Overview
From EV specialist to fleet conversions of every kind
Van Guru Fleet Specialists is a family-run business based in Staffordshire supplying ready-to-go converted light commercial vehicles to fleets and businesses across the UK. What began as an electric vehicle specialist has grown into a business covering conversions across all fuel types, with the original EV expertise now carried forward through its Ivan EV Specialist brand. Run by a close-knit team, Brian, Phil, Emma and Dan deal directly with clients, hand-selecting the right vehicle for each job rather than working from whatever sits on a dealership forecourt.
The Problem
Paying converters instantly, before a customer exists
Offering ready-to-go vehicles means committing capital before a specific customer order exists. Van Guru sources commercial vehicle chassis in volume across multiple manufacturers and works with a number of approved converters each month, who need paying immediately on collection, with no credit terms.
That upfront payment is exactly what earns Van Guru priority treatment and a turnaround measured in weeks rather than months. But it means stock has to be funded before it sells, and demand for different vehicle types can shift quickly with market conditions. Without flexible funding, that combination could force the business to slow its build pipeline or tie up cash better used elsewhere.
The Solution
A facility that works like a stock plan
Van Guru's Lenkie facility works as a stock plan, funding vehicles and conversions as they move through the pipeline. Converters get paid instantly, preserving the fast turnaround that sets the business apart, with repayment only due once each vehicle sells.
As Van Guru has expanded beyond its original EV focus, Lenkie has reviewed and grown the credit line alongside it, a continuous underwriting approach that scales funding with the business. The revolving structure suits a stock-led business well: each sale and repayment frees the facility for the next round of stock, so usage flexes naturally with pipeline demand. With no subscription or non-usage fees, Van Guru only pays for funding it actually uses, valuable even in quieter periods when the team can stay cash-positive and draw more selectively.
The journey
01
Chassis and conversions funded as they move through the pipeline
02
Converters paid instantly on collection, no credit terms required
03
Revolving structure: each sale frees the facility for the next round of stock
"We build vehicles fast and sell them faster, so having funding that can move at the same speed matters. Lenkie has backed us through that from early on, and it's a relationship that's grown alongside the business."
Brian Bachelor
Managing Director, Van Guru Fleet Specialists
Results
Ready for whatever's next
As Van Guru continues to broaden its range across ready-to-go vans, welfare vehicles and bespoke conversions, the facility maintains the flexibility to keep stock moving fast, whatever vehicle a customer needs next.
"Van Guru's story is a great example of what backing a business properly looks like - not only funding where they are today, but staying with them as the business itself evolves. Throughout the change our facility's role has been the same: making sure funding is never the thing slowing them down."
Sanjeev Jeyakumar
CEO, Lenkie
Takeaway
Van Guru's model inverts the usual funding story: the cash goes out before a customer exists at all, on vehicles that may sell in any configuration the market happens to want next. A revolving facility tied to the pipeline rather than a fixed drawdown let the business pivot from EV specialist to multi-fuel converter without funding ever being the constraint.
