Press Release

GOOD START BUT MORE WORK NEEDED

13 November 2006

This was the message to dealers and finance companies from the FLA’s motor finance convention. The conference was the second one run by FLA this year in view of the importance of reversing the decline in point of sale finance over recent years.

And the message was consistent from all the morning’s speakers, including the conference’s chairman, Peter Cottle of Capital Bank: finance needs to be offered to all customers, it needs to be offered earlier and it needs to be offered better.

FLA launched a website at the conference – www.FinancingYourCar.org.uk – which was designed to give customers the knowledge they need to make an informed choice about how to finance their car, with the aim of countering stories of forecourt finance being a bad deal by impartially explaining the pros and cons of all forms of financing a car.

Mark Standish from Carlyle Finance opened the conference with a message that the consumer, and the dealer, need to be at the centre of what the finance companies are doing. Dealers and finance companies need to develop customer loyalty and they need to do that by providing a competitive price for finance, and by providing a good follow-up customer service.

The conference was allowed to go interactive, as White Clarke Group sponsored a communicator, allowing speakers to ask questions about delegates’ perceptions of issues in the finance industry. The communicators were also used to give feedback about the speakers and the convention itself.

Niall Campbell from IMI emphasised the importance of investing in the motor finance industry’s greatest asset: staff. He informed delegates about IMI’s accreditation scheme, and also the FLA’s e-testing and certification to assess and improve the professionalism of individuals selling financial products across the industry.

Louise Wallis from RMIF assessed the problems facing dealers in the car sales market and highlighted the opportunities available to dealers and finance providers in F&I. The message was the same: finance needs to be offered to all customers, and margins need to be improved for the dealers and the point of sale industry to reverse the decline.

The convention’s keynote speaker, Quentin Willson, echoed these messages. He expressed disappointment that there were few dealers attending the conference, suggesting that there was an apathetic element in dealerships toward the point of sale finance decline. But he endorsed the efforts made by the industry to regain some public confidence through training, codes of conduct and information services like the website. He acknowledged that a 30 year decline in forecourt finance would not be turned around in a year, but praised the industry for recognising the problem and taking steps to try and resolve it.

Putting aside the point of sale issue for the remainder of the conference, Mark Cowling, operations director at CAP, marked out trends and possible future trends in the car market. Production is moving to India and China, and the market is moving toward cars powered by alternative fuels as oil gets ever more expensive.

The DVLA continued to ring the changes with their efforts to move away from being a paper based organisation into one that is at the forefront of technology. Also of importance to the DVLA is striking a balance between requests from Government, Police and other bodies for information on drivers and the requirements of the Data Protection Act.

The final presentation was from DC Alan Johnstone of the Metropolitan Police. He is a financial investigator on Operation Trident, which was set up to tackle gun crime in London’s black communities. Behind an often irreverent take on the daily issues he faces, there was a serious message about how important motor finance and other crimes can be in catching the suspects.

The convention closed with a drinks reception sponsored by APAK Group.

The Convention was held at the National Motorcycle Museum, Birmingham. It was sponsored by Experian, HPI, Trader Data Systems, APAK Group, CHP Consulting and White Clarke Group, and held in association with the Retail Motor Industry Federation and Motor Trader.