- Former LeasePlan director Tim Hudson leads buyout of Ian Hare’s Clear Vehicle Data business
- Launches new broker image service provision for both cars and vans
- Works via API, no code required
- Vehicles displayed on white background
- Cost effective pricing
- WebP searchable images to be added late February
IAN Hare’s Clear Vehicle Data business will be acquired by Automotive Software Solutions.
Led by Tim Hudson (below), a former director of LeasePlan and Manheim, Automotive Software Solutions has been investing in the business prior to the takeover and has now launched an image delivery service to brokers that’s agnostic to coding.
The easy-to-implement Clear Vehicle Data images product offers brokers a fixed monthly price with no transaction costs. More than 50 brokers have signed up for the service in the last three months, the company added.
Commenting on the sale of his business, Ian Hare said:
“I am pleased to be handing over to Tim and the team following our most successful year on record in 2023. It has been an enjoyable journey over the last 11 years working closely with our principal data partner, Solifi, while developing data products and creating market niches for those products and services.”
“This is a natural evolution for us that will see further significant investment in products and services. The development of the Clear Vehicle Data Images product is a great example of the power of both Clear Vehicle Data and Automotive Software Solutions working together to deliver a product that responds to customer needs.”
Roll out of the service is being spearheaded by Graham Prince (pictured right), who sold his Neva Vehicle Solutions brokerage to Fleet Alliance back in 2017.
“We’re launching a new website which will clearly display what is on offer but will also provide a members’ side to deliver FAQs, live chat support as well as system alerts,” said Graham.
“Later in February we will be launching the option of WebP searchable images to brokers. These can be optimised for search in a way jpegs cannot, and can be resized without quality degradation,” he added.
“It is great to be working with many former colleagues and competitors. The CVD business is well positioned to expand its footprint in the broker sector. The work that we have been doing with our Images product is a great example of our ambition to deliver solutions that meet the constantly changing needs of the sector.”
Automotive Software Solutions says it is developing further products for the Clear Vehicle Data brand which will be rolled out later in Q2.
These include a broker-focused fleet management proposition plus a TCO tool that can compare multiple vehicles.
To contact Clear Vehicle Data, visit the company’s website at https://clearvehicledata.com/
Ian Hare to become a non-executive director of Clear Vehicle Data
Clear Vehicle Data was formed in 2013 by Ian Hare (pictured right) to provide vehicle data, images and applications to the automotive ecosystem. A highly successful senior automotive executive, Ian has worked in automotive pr, run dealer based contract hire businesses, and successfully sold an accident management company. More recently he sold a majority stake in the business to Automotive Software Solutions in 2020 to further develop the vehicle image and whole life cost services it provided to leasing companies, brokers, main dealers and fleet managers. He now takes a non-exec role to provide ongoing support to Tim Hudson.
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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.
