The number of LCVs being leased from BVRLA members has fallen by 6.7% year-on-year.
The rental and leasing industry body has published the data, which runs to the end of Q2 2025, in its latest Leasing Outlook report.
It said the decline was in line with the overall fall seen this year in new LCV sales, and included a trend for customers to extend rather than renew contracts, due to factors such as Inflation in the price of new vehicles, OEM pressure to include electric LCVs in large orders, and a lack of confidence in the UK economy.
The BVRLA added that, although delayed replacement cycles could not continue indefinitely, with older LCVs starting to require costlier maintenance and experience more downtime, leasing executives were concerned about how some customers would afford new vans.
Despite the fall in LCV leasing, the overall number of vehicles on the BVRLA fleet has reached a record high, due to demand from the business car market.
BVRLA chief executive Toby Poston said: “The headline numbers show the leasing fleet is in rude health. Scratching below the surface shows imbalances are growing; the positives are not universal.
“A tough economic landscape faces more turbulence. [The Budget] is on the horizon, with the Chancellor again having to make tough decisions.
“Financial uncertainty causes business and households to delay decisions or pinch their purse strings. To see the overall fleet grow in the face of that is testament to what can be achieved when targeted support enables the right products to be available at the right price.”
