Happy September, everybody, hope the new-plate registrations have seen you well. I’ve got a number of points to rattle through this month, in no particular order.
The year is closing and once more we’re running our poll to find the 50 most influential individuals in the UK car finance industry.
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Reminders will be published on motorfinanceonline.com but get thinking about independents, captives, brokers, regulators and anybody else who influences what you do in business. Beneath which desk does the fulcrum of power lie in this industry?
Once again, please, if you can think of 10 people who should be in the mix, let me know, preferably by email (above, or find the Motor Finance group on LinkedIn). Again, if you’d like to put them in a specific order, tell me. You’re free to nominate yourself or colleagues, and if you’d like to add a non-anonymous comment about an individual, please do so.
So, get voting or don’t complain to me when you disagree with the way the table works out. (And don’t vote for me.)
Yet another international motor show, yet again witnessed from the comfort of my desk through the joy of email updates.
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By GlobalDataHowever, I’ve had chats at the start of the month with some of you who made it to Frankfurt. What surprised me, beyond the legwork to cover as large a space as the show takes up compared to Geneva, is how much effort representatives of manufacturers must put into the shows, serving both the press (not me) and their masters from global headquarters, with interviews, conferences, presentations and meeting the right people.
A couple of months ago in this column I wrote about the camaraderie among senior lenders, captive and independent, when I would assume their equivalents from the brands and banks would be far less friendly. Not at all, I’ve been told, and not among the sheer labour of Frankfurt; they simply don’t have time to talk to each other.
Finally, one story which caught my interest this month was the announcement Mercedes-Benz Financial Services would be offering finance on the brand’s latest electric motor/pedal hybrid bicycle.
As regular readers may remember, I interviewed Midlands-based lender Moneyway in the spring of 2012 which led to George Miller and I discussing bikes, (we’re both keen riders) and their finance.
Since then, Moneyway’s book has grown enough to support a business split between retail, which Miller heads up, and strictly motor, led by Andy McMorine.
Many lenders don’t have the background or will to penetrate non-motor retail finance, or a history with the Association of Cycle Traders (which Moneyway holds), but figures from peer-to-peer lenders suggest half the books of retail finance providers aren’t filled with car loans.
I couldn’t help thinking of car brands’ merchandising. Pop into a franchised showroom, a big one in the centre of town, and assess how much space is given to umbrellas, golfing attire, watches, gym wear or aftershave with a brand logo on it. All of which all has the potential to be expensive. Ask anybody with a good physique who golfs a lot and smells nice.
So of the representative handful of captive finance providers I contacted, not one has any intention of offering finance on anything but the car, even those I know have some lovely, high-end running garments my wife’s been asking for.
Some captives may offer unsecured loans, but branded beach towels and glossy coffee table books of the history of a manufacturer are marketed as "lifestyle products," I was told, and there simply isn’t the demand to finance them.
For now, captives may hope customers are spending their loans in the gift shop, but half the retail market is out there, maybe looking at branded racing gloves and cycle helmets.
richard.brown@timetric.com
