F&I Management & Training

Car dealers are increasingly moving to boost business by taking control of their finance operations.
With margins under pressure in the new and used car sales markets some dealers have opted to shift focus into the fleet broker sector rather than outsourcing the work to third parties.Fish Brothers, which has 12 franchises in the Swindon area, is one group to have taken contract hire and leasing arrangements in house. It set up a new division, FB Contracts, in late 2006, which then entered into a partnership with Network Vehicles, part of the LeasePlan Group.

Boosting the bottom line
Simon Bradbury, sales manager of FB Contracts, said: “We realised the opportunity was there. If brokers could do it by themselves what was stopping us from setting up our own finance arm and acting as a broker directly to our customers?”Bradbury said the wealth of contacts built up through the group's dealerships had helped in establishing the broker business.“A key advantage to dealers entering this market is the resources they have already built up,” he said.


DATED: 20.08.07

FEED: MT