All articles by Fred Crawley
Fred Crawley
CDL: Japan aftershocks to affect market into Q2
VIPDATA, the valuations arm of vehicle information provider CDL, says that despite a strong first quarter for the car retail business, the market has been affected by its traditional April slump Consultant Diane Williams commented: many dealer groups were overstocked with used cars at the end of March, as were the auction halls, and clearly this stock needs to be sold before trade activity can pick up again. Williams added that Marchs disaster in Japan continued to affect the retail environment, with manufacturer reliance on sole suppliers of everything from electronic components to paint ingredients restricting the availability of vehicles to consumers
Editor’s letter: things are hotting up
The UK is seeing unseasonably warm weather for April, and it looks like the motor finance market too may be experiencing a minor heat wave at the point of sale, as the traditional buzz of the March retail peak carried over into the start of this month. Hard work but good results” were the five words used to sum up the month so far by one national dealer contact, with continued success in used car finance and increased PCP penetration being the stories told across the board in retail. For many dealers, the biggest worry is that those manufacturers who stock vehicles “just in time” for delivery rather than keeping plenty in store may soon find themselves tripped up by the sudden halt in production brought about by the parts shortage following Japans tsunami tragedy.
BEN seeks volunteers after motor finance field day
Motor industry charity BEN recently welcomed a team of volunteers from Black Horse Motor Finance to its Lynwood care centre near Ascot, for a day of gardening, maintenance and interaction with residents of the centre. Williams commented that the day had provided an opportunity for workers in the motor finance business to get a better knowledge of their industry charity, adding Thanks to all at BEN for their organisation and support which really made it a special day for us and kept us very busy
PPI appeal shot down by high court
An appeal by the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) to secure more favourable treatment for banks in the ongoing epidemic of PPI complaints was thrown out yesterday by a high court judge As a result, banks will have to apply FSA guidance on PPI mis-selling retrospectively, and contact customers with the product to offer them a chance to complain if they feel their PPI was mis-sold. Since 2005, when the FSA became responsible for regulation of PPI, some 1.5 million complaints have been made against financial services businesses which sold the product and the number is continuously rising.
Alphera builds motorcycle programme
Alphera Financial Services is to provide both retail and wholesale finance to Husqvarna Motorcycles, a subsidiary brand of the BMW group, in the UK. To mark the start of the relationship, Alphera and Husqvarna are launching a low-rate Hire Purchase campaign for the brands motorcycles, offering 2 percent APR on three models; the SMR511, SMR630 and TE630 Husqvarna Motorcycles delivered 1,940 motorcycles to customers worldwide in the first quarter of 2011, an increase of 18.3 percent on the volume delivered during the same period last year.
Subscribe to our Newsletter
Get industry leading news, data and analysis delivered to your inbox
Black Horse territories merged in restructure
Black Horse Motor Finance is undergoing further consolidation, although reports from the company confirm that the current round of restructuring will not be anywhere near as comprehensive as the changes undergone by the market leader in the last two years. Four of the lenders sales regions two in the north and two in the southeast are to be consolidated into two new areas, with two area directors to be made redundant as a result.
Tesco talking with potential partners
Tesco has confirmed that it is considering partnering with an independent car finance company to sell finance alongside its new online used car venture, as well as weighing up the potential to launch its own HP and PCP products. A spokesperson for the supermarket said that the team behind its new Tesco Cars venture was having continual meetings, both internally and with other companies, in order to decide on alternative offers to its current offering of personal loans from Tesco Bank.
Fraudulent applications at new high
While FLA statistics showed actual cases of motor finance fraud down 14 percent over the course of 2010, a separate report by global information company Experian has shown the incidence of fraudulent applications up 31 percent in the sector, to a level of 38 out of every 10,000. The increase in attempted motor finance fraud was higher than for any other type of finance, although it is likely that the increase in the number of genuine applications brought about by the 2009s Scrappage scheme inflated the year-on-year change in Experians fraud index.
Santander bags Hyundai finance deal
Hyundai is to launch a UK finance joint venture with Santander Consumer Finance UK (SCF), to start transacting business within the next year.
Low emissions increasingly key to point of sale opportunities
A recent investigation into vehicle emissions by data provider JATO shows that car users continue to demand more fuel efficient and therefore greener vehicles. The report, A Review of CO2 Car Emissions across Europe, links low average emissions with fragile economies, with fiscally damaged Portugal pushing ahead of France last year to become Europes most fuel conscious country a trend easily linked with its consumers desire to keep down fuel costs. Global vice-president for research at JATO, Gareth Hession, believes that if the UK had come out of recession in a much bigger way, the countrys emissions in 2010 would have been heavier, adding that the cost of fuel is the biggest factor behind reduced emissions.