All articles by Richard Irvine-Brown
Richard Irvine-Brown
Manchester car cloning scam shut down
Vehicle checking service HPI has helped Greater Manchester Police to halt the resale of stolen cars with cloned identities. Police recovered £570,000 worth of stolen vehicles from an organised criminal ring, two of whom have been arrested, that would steal cars and give them the cloned identities of similar vehicles already in use
Toyota finance grows differentiated revenues
Toyota Financial Services has doubled the amount of money lent to its dealer network in mortgages on retail premises, part of a 28% rise in its debtors book, from 2010 to 2012. Speaking to Motor Finance, Doug Gillies, managing director of Toyota Financial Services, said the combination of reduced risk and stricter lending criteria for banks since 2008 presented the finance market with an opportunity to fund the motor industry. As the appetite of banks to lend has reduced, Gillies has seen Toyota Financial Services provide further wholesale lending to its dealer network, including used vehicles and property.
UK Ford and VW sales beat European average
Ford and Volkswagen, two of the most popular car brands in the UK and Europe, have seen sales fall on the continent, but grow in the UK, during the first half of 2012. Ford, the biggest-selling marque in the UK and second-biggest in Europe, posted a 10% year-on-year drop in sales across 19 Western European markets from January to June, while UK registrations rose by 4.08%.
Easy provider
Richard Brown talks to manufacturers, funders and industry bodies about the motor finance sector where captives and independents agree there is an opportunity for growth – motorcycles Generally, finance is what sells bikes, says Philip Ross, general manager of Honda Finance Europe, the captive finance house of the UKs biggest-selling motorcycle manufacturer.
History and discovery
Renault made headlines in late 2011 with the announcement it would scale back British retail operations yet RCI Financial Services, captive finance partner to the Renault-Nissan Alliance in the UK, saw business rise 12% in the opening quarter of 2012. Steve Gowler, managing director at RCI FS, tells Richard Brown his work is simply ahead of the curve.
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White Clarke Group sponsors BEN Book of Numbers
Captive software specialists White Clarke Group and White Clarke Automotive Solutions will sponsor the BEN Book of Numbers, the automotive industrys annual review edited by Professor Peter Cooke. BEN promises the book is a definitive five-year review of statistics and trends in new, used, fleet, business and private cars, including finance, aftersales, CO2 emissions and fuel costs.
Fleet Friday: UK figures, sales, people and deals
The weekly round-up of UK fleet news including FLA and Manheim statistics, Honda sales, Lex people, and Isuzu and TIP three-year agreements The UK business new car sector accounted for £600m in finance across 42,134 purchases, growing 26% by value and 34% by volume year-on-year in May according to figures from the Finance & Leasing Association.
Private new car finance still growing – FLA
Finance on private new car sales at retail has grown for the 14th month in succession, accounting for 67.4% of purchases, according to figures for May from the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) Across new and used cars, £1.4bn was advanced on 122,093 purchases over the month, putting figures in both markets up year-on-year for the month, the previous three months and the previous 12 months.
Review: Car Finance – A Simple Guide by Graham Hill
When books promise to keep consumers informed of the intricacies of money management most are advertised as being published to the chagrin of the industry
AA loan rate down, predicts buyers up
The AA has reduced its representative APR on personal loans for members to 6.4%, claiming 13% of car buyers are considering such loans to finance part or all of their next car purchase Applied to loans of £8,500 over four years, the 6.4% rate is the eighth-lowest available, according to the latest figures from moneysupermarket.com and Junes issue of Motor Finance magazine, behind HSBC (6.2%), First Direct (6.1%) and a combination of regional and supermarket banks offering 6%.