All articles by MF Editorial

Advantage Finance profits up 30 per cent in H1

Advantage Finance, a specialist sub-prime motor finance lender, has grown its audited profits for the six months to July 2008 to £1.6m, up 30 per cent compared with the same period in 2007

Remarketing agreements with Manheim extended

Remarketing agreements with Manheim extended GMAC Finance and FCE Bank have extended their agreements with Manheim Auctions The auction company will dispose of vehicles returned to GMAC through early termination, repossession or from PCP customers for three more years from 2009 Manheim will run a dedicated sales programme for GMACs fully reconditioned stock at five of its auction centres Bristol, Birmingham, Glasgow, Rotherham and Wimbledon

Network’s brokers get accreditation

Membership of the association is one of the measures Network, part of LeasePlan, announced to its fleet brokers as part of a programme of changes to the way Network does business, in order to improve standards among its fleet brokers.

Facing a decade of change

Stuart Walker discusses the challenges facing public sector fleets Public sector fleets have hit the headlines in recent years

Alphabet and Alphera temporarily close to new business

BMW Group has “temporarily” ceased new business origination at Alphabet and Alphera, the manufacturer said

Liquidity shortage causes increased caution in car replacements

Tesco staff offered personal leasing pilot with Lombard Vehicle Management

The staff of UK supermarket Tesco have been offered personal car leasing through a tie-up between the supermarket and fleet management and leasing company Lombard Vehicle Management The scheme, accessed through a password-protected website, is separate from Tescos company car scheme for staff, said Tesco spokesman Matthew Dransfield While Tesco employs over 250,000 people in the UK, making it the countrys largest private employer, the number of those eligible for the private leasing scheme was not disclosed.

GMAC Financial Services reports loss of $2.5bn

GMAC Financial Services reports loss of $2.5bn GMAC Financial Services, the automotive, real estate, insurance and commercial business financier, reported a net income loss of $2.5bn for the second quarter of 2008, down $2.7bn from a net income gain of $293m in Q2 2007. GMACs loss was predominantly the result of $716m impairment in vehicle operating lease assets in the automotive finance business, due to declining vehicle sales and lower prices for some used vehicles segments

BCT looks for “quality and volume” from brokers

BCT looks for quality and volume from brokers Non-prime motor finance house British Credit Trust (BCT) has cut its ties with a number of brokers that it deemed underperforming. CEO of BCT, John Sinclair confirmed to Motor Finance that brokers which failed to deliver the volume and the quality of business that the finance house needs have had their relationships with BCT terminated. Sinclair declined to give details of numbers of broker relationships which have been ended for these reasons in recent months, but emphasised that BCT is committed to the UK broker sector, and that the lions share of BCTs brokers are still supporting the business.

Systems upgrade for ALD Automotive

Systems upgrade for ALD Automotive ALD Automotive has announced a series of major upgrades to its fleet administration and customer service IT systems. Its suite of online fleet management applications, formerly known as QuDOS, has had its online ordering process enhanced, and has been rebranded as threesixty, ALD said. The enhancements see the upgrading of functionality to enable changes to fleet policies as well as driver information to be completed online by customers – instead of clients informing ALD Automotive which has then administered the changes