Demand for commercial vehicle rental services increased significantly during the pandemic in 2020; the result of an unprecedented surge in home deliveries.
Europcar Van & Truck saw a 72% year-on-year increase in the number of vehicle rental days last year while the length of rental hire also increased by 50% year on year.
Much of the growth came from the logistics and online retail sectors as businesses strove to meet the need for home deliveries.
Europcar Van & Truck, part of Europcar Mobility Group UK, said the figures show that businesses capitalised on the flexibility of rental as an alternative to long-term lease agreements.
Stuart Russell, LCV sales director at Europcar Van & Truck said: “Almost every type of UK business had to adapt quickly last year with the demand for home deliveries going through the roof.”
He added that Europcar met the significant increases in demand due to a major uplift in the volume and variety of its fleet combined with a countrywide network of sites and supersites.
“Europcar played a fundamental role in helping to keep the UK economy moving, providing vital infrastructure for the logistics sector in particular,” he added.
“Through strong relationships with manufacturers we were able to mobilise large numbers of vehicles in the space of less than two months at the start of the pandemic and the first lockdown. As a result we were able to provide more businesses with the vehicles they needed – often quickly and at short notice.”
