satisfactory.". Did he use other van hire companies? "Only when a Hertz van is not available." Why was that? There were three reasons: "We can usually manage to get a van when we want it. We have recently been given a discount—so the service is cheaper. The vans are always kept in a reasonable condition-"and good conciifion is something we have found sadly lacking in vans of other companies."