The upsurge in interest comes as fleet management becomes an increasingly complex issue compared with 10 years ago, says Rob Wentworth-James, corporate sales director at Fleet Alliance, which has recently won a number of new outsourced fleet management contracts totalling several hundred vehicles.

‘The increasing complexity of modern fleet management with the need for on-demand, real time reporting, carbon footprint evaluation, fleet analysis, driver support, licence checking, accident and risk management and other related issues means that it has become a role for the expert rather than the part-timer,’ he commented.

‘We are talking to increasing numbers of companies which acknowledge that they are not experts in these key areas and that they need to be working with specialists if they are going to run their vehicles as professionally and cost effectively as possible,’ he said.

‘The demands of modern fleet management require a level of expertise that cannot be provided by those that manage the fleet as an adjunct to their own areas of specialism.

‘This is why expert and professional fleet management providers such as ourselves, with access to the latest technology and the resources to back them up, have become much in demand,’ he added.

However the firm added that outsourcing in each case does not necessarily mean the removal of the incumbent fleet manager.

‘The fleet manager represents the conduit between the company and the expert supplier and has a vital role to play in communications and supplier management,’ said Wentworth-James.

‘Outsourcing in this way makes more sense from a practical viewpoint than removing all in-house expertise, as it provides continuity between company and supply partner,’ he added.