6:26 pm, October 12, 2022
Good rates and great service can be the difference between deal and no deal – but no matter how prestigious the car, a good deal on finance is still crucial.
Our winner this year, Close Brothers, is a true partner for its dealers and the praise it receives shows they make a real difference to doing a deal.
The FTSE250 company employs more than 3,700 people and has a strong focus on providing straightforward products and services; maintaining a prudent approach and strong financial position and building lasting relationships.
The firm has certainly managed to do that this year and scooped our prize for the fourth year in a row.
We caught up with managing director Sean Kemple to discuss the latest award.
He told Car Dealer: ‘I am absolutely over the moon, particularly when we think this is our fourth year in a row that we’ve won provider of the year.
‘We placed a lot of effort in our transformation programme which resulted in a stronger proposition for our data partners, and really around insight and digital capability. Winning an award for that is just absolutely fantastic.
‘I had been saying internally, “I’m not so sure we’ll win this four years in a row” but of course we did and I’m absolutely delighted.’
He added: ‘It’s huge for us, right and it’s because of our feedback from dealers. We massively pride ourselves on how we work with our dealer partners.
‘We like to get to know their business, understand their business and work for our dealers, we don’t just look at ourselves. As a finance provider, we look at ourselves as a partner in the truest sense.
‘We both benefit from each other and where we can support our dealers, particularly our independent dealers, is a big bonus for us.’
As for the future, Kemple says the cost of living crisis is likely to impact the finance market and warned that there could be some ‘turbulent’ months ahead.
He said: ‘We’re seeing a cost of living crisis. We saw the mini budget that came in last week to hopefully support with that but let’s see how far it actually goes into consumers, and our type of consumers.
‘We’re seeing staff shortages across dealerships, low unemployment rates, high demand for skilled individuals and a cost of living crisis coming through. We’re seeing change, and obviously, fuel types and regulation are coming through as well so it’s going to be a turbulent next few months.’
- W: closemotorfinance.co.uk
- T: 0333 321 6060
- E: [email protected]
