All articles by Richard Irvine-Brown
Richard Irvine-Brown
Fleet Friday: Hermes, VW and Daf
Hermes, Germanys largest logistics service provider and operator of 14,000 private parcel receiving offices, has added to its electric fleet with a four-year trial of the Fiat 500 E from commercial vehicle supplier Karabag.
Sutton to step down as FLA chairman
Chris Sutton of Black Horse has announced he will step down as the chairman of the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA) in May, to be replaced by Philip Ross. During those two years the association has signed up nearly all of the UKs top 30 dealerships to its Specialist Automotive Finance programme, passed 1,300 recovered vehicles worth over £21m in conjunction with the ACPO Vehicle Intelligence Service and convinced the government over its concerns to apply an FSA-style regime to consumer and small-business credit.
Santander and Manheim extend contract
The deal means that vehicles at the end of a variety of customer leases and contract hire from Santander will continue to be auctioned by Manheim, which will also offers logistics, storage and reconditioning. In the UK, Santander Consumer Finance supplies finance for the Kia, Hyundai, Mazda and Volvo brands and the vehicles will be auctioned at Manheims sites in Bristol, Colchester, Manchester, Mansfield, and Washington.
New Alphera boss – ‘huge opportunities’ in UK
Andy Gruber has moved from BMW Group Financial Services in Germany to become the director of Alphera Financial Services. The move from Munich to Hook, Hampshire, is a return for Gruber who began his career there as a BMW management trainee in 1999. Grubers previous roles at BMW have included responsibility for strategic steering, then sales and product strategy for the Asia-Pacific region based in Singapore and then Australia, before becoming head of sales and marketing at the Munich office.
Convertibles’ seasonal shift at BCA
British Car Auctions (BCA) is banking on good weather ahead of its first auction of the year for convertible cars, to be held in Nottingham on Thursday. BCA typically holds its first auction of convertibles in February or March, ahead of a rise in value around May, as, according to Tim Naylor of BCA, the market picks up with the weather. Over 230 convertibles and roadsters will be on offer, including 161 BMWs, more than 50 Minis, and a selection of Audi, Jaguar XK, Lotus Elise, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche from leasing company Alphabet.
Subscribe to our Newsletter
Get industry leading news, data and analysis delivered to your inbox
Black Horse eyes the I in F&I
In what it calls a bid to help motor dealers create more F&I revenue opportunities, Black Horse is offering DriveSure, following a trial in late 2011, on cars up to five years old or with less than 80,000 miles on the clock as either an annual policy or monthly premium.
Government confirms plug-in grant vans
The Department for Transport has confirmed the first seven vans eligible for the plug-in grant to encourage uptake of electric vehicles (EVs). As reported previously in Motor Finance, models of van qualifying the grant will be subsidised up to £8,000 or 20% of value, a move welcomed by manufacturers and trade bodies. In order to qualify for the grant, vans must weigh less than 3.5 tonnes, emit no more than 75g of CO2 per kilometre, be capable of travelling over 60 miles between charging, and have a minimum top speed of 50mph.
ACF beats 500 frauds, saves £3m in 2011
Used car retailer ACF Car Finance, subsidiary of The Funding Corporation, prevented nearly 500 cases of suspected fraud in its showrooms last year, saving the company an estimated £3.2m.
Lenders’ potential High Court collection method
One of the stated aims of the Ministry of Justice consultation on the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 (yet to come into effect) is to offer creditors more choice in the method in which they enforce debts Traditionally, under the High Court and County Courts Jurisdiction Order (1991), monetary judgments secured in the County Courts have to be enforced in the County Court if the debt arises from a CCA regulated agreement
Marsh Finance publishes public running total of its deals
Car finance provider Marsh Finance has taken a bold move against the smoke and mirrors of the sector by keeping a public running total of the amount of business the company has underwritten for the year-to-date on its website marshfinance.co.uk.