Research by Startline Motor Finance has revealed consumer perception of the motor finance industry is “better than how it views itself.”
Comparing motor finance to other retail sectors in a store based setting, 39.6% of consumers placed motor finance a long way ahead or slightly ahead of other retail sectors, compared to 26.3% of dealers.
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Only 23.8% of consumers believed motor finance was slightly ahead or a long way behind other retail sectors compared to 31.6% of dealers, while 42.1% of dealers ad 36% of consumers said it was around the same.
For online retail, 36.8% of consumers said motor finance was a long way ahead or slightly ahead of other retail sectors compared to 24.6% of dealers.
The survey also showed 30.3% of consumers believed motor finance was slightly or a long way behind other retail sectors compared to 45.6% of dealers online, with 29.8% of dealers and 32.9% of consumers rating it around the same.
Paul Burgess, chief executive at Startline said: “The motor finance industry tends to give itself quite a hard time about its reputation but these figures show that consumers view it significantly better than how it views itself. Whether looking at store-based or online retail environments, it ranks very competitively against sectors that would generally be perceived as being much more customer-focused.
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By GlobalData“While there is clearly still work to do to drive forward standards still further, this is very much welcome news for our sector,” he added.
He also said that moves in recent years to improve levels of compliance in motor finance and create an ethos based around meeting consumer needs could have had an impact.
“It’s because of the media coverage around this issue that motor finance tends to be wary of how it is perceived but, conversely, maybe the regulation which is now being enforced is helping to create a better environment for consumers,” he concluded.
The sectors against which motor finance was measured in the survey included food, clothes, consumer technology, travel and financial services.
Startline’s report surveyed 57 dealer businesses including franchise groups, independents, car supermarkets and online specialist brokers.
Consumer research covered 300 people who were planning on buying a used car.
