A tightening in
lending criteria by
UK
car dealers, driven by the
credit crunch, could provide
dealers with increased opportunities to sell their own in-house
finance products, a leading
breakdown provider has claimed.
RAC Warranty, which has teamed up with The
Warranty Group to provide
financial services, said that tighter economic conditions have
already led to improved penetration of warranty products and that a
similar effect could occur in relation to used
car finance .
Ian Simpson, RAC Warranty sales and
marketing director, commented: Dealers have had a tougher
time selling their own finance products in recent years because the
High Street
lenders have provided extremely cheap
loans to
used car buyers.
However, that is beginning to change.
Dealer finance packages are not only looking more attractive
from a competitive point of view but the convenience and face to
face nature of dealer-based lending could easily gain
customers.
Simpson suggested that
used car dealers had started to realise the benefits of selling
a range of
financial products in a structured approach, a factor which had
been neglected in recent years.
Although used
car sales themselves have fallen, the penetration of
warranties and other types of
insurance have started to rise, he added. There is
every reason to expect that a concerted approach to selling dealer
finance could bring similar results.
