Frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions

Flexible vehicle hire allows you to hire a van, for up to three years with a range of annual mileage options, just return at any point when you’ve finished with the vehicle.

Vehicle leasing allows you lease a van or a car for a fixed contract period. At the end of your contract period, you return the vehicle and start the process again.

Our team can provide you with the right number of vans and cars for your business' needs, whether you're looking for a small selection or a large fleet.

The benefits of car and van hire include:

Flexibility: If you need a vehicle for a month, or even longer, then you can rent it without the commitment of buying. You’ll have no ongoing costs after the initial payment, so if your business needs change it’s easy to switch to another vehicle or contract length.

Cost-effective: The cost of hiring is often less than purchasing and paying for insurance, tax and maintenance. And with short term contracts available from just one week up to twelve months, there are plenty of options to suit your budget and business needs.

Easy to manage: Many companies offer flexible rental agreements that allow you to pay monthly instalments rather than paying all at once at the start of your agreement. This means you can pay off your vehicle in small chunks over time and spread out any financial risk involved with renting rather than owning a vehicle.

Yes, we can help you with that, whether you are looking for a small selection or a large fleet, we can provide the right number of vans and cars for your business’ needs.

For our business-to-business rental solutions , customers are expected to provide their own fully comprehensive insurance cover, either a fleet or a specific vehicle policy. We can provide insurance cover for you through our specialist division Radius insurance. 

In the instance of a registration specific vehicle insurance policy, customers must cite that the vehicle is for business use, supply an accurate estimate of annual mileage and cite that a leasing /rental company is the registered owner of the vehicle. 

The general age requirements to hire a vehicle are from the age of 25-75, with a minimum of two years driving licence and a maximum of six penalty points within the last three years. However, car hire suppliers may opt to add an additional daily fee for drivers under 25, commonly known as a “Young Driver Fee”. Most suppliers also require you to be at least 30 years of age to hire a luxury vehicle.

The answer depends on the length of your hire agreement. There’s usually no mileage limit for short-term business vehicle hire, but there can be exceptions based on the vehicle type, location, and length of contract. Contract business van hire, also called leasing, does involve mileage limits as this affects the vehicle’s value after the lease ends. 

All our vehicles are costed and supplied based on an agreed annual mileage. If a vehicle is returned early, then mileage is aggregated. This means the mileage covered is calculated annually and cross referenced against the agreed annual mileage. If it exceeds the agreed amount, a pence per mile charge is applied for the excess.

Hiring or leasing a vehicle gives the customer an opportunity to always keep a new operationally and financially efficient fleet. There are no depreciation costs to think about and costs such as service, maintenance, repair, replacement, road fund licence and recovery can be included.  

You also have complete flexibility  to add, reduce, adapt and change your fleet, particularly in long term flexible hire, where you can always adjust your fleet to meet your business’ changing requirements.

If your hire/lease vehicle has been declared a ‘total loss(written off or stolen) you need to let us know as soon as possible. We require written confirmation from your insurance company that the vehicle is a total loss before providing an amount for settlement of the vehicle contract.

The vehicle will remain on hire until such time that it is settled, and payment is received from your insurance company. This includes any excess charges that need to be paid by the customer. Any replacement vehicle supplied will also be chargeable in all cases.

Yes, as part of the business account application process, you will be asked to submit some information. This is just for us to assess your suitability and affordability for the solutions you need.  

We won’t base any decision solely on your credit score. We’ll also consider other factors  such as your ability to make regular payments on time and any other debts you may have and in the instance of an existing customer, we may well look at your historic trading relationship with us. 

At the end of your hire/lease with us your vehicle will be checked in and you will be given the opportunity to inspect the vehicle and confirm its return condition. This will be recorded electronically, and we will note any additional items of damage that differ from when the vehicle was originally supplied.  

We operate in line with BVRLA fair wear and tear standards, so we will only apply charges we feel are necessary. A service level agreement is provided in all cases, and this clearly outlines our approach in respect of additional charges and our approach to in life and end of life repairs.

Further FAQs

Hire/lease agreements normally include Road Fund Licence (more often known as vehicle tax or road tax) for the duration of the contract. The length of time that tax is covered will depend on the type of contract you have. For leasing, vehicle tax is also typically provided for the duration of the agreement. Your service level agreement will outline whether Road Fund Licence is included as part of your package. 

You will need to let us know if you intend to take our vehicles abroad, as you will need a letter of authority from us to enable cross border passage. Vehicles that enter Europe without authority risk being refused entry. All vehicles must also be covered with additional breakdown and repatriation cover, as our standard inclusive service provisions do not cover operation outside of the United Kingdom.  

Yes, all hire / lease vehicles come with a manufacturer’s warranty. The length of time this warranty covers will depend on the manufacturer.

Mileage is one of the major factors in defining how much your hire / lease plan will cost. If you exceed your agreed mileage, you will be required to pay an extra amount, based on how many additional miles you have covered.  

We don’t provide vehicles used for “Hire and Reward” purposes. This includes Taxi, Chauffeur and Driving Schools.  

On occasion, we reserve the right to reject a hire or lease. The reasons for this can be varied but most typically revolve around the annual mileage covered or the sector a vehicle will be used in. There may be instances where the credit risk is deemed to be disproportionate to the capital cost of the vehicle/s. In these examples, credit may be refused andwe may decline to provide vehicles.

