All articles by Charles Wheeldon
Charles Wheeldon
Express urges consumer caution over dealer finance
David Walker, loans business manger at Sainsburys Finance, was quoted as saying consumers should bargain when buying car finance, adding: Motorists spend time and effort choosing their vehicle and getting the best price, then sign the first car finance deal they are offered
Are your people really doing what you think they are doing?
In the August issue of Motor Finance, Ian Dewsnap asks whether employees job specs actually match what they do, and asks if the work is getting done in the way the workflow documentation says it should
Bridford offers Monaco finance incentive to dealers
To qualify, dealers must earn 30 points between 1 September and 30 November, with one point awarded for each deal transacted up to £50,000, two points for deals between £50,001 to £100,000, and three points for those over £100,001. The event will take place between 26 and 29 April next year and includes flights, luxury accommodation at the Monte Carlo Bay Hotel and Resort, dining at the Caf de Paris, a drive on the iconic Monaco Formula One Grand Prix route, a helicopter flight over the Mediterranean Sea, and a catamaran cruise.
Investors back site with mission to ‘reinvent’ car finance sales
Both join FinanceAcar as advisors and Anthemis partner Sean Park joins the board as an observer.Anthemis invests in companies that use technology to create innovative and disruptive financial businesses and FinanceAcar aims to reinvent car shopping for the 80% of UK customers who buy a car based on a monthly finance budget, which is a £14bn annual spend
Further gains in consumer leasing
Increasing numbers of motorists are turning to long-term car leases, reports the Finance & Leasing Association, with the value of leases for private cars rising by 55% in the second quarter of 2011, compared to Q2 2010 Although the volume of leasing in the retail motor finance market remains small, its growing fast, and Black Horse and Ford Credit have both recently expressed confidence in the private contract hire market by launching new products.
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DealTrak hooks up with Equifax
F&I management systems provider Frontline Solutions has announced a partnership with consumer credit information company Equifax, which it claims will allow dealers to pre-screen car buyers for the best finance deal on its F&I system Frontline Solutions managing director Andy Shuter said: This means we can provide users of our Elite DealTrak123 system with the opportunity to protect a customers credit rating, by enabling them to evaluate at point of sale important credit information obtained by the consumer from their credit file held with Equifax This will enable customers to be pre-screened in a way never seen before in a sophisticated dealership sales process, enabling the finance proposal to be sent to the most appropriate prime, near prime or sub-prime lender.
No halt to sinking wholesale values, says Manheim
In July, overall average values fell by 0.8% (£52) to £6,588, just £19 above the £6,569 reported in December The fleet sector fell by 3.2% (£195) to £5,905, dealer part exchange values fell by 0.9% (£21) to £2,306, while manufacturer stock values increased by 2.1% (£237) to £11,516.
Upbeat trading at Advantage
S&U, parent company of car finance lender Advantage Finance, issued a trading statement this week with an upbeat assessment of its subsidiary. The sub-prime lender wrote almost 2,500 contracts in the first half of the year, up from 2,300 in H1 2010 In addition, the average value of its net car advances has risen from £4,500 last year to £5,000
Legal ruling on gym membership contracts could affect motor finance
In the August issue of Motor Finance, Greg Standing writes about a case concerning unfair contract terms that sends out a warning to companies that use standard form contracts for consumers and cautions against heavy-handed collection methods A recent law case (The Office of Fair Trading v Ashbourne Management Services) focused on contracts used by Ashbourne Management Services, a company that administers membership contracts and collects subscriptions on behalf of 700 UK gyms. The contracts specified minimum membership periods of 12, 24 or 36 months and required gym members to stump up the whole of the minimum payment if they wanted to terminate their memberships early.
Consumers rush into car finance purchases, 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%). Four in ten drivers now see finance as a perfectly acceptable way to own a new or used car, and a third of UK drivers would rent-to-own their car.Of those who would rent-to-own, the majority are in the younger age brackets (35% of 18-24 year-olds and 37% of 25-34 year-olds), while those aged 65-plus prefer to own outright