It was avouched this month that many businesses could be in for a second pounding as petrol prices are set to take another upward spike. The worst part of it, according to many transport companies is that they are increasingly unable to formulate accurate profit projections. “We get a set of forcasts drawn up and then they mean nothing when petrol goes up so much” argues Jerry Henley, Managing Director of JHG Foods. Over 20% of all American transport-based businesses were forced to cease trading in 2008, and the figure is thought to be something similar in 2009 also.
For companies that rely so heavy on petrol prices to turn over a profit, the news of another rise has not been well received. We are being crippled argues Fiona Potter, who runs a small furniture chain in the UK. Our customers expect their furniture to be delivered to them, which is something that is becoming financially unviable for us now. A number of similar companies are turning to van leasing as a way of bringing down their overall costs. This is because van leasing enables businesses to not buy their vans outright and so this is a useful option if cash-flow is poor. An interesting point to note is that Citroen van leasing has been the most popular choice as on average these vans offer the best MPG. Ford van leasing has also been a strong choice as their reliability is thought to save companies large amounts of money in reduced maintenance costs.
