All articles by Charles Wheeldon
Charles Wheeldon
VWFS plans European market share growth
Volkswagen Financial Services (VWFS), the captive for Europe’s biggest carmaker, plans to increase its European finance penetration for VW, Audi, Seat and Skoda brands, from 30% to 40% within four years.
Strong 2012 start for used car trading
BCA teamed up with Lex Autolease for a special sale at BCAs Bedford auction centre of 400 end-of-lease cars, included a selection of prestige and sporting models. The sale, on 10 January, attracted more than 300 buyers with a further 533 logging on to bid online.Over 90% of the cars were sold for a total of more than £3m, achieving 99% of CAP Clean.
ATD unveils cross-matching vehicle software
With data providers such as Glasss, FleetNet and CDL, as well as individual vehicle manufacturers, each having their own vehicle codes, encoding and cross-matching data is a common problem for companies involved in all parts of the industry, from vehicle sales, finance and insurance, through to servicing, repairs and parts supply.
Competition from direct lenders heats up with January sale
The plunge in personal loan prices observed in 2011 appears to have intensified, with HSBC moving into the top spot of the personal loans market for sums typical for many passenger car purchases (£8,500 repayable over four years). The move will do little to settle the nerves of traditional point of sale motor finance providers, already frayed by increasingly aggressive pricing from direct lenders.
Free books for Motor Finance subscribers
Fleet industry management consultant Professor Colin Tourick has recently published two books and is offering 10 free PDF versions to Motor Finance subscribers. Company Car and Van Tax 2011-12 aims to explain everything a fleet manager or company vehicle driver needs to know, including: car benefit tax, fuel benefit tax, VAT, income tax, corporation tax, capital allowances, fuel duty, vehicle excise duty and national insurance.
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Jardine appoints Manheim Remarketing
The Jardine Motors Group has appointed Manheim Remarketing to implement its remarketing strategy for the next two years, while retaining the services of its current remarketing partner British Car Auctions. Manheim will hold weekly sales for Jardine, offering up to 50 vehicles at Leeds, beginning on Wednesday 11 January and at Colchester, beginning on Thursday 12 January Jardine Motors Group has 24 manufacturer franchises at 75 locations, employs 3,000 staff and operates under the following names: Lancaster, Scotthall, Wayside, Appleyard, Minories, Abridge and Clover Leaf Cars
New software checks changing vehicle values
ATD Solutions has launched a new software package which allows vehicle finance companies to perform bulk revaluations of vehicle portfolios and monitor exposure to changing values. The Leeds-based companys Asset Valuation System (AVS) was developed in collaboration with major motor finance companies including Volkswagen Financial Services (UK), which the systems first user. AVS uses vehicle valuation data from any provider, allowing users to specify their preferred option, such as CAP, Glasss or CDL VIPDATA
Motor industry (stats from the SMMT)
Motor industry statistics and analysis for November 2011 from the SMMT.
Debut hybrid auction
Lex Autolease southern area auction manager Robert Sturley said: We are very aware of our responsibilities to the environment, as are our customers, and as the largest UK contract hire provider we feel we have a responsibility to develop and enhance the used car hybrid sales market.
Saab Great Britain placed in administration
After more than 50 years trading, Saab Great Britain has gone into voluntary administration, following months of intensive negotiations and an extensive period of suspended production and tight liquidity at Saab Automobile AB. The Saab GB board believes administration will offer legal protection to the company and its creditors until it can secure the funding it needs, and it has appointed David Dunckley and Daniel Taylor of Grant Thornton UK LLP as the companys joint administrators to assume the directors management powers. When questioned about the consequences of the administration for Saab dealers, a company spokeswoman said it was very early days and the administrators would be talking to Saab Automobiles AB about issues such as warranties and support going forward.