The car fleet management market - France (2023)

1.2 A growing global market

The market for fleet management has grown to *.** billion in **** [***].

Estimate of the evolution of the turnover of the car fleet management World, ****-****, in billions of dollars Source: ****

As a result, the main players in the market are mostly American. According to the same source, they include:

ARI Fleet Management, Azuga, Ctrack.

The study also highlights the fact that the sector will grow, notably under the influence of :

Environmental regulations, which are becoming stricter and more complex, encouraging companies to outsource management functions in order to comply. The development of alternative forms of mobility to the car (***), which could represent a new growth segment for fleet managers. The Cloud, which makes management simpler and less costly, while improving performance and therefore the attractiveness of fleet managers.

1.3 A growing French market

The French market is relatively important for fleet management players: the sustained growth of operational leasing has also accelerated the demand for fleet management over the past few decades Sesame LLD the long-term leasing association, noted, for example, that the leased vehicle fleet has been multiplied by ** between **** and **** and that the total fleet under management represented more than *.** million vehicles at the end of June ****, of which ***,*** were in Fleet Management.

The figures in the graph below have been calculated on the basis of SesamLLD members, which represent **.*% of the overall market. These figures are therefore considered relevant to our study.

Fleet management vehicles France, June **** - June ****, in thousands of vehicles Source: ****

The graph above shows that the number of vehicles managed by fleet managers is steadily increasing. Between June **** and June ****, the average increase per quarter was *.**%. However, the progression rates were higher in the pre-Covid period. We will develop the impact of the health crisis later in this study.

Fleet management is an activity highly concentrated by a few players, notably ALD and Diac, which share the largest share of the market. Still using Sesame LLD data, we can represent the fleets managed by the union's ...

1.4 Fleet management's response to the Covid-19 crisis

There are * main trends that represent the impact of the health crisis on the fleet management sector, and this at different scales [***].

Operational improvement: This trend is explained by the need for fleet managers to be more and more available to their customers, especially during this period of crisis which could cause them difficulties. It therefore encourages the understanding and implementation of customer loyalty policies at a time when most car fleets had been brought to a standstill. This is for example what DIAC has chosen to do by extending its customers' contracts by ** days at no extra cost in April **** Cost reduction: It is becoming increasingly important to optimise the management of costs and requirements within a fleet. In particular, mileage tracking allows great savings on regular maintenance costs by strategically allocating and using vehicles. By ensuring that vehicles age evenly and experience similar daily deterioration, financial resources are allocated to preventive maintenance rather than repair costs, which is much less costly in the long run. Resizing : During the health crisis, many fleet managers were almost forced to divest themselves of part of their fleet by selling some vehicles to make up for losses due to the cessation of activity. ...

2.1 Business and fleet management: drivers

Profile of companies with a fleet

Not all companies are the same size, a variable that has an influence on fleet ownership and management. We can use the **** barometer established by Arval in order to provide a profile of the companies that own fleets and the consequences of this. The disadvantage of this study is that it does not provide a general overview of the demand and factors influencing fleet ownership.

As we can see from the graph below, the number of vehicles in a company's fleet really starts to increase above *** employees. From *,*** employees onwards, companies have a fleet of more than *** vehicles in **% of cases.

Distribution of car fleets by company size France, ****, in Source: ****

Based on the same Arval study, we can see that **% of companies own at least one private vehicle This figure is at **% for commercial vehicles . However, as we can see from the graph below, almost all companies with more than *** employees own a passenger car, while the proportion of companies with a light commercial vehicle remains stable at around **%.

Share of companies with at least one passenger vehicle or light commercial vehicle France, ****, in Source: ****

The study reveals that **% of companies with more than ...

2.2 A demand for alternative mobility

Towards an evolution of corporate travel

A study conducted by Arval shows that employees' commuting habits are changing. While the private car is still the dominant means of transport, its role is somewhat threatened by other cleaner modes of transport, such as cycling, carpooling or carsharing.

Arval notes in its study two major breaks:

diversification of mobility ; the involvement that employees expect from their company.

Types of trips employees plan to take in the future France, ****, in % Source: ****

However, according to the same source, this desire for diversification is highly dependent on the urban area in which the workers reside :

Employees living in the Paris region prefer public transport (***). In urban areas, carpooling (***) will be preferred. In rural areas, the private car will continue to be used in **% of cases.

For example, the data collected by Arval for its **** barometer show that these alternative mobility solutions will tend to be used more and more. The expectations for the next three years show spectacular prospects for alternative mobility.

Current and projected use (***) of alternative mobility for companies France, ****, in Source: ****

In ****, these alternative mobility solutions will be considered in particular by companies with more than *** employees (***).

These alternative, cleaner means of travel ...

