Car dealers are often so focused on completing sales that they
overlook finance commission, missing out on a potential income
stream, according to Tim Marlow, owner of luxury vehicle specialist
Bridford.
Marlow said: “Dealers are letting easy money walk out of the
door by not offering to quote on finance when customers already
have lenders in mind or are considering using in-house options.
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“When buyers look at vehicles they often get provisional finance
in place beforehand and will have a quote they are satisfied with,
but dealers should offer to see if they can beat it through finance
houses.
“Not only will they help the customer save money and control
more of the transaction, they will earn very competitive commission
by financing the vehicle.
Bridford’s claim echoes a common theme heard at several of
Motor Finance’s recent
Round Table events, published in the monthly magazine.
For instance, Shamus Hodgson, director of sales and marketing at
Moneybarn was quoted last December in a discussion abut US motor
finance. Hodgson said: “Can UK dealers create
finance leads in the same way that US dealers do? Obviously they
can, but the more pertinent question is why they choose not to. Yes
Car Credit was a success because it sold finance first when the
availability of finance was a concern, whereas the prime customers
are interested in the car.
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By GlobalData“Of course we’d love to see the US
model in place. A huge percentage of the population misses out on a
dealer-supplied vehicle because they don’t feel they can go down
that finance route due to it coming at the end of the sales
process.”
Marlow cites finance packages for cars like the Ferrari 458
Italia and the Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 – two popular vehicles
Bridford has recently funded – where dealers’ commission works out
at £8,500.
“Our approved dealers have been benefiting from this for some
time and more and more are using us now to take advantage, but some
are still too preoccupied with closing the deal and neglect it,”
Marlow said.
Marlow emphasised that arranging finance need not significantly
slow down a sale. He said: “Finance can be approved incredibly
quickly nowadays, it’s a matter of taking a customer’s basic
details and making a telephone call so precious little time is lost
closing the deal. Once the customer is committed to the sale, it
takes very little effort for the dealer to call us for a quote or
use our free online car dealer calculator.
