Membership boost for BVRLA
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• Last year the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association increased its membership by a massive 82% to 1,514 members. The association says that the large increase was largely caused by the rental dealers of Volkswagen Audi, Peugeot Talbot and Ford deciding to join. BVRLA, however, does not expect to repeat the same growth rate this year.
The contract hire market is continuing to boom said the EiVRLA president Freddie Aldous at last week's annual general meeting of the association. "Vehicle purchases by the BVRLA's own members amounted to about 15% of the car and light van market last year, and to about 18% of the commercial vehicle market — a total of approximately 350,000 units, conservatively valued at 22,800 million."
The rental and leasing mar ket as a whole grew by about 15% last year, continuing the pattern of previous years. Rising insurance premiums are continuing to affect the industry, and BVRLA estimates that every one per cent premium rise costs the association's members alone more than 21 million in a full year.
To try and counteract the rising trend in thefts and insurance claims, the BVRLA is launching a new yearly vehicle anti-theft award, the first of which will be presented at the association's annual dinner in March 1988. It will be given to the company which has introduced or perfected the most effective anti-theft device during the previous year — worldwide. Though the award scheme has no definite categories, it is understood that commercial vehicle innovations will be included in the scope of the competition.