The Audi RS5 is a fast, performance-focused Audi. In this episode, they’re talking about a new version that uses a hybrid system, which makes it heavier and changes how it sounds and drives compared with older RS models.
A “hybrid” performance car uses both a gasoline engine and an electric motor. Because of the extra system, it can feel different—heavier and with different sounds and driving behavior.
The Audi RS e-tron GT is an electric car that’s built for performance. It’s a sedan, but it uses a battery and electric motor instead of gasoline. The podcast is mentioning it as an unusual take on a performance model.
The Audi RS6 is a very fast, performance-focused Audi. Here it’s mentioned mainly as a comparison for weight—basically, the new RS5 feels about as heavy as an older RS6.
The Audi RS4 is a performance Audi in the RS lineup. In this segment it’s mentioned as part of the host’s experience with Audi RS cars, not as the main topic.
The Range Rover is a large, luxury SUV made by Land Rover. It’s designed to feel comfortable inside while still being able to handle rough roads. People talk about it a lot because it’s a top model and the lineup can be confusing.
A “hybrid performance supercar” is a very fast, high-end sports car that uses both a gas engine and an electric motor. The electric part helps the car feel quicker and punchier.
NDAs are legal agreements that stop people from sharing secrets. The host is saying Audi made a lot of people sign NDAs so the car stayed under wraps until the announcement.
Monaco is where the Grand Prix is held. The host is saying the car was announced and shown around that weekend, when lots of people and cameras are focused on the event.
An embargo is a rule that says you can’t share certain information yet. In this case, it stops reviewers from posting their impressions until the allowed time.
The Renault 4 is an older Renault model that’s famous for being simple and practical. The host is using it as a comparison to explain what the newer car reminds them of.
The Renault Wind is a small car that’s designed to feel like a convertible. It’s meant to give you an open-air driving experience without being a huge vehicle. The podcast is comparing it to another older Renault model in a joking way.
The Tesla Model X is an electric SUV with extra space for passengers and cargo. It’s known for its unusual rear doors that open upward. In the podcast, it sounds like the dealer is trying to sell a lot of them at once.
Term
volume type deal
A “volume type deal” is a commercial arrangement where pricing and terms are structured around selling (or supplying) large quantities. The speaker is describing how brokers/leasing partners can get better economics when the OEM expects high throughput.
OEM is the car maker itself—the company that actually produces the vehicles. The point here is that the car maker can offer special deals to sell more cars.
In this context, “rentals” refers to the monthly payments for leasing—how much you pay each month to use a car under a lease agreement. The speaker ties it to the deals OEMs create to make those monthly lease costs look very attractive.
Competition law is the set of rules that stops companies from unfairly teaming up to control prices or markets. The speaker is saying they have to be careful about what they discuss or agree on.
Chery/Cherry is a Chinese car brand that’s been showing up more in the UK. The point being made is that Chinese brands are using big promotions to sell more cars.
D9 is mentioned as something connected to fast charging and a charging network. The podcast is talking about it as part of efforts to make charging quicker and easier. The exact vehicle details aren’t clear from the snippet, but the focus is charging capability.
It’s a network of public EV chargers that can charge your car faster than a regular charger. It matters because it makes road trips and daily driving easier if you can’t charge at home.
Charging infrastructure is basically where you can plug in to charge your EV. It matters because it affects whether charging is easy in real life, not just on paper.
The BYD Seal is an electric car made by BYD. The podcast is saying that when you sit in it, it feels well-made and high quality. It’s being mentioned as a strong option because of that overall experience.
Mercedes-Benz is a luxury car brand. They’re using it as an example of a brand that you wouldn’t expect to share a dealership site with others—showing how dealer setups are changing.
This sounds like the host is talking about Stellantis, a big car company that owns multiple European brands. They’re mentioned in the context of how European makers are reacting to cheaper Chinese EVs.
A “volume franchise” is basically the mainstream way a car brand sells lots of cars through its dealer network. The host is saying some brands pulled back from that and leaned more into higher-end, more expensive cars.
“Prestige world” means the luxury, higher-end part of the market—more expensive cars aimed at buyers who want a premium badge. The host is using it to describe a strategy change by Mercedes.
The host means cars from Chinese manufacturers. They’re talking about whether shoppers will choose those brands if they can get a German brand for about the same price.
