When you hear the word fleet, you might be picturing hundreds of trucks and cars. If you think that’s what a fleet it, you might think that only big corporations can benefit from having one. The truth is that even the smallest mom and pop shops can benefit from fleet leasing by signing up for a micro fleet.
A micro fleet is a small fleet of leased vehicles — typically just one to five. Micro fleets have all the typical advantages of fleet leasing including ongoing assistance, adaptability, cost savings, and reliability.
The only real difference from a larger fleet is the number of vehicles you have under contract. But since your fleet is part of the micro fleet leasing company’s much larger fleet, you still get nearly the same cost savings and efficiency as if you had a larger fleet yourself.
A micro fleet allows you to quickly get the vehicles you need at minimum risk and upfront cost. The first step is selecting the vehicles you need with a lease term that meets your predicted needs. You can also add options to be able to add or remove vehicles from your fleet as your needs change. Finally, add a managed maintenance and repair plan if you don’t want to have to worry about anything beyond filling the gas tank.
Small businesses are often understandably worried about locking into contracts. You may have cash flow concerns over increasing your fixed monthly payments. You may also have a hard enough time thinking about where your business will be in the next one to five months let alone trying to plan for a one to five-year contract. Micro fleet leasing can actually help you solve those concerns.
Buying a vehicle costs more than just its current book value. You will have to pay tax, tag, and title, plus possible dealership fees. You also need to account for the cost of having an employee or owner take time out of their day to negotiate the purchase.
When your needs change and you go to sell, you’ll either need to sell below book value to account for the dealer’s profit margin or spend additional time dealing with a private party sale. If your needs aren’t predictable and you need to keep upsizing and downsizing, you may never have time to recoup these transaction costs.
Like any other business investment, acquiring a vehicle has risk. This is especially true when you try to buy a used vehicle as a cost-saving measure. You may come out ahead, or you may end up spending too much on maintenance and repairs.
But maintenance and repairs aren’t your only concern. When your vehicle is out of commission, you’re losing productivity that could mean overtime pay to keep other vehicles on the road longer or lost revenue opportunities if you can’t make all of your appointments.
Leasing a vehicle does add to your fixed monthly cash outflows, but it also puts a cap on your variable expenses. If you select a managed maintenance option, you don’t need to worry about surprise repair bills — everything is taken care of for you.
In addition, you won’t need to worry about a sudden need for cash or adding a monthly payment with interest when you need a new vehicle. The cost of leasing includes being able to switch to a newer vehicle on a fixed schedule. If you need an additional vehicle because of increased demand, you’ll be able to add it on a fixed monthly payment that maintains your profit margins.
Want to learn more about how a micro fleet meets and adapts to your business needs? Talk to the micro fleet leasing specialists at Wilmar, Inc., today.