LeasePlan's concept is to lease vehicles to corporates, thereby saving the latter the time and resources they would otherwise spend procuring and maintaining their own fleet of vehicles.

"From identifying a corporate's transport needs, financing and acquiring the vehicles for them, maintaining the vehicles, fuelling them and managing insurance for them, we do it all for the corporate houses," says Veerle Behets, LeasePlan's managing director. "We even negotiate resale of vehicles to maximise the corporate's returns." Other value-added services that LeasePlan offers are chauffeurs, pick-up and drop-off facilities, round-the-clock road assistance and accident management.

LeasePlan Fleet Management already functions in about 25 countries across the globe. Behets says India was their first choice when they thought of entering the southeast Asian market because they perceived that the Indian market, with its glut of MNCs, would respond very positively to their product.

Behets says, "The idea is to help a corporate function free from tensions. We make their priorities our priorities. Our job is to create a blueprint as a solution for a corporate's transport needs, whatever they might be. If the corporate has already acquired a fleet of vehicles, we are prepared to take it on and lease the vehicles back to the company so that it can save on operational costs." She elaborates, "The moment a corporate signs up with us, we dedicate an account manager to the company. The account manager looks after the company thereafter, from providing fleet advice to day-to-day coordination and data compilation."

Behets says LeasePlan offers finance as a part of its fleet management package, at the most competitive rates in town, and also passes on residual value benefits to its customers.

Maintenance of the leased vehicles is also a strong point with LeasePlan, says Behets. Each vehicle is checked thoroughly by its team of technical experts before it is sent out. It operates a 24-hour road assistance service, which will rush to assistance should there be a breakdown or accident. Replacement cars are kept at hand too. In the event of an accident, LeasePlan will handle the repair work and the insurance formalities.

LeasePlan currently operates in New Delhi, but it plans to expand its operations to Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore in the next few months. And within the next year to Calcutta, Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad, says Behets.