Short-term leasing surges as fleet uncertainty fuels demand

The flexible fleet solutions firm supplied 450 cars and 100 LCVs into companies on six- to 18-month contracts in the first three weeks of January.

James Miller, Liquid Fleet’s sales and marketing director, reported increased appetite from the corporate sector in supporting their staff with short-term leasing contracts.

This is due to the flexibility of changing or terminating the cars after six, nine or 12 months without the penalties associated with contract hire cars.

“Both our corporate and rental customers are more comfortable to commit to six-, 12- and 18-months contracts as they simply don’t know how the economy is going to shape up in 2026,” said Miller.

On the back of this growth, Liquid Fleet has had to approach more OEMs to order a few hundred additional vehicles for delivery to customers in March and revisit its annual sales targets.

“Vehicles are now more available from OEMs than this time last year, and we have been speaking to manufacturers about adding a mixed fleet of small, compact and medium cars to the fleet for delivery in March.

James Miller, Liquid Fleet’s sales and marketing director

“We continue to support customers in reducing carbon emissions by supplying them with electric and hybrid vehicles,” Miller outlined.

In contrast, the used market has been “slow to wake up” in 2026, with demand and prices proving disappointing in the first two weeks of January.

But the market bounced back in week three, boosting Liquid Fleet’s disposal programme.

“To put it into perspective, the market achieved an average of £500 more on vehicles in week three of January for 12-month-old/15,000-mile used cars than it did in the first two weeks of the month.

“We continue to create a strong following with franchised dealers as the majority of stock that we sell at auction is retail-ready,” Miller added.