We will hold the V5C registration document for the duration of the contract and in most cases will be the registered keeper of the vehicle. In some instances, we may utilise the services of a thirdparty funder and on these occasions, the funder may be the registered keeper of the vehicle.  

You are normally responsible for arranging your own insurance on any leased vehicle, although some providers offer deals that include this. The insurance you arrange must be a fully comprehensive insurance policy.

For business lease agreements, the insurance certificate should be in the company name or a director’s name. If an employee is required to drive the vehicle, a letter on company headed paper may be requested confirming that the employee is authorised to drive to vehicle and confirming his or her position in the company.

When organising insurance, remember that for business contract hire agreements, the finance company is the registered owner and keeper of the vehicle.

Yes, just all leased vehicles come with the manufacturer’s warranty. The length of time this warranty covers will depend on the manufacturer, so you should check this before entering into a leasing agreement and of course check what is covered and what it excluded.

Your insurance broker should be able to help you organise protection to cover any possible shortfalls in the manufacturer warranty.

Mileage is one of the major factors in defining how much your hire / lease plan will cost. If you exceed your agreed mileage, you will be required to pay an extra amount, based on how many additional miles you have covered.

We don’t provide vehicles used for “Hire and Reward” purposes. This includes Taxi, Chauffeur and Driving Schools.

On occasion, we reserve the right to reject a hire or lease. The reasons for this can be varied but most typically revolve around the annual mileage covered or the sector a vehicle will be used in. There may be instances where the credit risk is deemed to be disproportionate to the capital cost of the vehicle/s. In these examples, credit may be refused and we may decline to provide vehicles.

We will hold the V5C registration document for the duration of the contract and in most cases will be the registered keeper of the vehicle. In some instances, we may utilise the services of a thirdparty funder and on these occasions, the funder may be the registered keeper of the vehicle.  

If your vehicle is provided on a hire basis, then it’s likely to include a maintenance package. In these instances, the agreement will include service, maintenance, repair, replacement and recovery (excluding damage caused through your fault of the business hiring the vehicle). Please refer to your service level agreement which will have been provided ahead of commencement of services.

If your vehicle is unusable then you can request a replacement vehicle. If maintenance is included and the downtime reason is covered under our service level, then the replacement will be provided free of charge. If its own fault, then a replacement vehicle can be sourced, however this will be chargeable. In instances where a replacement vehicle does not form part of your agreement then you can request a replacement vehicle from us and if we are able to supply one, we will at a chargeable rate. In some rare instances, a replacement vehicle is not possible to obtain. In these events, we would address the matter on a case-by-case basis.  

Changes to your agreement can be considered on a case by basis. In all cases you should refer to your service level agreement and contact your relationship manager in the first instance.  

A transfer of agreement would be dependent on several factors including but not exclusive to, the reason for transfer and the financial standing and status of the company taking on the agreement. In all cases, any transfer of agreement would be made at the absolute discretion of the company.  

If we are advised in advance, we may be able to assist you with certain modifications in advance of your hire / lease. Items such as signwriting, racking, tow bar fitment, beacon or chapter 8 chevrons are all examples of some of the works that we can support our customers in prior to hire.  

Customers can make their own modifications to vehicles, but these must be undertaken by a reputable agent and result in no damage or defect to our vehicle. We may ask that our vehicle is returned to original condition at the end of agreement and in all cases, we reserve the right to apply recharges in the event of incidents that occur as the result of third-party work not completed by ourselves.

When a vehicle is returned it will be checked in with an assessment of the return condition being made against its condition when initially supplied. Any variances will be noted and may include service status, fuel levels, and any additional items of damage that were not present initially.  

If a vehicle is supplied on a non-maintained basis, we will ask for evidence of service history and completion at the required intervals utilising an approved garage network. In all cases we will follow the guidelines as outlined in your service level agreement. If recharges of any description are applicable, then we will let you know in advance and prepare an estimate for any proposed rechargeable aspects.  

You will be given the opportunity to review and approve or dispute any charges. In some cases, dependent on the extent of work needed, continuing hire charges may be applicable. You will have the right to take the vehicle away and self-repair items, but these must be done at an insurance approved repair agent or main dealer. Continuing hire charges will apply for the duration until the vehicle is returned and signed off as a ready to rent. We operate in line with the BVRLA fair wear and tear guide and will always seek to present any recharges in a fair and consistent manner.  

In all cases of hire or lease the customer will not own the vehicle unless a specific service level agreement is provided which states that this is the case. 

Long term flexible hire agreements can be returned early with no penalties other than any additional end of life charges for damage, maintenance and mileage which may be applicable. In the case of fixed rental which may have a time-based price applied or return charges for the removal of equipment, adjustments may be made to price which enable a vehicles return earlier than planned.  

 Where a lease is provided then the customer will be bound by the specific terms and conditions that are relative to the service level agreement which will have been issued and agreed / signed ahead of vehicle supply. Variations that exist outside of these examples listed would be handled on a case-by-case basis.

It may be possible to change to another vehicle with some leasing providers, by settling your current contract. An early termination settlement figure can be anything from half to allf the outstanding rental amount, though this calculation will vary from funder to funder. You should contact your leasing providers to obtain a settlement figure so you can evaluate your options and discuss your next vehicle.