Fleet operators up and down the country continue to provide a major boost to the national economy, new refigures from Sewells Research and Insight have revealed.

According to the organisation's latest breakdown of the economic impact of fleet services in the UK, the typical vehicle operator spends between £4,500 and £6,500 each year on running costs for each model it owns and with an estimated three million fleet vehicles in use, this means the cumulative amount spent by fleets on running costs alone stands at £19.5 billion.

Meanwhile, with more than half of all new vehicle purchases made by the fleet industry each year, the UK automotive sector also receives a considerable boost to demand from fleet buyers.

Simon Staplehurst, commercial manager at Sewells Research and Insight, commented: "Any fleet manager will know how costs can quickly grow when looking after a fleet of vehicles. Looking at fleet sales as a whole, you start to see just how crucial it is to the automotive industry and the UK economy.

"It's widely accepted that the top 200 fleets are worth around £3 billion. These results show that fleets outside of this group are equally as valuable to the economy."

He concluded that it has been a long-held belief that the UK fleet industry provides a considerable boost to the UK as a whole, but exact figures quantifying this benefit have never been available, until now.

Mr Staplehurst went on to add that fleet managers across the country are therefore providing a considerable boost to the economy simply by updating and managing their fleets efficiently, with the uptake of new models one of the key drivers of growth for the UK as a whole.

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