Depreciation is the single largest cost of vehicle ownership — and almost always the one underestimated at purchase. For commercial fleets, the picture gets more complex with tax, resale and compliance‑driven obsolescence.
Where depreciation hits hardest
- Year one: typically the steepest drop
- Specialist bodies (fridge, tail lift, tipper) can lose value faster
- Compliance‑driven obsolescence: older diesels are getting harder to sell as ULEZ and DVS standards rise
- Resale risk concentrates in the end‑of‑life sale, often at the worst time
Why resale value is increasingly uncertain
The used commercial vehicle market is being reshaped by:
- DVS rules in London
- Clean Air Zones in major cities
- The transition to lower‑emission and electric LCVs
- Shifting tax treatment of older diesels
Holding vehicles long enough to "get value out of them" is becoming a riskier strategy.
The tax picture
Owning vehicles introduces capital allowance, VED, and BIK considerations that hire often simplifies. Hire and contract hire treat the vehicle as an operating expense — easier to model, easier to forecast, easier to explain in board reviews.
How OptiRent and CoreHire remove this risk
Both products give you the use of the vehicle without the residual value, depreciation or disposal risk. We carry the vehicle's lifecycle; you keep the operating capability.
What this means in practice
- Predictable monthly cost
- No exposure to a falling used market
- No need to plan for end‑of‑life disposal
- Easier to keep the fleet modern and compliant
Want depreciation off your balance sheet? Speak to SVH about moving owned vehicles into OptiRent or CoreHire.