Brand
VW
VW (Volkswagen) is a major German car brand. The host mentions it alongside Audi to talk about whether people would choose a German car instead of a Chinese one if the price is close.
“Born” is mentioned as one of the cars that made it into a top 10 list. The podcast is treating it as a standout option compared with other models mentioned. The snippet doesn’t give details about what it is beyond that ranking.
They’re talking about used EV prices rising sharply. In other words, the cars were worth a lot more than expected, and then later their prices fell again.
The Nissan Leaf is a widely sold electric car. The host is describing how they paid a lot for a used Leaf in 2021, then watched the price fall later—showing how EV used prices can change fast.
“24 kilowatt hour” refers to the battery capacity of the EV—how much electrical energy the car can store. Smaller batteries generally mean less range, but in used markets they can also be priced very differently as demand and technology expectations change.
They mean EV prices fell quickly. The host suggests it happened because more EVs were coming onto the used market and because Tesla cut prices, which pulled other EV prices down too.
Leased cars are rented for a set time, and then they get returned. If lots of them come back together, there are more used cars for sale, which can push prices down.
The Tesla Model Y is an electric SUV, meaning it uses a battery and an electric motor. It’s similar in concept to the Model 3 but with more room and a more upright driving position. People often talk about it together with the Model 3 because they’re both popular Tesla models.
Electric vehicles are cars that run on electricity stored in a battery. The host is talking about more EVs becoming affordable, which helps more people consider buying one.
P11D is a UK paperwork system for reporting the value of company benefits, including company cars. If your employer gives you an electric car, the way that value is reported can change how much tax you personally pay.
Used contract hire is when you take over an existing lease deal instead of signing a new one. The idea is to save money, but it may not be worth it if new leases are priced close to the same level.
Concept
EVs have gone up
They’re discussing how EV prices are changing over time. The point is that some news headlines can sound dramatic, but the actual monthly change might be small.
Record tampering means someone illegally changes official car paperwork. If the accident or ownership records are altered, a car that should be flagged as a write-off can end up being sold like it’s fine.
The DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency) is the UK government body that maintains vehicle registration and licensing records. Because it’s the source of “official” vehicle data, DVLA-related tampering can directly affect what buyers believe about a car’s history.
“Keeper histories” are basically the official record of who a car has been registered to. If those records are deleted, it can make the car look like it has a normal past when it may not.
The Ferrari 458 Italia is a famous Ferrari supercar. Here, it matters because the paperwork that should show it was written off was allegedly removed, so someone could buy it thinking it’s normal when it may actually be a total-loss car.
The Ferrari FF is a very expensive, high-performance sports car made by Ferrari. It’s designed to be fast and capable, including having all-wheel drive for better grip. The podcast is pointing out that a damaged or written-off car can be very different from one that hasn’t been wrecked.
Concept
kicking the can down the alley
It means “putting off the problem.” Instead of dealing with it properly, someone delays it and hopes it goes away or gets handled later.
“Dieselgate” is a famous car scandal where a company was caught cheating emissions tests. People use the term when they think another big “they’re not being honest” scandal is coming.
It means the dealer has to make sure the finance deal makes sense for you and that you can actually afford the payments. The idea is to prevent people being sold deals they can’t handle.
“T’s and C’s” means the legal contract rules and fine print. The point here is that the important details were explained clearly, not hidden in the small print.
The Ford Fiesta is a popular small car from Ford. Here it’s mentioned as an example of a car that could be leased cheaply, and some people wrongly assumed leasing means you own it after the payments end.
A purchase agreement is the paperwork that makes you the owner of the car. The speaker is saying this wasn’t that kind of contract—so the customer wouldn’t own the vehicle after paying.
LIVE
The Cardiola podcast is sponsored by AutoTrader.
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slash partners slash retailer.
Welcome back to the Cardiola podcast, where we pick our favorite stories of the week
and ask an industry guest to choose which were the best.
I'm John Ray, and joining me this week, back from schmoozing his way around the tax haven,
is James Bagger.
James, how are you?
Didn't feel comfortable there, John, if I'm honest.
It was a very nice to see you.
You're referring, of course, to my trip to Monaco last week, aren't you?
Which was important car launch activity.
Nothing to do with the fact that the Formula One was on.
And there was a very nice corporate hospitality ticket.
