Business car operators are being offered a specialised insurance policy which claims to reduce the cost and level of conflict over the sub-standard condition of de-fleeted cars, which applies to large numbers of contract hire and leasing vehicles.
Launched by Reassure, Lease Protect, claims the company director John McLean, aims to “eliminate the need for finance, contract hire or lease companies to be concerned over acceptable standards for return specification, helping to achieve the asset’s full potential”.
McLean said the cost of damaged and neglected returned end of contract cars varied from manufacturer to manufacturer, company to company but cited one German prestige brand, with “stringent standards” experiencing at least 90% of its car requiring refurbishment.
He added: “With 2.5 million lease cars in the UK the overall cost level is very high. The Lease Protect policy also provides a means of avoiding conflict with client drivers and companies over alleged degrees of damage and neglect,” which McLean said resulted in a high rate of defection to other firms and brands.
