- BVRLA lease fleet grows 8% year-on-year to 1,983,814 cars and va
- Car fleet up 12.5% year-on-year; van fleet down -4.2%
- BCH car fleet up 7.9% year-on-year; salsac up 123.4% YOY; PCH down -3.7% YOY
LEASING is set to start 2026 with a positive outlook, despite wider industry trends, says the first BVRLA Leasing Outlook, with brokers leading the way.
BCH and salary sacrifice, the engines of fleet growth
The BVRLA car lease fleet has broken the 1.5 million vehicle barrier for the first time in seven years. The report remarks that while the national economy is subdued which is holding back retail confidence, employers are taking advantage of the current cut-throat car pricing for their own fleets and staff salary sacrifice schemes. This year will see even more lower-priced EVs enter the market and ‘several; executives’ have pointed to more lower-rate taxpayers in their salsac schemes.
PCH will have its day
On PCH the message is to ignore the figures showing it’s in consistent decline (down 3.7% here): the reality looks better, although it’s never going to beat salsac for growth.
Certainly, this was a story we heard time and again in 2025 from brokers enjoying a boom in PCH helped by aggressively priced ‘commit to purchase’ tactical deals between OEMs, brokers and leasing companies.
Earlier this month Gareth Roberts, Strategy Director at Central Contracts, said: “The sector is in a strong position. Any concerns about destabilisation and the impact on residual values or leasing rentals are offset by the need for OEMs to sell cars, especially new entrants from China.”
Expect the BVLRA to re-adjust its fleet size data this year as it captures data from some ‘major captive finance operations’ by OEMs. In an earlier report it believed that the broker fleet could be 20 to 25% bigger than showing now.
Used vehicle leasing
Surveying the used leasing landscape, the Outlook says that strong
confidence in EV reliability and battery health means leasing firms are now supplying used EVs that they will not remarket until they are seven or even eight years old. The skill will be to arrive at a rental sufficiently cheaper than some of the new car offers available.
Even more pressure on costs
Not that 2026 is likely to be plain sailing, the report says. There will ‘intense pressure’ for leasing companies to lower costs and it already sees customers asking for new policies stretching to five-year leases for cars and seven-year leases for vans.
Further ahead there is ‘almost universal bafflement’ on the proposed eVED mileage tax in 2028. ‘Why offer the Electric Car Grant to incentivise EV uptake, only to introduce a policy that is likely to weaken demand?’
“Our industry is agile, resilient, and innovative, but it needs to work in partnership with the Government. The faltering used EV market and the badly designed and poorly timed eVED regime proposals are two prime examples where we need an urgent policy rethink.”
The full report can be read on the BVRLA website.
AI and integration at QV Connect 5
Held last week, this year’s QV Connect 5 conference was about what AI means for the leasing broker world – read our full report here
All the photos from QV Connect 5
All the photographs from the recent QV Systems Connect 5 event, held at Toca Social, where Broker News was the Media Partner
Women in Broking Live! event postponed
Women in Broking Live!, originally scheduled for this Wednesday at Sytner, Northampton, has been postponed
Broker News Newsletter 14 July 2026
Catch up on the latest leasing broker news in the 14 July 2026 Broker News newsletter
Ex-KeyFleet MD Marc McLoughlin joins Your Vehicle Rental as it expands into broker sector
Marc McLoughlin, the former MD of KeyFleet, has joined rental business Your Vehicle Rental as it expands into servicing the broker sector
News in Brief: Silverstone in line for silverware; Attard sets up new Planet Leasing AR; Nadia Trimmel Sales Director for Mercedes Vans
Friday 17 July News in Brief: Silverstone in line for award ; Attard new Planet Leasing AR; Nadia Trimmel Sales Director for Mercedes Vans
Russell Hayes’ early career was 14 years of motoring journalism in print (for What Car?), television (for Top Gear), as well as online. Since 2007 he has authored 12 motoring history books on subjects including TVR, the Earls Court Motor Show, the Volkswagen Golf and Aston Martin – see Russell Hayes on Amazon. However, he’s not forgotten how to be a motoring journalist and now writes for UK consumer motoring sites – not to mention Broker News. When he’s not writing, Russell can be found in the cinema or planning his next travel adventure.
