Business brisk says finance boss

Face-to-face meetings with dealers are set to remain key for finance companies, despite a growing push for businesses to digitise their operations because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Geoff Sinclair, a director of Autobridge and Blackbird Finance, says the nature of their work is “customer-centric” and being able to talk with clients in person is essential.

He explains that while looking at new technologies is important, he does not see the current model of how they arrange finance for vehicles with dealers changing in the near future.

“We are very much IT-driven and it’s a critical part of our business, but our focus for the foreseeable future is making sure we get alongside our customers to understand their requirements so we’re in a better position to work with them,” Sinclair, pictured, says.

“Our business is very customer-centric. A big part of what we do with lending decisions is based on assessing who we are lending money to, whether that be businesses or individuals who run that business. To do that well, we think that still requires a lot of face-to-face contact where possible.

“We only do business with motor-vehicle traders but we recognise the approach for companies providing loans to car-buying members of the public may now be different and more is done digitally. Our potential market is much smaller and that affords us the ability to spend time and be more customer-centric and build relationships.”

Sinclair adds that business has been brisker than expected for the industry since the country moved to Covid-19 alert level two at 11.59pm on May 13. However, he cautions while that activity is welcome it remains to be seen if it can be sustained long term.

“We have seen some volume of sales above what we anticipated,” he told Autofile Online. “The question for us is whether this is sustainable – whether it’s pent-up demand or if we’re getting back to business as usual.

“Generally, existing workflows are not quite at pre-Covid levels but are better than expected. The big question is how long that will continue for, and if we see a decline, what the rate of decline is.

“We’re also waiting to see what happens in the coming months when the volumes of imported cars coming through looks set to drop. We don’t think we will know what the ‘new normal’ is until June or July when wage subsidies come to an end.”

Supporting customers

Sinclair says Autobridge and Blackbird Finance have been working through the pandemic to help support existing customers to get through any difficulties. He suggests the lockdown and disruption to business has also allowed many dealers to put greater scrutiny on their finances, which may leave them in better shape when the market does recover.

“Trade has restarted with a bit more vigour than we anticipated, but it’s often on the way back out of these scenarios that people start running into trouble – when you are trying to restart a business after stopping, it can often come down to how much gas is in the tank.

“If people can spend time and get everything in order, run a tight ship and have good cost structures, then those dealers will come out of this the other side in a better shape and able to take advantage of the upswing.

“We have got a lot of vehicles already funded on dealers’ yards and our focus has been on those traders and supporting them in different ways.

“While we’re always happy to talk to anyone new about coming on-board, it’s difficult to know if now’s a good time to buy vehicles that require additional finance. We want to ensure anyone we bring on is for the right reasons and provides value to our business – and that we provide value to their business.”