STEVE WHITMARSH'S career was honed in the rough and tumble of the late 20th century car industry, where at 22 he became Land Rover’s youngest production manager. But he eventually left the sights and sounds of a blue-collar factory to create runyourfleet, now an £18m turnover business which led to Steve meeting the King. JON GRIFFIN looks at the business success story of a man who attended eight different schools by the time he was 14.

Steve Whitmarsh (pictured, right) was once the youngest production manager in Land Rover’s history – now he has a new role helping keep the timeless genius of Shakespeare’s plays on the road for theatre lovers.

His colourful CV ranges from running a 220-strong team at the age of just 22 in the hard knocks world of the 1990s automotive sector to providing transport needs for the Royal Shakespeare Company – as well as clients such as Birmingham Dogs Home and Sharp’s Brewery in Cornwall.

Now CEO of the £18m turnover Multifleet Vehicle Management operation at Solihull, Steve has packed a lot into his career, from a traditional apprenticeship which led to senior roles at Land Rover to executive posts at Volvo and the RAC before taking the plunge to launch his own embryonic fleet vehicle firm 14 years ago.

Today he’s the man in charge of the Midlands’ biggest fleet management firm by volume, providing a range of services for more than 32,000 vehicles across the UK – including currently delivering props for Shakespearian classics such as King Lear, Hamlet and Macbeth.

Bringing the Bard to new generations is a far cry from his early days in the rough and tumble world of the late 20th century car industry. It was there the affable Whitmarsh cut his teeth with Rover Cars and Land Rover and others before eventually changing career direction to launch Multifleet Vehicle Management after two decades climbing the sometimes-slippery car sector ladder.

Co-founder and part owner of a Midlands industry success story which began in 2010 with a team of just four in cramped offices in Henley in Arden, Steve has a rich fund of career memories and life lessons on which to reflect as he helps steer Multifleet towards the next chapter in their history from their impressive new 9,000 sq ft base at Solihull Business Park.

“By the time I was 14 we had moved house seven times – my father was head of technical for Renault Trucks and they kept moving their head office around the UK. I went to eight schools by the age of 14. It taught me to be very sociable because you needed to make friends quickly and win people over. There were lots of friends as there were later in the car industry.

“It follows you through – if you treat people how you want to be treated yourself, you get paid back. This business would not be here today if it wasn’t for some of those friends from the industry who encouraged and helped and assisted.”

Steve’s career began as a technician apprentice with Rover Cars at Drews Lane before switching to Land Rover at Solihull, beginning under British Aerospace ownership before the BMW takeover.

The Rover Group apprenticeship and subsequent executive career gave him a ringside view of the turbulent West Midland car sector as globalisation, consolidation and new technology ushered in sweeping change and shrinking workforces.

“It was a great grounding, there were some hard knocks and learnings at the Drews Lane plant. Some of the production lines had been there for 30 plus years. It was very old-fashioned, old-school management and old school engineering.

“I stayed with manufacturing and became the youngest ever production manager at Land Rover in its history. I was 22 when I became a full manager – we had four production lines and 220 staff, who were all older than me.”

With the Rover Group later acquired by BMW, Steve landed a job as northern area leasing and rental manager, giving him his first taste of corporate sales, with responsibility for 25,000 vehicles.

He left behind the sights and smells of a blue collar factory environment to embrace a new world of corporate entertainment, motor shows and overseas car launches.

The move proved a major turning point for the former apprentice who still describes himself as an engineer by trade – and by 2001, as the Longbridge crisis rocked the Midlands ahead of the plant’s eventual closure and sale to the Chinese in 2005, he had moved on to a new role with Volvo as southern area leasing and rental manager.

A subsequent move to the RAC as a senior account manager and later head of fleet  – “a lovely place to work with very loyal customers” – provided the impetus to his decision to launch his own online fleet management business, targeting the SME sector.

“I was a bit frustrated at the RAC and spotted what I thought was a niche in the market for SME businesses to be served by a fleet management provider.

"I came up with a business plan.  With backing from local investors Forward Group PLC and with former RAC senior finance manager Simon Shiner also on board as founding director, runyourfleet – the trading name for Multifleet – was up and running.

“There were four of us. We officially opened on 21 January, 2011, with a blank piece of paper, a small office and a flip-chart, and four laptops. We were doing telesales – everyone was selling. We had to get business over the line.

“We have grown steadily – in 2015 we started buying vehicles ourselves and leasing them. We are not just a leasing company, we are not just a fleet management company, we are not just a rental broker, we are not just a licence-checking business.

"We do all of those things and all ourselves. The core products are fleet management, leasing, daily rental – we are the only player in the market with a platform like ours.

“Last year we turned over £18m, with profits of £320,000. We have invested quite heavily in staff – we have currently got 40 employees – so we have increased our cost-base. We are now the biggest business of its kind by volume in the Midlands and we are currently looking at an acquisition we have been working on for the last six months.

“We won the King’s Award for Enterprise last year for the innovation of our platform. I got to meet the King, which was an incredible experience.”

With a customer base ranging from two-vehicle operators to 5,000 vehicles, runyourfleet runs the whole gamut of corporate clients, including its recent signing up of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

“They’ve just become a customer with 18 vehicles and they’ve got over 1,000 staff. That is very much in its infancy – we will be fleet managing some of their existing vehicles, refreshing their vehicles with lease vehicles from us, hiring vehicles to them. They have company vehicles – small vans and a couple of large vans to move props around.”

Other customers include Birmingham Dogs Home, giant European conglomerate Saint-Gobain, Sharps Brewery in Cornwall, the NHS, Motorsport UK, Jewson builders merchants and many others.

As a preferred partner with Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce and with Steve on the Solihull Chamber executive committee, runyourfleet are keen to embrace the opportunities available through the Midlands’ premier business group – including the adoption of charities.

“We have taken a greater focus on ESG as a business. Our profile is increasing in the Midlands and that is led by the Chamber. You look forward to going to a Chamber event because you know you are going to have a lot of fun.

“For a company of our size I think we punch above our weight and we are very proud of what we have achieved. There have been some very late nights and very early mornings poring over spreadsheets. It has been difficult at times – there are always bumps in the road – but I am very, very happy now.”

This article first appeared in the February 2025 edition of Chamberlink magazine.

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