Bus purchasing vs leasing

FLM had a horrible start to its operation with bus failures left, right and centre. It seemed an almost impossible task to purchase reliable minibuses. To cover breakdowns we had to do short-term minibus hires, none of which were cheap. Not only that but our business goal of being able to provide transport to those in wheelchairs was proving a distant memory of the original business plan.

After a recommendation we looked into a long-term hire, to give us breathing space. That brought us to London Hire who are specialists in minibuses providing accessible transport. They have been our valued minibus supplier ever since. After our first minibus had a side-impact accident, whilst away for repairs we rented a second bus on an interim basis to help keep our fleet going.

As September approached we decided to lease that second bus full-time to ensure we had full bus reliability for our expanding needs.

It is not cheap to lease buses. But then neither is purchasing buses. Yes, if you buy (or are given) a new bus then there is a honeymoon period. But all buses need maintenance and that costs more year-on-year as well as hitting service reliability. Much of our maintenance issues are now off-loaded to London Hire as experts in the buses they supply.

If you are a Community Transport company considering the pros and cons of leasing over purchasing do give us a call and we can talk through the details, from experience.