The study of over 400 MDs, senior partners or board members of SMEs found that 45% of car-owning businesses use their vehicles for less than two hours every day. Enterprise Rent-A-Car extrapolated this for a five-day working week and has concluded that these vehicles are used for less than three weeks’ continual driving every year and sit idle for the remaining 49.
 
Similarly, trucks and vans are being largely left standing, with 54% of businesses which own commercial vehicles admitting that they use them for less than two hours each day.
 
Rob Ingram, director of business rental at Enterprise, commented: 'Many businesses simply are not aware of the options that can be available to them when it comes to planning their transport policy.
 
'But this is definitely something that is worth exploring, as it clearly makes no sense to pay to buy and run vehicles that are left to depreciate in the car park.
 
'At Enterprise we work with our partners to develop an approach to business transport that is flexible, convenient and cost effective. Small businesses can find that exploring rental options makes genuine business sense.
 
'This is about creating value in business transport.'