The Solihull-based broker supplies cars and commercial vehicles on behalf of BVRLA members to a range of UK businesses, from giant corporations to small family firms.

The BVRLA said that brokers are an important extra sales channel for the vehicle rental industry, buying and reselling rentals and providing customers with a range of comparable deals.

The BVRLA added that it hopes to sign up a number of other UK corporate rental brokers in the coming weeks.

‘Developing this new membership category is vital if the association wants to continue raising standards and promoting best practice within the rental sector,’ said BVRLA chief executive Gerry Keaney.

The association added that by bringing rental brokers into its membership it will be able to represent the entire vehicle rental sector for the first time and provide a new group of customers with the reassurance of working with a BVRLA member.

All BVRLA Rental Brokers will have to pass the association's quality assurance inspection, participate in its conciliation service and sign up to its Code of Conduct, which requires them to be clear and transparent about their pricing and services.

‘High standards, trust and world-class customer care are at the heart of everything we do and what better way to have this acknowledged than being the founding member of the BVRLA's rental broker category,’ said Fownd managing director Christopher Dean.

‘We have worked with the BVRLA over the past few months to ensure this isn't just a tick-box exercise – we have had to demonstrate that we can uphold the code of conduct and have our policies and processes audited.’