2.3 Long-term leasing, a trend that continues to grow

When it comes to car fleet financing, more and more companies are definitely or probably considering long-term leasing because of the benefits it brings. In ****, this financing method was already rather popular with companies with more than *** employees as shown in the graph below

Companies that use leasing as a method of financing their vehicle fleet  

The long-term leasing trade association reports a *.*% increase in the volume of vehicles leased in France in **** compared with ****, with *,***,*** vehicles in the fleet. These vehicles are subdivided into *,***,*** financed vehicles to which are added ***,*** passenger cars and light commercial vehicles, which are owned by companies but managed by fleet management companies [***]. This resilience of the long-term leasing market despite the crisis is also explained by the option of second-hand leasing, which has been one of the growth segments, but above all by a growing willingness on the part of companies to use long-term leasing services, as illustrated by the graph below:

Proportion of companies that would certainly or probably like to develop leasing for their vehicle fleet France, ****-****, as a % Source: ****

3.1 Market organization

An article from Echoes allows us to make an initial distinction within the fleet management . On the one hand, some companies offer others LLD (***), accompanied by management services from maintenance to fuel.

On the other hand, there are the fleet management which provide these services to companies that have already purchased these vehicles. There is a fine line between these two categories as the largest fleet managers in France, notably ALD Automotive and Arval, both offer fleet management and leasing services. According to the same source, within the " fleet managers "In addition, it is again possible to distinguish two other categories:

Technical fleet management This service is provided by a network of garages with which it has previously negotiated prices. Generally, these services are offered by companies that also have leasing activities. Administrative fleet management This is a company that takes charge of and manages the technical fleet managers within a company. Companies such as FleetLogistics and Aon are active in this field.

Fleet Management Value Chain

Source: ****

3.2 Market dynamics

New actors

In order to understand the current market dynamics, we can rely on the study of Deloitte about fleet management.

The market has traditionally been controlled by banking subsidiaries, which financed long-term leases. Even today, ALD Automotive, which belongs to Société Générale, and Arval, which belongs to BNP Paribas, manage a lot of vehicles compared to their competitors. In fact, the ranking of the car fleet in LLD and fleet management managed for the year **** shows ALD and Arval in *st and *rd position [***]

Gradually, the banks were attacked on the market by car manufacturers, who began to take on the management of the vehicles sold, in addition to long-term fleet financing. In France, examples include Diac, Free*Move and Athlon.

Market concentration

In the European market, more than **% market share were already owned by the five players in the table below, including three companies set up by banks, and two (***) owned by manufacturers. The table below ranks these companies, associated with the number of vehicles they are currently responsible for:

However, we can note a consolidation of the presence of these actors that Deloitte attributes to * main factors:

The demand for pan-European services : companies increasingly want ...

3.3 Répartition géographique des entreprises

La carte ci-dessous correspond à la répartition géographique des établissements disposant du code NAF ***A : "Location de courte durée de voitures et de véhicules automobiles légers". On part du principe que les entreprises de location de voitures proposent les deux types de service (***) pour répondre aux besoins variés des clients, et que ce code NAF permet d'avoir une idée de la répartition géographique des établissements du secteur de la flotte automobile. 

L' Ile-de-France concentre **% des entreprises de location de courte durée de voitures, suivie de loin par les région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (***).

4.1 Services offered by fleet managers

The combination of the Deloitte on the fleet management and an analysis of the services offered by Arval allows you to have a overview of the offer fleet managers, and the share of the profit it represents for them

Source: ****

These are the services the most common provided by fleet managers :

Vehicle registration and licensing This can be a long and complex process. Toll badges which allow drivers to save time while controlling their activity. Risk management and security which consists of training drivers and recording driving data. Fuel This will be done through the granting of fuel cards that allow for discounts at gas stations, while monitoring employee spending, which was *** million litres of fuel purchased by managers in **** compared to *** million litres in **** (***). [***] Tyres This service allows them to be changed in winter and when their wear becomes too great: ***,*** tires changed in ****. [***] On-board telematics solutions These are used to analyse the data collected on the vehicle in order to improve its use over time (***). Management of fines The number of fines managed in **** will be ***,***, compared with ***,*** in ****. [***] Maintenance This allows vehicles to be repaired in the event of an accident or excessive wear. Accident management, via direct ...

4.2 The most common models in fleet management

According to SesamLLD's report for the second quarter of ****, the most popular models are for passenger cars, light commercial vehicles and company cars. The most popular models are listed in the table below. Through the intenet site of ARVAL An indication of the unit prices of leased vehicles is available in this same table. It should be remembered that these prices are indicative and may vary according to the options and fuel used by the vehicle. Here we have chosen the most rented model each time. It should be added that these prices can be revised downwards when companies call on car fleet managers for larger orders.

