NEWS

LOANS for car buyers are expected to become easier to source in the next year say finance experts. Analysts from Deloitte surveyed UK manufacturers, and reports that 62 percent expect credit availability to remain the same or improve over the next 12 months. This is good news for the UK car industry in general – [...]

GOVERNMENT ministers have laid out new rules in Parliament which give more finance power to consumers. The new rules implement the European Consumer Credit Directive and come into force on 1 February 2011. They are focused on unsecured credit agreements, and new rules include: •    14-day window for consumers to cancel agreements without penalty •    [...]

HPI says its Finance Gateway team are the latest high-flyers to gain SAF approved status from the FLA. The team has been granted the kitemark after completing online assessments. This will further bolster the free service which gives car dealers direct access to competitive finance rates from leading providers. HPI says it’s a continuation of [...]

BMW Group finance division Alphera reports the first 2 months of 2010 have been its strongest ever. Not since it started trading in 2006 has the multi-make retail finance arm seen such levels of business. Director Spencer Halil reports growth figures of 29 percent in January and 26 percent for February – and expects this [...]

VOLKSWAGEN is the latest brand to launch a fixed price service plan to help retain customers in the network. Retail buyers signing up before the end of the year will pay a one-off fee of £250 for the 3 year plan. Impressively, it covers all models, from the Fox city car to the posh Phaeton. [...]

FINANCE car sales continued to grow in January with gains of nearly 25 percent on 2009 figures. This is despite the impact of VAT going back up to 17.5 percent and the effects of continual snowfall. Finance & Leasing Association stats reveal that despite January being a ‘particularly weak month for consumer new car finance [...]

THE Car People is the latest car dealer group to achieve 100 percent completion of the FLA competence test. In gaining Specialist Automotive Finance status, the firm aims to help promote improved professionalism and expertise when selling car finance. The Car People’s finance provider, Black Horse, now aims to push the rest of its 10,000 [...]

FORD Retail has gained SAF Approved status and is now able to display the acclaimed FLA kitemark flag. It is a key achievement for the SAF Approved scheme, as Ford Retail is one of the UK’s biggest car dealer groups. Alan Maloney, head of finance at Ford Retail, said ‘I am delighted that all of our [...]

BRIDFORD Financial Solutions says 2009 was its best year yet with car dealers sourcing a £25m bounty. Funding provided to car dealers and groups was a record for the group, says owner Tim Marlow. It’s also a big increase on lending from the previous year – and that is DESPITE the recession and much-publicised credit [...]

VOLVO will source its wholesale and retail finance from Santander as it transfers from Ford Credit. The tender was awarded late last year and the transfer from Ford Credit is now complete. Why Santander? An ability to provide a range of cost control and competitive finance offers, reckons Volvo. This will be used both across [...]

HPI reports its canny CrushWatch scheme has saved THREE big money supercars from being destroyed! The service spots and reclaims cars seized by the Police because of tax or insurance evasion. 1 in 8 of these cars also has outstanding finance against it – and it’s here where CrushWatch kicks in. It works alongside the [...]

DEALER finance uptake on new cars grew by a record rate in December as the upturn continues. The Finance & Leasing Association reports December’s new car finance uptake was up a massive 91 percent compared with (an admittedly weak) December 2008. Overall volumes for Q4 2009 rose by 56 percent. The biggest growth was in [...]

HPI reports it is helping out troubled car dealers abandoned by automotive finance companies. The firm reveals its pledge as smaller car dealers report growing problems in sourcing finance. ‘A large number of dealers have been left out on a limb as a result of decisions by finance companies to pull out of the market,’ [...]

INFINITI is continuing its UK car dealer launch programme by announcing details of its finance offer. Infiniti Selectiviti is the Japanese brand’s PCP scheme which, it is said, has been geared towards providing good customer service. RCI Financial Services Ltd is financing the scheme, offering an average APR of 11.2 percent. More encouragingly, the firm [...]

MAZDA is set to push out a host of attractive finance schemes as the scrappage scheme comes to an end. Mazda MD Jeremy Thomson told Car Dealer the firm would be having a real push on PCP finance schemes to help keep bringing customers back into showrooms. ‘We’ve got a particular emphasis at the moment [...]

COMPANY car fleets are retaining their cars for longer rather than replacing them with new models. As a consequence, leasing companies have seen medium term lease renewals double in recent times. It is the recession that is causing this trend. Leasing firm Equalease says that leases between 3 and 12 months used to represent less [...]

FINANCE take up by car buyers rocketed 82 percent in November due to the rush to beat VAT rises. The FLA says more than £500,000,000 was loaned as part of motor finance deals! This points to growing consumer confidence says FLA head of research Geraldine Kilkelly – not least because there was also the first [...]

JAGUAR Land Rover has given its finance department a boost with the appointment of a new director. Former Toyota vice president David Betteley has become the firm’s new financial services director. He’s now going to lead Jaguar Land Rover finance services across the glove, reporting to customer service director Mike Wright. ‘Having someone of David’s [...]

FINANCE lending rates continue to rise, says the FLA, but things may be different come 2010, it warns. Last month, new cars bought on finance shot up 18 percent compared with 2008, says the Finance & Leasing Association. A rush of customers eager to take up the final weeks of the reduced VAT rate and [...]

BLACK Horse has successfully put its entire 345-strong motor finance sales team through the SAF test. The recent completion of this means the motor finance market leader will, from January 2010, boast full SAF Approved status. Black Horse field sales teams will thus be able to promote SAF status to car dealers, further helping improve [...]