The leasing industry has ridden through the rocky landscape of the economic downturn, and come out the other side in pretty healthy shape.

That’s the view of the new chairman of the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association, Peter Cakebread.

A Cambridge economics graduate, Cakebread is managing director of Marshall Leasing, and has helped steer the work of the BVRLA for more than a decade, chairing its Leasing and Fleet Management Committee between 2007 and 2009.

More recently, he was part of the selection panel that recruited the BVRLA’s new chief executive, Gerry Keaney, who recently took over from long-term incumbent John Lewis. He takes over from Hertz’s Neil Cunningham, who has stepped down after completing his two-year term.

So how has he seen the last few years?

‘Funding obviously has been an issue over the past few years, but what we’ve seen is that as a result of some funders reducing their exposure, such as Black Horse, which was such a massive backer of fleets, others have come in. As a result, I think we now have a broader spread of funders than we did before, and that can only be a good thing as it spreads risk and opens up the market to even more competition. Clearly these financial institutions have recognised that the fleet market is a good place to do business,’ he says.

‘Currently sales seem to be broadly flat across the fleet market, which is certainly not disastrous given the trading conditions elsewhere in Europe, and it seems that a lot of companies are aware of the sound financial advantages of products such as contract hire. Here at Marshall Leasing we’ve seen business increasing by about 10% annually, and we put that down to an appetite among customers for stability: stability in the sense that they deal with the same people consistently, which brings good customer service and, secondly, an appreciation that there is room for smaller players as well as the huge firms.

‘There’s been quite a bit of consolidation in the industry over the past few years, certainly since the financial crash of 2008, and this could have been difficult for clients, with systems and even points of contact changing.

‘But in general these consolidations seem to have been handled very well, and we now seem to be in a period of stability. Certainly talk of backers exiting the market has dried up. I think that many recognise that car and van leasing and rental is a mature and resilient sector now – it certainly came through the recession with far fewer casualties than most business sectors, which suggests that we are doing something right.’

‘And we haven’t seen the losses associated with increases in bad debt either, so there seem to be some underlying stability around, even if overall growth is marginal at best.’

With a new chief executive in place as well as a new chairman, Cakebread see his role as building on the work of his predecessors.

‘What we have to press home over the next few years at the BVRLA is the benefit of the leasing industry to the entrepreneurial base of the economy,’ he says. ‘It frees up cash for companies to reinvest in products and services, and allows them to go and sell those products and therefore expand and create more wealth. It underpins much of the business economy, and we need to ensure Government and the business community as a whole recognise this.

‘As an association, I’ll be looking to be bold and trumpet what this industry does to help the economy to get back on its feet.

‘We need to continue to work with the Government and Whitehall on its policies. The legislation on First Year Allowances, for example, make no sense and so we need to continue to talk to the Treasury and explain these issues from our point of view. The legacy of John Lewis in his role as chief executive of the BVRLA is that the organisation is now a much more effective lobbying body in the corridors of power. We are listened to now, but the challenge is to build on all the great work John did still further.’

‘I think one of the things I’d like to do while chairman of the BVRLA is hear the views of the smaller members more often. That’s not to say they have been ignored previously, but we have many firms who are members and we’d like to hear them tell us what they need.’

There’s certainly a fair degree of optimism in the market at the moment: the much feared wave of pre-registrations has not had the effect some were predicting on residual values or volumes, and carmakers seem to think the UK is a good place to do business while the rest of Europe stalls. Unsurprisingly though, as somebody who runs a medium-sized leasing company, Cakebread believes that the greatest strength of the leasing industry lies in the people who work in it.

‘What you have to remember is that a lot of the people that work in the leasing and rental industry are petrolheads: they’re really interested in cars. That’s why they got into it in the first place. And that’s a good starting point when it comes to delivering great customer service, because they care about the industry they are in. certainly that’s underpinned our success at Marshall, and I’m sure it’s the same at the vast majority of other leasing companies.

‘It’s the people that make the industry as successful as it is, because their enthusiasm and knowledge bring so much value to customers.’