ALD sees potential of operational leasing

The general manager of ALD Automotive Romania is firmly banking on demand for fleet rentals under an operational leasing regime.

ALD Automotive, the unit specialising in operational leasing within BRD-Groupe Societe Generale, has this year decided to enter the Romanian market, lured by the high growth potential of this sector. Operational leasing means the delivery of car fleets of various sizes and capacities, temporarily required by a company. “We began considering entering the Romanian market as early as the beginning of 2004 and we have chosen this moment because some of BRD”s international customers requested access to this product here, too,” stated Phillippe Valigny, general manager of ALD Automotive Romania.

“We believe the Romanian operational leasing market will expand over the following years, especially on the segment of full service operational leasing,” he added.

In the first stage, the company will focus on branches of multinationals that are already acquainted with the product, and will subsequently approach larger domestic customers, companies with fleets of at least 10 cars. The unit of the French financial group provides operational leasing with included services linked to the outsourcing of the management of car parks, for any car of less than 3.5 tonnes. The fleet management contract covers a fixed period and a pre-established mileage for vehicles (stated in km), without any advance payment, and customers pay a fixed monthly instalment, for which they get a single receipt. Contracts have a duration of between 12 and 45 months (or 75% of the normal lifespan of the car).

The ALD Romania chief considers that, at this moment, competition is not strong enough on this sector, as compared with what is happening in Poland, the Czech Republic and Russia, where there are 4-5 companies dominating the market.

“There are local competitors, but we cannot say there are enough products for a comparison of offers. Things are entirely different on other markets, where there are even 20 companies in competition,” Valigny explained.

Nevertheless, ALD officials say that indirect competition from financial leasing companies, and implicitly from companies managing their own car parks and turning to financial leasing, can be felt.

Problems foreseen by the French, which they hope to overcome, include this product”s low popularity among Romanian companies and the fact that they don”t know how to access the product, the low level of development on the used car market, and the poor state of road infrastructure.

“We coped with the problems we are now seeing in Romania on the operational leasing market 20 years ago in France, but I think these will be much more easily overcome in the wake of EU integration,” says Valigny.

marius.anton@zf.ro