I was actually there to test drive the new Audi RS5.
So yeah, do an important work, John.
Okay, and how was it?
Or can you not tell me yet?
I can't remember.
No, actually, no, no.
The RS5 was, I would say, interesting because it's the first time they've done a hybrid RS model,
which was a little strange, if I'm honest.
I'm a big fan of Audi RS products, as you know, driven Audi RS6, RS4,
for quite a few months, quite a couple of years back.
And I love those cars.
This time it was a hybrid, which felt very different.
Obviously a lot heavier than the cars of the past.
The RS5 is about the same weight as the old RS6.
So it's quite a heavy lump.
But very, very quick.
Just you have to get used to sort of different sounds and different feelings
and just the way that the gearbox works.
It's a whole new world, isn't it?
That we've probably got to look forward to, these hybrid performance cars.
So yeah, very, very interesting.
And we also saw while we were out there, the new Velary.
Did you hear about that, the new Velary?
Is that how you say it?
It is, yes.
Well, how do you think you say it?
Well, no, new Velary, I don't know.
It's just when you say it, it sounds like you're saying a new small Range Rover.
The new Velary, yeah, that's it.
Yeah, the new Velary was very interesting.
This is their one of footwell, limited to 499 hybrid performance supercar.
Basically, it's a Lamborghini dressed up as an Audi.
I do think proportionally it looks a bit Lamborghini.
Yes, it is, yes.
But it's the fastest Audi ever made.
It was announced on the Thursday before the Grand Prix.
And nobody actually knew about it.
There was lots of NDAs signed in Audi themselves.
So even there, the UKMD had to sign an NDA to say it wasn't going to talk about it.
So there was very few people knew about it.
That press release came out on the Thursday, the eve of the Grand Prix over in Monaco.
And it was actually there, the car was there.
They'd taken over a billionaire's villa in the middle of Monaco.
This villa was worth 200 million pounds.
As opposed to a council house in the middle of Monaco, you mean?
Which is probably worth the same amount of money.
Incredible place.
And just before qualifying start, they took us over there to have a look at this car.
We had a walk around.
And you might have seen some of the pictures and it looked a little bit photoshopped in the pictures
after these sort of press images normally do.
But actually seeing this car up close and been able to touch and feel it,
I sat inside it.
It's an incredible, incredible thing.
They took five customers out with them.
I'm sort of ruining our stories.
Well, you actually wrote they took five of their best customers out,
including you, presumably.
No, not including me.
John, no, I was...
I was a lowly journalist.
They took five of their best customers out there with them.
They couldn't tell them they were going out there to see a car,
but they obviously were going out there to see the Monaco Grand Prix.
Sprung this surprise car on them.
And all five of them ordered one of the cars.
They started about half a million pounds.
And the whole thing is made from carbon fiber,
apart from a very tiny bit on the bonnet.
And you can have an exposed carbon fiber option,
which is an option, John, that costs 100,000 pounds.
So one of those customers opted for that.
So their new Velari is worth over 600,000 pounds.
So yeah, an incredible weekend.
But I was obviously there for some very hard work.
As you've seen, I've written some stories about it.
Yes, you have.
Have you done the same from your travels this week, John?
I haven't written anything, because the embargo has not yet been reached.
Oh, I see. Good excuse.
But no, I've been very similar.
I've been driving a 27,000 pound Renault.
So, um...
Highs and lows, John.
Highs and lows of this podcast.
Absolutely.
I would say I'd put it up there above the new Velari.
Would you?
Yeah, I'm not allowed to say.
I mean, driving impressions of...
It's basically a Renault 4 with a tin opener has been taken to the roof,
and there's a sunroof now.
That's the...
I see.
But I like it.
Let me guess.
I mean, I can't break the embargo, because I don't know.
And you can just...
You don't have to react.
But I guess it drives exactly the same as the other Renault 4,
just with a little bit more wind in your hair.
Can't tell you.
Excellent.
Shall we move on?
You can infer your own opinion from it.
Yeah.
Let's move on.
Let's move on.
So shall I introduce our guests?
Yeah, please.
Lovely.
So joining us this week from the world of leasing,
is Vince Pemberton, CEO of Rivervale.
Vince, thanks for joining us.
No problem.
Great to join you.
And listening to what goes on in your world.
