All articles by Richard Irvine-Brown
Richard Irvine-Brown
Fleet Friday: Leasedrive, TomTom and PostNord
A weekly roundup of fleet news from around the UK and Europe Independent UK fleet lessor Leasedrive has renewed its contract to provide fleet management services for Capgemini.
Crushwatch enquiries and hits up, worth £2.92m
The number of enquiries made to the FLA Vehicle Recovery Scheme, the number of resulting hits, and the value of recovered vehicles were all up in January, according to Februarys reporting period. Enquiries to the scheme numbered 5,457, up 17.6% on the 4,504 enquiries in December and exceeding the 4,943 enquiries made in November, according to reporting periods for January and December respectively.
Industry discusses used car pricing as CAP warns of margin squeeze
Used car valuation specialist CAP says a tougher market and expanding costs are increasing the risk of business failure for second-hand motor dealers currently employing a strategy of competitive pricing. According to CAP, publishers of the Black Book of second hand vehicle information, the price of used stock is rising, putting pressure on dealers margins from February onward. Meanwhile, at a recent roundtable hosted by Motor Finance and to be summarised in Februarys issue of the magazine, finance brokers, lenders and dealers instead advised those in the used car market to concentrate on good purchasing, rather than pricing.
Yamaha ‘stimulates’ bike sales with Black Horse
Japanese manufacturer Yamaha is offering a 9.7% representative APR finance deal on motorcycles of 126cc and above following negotiations with Black Horse. The deal is one of several available through Lloyds Banking Groups motor finance division, which provides all finance to Yamaha Motor (UK) and is available over 36 or 48 months with a deposit of £99
Fiat Chrysler liquidity ‘above’ target
Fiat Chrysler reduced industrial debt to 5.5bn (£4.bn) while total available liquidity was well above target at 20.7bn (£17.1bn), according to the manufacturing groups global results for 2011.
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Motor retail round-up
Both Mitsubishi and Renault made big gains in the latest quarterly edition of credit checker Experians Hitwise UK Automotive Brand Index, measuring the market share of brands people were looking for using online search engines. The top four brands that people searched for online remained unchanged Ford, Vauxhall, BMW, Audi and accounted for 39.89% of searches by marque name
January new car sales marginally up – SMMT
A total of 128,853 new cars were sold in January 2012, 42 more than the same month last year, a slight increase of 0.03%, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). Vauxhall sales were down 20.91% compared to January 2011 to 12,110 sales, as the manufacturer lost ground to its rival for the biggest-selling marque in the UK, Ford, which posted sales of 20,061, 2.06% up on last years figure. Vauxhalls market share of 9.4% for January 2012 was down on both January 2011 (11.89%) and 2011 overall (12.09%) while Fords market share of 15.57% was above January 2011 (15.26%) and the previous 12-month average (13.7%).
Marsh backs ambition with running total deals
Car finance provider Marsh Finance has taken the bold move against the smoke and mirrors of the sector by keeping a public running total of the amount of business the company has underwritten for the year-to-date on its new-look website.
Manheim – fleet-to-auction shift, ages increase
Vehicle remarketer Manheim has reported an increase in ex-fleet superminis and small hatchbacks at auction at the cost of large family and compact executive cars. Meanwhile, the average age of cars coming to dealers in part-exchange deals has risen by four months since last year while the average value has dropped, according to the auctioneer. The number of small hatchbacks or superminis coming to auction from the fleet sector increased 5% last month compared to January 2011, 22% of the total number of vehicles
SsangYong to expand, GMAC to provide finance
A spokesperson for GMAC said the deal (of undisclosed length) was another step in expanding the customer base of the company, which currently provides finance for Vauxhall, one of the biggest brands in the UK. While Vauxhall recorded the best part of a quarter-million new car registrations in 2011 despite the 4.4% drop in the UK market, SsangYong sold 436 new cars in the last two years.