All articles by Fred Crawley
Fred Crawley
Dear diary: Chinese move, VWFS climbs
It has been a bit of a see-saw month for troubled Swedish car maker Saab as Chinas auto manufacturers um-ed and ahh-ed about investing in the marque. First to play their hand was the independent Hawtai Motor Group which announced in early May that it was shelling out 150m (£130m) to save Saab from collapse in return for a 30% stake in Spyker, the brands owner.
Truly special
Consumer finance house Southern Finance has found a real niche in the market The term niche business gets used a lot in the motor finance industry, but few companies fit the description so well as Southern Finance.
HPI Crushwatch
Recovery update:Total HPI CrushWatch Enquiries 4,688Total Finance Hits 431Value of Finance Hits £2,504,195 HPI Crushwatch is an online service aimed at helping lenders reclaim vehicles with outstanding finance before they get crushed
Shoosmiths launches full service collections product
After running a full service collections service for a key client over the last two years, national law firm Shoosmiths is to offer a Portfolio Management product to the wider motor finance market Shoosmiths is not the first organisation to offer integrated legal and collections services Warwickshire-based solicitors firm Wright Hassall recently began offering its services as a Debt Collection Agency, while DCAs such as Close Credit Management have been developing their legal offering in recent months.
Prices rise across dealer finance sector
May has seen a new benchmark set for pricing in retail motor finance, with dealers across the UK reporting consumer rates up in the region of 0.5% APR While some retailers report that Carlyle Finance was the first to raise prices, the move became more universal when market leader Black Horse Motor Finance increased rates by an average of 0.25 flat (0.45% APR) on 9 May. Many of the non-captive lenders are now understood to have followed suit, although not all have raised prices universally Santander Consumer Finance, for example, is thought to have assessed pricing on a dealer-by-dealer basis.
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Disappointing April for Europe
The UKs new car market fell 7.4% year-on-year in April, outpacing the 3.1% rate of decline in the total European market, according to latest statistics from information provider JATO. Of the big five European markets, only Germany saw an increase in sales in April, up 2.6%, while France, Great Britain, Italy and Spain all experienced decreases, down 11.1%, 7.4%, 2.3% and 23.6% respectively. German brands also saw a continuation of their recent success, with sales of BMW, Audi and Volkswagen all recording positive growth year-to-date, up 3.6%, 3.7%, and 5.1% respectively
Retail finance brokers still need a trade body
Asset and motor finance industry bodies do not currently provide a suitable home for consumer finance brokers, said delegates attending a round table discussion hosted by Motor Finance and Frontline Solutions this month The Finance and Leasing Association, BVRLA and NACFB are all well suited to companies in the fleet sector, but are not real options for consumer motor finance brokers, the attendees argued. Richard Hoggart, managing director of DSG Financial Services, says there is a huge gulf between fleet leasing brokers and retail finance brokers which needs to be recognised by the bodies.
Saab RV uplift as Chinese rescue raises hopes
A cash injection from a Chinese benefactor has solidified the reversal of fortune experienced by Swedish brand Saab, boosting analysts expectations of the troubled carmakers residual values in years to come The independent Hawtai Motor Group has provided funding worth 150m (£134m) to save Saab from collapse, receiving in return a 30 percent stake in Spyker, the brands owner Spyker bought Saab out of liquidation from General Motors in January 2010, but has had severe cashflow problems with the brand ever since most recently evident in the halt in production of Saab vehicles that began on 6 April.
BMW finance boom in record quarter
BMW Group has reported a net profit of 1.2 bn euros (£1.01bn) for the first quarter of 2011, up 270% on last years first quarter total of 324m (£290m). The result comes on the back of the carmakers greatest ever Q1 sales performance, with sales of BMW, Rolls-Royce and MINI vehicles up by 21.3% on the period a year before to a total of 382,758 units
CDL: Japan aftershocks to affect market into Q2
VIPDATA, the valuations arm of vehicle information provider CDL, says that despite a strong first quarter for the car retail business, the market has been affected by its traditional April slump Consultant Diane Williams commented: many dealer groups were overstocked with used cars at the end of March, as were the auction halls, and clearly this stock needs to be sold before trade activity can pick up again. Williams added that Marchs disaster in Japan continued to affect the retail environment, with manufacturer reliance on sole suppliers of everything from electronic components to paint ingredients restricting the availability of vehicles to consumers