Refusals among some leasing companies to extend maintenance packages beyond original contracts is creating major problems for fleet operators.

There are reports of leasing companies extending the car or van contract but refusing to do the same with the maintenance element

While not widespread, the practice is certainly taking place when cars and vans are taken beyond their initial contract into a fourth or fifth year, FleetCheck has reported.

Peter Golding, managing director, explained: “Ongoing production issues mean that many fleets can’t get hold of the new vehicles that they need and so are extending their current leases well beyond the original three- or four-year termination point. This has been going on for some time.

“However, we are now hearing some reports from within our user base of leasing companies extending the car or van but refusing to do the same with the maintenance element.”

Golding said it was understandable to some extent – once a vehicle is out of warranty and heading towards a six-figure mileage, maintenance costs both increase rapidly and become less predictable.

But he warned it was leaving affected operators “high and dry”. Because the fleets in question have traditionally bought maintenance packages with their lease, they tend to have no arrangements for buying their own servicing in place.

“This is a double-edged problem, really. These businesses need to quickly create a structure for maintaining the vehicles in question while, at the same time, they lose the certainty of a fixed monthly maintenance cost.

“They may well find major bills arriving for items such as cambelts or a complete set of tyres that is massively in excess of what they are used to paying to keep their vehicles on the road. It’s quite a financial and managerial shock.”

There are no easy answers for businesses in this situation and it once again shows how difficult the effects of new car and van shortages can be, Golding added.

“Production delays are causing many kinds of issues, from slowing down electrification to service and maintenance conundrums of this kind.

“It really would help fleets if the supply situation started to markedly improve in 2023, although there are mixed reports about how likely that might be.”

Latest new car and van registrations also show the ongoing impact of the component shortages. The UK van market fell 22.2% in November due to the continued semiconductor constraints, although the SMMT said market growth is predicted to return in 2023 as supply shortages hopefully ease.

In contrast, the new car market shot up 23.5% in November as carmakers worked to fulfil orders. But the SMMT has still warned that registrations in the month were 8.8% below 2019 levels and it’s called for urgent government action to deliver charging infrastructure and support EV uptake to deliver the UK’s ambitious net zero targets.