BVRLA Leasing Broker Committee member, Paul Parkinson, took part on a panel of guest speakers for the latest BVRLA Industry Outlook Webinar (17 September 2020).
Hosted by the BVRLA’s director of corporate affairs, Toby Poston, other panel participants included Miguel Cabaca (Arval UK), Ed Hummel (Autotrader) and Margaret Speirs (Arnold Clark Car & Van Rental).
Parkinson, the CEO and founder of Synergy Car Leasing, explained how the broking sector was performing, saying:
“Trajectory in the leasing broker sector has been positive over the last three years and right now in the Synergy office we are fully operational with 50 people back in the office and our website traffic is up 45% year-on-year.”
I believe that propensity to acquire high value items online has moved two years forward in the space of the COVID period.
Paul Parkinson, CEO and founder, Synergy Car Leasing
However, he did say there were issues facing brokers, primarily over vehicle supply and customer underwriting acceptance.
“We’re not alone in having issues with car deliveries at the moment. COVID-19 and its after-effects are still creating issues with vehicle supply and vehicle delivery which is causing customer issues.
“The other area is in getting businesses over the line with the funders. Companies still require vehicles despite COVID even though their financial position has suffered as a result of the pandemic, but the information required to fulfill acceptance has sometimes been very difficult with funders across the board.”
Meanwhile business around salary sacrifice was surging ahead as companies began to realise the benefits of zero emission vehicles, but added that personal EV leasing was behind “where we expect it to be”.
Parkinson added that compliance was an ever-present, but thought that brokers were at the leading edge. “I think the sector actually has very high standards already but we can always get better,” he said.
Ralph Morton is the leading journalist in the leasing broker sector and editor of Broker News, the website which provides information and news for BVRLA-registered leasing brokers. He also writes extensively on the fleet and leasing market in both the UK and Europe.
