All articles by Charles Wheeldon
Charles Wheeldon
New CAP role for Powis
Powis joined the CAP sales team 11 years ago, spending five years in the retail sector before becoming head of key accounts in 2005
Upbeat trading for Advantage
The subprime lender wrote almost 2,500 contracts in the first half of the year, up from 2,300 in the first half of 2010
Burlington moves north
The service is similar to its High Court writ of delivery product for enforcing County Court return orders in England and Wales and makes Burlington the only asset repossession company offering a full post-judgment enforcement service, to recover assets subject to court orders, across the whole UK mainland.
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Legal briefs: August
SHOOSMITHSLaw firm Shoosmiths has created a new national team to work for asset-based lenders (ABLs), merging its existing asset finance and invoice finance teams to create a single team serving ABL clients.Part of Shoosmiths lender services group, the new team will cover asset finance, invoice finance and factoring, ABLs in respect of their retail and corporate customers, and all assets, from motor and equipment to big-ticket
Andrews joins Mercedes-Benz UK to boost market share
Nick Andrews, head of fleet and business sales for Seat UK has left the Volkswagen Group to take on the newly created role of head of fleet at Mercedes-Benz UK, reporting to sales director Mike Whittington. He will be tasked with increasing Mercedes-Benz UKs 4% fleet market share, focusing on the companys new fleet strategy which aims to increase business in contract hire and leasing, commercial accounts, and small business a strategy supported by an expanded model line-up.
European captives see strong half year
It was a different story each side of the Atlantic for the captive giants when they announced their half-year results. Ford Motor Credits profit, at $843m (£507m), was down 22% from $1.1bn in the first half of 2010. However, General Motors former captive Ally Financials $259m profit was 64% down from its $727m half-year profit last year.
Consumers rushing into car finance, says BMW
Although just under half of UK consumers take at least a month to buy a car, 22% then take less than two hours to decide to take out car finance, according to a survey of 1,000 UK car owners carried out by BMW Financial Services. The survey also found that 55% of car buyers dont consult their partner about car finance, making the decision independently, in contrast to other big-ticket items where they would consult their partner, such as a new kitchen (63%), holidays (64%) and sofa (64%).
Will contract hire numbers get any higher?
Increasing numbers of motorists are turning to long-term car leases, according to recent market data released by the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA), with the value of leases for private cars rising by 55% in the second quarter of 2011, compared to the second quarter of 2010.