First Fleet Corp., Fort Lauderdale, Fla., has established a trust to hold vehicle titles in response to the company’s growth.

First Fleet, which provides financial and technological services to the truck-leasing market, has established a Delaware Series Sub Trust with US Bank Trust in St. Paul, Minn. US Bank will act as trustee and custodian, holding all First Fleet motor vehicle titles, about 2,500 per year. The first transaction, using this trust to hold titles, was closed on June 20.
Establishing this trust is a manifestation of First Fleet’s growth. “A certain threshold of business, an economy of scale, must be reached in order to create and maintain a trust of this size,” explains Frederick Witherby Jr., General Counsel of First Fleet.
Titles go directly from the State Departments of Motor Vehicles to US Bank where they are accounted for and inventoried. This eliminates extra handling fees, out-of-pocket expenses to change titles, and tracking of titles which can end up in different locations if banks holding them are sold or merged.
Maximized availability of information and Internet accessibility also add to the level of service and convenience for First Fleet and its customers. “US Bank’s core competency is tracking pieces of paper; our core competency is structuring lease transactions,” adds Witherby.