How do you manage to find the time to get anything done?
It's a challenge, Vince.
It's a challenge.
But we managed to.
Someone's got to do it, haven't they, James?
Someone's got to do it.
Someone's got to do it, yeah.
I mean, telling the other half, I had to go to Monaco
to see any car obviously didn't go down well.
And no, Vince.
Imagine.
Tell us a little bit about your career, firstly,
and we'll come on to your business.
But tell those people who don't know you.
How long have you been in this industry?
What have you been up to?
Oh, my God.
Well, I've just turned the...
This is, I'm tearing you up for this, James.
I've just turned the right old age of 60.
And I don't look it.
Exactly.
And I've pretty much been in this industry all my life.
Having worked with my dad in the early years
before getting into the franchise world.
And dad was more into used cars, really.
But the motor trade is in my blood, in my DNA,
my dad, my grandfather.
My great-grandfather had what is known to be
the first American car franchise in London in the 20s
under Warren Street.
In those days, the showrooms are underneath.
They tucked them away in London.
That was where they had the space.
So I know nothing other than cars,
anything with four wheels on it or equivalent.
That's all I've ever known.
So I grew up in him.
I, there's a story that, you know,
my dad used to encourage me to read.
And every month when I was a kid,
he'd give me last month's glasses guide.
And not saying he was tight or anything,
but, you know, he'd bought it and wanted to get his value
out of it, a bit of VFM.
So I used to sit there as a kid and look at what you could,
in, according to the glasses guide,
what you could buy it for and what you could sell it for.
And replicate that in my Skyletrics collection.
I was just obsessed with cars as a kid.
So I guess I was always destined to end up in this industry
in one capacity or another.
So working with dad in the used car arena taught me a lot.
You know, selling used cars is not easy.
It can be really, really tough.
And I admire the people that specialise in used car supermarkets,
how they keep on top of it when you're buying and prep him
and whatever you're doing with it.
And then I saw a job advert way back when it was Evan's House Shore
before the takeover with Pendragon was a voxel franchise.
And it was in fleet sales.
And I'd always wanted to get into fleet sales.
So I joined Evan's House Shore and loved it.
One of the key differences was it was a Monday to Friday job
and you still had your weekend with your family.
But I was lucky because it was always about building relationships.
Fleet is very much about building relationships.
So that developed and then I'll get a call from Rivervale,
which at the time were the Mercedes-Benz dealer in Brighton.
And I was asked if I would take up a position as they're like...
It had two titles.
It was really corporate sales manager.
Although in Mercedes world they branded it as a key account manager.
That's how they called it.
It was a cam.
You was a cam.
A cam shaft I was compared to at one point in time,
which I didn't see that was particularly favourable.
And then loved it.
You know, working in the world of Mercedes-Benz
after you'd worked in Cut Your Teeth in Vauxhall.
I absolutely loved it.
And then for no reason at all, in December 2000,
I can still remember how the atmosphere changed in the building.
Rivervale in those days was owned by a chap called Tommy Sokwith.
Tommy Sokwiths, whose father was Sir Thomas Sokwith.
I was eating Sokwith camels and all that sort of stuff.
Absolutely.
So, you know, very well-run prestigious company.
And on this particular day in December,
Mercedes-Benz came in and effectively told Mr. Sokwith
that they were taking the Mercedes-Benz franchise away.
And at the time, I think we were the third best performing dealer in the country.
Everybody in the business, if you cut that whole thing about,
if you cut their arm off, the three-pointed star is in there.
You know, people were passionate about Mercedes-Benz products.
So to actually, for him to be told it,
and then he had to then tell the business was incredibly difficult.
It sent a shudder through the business.
And then we got told that I won't mention them,
but another brand was coming in to take over the site.
I didn't really want to work for a huge PLC,
where you were a number rather than a name.
And then a chap from Lombard came in to see me,
and he said, look, why don't you go on your own, become a leasing broker?
I said, well, how am I going to do that?
And he said, but you've got all the contacts.
And this is how compliance has changed massively.
If you look at the hoops you've got to get through this day and age
to become an FCA registered leasing broker,
incredibly difficult entry to market now is incredibly difficult.
But in those days, all you needed to have was a CCL,
which was the consumer credit license for those people who don't know,
which if you didn't have one was 35 pounds a year just to get it.
I recall that.
