Personal leasing drives auto finance growth

Figures for Q2 2017 from the latest Quarterly Leasing Survey, carried out by the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA), show that the car portion of the business fleet leasing market rose 2.4% in Q2, compared to the same period last year, to 979,000 vehicles. The LCV sector grew by 14.9% to 371,000 units.

The fleet leasing figures are based on business fleets using contract hire and finance lease only.

Total car leasing (all leasing types) grew by 8% year-on-year and much of this growth was driven by the personal contract hire (PCH) segment, with data from BVRLA members for Q2 2017 showing the PCH sector leapt 36% year-on-year.

Average CO2 figures for newly-registered lease cars rose to 111.8g/km in Q2 2017, up from 110.8g/km (+0.9%) from the previous quarter and up 0.7% compared to the same period in 2016.

The main reason for the rise is likely to be the increasing share of PCH vehicles within the wider BVRLA leasing fleet.

The average PCH car on the BVRLA member fleet had emissions of 120g/km CO2, compared to the 111g/km for business leases, where low CO2 cars are more heavily incentivised by taxes.

BVRLA chief executive Gerry Keaney said: “Personal contract hire continues to drive growth in the car leasing market and this is having a clear impact on the automotive industry’s long-term goal of reducing CO2 emissions.

“Company cars are cleaner than the average privately-procured car, and the government should be supporting this market with a progressive company car tax regime that doesn’t encourage people to do their own thing.”