The BVRLA (British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association) disclosed its 2018 outlook report which has provided an overall industry view on 8 areas. Essentially the message from them is that they are positive and excited to embrace market opportunities. Below we have outlined some of the main areas that they covered to keep you up to speed.
Key Topics
Working Digital – There will be more investment made in terms of the customer facing aspects of the car leasing business. This will provide a better customer service experience and promote loyalty to specific brands.
Air Quality & Emissions – As the dominance of diesel will still remain when it comes to purchasing cars, they feel that this will in turn encourage people to make use of personal car lease deals like these instead. People are becoming much more aware when it comes to making better choices for the environment.
Connecting Vehicles – GDPR has been a prominent discussion point across many areas, and they noted that companies were getting to grips with compliance in terms of vehicle data. This will result in more focusing on dashcams and apps on Smartphones for connectivity.
Personal Leasing – Car leasing has been growing as a replacement of the company car perk. This in turn should see an increase in demand when it comes to grey fleet management
Mobility Services – They feel that there will be an increase in the number of individual mobility services offered in 2018. Integrated mobility in itself as a service most likely won’t take off – but the development of app delivered, dealership based car rental should see around a 20% increase in car club fleets.
Electric Cars – This has been on the radar for a while. Electric vehicle registrations will be dominated by hybrid cars. They also think there will be improvements when it comes to C02 and MPG making hybrids a good alternative for diesel in the personal leasing market. They don’t see it taking over the commercial market this year though.
Advanced Driver Assistance Systems – They think that operators of fleets will find it difficult in terms of ADAS re-calibration. There will be more and more complex vehicles available that will make it problematic for repair and maintenance companies to cope with.
Commercial Vehicles – In terms of large and heavy goods vehicles, the commercial vehicles market will still be polarised. There is an increasing use of safety technology which means LCV’s will need less regulation. There will be an increase in worries about the risk profile of a new generation of van drivers.
The BVRLA feels that there will be an increasing number of people switching from ownership to usership and that there will be much better technology in place for car lease and rental companies to be able to service requirements. Sounds like 2018 could be a big year for this industry.