IFC Fleet Services and Goodwood Rental have joined forces in a strategic partnership to offer vehicle rental and associated mobility services to fleet operators.
As part of the agreement, Bedfordshire-based IFC will also provide back office and administrative support to the existing Goodwood Rental business.
Goodwood Rental is the trading name of Goodwood Corporate Mobility Limited (GCML), established following a management buy-out in September 2003. Goodwood Rental is based in Chichester, West Sussex, and has traded as a rental management business since June 1996
Goodwood Rental specialises in the provision of rental intervention management for corporate clients, covering complete cost control, total transparency and sophisticated online reporting services, using the latest vehicle rental management systems.
The move is being seen as a logical extension to the portfolio of fleet management, mileage capture and vehicle logistics services that IFC currently provides to leasing companies and corporate fleet customers around the UK.
Under the terms of the strategic partnership, IFC has assumed all the back office administration function, including rental bookings, billing, accounting and banking, for Chichester-based Goodwood Rental, which was first established by well-known fleet industry figure Tony Donnelly, in 1996.
The new relationship will bring together the rental and mobility capabilities of both organisations to offer clients wider access to vehicles from a panel of well-known and recognised rental brands and, ultimately, a pool of vehicles in excess of 500,000 units.
It will also open the way for the provision of new and enhanced rental services, including 12-month mini-leases, as well as providing access to a host of additional fleet related services and solutions, including mileage management and logistics support.
Eighteen months ago, IFC Fleet Services, which has around 15,000 drivers under management, completed the acquisition of Cambridge-based fleet management services provider, Spectrum Car Scheme Management, which increased its managed fleet size by around 20%.
The move was in line with expansion plans outlined by managing director Paul Talbot, and the new development is a continuation of those plans.
Talbot said: “The new strategic partnership with Goodwood Rental continues our growth strategy which we signposted with the acquisition of Spectrum at the start of 2015.
“We have now assumed full back office responsibility for the Goodwood operation via a white labelled service which will see no discernible change in performance or service delivery for existing rental customers.
“The Goodwood portfolio fits very well with our own as we have provided daily rental services to other clients for some time now, and we see this as a natural extension of the fleet services package that we provide to our customers. It will also deepen our relationship with rental suppliers.
“At the same time, this move will also provide cross-over access for Goodwood customers to a complete portfolio of fleet services that they would not previously have been able to access.”
Goodwood Rental CEO, Tony Donnelly, said: “Over the course of recent years, many clients have asked us to build a broader base for our rental service provision, including European and international expansion.
“In so doing, we wanted to make sure anything that we introduced would only impact positively on the rental management service levels that we provide to clients and which they are very happy with.
“After months of testing, we have now launched this strategic partnership with IFC Fleet Services who will deliver all our back office services. By combining our resources, our customers will now have access to a wider rental supply network in the UK, and for those with International requirements, it will also provide access to an enlarged pool of more than half a million vehicles – all from a single source.
”We have seen a move towards longer rental periods in the corporate market and our mini-lease product, which provides rental vehicles for up to 12 months to meet the medium-term requirements of corporate customers, has become increasingly popular and relevant in today’s fast-changing marketplace,” he said.
IFC was first launched by Paul Talbot in 2001 and provides outsourced fleet and associated services to the fleet industry.
The group has grown to its current size through the acquisition of logistical support company, BBS Fleet Logistics, based near Bedford, in 2004, and the launch of mileage management provider, Vertivia, in 2008.
