Richard Evans, Sales Director at Jaama, explores how the fleet and leasing sector is shifting its focus from disruption to smarter decision-making through data. In this blog, Richard examines the growing importance of operational visibility, the realities behind flexible mobility models, and why businesses that can turn data into commercial insight will be best placed to stay ahead in an evolving market.
The fleet sector doesn’t have a disruption problem: it has a visibility problem.
For years, the industry conversation has been dominated by predictions of radical change: subscription models, shared mobility, pay-per-use platforms. But if you look at what’s actually happening on UK roads, a different picture emerges. Leasing remains central and established funding and supply structures are not disappearing.
Over the past 18 months, we’ve seen a noticeable shift in the conversations fleet operators are having with funders and customers. The focus is becoming less about disruption for disruption’s sake, and more about extracting value from the data businesses already hold.
That shift matters because competitive advantage in fleet is no longer coming from adopting new models first, it’s from understanding your existing operations better.
In conversations with leasing providers, one of the biggest misconceptions is that performance gains require structural change. In reality, there is significant untapped value within the models already in use.
Leasing, finance and rental agreements generate vast amounts of operational information such as mileage patterns, utilisation, contract performance, cost per mile. Yet in many businesses, this intelligence remains underused due to siloed systems, a potential disconnect between operational and financial data, and legacy processes that make it difficult to build a clear, real-time picture of portfolio performance.
The result is that pricing, forecasting and procurement decisions are often made with partial visibility. But when operational data is properly connected to financial modelling, it changes the quality of decision-making. Pricing becomes more precise, margin risk is identified earlier, and procurement aligns more closely with actual usage patterns rather than assumptions.
We’re also seeing second-order effects emerge. Better data is strengthening lender confidence, improving residual value forecasting, and giving providers a more informed basis for customer conversations. It is even starting to play a role in how businesses approach ESG reporting, where accurate usage and lifecycle data is becoming increasingly important. This is why software is no longer just a reporting layer: it’s critical infrastructure.
At Jaama, we’ve developed Key2 to connect these data points, giving leasing providers a clearer understanding of how their portfolios are performing and where commercial exposure is building. That level of insight allows leadership teams to act earlier and with greater confidence.
The withdrawal of Zipcar from the UK market at the beginning of 2026 was a useful moment to pause and reflect, not because flexible models are irrelevant, but because they are often misunderstood.
On the surface, pay-per-use mobility is compelling. It aligns with changing consumer expectations and promises efficiency. But the underlying economics are challenging. Utilisation has to remain consistently high, asset downtime is costly, and operational complexity can quickly erode margins. What this highlights is the gap between consumer enthusiasm and commercial viability.
For leasing and rental providers, the lesson is that flexibility needs to be applied selectively, within models that are financially sustainable. In practice, we’re seeing providers incorporate elements of flexibility into existing structures rather than replacing them entirely. That might mean more adaptable contract terms, improved vehicle rotation strategies, or better alignment between usage patterns and funding models.
Again, the common thread is data. Without a clear understanding of how vehicles are actually being used, flexibility becomes a risk rather than an advantage.
The introduction of Electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED) reinforces another important shift: fleet cost structures are becoming more sensitive to real-world usage and policy change. EVs are now broadly aligned with petrol and diesel vehicles for road tax purposes. For many leasing providers, that creates immediate exposure particularly where contracts were written under different cost assumptions.
What we’re seeing now is a growing need to model these changes quickly and accurately across entire portfolios. Providers that have the necessary strong data foundations can respond proactively by adjusting pricing, informing customers, and maintaining credibility with funders. Those without that capability are more likely to find themselves reacting after margins have already been impacted.
The future of leasing is going to be defined by how effectively businesses turn operational data into actual commercial intelligence.
The next competitive divide in fleet will not be between traditional operators and disruptors. It will be between businesses that are acting on insights and those still making decisions with fragmented information.
Leasing and rental providers are already sitting on the data they need to improve performance, strengthen funder relationships and make more confident supply decisions. The challenge now is to connect it, interpret it, and use it.
