Over the past nine months Volvo's pilot car rental programme has proven to be a success and is now going to be extended to more dealerships around the UK. Ten dealerships1were involved in the pilot stage and they are all continuing with the scheme.

To date there have been around 400 rentals booked through the scheme, which total more than 3,000 individual rental days, with an average short-term hire period of eight days. Any current model Volvo (except the new XC90) could be offered for short-term hire, however availability and choice depends on which vehicles each dealership has on its rental fleet. Daily rental rates can start from £40 for an S40 to around £100 for a C70 Convertible and are inclusive of insurance and VAT, making them, says Volvo, “extremely competitive” in the rental market. So far the most popular rental model has been the Volvo S40.

Volvo Rental is now being rolled out across the dealer network and one more dealership has already signed up – Sturgess of Leicester. Several more dealerships are expected to come on board by the end of the year, as Volvo Rental establishes its profitability.

Steve Wright, Operations Director at Riverside in Hull is in charge of the dealership's rental fleet and says: "We have been part of the scheme from the very beginning and it has been very successful so far. It started off fairly slowly, but once people started to hear about the service it really took off and in fact over the past three months we have seen a 60% increase in demand. We are confident that it will continue to be a popular service."

Volvo Rental is aimed primarily at companies needing a short term increase in their fleet size.