Fines on lease and rental cars

From lease company to driver: how a fine on a lease or rental car reaches your business and how to process it efficiently.

Many businesses don't drive their own cars but lease or rental vehicles. That affects the way traffic fines arrive. A fine passes through an extra link before it lands on your desk — and that link often costs both money and time.

How a fine on a lease car reaches you

For a lease car, the licence plate is usually registered to the lease company. Because of registered-keeper liability, that company therefore receives the fine first. The lease company then forwards the fine to the business that leases the car. Only after that can the business determine which employee committed the offence. For rental cars it works similarly: the rental company receives the fine and forwards it to the renter.

The recharging chain

A fine on a lease or rental car therefore usually passes through three links:

  • Lease company or rental company — receives the fine as the registered keeper.
  • The business — receives the forwarded fine and works out who was driving.
  • The driver — the employee to whom the fine is ultimately recharged.

Each link costs time, and the longer a fine is in transit, the greater the chance a payment deadline is at risk. A tight internal process from the moment the fine arrives is therefore essential.

Watch out for lease companies' administration fees

Because the lease company receives the fine and has to forward it, many companies charge an administration fee per forwarded fine. With a large fleet, that adds up. You can't remove those fees yourself, but you can prevent surcharges from piling up on top of the admin fees because a fine was left lying around internally. Fast, structured processing limits the damage.

Managing lease and rental car fines centrally

For a good fine management system, it doesn't matter whether a vehicle is owned, leased or rented. In Fleetfines you import the forwarded scans of lease and rental car fines, or create a fine manually. All that's left to do after that is link the fine to the right driver. From that point, the process is the same as for owned vehicles: send the payment request, get it paid and follow up.

Want the complete picture? Take a look at the overview guide on managing traffic fines across your fleet.

Frequently asked questions

Fines on lease and rental cars

Who gets the fine for a lease car?

For a lease car, the licence plate is usually registered to the lease company. It receives the fine first and then forwards it to the business that leases the car, after which the business places the fine internally with the driver.

Why do lease companies charge administration fees?

Because the lease company receives the fine and has to forward it to the lessee, many companies charge an administration fee per forwarded fine. That makes fast and correct internal processing all the more important.

How do I link a rental car fine to the right driver?

Using the licence plate, the date and the time of the offence, you determine which employee was using the rental car at that moment. In Fleetfines you then link the fine to that driver.

Can you import lease car fines automatically?

Yes. You can import the forwarded scans of lease and rental car fines or create a fine manually. After that, all you need to do is link the fine to the right driver.

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