The City of Crystal Lake, Ill., is moving to fleet vehicle leasing for many fleet vehicles, including police cars. It expects to save $3.57 million over 15 years by moving to this new procurement method, the Northwest Herald reported.

According to city documents, the city’s current fleet of vehicles are of varying ages, and many are beyond their useful lives. City staff members from Fleet, Public Works, and Finance have been conducting a lease-versus-purchase analysis and found that leasing would result in the lowest lifecycle costs.

The vehicles will be leased from Enterprise Fleet Management through The Interlocal Purchasing System, a cooperative procurement group.

The lease term generally spans five years for most vehicles, three years for police pursuit vehicles, and five years with a renewable five-year term for heavy equipment. Fifty-four light- and medium-duty vehicles would come with a full maintenance contract, and preventive maintenance and repairs will be done at local shops, Finance Director George Koczwara told Government Fleet. The rest of the leased vehicles will be maintained in house. Reduced maintenance needs will result in the elimination of one fleet maintenance position through attrition.

A major benefit to the leasing program is improved cash flow. Staff members determined that the net cost for leasing vehicles over the next 15 years is $17.8 million while the net cost for purchasing is $19.6 million. In addition, staff members estimated $1.5 million savings in maintenance costs over 15 years. Finally, they also estimated $270,000 in fuel savings over 10 years from newer, more fuel-efficient vehicles. This adds up to $3.57 million in reduced cash outlay over the course of 15 years when compared to current practices.

The city owns 326 vehicles and equipment, and 116 can be leased through Enterprise and will be replaced in the next five years. Generators, trailers, and other equipment will not be leased, and ambulances and fire engines cannot be leased from Enterprise.

Related: Leasing: A Budget & Maintenance Solution for Government Fleets