Top ** vehicles used in leasing France, *nd quarter ****

Source: ****

4.3 Payment methods and average cost of fleet management

Methods of payment

Using an article from the Journal du Net we can establish that fleet managers are paid from three different ways .

Accountability With this payment method, all expenses incurred by the fleet manager (***) are invoiced to the customer, in addition to management fees, which are calculated according to the service provider's ability to reduce the TCO of the vehicles. The open book When the contract is signed, the client company pays a provision to the fleet manager, which is supposed to be sufficient to fulfil its mission. The package The client company pays a predetermined flat rate, calculated according to the mileage and the duration of the contract. From then on, the manager must bear all the financial costs related to the vehicle.

Average cost of fleet management

Since it is not possible to find public information on the cost of vehicles, we can make a estimated average cost of a fleet management solution .

The expenses of companies for a fleet manager generally represent * to *% of the TCO of a vehicle . [***]

The Average monthly TCO of a vehicle, which varies greatly depending on the make, model and age [***], was of approximately *** euros in **** according to LeasePlan . The annual management ...

4.4 An offer that is becoming more digital and diversified

Cloud Computing

We are currently witnessing the development of Cloud Computing in the field of fleet management. This makes it easier to link data from several vehicles. These solutions can, for example, be implemented in the context of the vehicle tracking integrated with its control system, in order to collect data then transmit them to the central server to avoid data loss in case of bad connection.

It also allows fleet managers to cut costs for maintaining physical infrastructures (***) and to expand or reduce the amount of storage space used as needed.

The use of the Cloud Computing also allows for more efficient analysis of the data collected, using tools integrated with the cloud service - like AWS IoT Greengrass with AWS (***). [***]

New expectations on the part of managers

An article by Car Fleet The **** industry update also provides some insight into the changing expectations of asset managers. **% of them will focus on tax advice in the future, the type of vehicles and the choice of energies, but also on the digitalization of the tools offered, **% on car-sharing services and **% on multi-modal solutions.

Ultimately, offering mixed mobility solutions becomes a goal for **% of respondents.

5.1 The importance of the mobility plan and taxation

Mobility plan

We can first look at the entry into force of the new mobility plan, included in the energy transition law for green growth voted in ****, which requires the establishment of a mobility plan (***) for employees of companies with more than *** employees since ****, making their daily trips more efficient and less polluting. The measures should encourage a decrease in the use of the private car as the main means of transport.

PDM is forcing companies to rethink the use of their vehicle fleet and their environmental footprint . The site of the ADEME (***) gives some examples of measures that can be taken by companies:

Promote the use of bicycles by setting up a bicycle room, showers for cyclists, etc. Encourage employees to take public transportation. Adjusting working hours and facilitating teleworking. Encourage employees to carpool.

These new measures should result in a redesigned mobility within large companies, more oriented towards the carpooling, carsharing and cleaner mobility overall (***).

Taxation

It may be interesting to look at the taxation of the purchase or rental of vehicles for businesses using information provided by Sesame LLD

VAT

At the time of purchase, VAT on private vehicles is not recoverable, except for professions that require the ...

5.2 Importance of the law on the orientation of mobility

On June **, ****, the National Assembly passed the law on the orientation of mobilities (***). This will have concrete implications for fleet managers.

Fleet Renewal

Companies managing a fleet of more than *** vehicles will have to take into account environmental requirements when renewing their fleet. By ****, **% of vehicles renewed must be "low emission" vehicles. This rate will rise to **% in ****, **% in **** and **% from ****. Local authorities managing more than ** light vehicles will also have a role to play, as the rate will be **% from ****, then **.*% from ****.

Low Emission Areas

As of ****, it will be mandatory for municipalities where pollution is significant to set up Low Emission Zones (***): these are zones where traffic is banned for vehicles that are too polluting.

Sustainable mobility package

From now on, employers will be able to pay for their employees' journeys if they use a bicycle or travel by carpooling, "up to a total limit of *** euros per year, including a maximum of *** euros for fuel or electricity costs". [***]

6.1 Segmentation

• Orange Business Service- OCEAN
• LeasePlan
• Arval
• ALD Automotive - Ayvens
• Free2Move Lease
• Alphabet France Fleet Management
• Esalys
• Traxall
• Overlease
• Informakit
• Chevin
• Masternaut
• Karos
• Openfleet
• Fatec
• Solucar
• Phoenix Developement
• Holson
• Aficar Mobility
• Direct Fleet
• Mobility Total Energy (Waykonect)
• Leasys S.p.A.
• Crédit Agricole Consumer Finance
• BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions
• Fraikin
• Petit Forestier
• One lease
• Optimum Automotive (Shiftmove Group)
• Athlon Car Lease
• Movivolt