Rhys Adams is the director of the website Short Term Car Leasing, which is a convenient family business located in the UK with a variety of car leasing services. With only a handful of staff, Rhys has managed to maintain success with his good business sense and leadership.

Rhys answered a few questions in relation to his business.

What prompted you to start your business?

I was already running a successful contract hire & leasing broker and offering a small selection of cars on short term car leases. When the credit crunch hit, larger funders would decline even the companies with a high credit rating. A funder gave us a large credit line and we started offering short term car leasing on 5 Audi A3’s we had purchased on our own books. We now have over 300 cars on fleet.

How have you made the process of getting a short term car lease easy for your customers?

I believe we have, yes. Although we still carry out credit checks and money laundering rules, our underwriting process is much easier than a lot of mainstream funders. We are also willing to look at Non-status, Expats and New Businesses or businesses with negative shareholder funds.

What types of vehicles/contracts do you offer on short term car lease?

We offer two types of contracts, Flexible Car Leasing and Short Term Car Leasing for 6-12 months. On Flexible Car Leasing we concentrate on Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Mini, Land Rover, Jaguar, Mercedes, Volvo and Volkswagen and we can turn these cars around extremely quickly once a credit line is in place and the paperwork complete.

Short Term Fixed Contracts are usually between 6-12 months and the manufacturer of the vehicle, dictates the length. We offer Audi’s, BMW, Ford, Fiat, Vauxhall, Kia, Hyundai, Citroen, Peugeot, Renault, VW, Volvo and Mitsubishi. The vehicles are generally new or nearly new and can take between 1-2 weeks to be delivered.

What’s the most common leasing period your customers choose?

The majority of our customers opt for the flexible car lease, they only have to commit for 28 days before they can send the car back, upgrade or downgrade the vehicle. They get the best prices at 90 days plus commitment and the beauty of our vehicles is that they can be kept for up to 12 months before being swapped by ourselves, many other firms swap every 90 or 180 days which makes the paperwork exercise hard work.

Why have you also offered leases on hybrid vehicles?

Since the latest Government announcement on the demise of Diesel and Petrol cars, we are getting more and more requests for Hybrid and Electric vehicles. Our service has many positives for the customer, first they can take the car for a shorter amount of time to trial the vehicle before committing long term and the other benefit is for company car users who want to benefit from lower Benefit in Kind tax.

Are there any more leasing options/vehicles you are planning to add to your business?

Car Subscriptions are the latest craze by the consumer, an all in monthly payment that covers the rental, maintenance, road tax, breakdown assistance and more. There is growing competition with the likes of Drover and Wagonex hitting the market, but they aren’t offering anything different to what we have been offering since 2007.

We are in talks with insurance providers so that we can offer a competitive insurance product to cover the vehicle, as currently customers have to provide their own fully comprehensive insurance.

What’s been your most popular short term car lease this year?

The Volvo XC60 has really been our most popular SUV, since Volvo upgraded the car its really taken the whole SUV market by storm, outperforming things like the BMW X3 and X5. The BMW 1 series has also been very popular, especially the BMW 116d SE Business for company car users.

Why is short term car leasing so popular with businesses?

I think the reason they have been so popular with businesses is that it offers flexibility, many businesses use it for members of staff in probation periods or even as an incentive to sell more, the more you sell the better car you can have. Its also great for companies who are seasonal, we have a Christmas party company who takes vans from us for 6 months every year.

What makes your business different to others in the same sector?

We are family owned and only have a handful of staff working for us, that means that the service that our customers receive is personal. We don’t want to become a large corporate as we don’t want to dilute our customer service. Many of our customers have been with us since day 1, and that’s a big thing for a company nowadays.

What does the future hold for Short Term Car Leasing?

There will be a massive change in the way people own or run vehicles, especially with the Government cracking down on Diesels and Petrols. I think the car subscription model will be the way forwards, there is very little commitment needed from the customers and they can turn a vehicle subscription on and off like they do with Netflix, its really exciting.

Thanks to Rhys for answering these questions.
You can contact Rhys Adams at https://short-term-leasing.co.uk