Remarketing giant BCA expects to boost the number of vehicles bought through its sales by more than 60,000 vehicles by the end of 2015 thanks to the dealer funding system it launched in pilot form last year.
BCA’s UK managing director Spencer Lock said the pilot had been more successful than expected and was now being rolled out nationally.
The scheme, called Partner Finance Service, is aimed at independent car dealers who buy at BCA auctions and want to grow their business with access to simple vehicle funding.
While Lock stopped short of giving the number of retailers either involved in the pilot or who are expected to use the scheme this year, he did say he was confident of hitting a target of an incremental 10% of sales by the end of 2015. Last year BCA sold just over 600,000 vehicles.
Lock said: “We’re helping fleets because we’re expanding the market.”
He added that those using the new scheme are typically buying cars priced in the fleet disposal heartland: “We predicted buyers would be spending £6250 on average per vehicle, however it’s working out at £8000.”
The Partner Finance Service is aimed at smaller, independent car dealers who need a simple, hassle-free way of increasing their stock because they don’t have the time or staff to deal with more complex finance schemes.
BCA’s scheme funds 100% of the purchase price, plus auction fees, on vehicles bought through BCA. Bank finance schemes typically fund up to 85% of a vehicle’s value.
Lock added: “This service will allow them to purchase more and therefore sell more vehicles. This is incremental finance, we’re not replacing anyone.
“Of course, there is a commercial return for BCA, but we are helping people grow their business. It has been a vendors’ market so we’re helping the buyers.
“These are businesses we’ve known for a long time so we can credit-score them and know they are good for the money.”
As part of the national roll-out of the scheme, BCA is recruiting a five-strong field-force to help customers grow their businesses by “showing them how to stock more, sell more and make more money”.
Lock said dealers using the funding service are showing a stronger affiliation for online buying than the market average, with 30% of purchases through the scheme being made online against an overall average for BCA of 22% of sales being carried out online.
