Swindon-based vehicle leasing group Arval has signed an agreement with the FSB (Federation of Small Businesses) to provide its 200,000 members with the best advice on how to source and manage their business cars and vans.
The dedicated online portal has been developed by Arval and the FSB to help managers without expertise in vehicles to start accurately assessing their needs. 
It includes simple online calculators to help analyse their performance in terms of cost, emissions, tax and other parameters, as well as give an indication of cost.
The portal is backed up by a dedicated 24/7 telephone helpline staffed by Arval experts offering more tailored advice as well as a recommendation on next steps and avenues to explore.
Arval managing director of SME & partnerships Elliot Woodhead said: “This partnership with the FSB is a major landmark and we feel honoured to have been selected to provide business vehicle advice to FSB members.
“SMEs are the driving force for growth in UK business. Today, over 60% of the vehicles we lease are provided to organisations that fund a smaller number of vehicles through us – sometimes one car or van.
“We’ve aimed to channel our extensive expertise in business vehicle finance and operational management in ways that are specifically tailored to the very specific needs of SMEs, effectively trying to remove the hassle from running company vehicles.”
An annual study of company vehicle habits of more than 4,500 fleet decision makers across 15 countries conducted by Arval, one of the country’s leading vehicle leasing providers and a subsidiary of French banking giant BNP Paribas, revealed that almost one in five businesses expects to see their demand for vehicles rise in 2015 and beyond.
One in five also anticipates keeping and using these vehicles for longer as demand increases.
Currently only 245 of smaller UK businesses opt to lease their vehicles but those that do can see clear benefits, according to Arval, including the ability to manage budgets, followed by the certainty of a fixed monthly cost, reduced administration and balance sheet management.
FSB Member Services (Ltd) Chairman Carol Undy said: “Most businesses rely on their vehicles to keep employees and goods mobile. Without their cars and vans they simply couldn’t operate.
“Very few SMEs in the UK currently have access to experienced fleet management expertise and most don’t even consider their vehicles a ‘fleet’. As this isn’t a core area for the business, it can be hard to access impartial advice through traditional providers – even if they know who those are.
“Our members tell us they lack the in-house expertise to assess the various choices, and there’s no obvious third party that can readily provide impartial advice. We believe the new FSB Vehicle Services will bridge this gap and help our members save many thousands of pounds a year something in here.”
FSB members benefit from exclusive offers on specific cars and vans and will be able to access advice and support to analyse their current and future business vehicle requirements.
