CONGRATULATIONS to Sam Bryan who has been appointed manager of Re-Lease (used vehicle leasing) and the LCV division at Select Car Leasing.
Sam is highly experienced in sales, having enjoyed an eight year+ stint at the Reading leasing broker before taking a year off to tour Europe in his Volkswagen T5 Transporter campervan with his family.
Formerly head of sales at Select, Bryan says the new Re-Lease and LCV roles as ‘incredibly exciting’.
Re-Lease hit the market at the beginning of November 2022 and recorded 100 contracts the within the first five weeks.
It appears to be a nascent but growing market. According to the latest BVRLA Leasing Outlook Report (October 2023), there are now nearly 29,000 used vehicles on fleet, predominantly EV.
“Leasing companies are starting to devote time, energy and resource into exploring the opportunity of second life leases for used vehicles,” said the report.
“Volumes are currently low, but uncertainty over the residual values of electric vehicles allied to confidence in the long-term reliability (and low maintenance costs) of EVs has prompted significant interest in the opportunity to re-lease a used vehicle.”
Sam says the cars that are around two or three years old with some 20,000 to 25,000 miles on the clock and are not confined to EVs but encompass a broad range of petrol and diesel models too.
The used car leasing market presents enormous opportunities, particularly in the midst of a cost of living crisis. Re-Lease has all the benefits of leasing new but you also have increased affordability built-in. Re-Lease has real appeal right now.
Sam suggested that quick lead times were also a big draw, and so was the opportunity for small businesses and consumers to lease an EV at lower cost.
“Working with our funding partners to re-lease products back into the market for an extended period builds a more sustainable future for us all,” he added.
Select Car Leasing and the van market
Speaking about the van leasing market Sam said:
“Continuing to increase the availability of vans is vital for us; our customers need a new lease van, and they need it yesterday. We also need to support customers in their journey to electric vehicles, ensuring the vehicle has enough range and load capacity to meet very precise needs.
He also said there was a trend to van downsizing, largely down to a shift in the way that industry operates with more building materials being delivered directly to site, rather than having to be hauled there by business owners and employees in their own vans.
“It means a customer might be best suited to a medium-sized Ford Transit Custom, rather than having to lease a large Ford Transit, and we have to be agile in our approach when discussing a van lease with them,” Sam said.
The latest BVRLA Leasing Broker Report says that broker van sales for the 12 months to June 2023 were down 30.1% year on year.
But this is likely down to restricted supply last year. In the first 10 months of 2023, light commercial vehicle sales are up 17.7% to 26,342 units.
The SMMT says growth is being driven by a doubling of demand for medium-sized vans, rising by 106.1%. Nevertheless, large van models remained the most popular.
Earlier this year, RCI Bank’s Mobilize Financial Services bought a third of Select Car Leasing while Select owners Mark Tongue and James O’Malley have acquired a 15% stake in Mobilize Lease&Co UK Ltd.
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Ralph Morton is the leading journalist in the leasing broker sector and editor of Broker News, the website which provides information and news for BVRLA-registered leasing brokers. He also writes extensively on the fleet and leasing market in both the UK and Europe.
