The annual fleet research interviewed more than 4,500 fleet decision-makers across 15 countries. It asked them if they expect the number of vehicles on their fleet to increase or decrease.

The chart shows that a balance of 21% of UK businesses with less than 100 employees expected to see an increase compared to 5% in other European countries. While a balance of 13% of larger companies (100+employees) expect to see growth compared with 11% across Europe. 

Going back to 2012 this position has been the same with the UK faring better economically than many other European countries and fleet confidence following suit. Interestingly in 2015 smaller companies are more confident than they have been in the past few years with 24% expecting fleet growth. 

For larger corporates, the overall picture is a positive one although opinion is polarised with 30% of companies expecting to see fleet growth but 17% anticipating fleet decline this year. 

Robert Pieczka, marketing & insurance director at Arval, commented: “The latest research is consistent with the positive view of growth that we are seeing from many of our customers. It’s really encouraging to see the number of small and mid-sized companies expecting to add vehicles this year, and overall the picture is a good one for corporates too.”