The Renault Rent programme continues to grow, with two more dealers signed up, bringing the total number of sites offering the service to 11.

Shelbourne Motors in Portadown opened its rental service on October 23 and Renault Leicester will begin operations in January.

The programme, which has been running since summer 2004, has brought more than £500,000 in revenues to dealers taking part and Renault hopes to add four more outlets to the network next year, bringing revenues to £1m.

Chris Gayton, manager for rental development at Renault UK, says: “A successful Renault Rent operation can make a significant financial contribution to the dealer’s business.”

Dealers taking part in the programme purchase the vehicles directly from Renault and, once they have been used in the rental fleet, are sold as used cars.

Renault has declined to provide a return on investment figure, but a spokeswoman says: “It has been structured so that dealers can start a rental business as easily and cost effectively as possible.”