As managing director of cap hpi, Christopher Wright has extensive personal experience in automotive data, and represents a combination of two companies with over a century of history between them. He talks to Christopher Marchant about the business’ move for international expansion, its relationship with data, and current shifts in the industry.
US business Solera acquired valuations and data provider cap in 2014, which merged with automotive services company hpi in 2015. Wright himself had been at cap since 2012, with previous automotive experience as sales and customer service director at EurotaxGlass.
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Wright explains the process of cap and hpi uniting: “We felt it made a lot of sense now we’re under the same Solera umbrella to amalgamate the businesses. “Our overriding corporate mission is to connect data. One of the primary motivations around delivering decision support and mitigating risk is also to simplify that journey. cap hpi can do this through putting all that data at the point of consumption on one screen under one login, and it makes the whole business process for the customer far more straightforward.”
The merger came with its sacrifices, notably the relocation of hpi resources in Salisbury to join with cap at its headquarters in Leeds. Wright believes, however, that through this, cap hpi is well placed for ever-greater expansion.
He says: “Leeds is our global HQ; I say this because we also took the decision a couple of years ago to expand from just the UKcentric business to developing the offering to Germany. We’ll be launching in France in around a month, and then out into other European destinations.”
Wright continues: “The customer base is global, and while they rely on us in the UK, they have had to look elsewhere in other countries where we were not present. What they wanted to do was make that same connected journey and start to compare their performance, risk management and general trading activity in the UK as abroad.”
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By GlobalDataCap hpi is also acutely aware of the impact that incoming Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP) regulations are going to have on the industry. Wright says of cap hpi’s solutions: “This is a change that has come in quick, and had elements of the industry in a tailspin. There’s a lot of rumour and conjecture happening, and what we’re looking to do is to calm that and put a data solution through it.”
He explains: “We assembled a dedicated project team, providing two phases of solutions. The first one is expanding the range of the emissions data. Rather than an approximated value for a vehicle derivative, we’re now delivering a minimum and maximum range that starts to talk about the potential of what that vehicle could be.
“Secondly, we’re delivering a very agile online solution. WLTP means that the emissions can be defined by the very unique nature or DNA of that car. If the vehicle has 18-inch alloys or 20-inch alloys, that will have a bearing on the outcome of the test; as a company we will be responsive to that.”
Looking at the general car market, Wright is optimistic about future car sales across a range of vehicles, noting: “There was alarm and concern around diesel last year, and in reality it’s not going off the edge of a cliff by any means. However, quite rightly, there is a new demand and interest in electric vehicles. We’ve been doing a lot of work on the penetration of the electric vehicle market, and starting to incorporate that within our data.”
As for data on finance, Wright speaks of relative stability in the market: “From the information we have from finance houses, personal contract purchase remains a huge element. We monitor that through live information from all the lenders in the hpi data set.”
Wright is also positive about cap hpi’s approach to its collection of data, and how preparedness for GDPR and concerns about privacy have allowed it to be a continued asset to the general public.
He explains: “A lot of the consumer data that we have is very much in the interest of the individual in terms of the security around the vehicle. A lot of the information we are asked to provide is to support the police in cases of fraud – be that mileage, clocking or theft. It is very much in the public interest that we retain that. “Our products also highlight for the user where data is used. You need to be agile to a subject access request, and we’ve created infrastructure within the business.”
