The German army leaseplan...

• Reduction of the commercial vehicle fleet from 29 000 to 20 000 vehicles
• Modernised fleet (average age 2-3 years) has a positive impact on environmental sustainability

There are several situations where leasing is preferred over owning a fleet of vehicles. The cost of purchasing (and possibly borrowing), maintenance, insurance and other potential costs of upkeep all need to be factored into the price. Using cars occasionally is also a good reason to consider leasing or using sharing schemes for vehicles because they are short term so allow companies to downsize or scale up fleets as needed. And lease-hire vehicles tend to be newer which means safer for your staff and more environmentally friendly. 

The German Federal Armed forces realised the benefits of leasing a number of years ago, when they saw the cost and effort going into its large and outdated fleet of vehicles, which were infrequently used. Up to a third of the vehicles were in for repair at any given time. So the lease company, BwFuhrparkService GmbH, made a plan for the army that covered the number of vehicles needed in peace-time use and offered flexibility for obtaining new and specialised vehicles at short notice. This brought down capital costs on vehicles that were rarely used, while they maintained a good vehicle fleet in peace time as well as in times of higher demand.

Key benefits

The BwFuhrparkService GmbH plan generated significant savings which are illustrated by the following:

• Reduction of the commercial vehicle fleet from 29 000 to 20 000 vehicles
• Cost-efficient provision of 6 000 military off-the-shelf vehicles through modern pooling procedures
• Increased utilisation of the vehicles; passenger car mileage doubled from 14 000 to about 28 000 km per year, reducing costs per kilometre by over 20 %
• Modernised fleet (average age 2-3 years) has a positive impact on environmental sustainability
• Less idyl equipment and optional on-demand leasing