First of all I just wanted to express my sadness at the passing
last month of Vic Lock, without whom Motor Finance would
not have existed. When I started the British Lease Brokers
Association in 1991, along with a large group of brokers and Lease
Management Services, Vic was a great supporter and provided us with
some great advice and publicity.
As president of the NACFB it was with great pride that I awarded
Vic, on behalf of the association, the ‘Lifetime Achievement’ award
which I know he was delighted to receive. We didn’t always see eye
to eye but he was always fair and honest in his reporting. I
remember him with fondness.
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High demand, low supply
Moving on to the happy world of broking, as happened last year
at around this time, things are getting pretty busy here.
Underwriting is a little easier but car supply is deteriorating
with most cars falling into February/March or later delivery.
Summing up for the year, it actually hasn’t been as bad as I
expected, but the question is: will things improve in the motor
finance sector, when we start to see economic growth?
Compared with the last recession, when the economy was left to
take its own course, we saw much higher unemployment and many
colleagues lost their brokerage businesses, but we don’t seem to be
seeing this. While many brokers have shed staff and reduced their
overheads not too many have collapsed; we all seem to have been
able to tick over.
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By GlobalDataBut this is all uncharted territory. No one really knows if
things will improve when the inevitable tax increases and interest
rate increases start to kick in, as expected next year, after the
general election.
Hopefully, early into the New Year we will see an end to the
scrappage scheme which will stop customers wandering into dealers
with their kid’s Citroën Saxo to P/X for their new executive car
rather than leave their offspring with a decent runaround while
coming to us for a great, low-rate Mercedes.
The end of scrappage should also free up some cash to enable the
manufacturers to start bunging bonuses into normal cars rather than
the Noddy city cars that have attracted most of the scrappage
cash.
From a broker perspective I hope to see some return of funders.
I have received an unconfirmed report a major lessor is considering
a move back into PCP, but will it be recruiting brokers again? On
the other hand will we see the introduction of new money from China
invested into leasing? The UK was often seen as a stepping-stone
into Europe: will we see this again as China starts to test the
water around the world? We could have an interesting year, made
even more so by the general election.
As for me, well, I am looking forward to Christmas as long as it
stops raining for a few days. Got in a few mince pies, turkey
crown, Christmas pud and a large bottle of Baileys (on special at
Tesco) so I am set for a great few days off work interrupted only
by the odd visit by one of my (probably) drunken sons. Wishing all
of my readers a great festive season and a very successful New
Year.