And you had to have a VAT registered number of which I had neither.
In my own right, I had neither.
And I went home that weekend and I sat chatting to Dad,
Dad had moved away and was just doing vehicle trading.
But of course, every time you saw him at weekends or whatever,
he just talked work.
We were just, when you'd work together, you just talk work.
It's, my mum actually didn't like that.
She was like, you know, you guys just talk work.
But we had that in common.
It was, I'm not my Sam fan.
He was a Spurs fan.
You know, we didn't really talk about a football team.
Can't talk about that.
Why can't we talk about that, especially this year, James?
But he said, what are you going to do?
And I said, well, I've had this opportunity,
but I haven't got a consumer credit license or a VAT number.
And he went, well, I've got it.
So I sadly left Rivervale, set up this small leasing broker in May 2001.
So just over 25 years ago now.
And even though there's still a little bit of it,
and you know, I get on incredibly well with dealers and dealer groups
and people because I've been around in the industry a long time.
But it was like I'd gone to the dark side of the industry.
I'd been working in the Mercedes-Benz franchise,
which was right up there.
So hold on a second.
You've just, you've just gone into the world of being a leasing broker.
You know, it was, was very surreal in some, in some respects.
Why'd you say the, why'd you say the dark side?
Well, I guess if I'm, if I'm being brutally honest,
I think that OEMs and, and more so, forcing on to the dealers,
the OEMs certainly in those days would have said,
you guys should be doing the job of a leasing broker.
They shouldn't even be in the mix.
You know, the, you know, you've got your BDMs or business development managers
or whatever LBEs or whatever they were called at the time.
You should be getting to these people.
Leasing brokers shouldn't be getting to them.
But of course, a leasing broker really,
the big advantage of a leasing broker,
particularly where if I'm referring then,
I started the business where I had Lombard
and I had what was Bank of Scotland vehicle finance,
which is now part of the Lex auto lease merger as time has gone on.
But, you know, in the, in the beta B world,
when you could go and sit out, I sit with an SME and look at there,
hopefully, and you could say, well, you know,
the directors, one wants an Audi, one wants a Murt,
what do you want for middle management?
Well, I'm going to, I quite like the idea of giving them an incentive
to put them in a C class.
And in those days, from a leasing and contract hire perspective,
you could put somebody in a C class cheaper than what you could put them into a Mondejo
or a, you know, a Voxel product or whatever it became.
Not, it wasn't Cavalier.
What was it, Vectra, wasn't it?
And then, and then, and then on.
So from a commercial perspective,
one guy could sit with you and you could sort all his fleet out.
You know, it was, it was aimed really at SMEs of
up to 50 was a maximum.
If you was working with a fleet of 50, you were doing really well
and you could sort all their maintenance out,
you know, you could near enough give them a shopping list of what you want
and I'll factor it through.
Leasing had a big boost.
I think it was August 95 where all of a sudden you could claim 50% of your VAT
rental back of VAT on your rental back and all these sort of things.
So SMEs took a little bit of time to catch up to that.
So it was quite a, quite a purple patch.
But I think what, so you had an advantage over a dealer for the fact that
you could sit and you could pick your, pick from the window near enough.
You know, it was a, it was a bit like that.
So I think there was a little bit of resentment more so out of OEMs in those days
that lend onto the franchise network, which then there was sort of a bit of friction.
Is that still there Vince?
No, I don't think it is James.
I think the, you know, the market's changed massively, isn't it?
You know, from within our business, it always fluctuates a little bit.
But you know, we will do as a business on our leasing side.
You know, Rivervale is a bit of a diverse business.
It's not just an out and out leasing broker.
But if you concentrate it on the volumes that we put through our leasing channel,
we will do, if we hit the projected numbers, we will do between five and 6000 units this
this year, you know, which is a good number.
You know, when you look at, if you were to look at a conventional
average dealer franchise, what are they going to be targeted by an OEM?
Potentially between 500 and a thousand units to get out to retail type customers.
And they'll expect that sort of volume.
So, you know, just us, we're probably doing the equivalent
through just our channel and win away the biggest in our industry.
I was with somebody yesterday that in London for a work in lunch,
where they are projecting to do up to 43,000 units.
You know, that's colossal volume going through there.
So, I think that what you're seeing is that certainly the OEMs have started to wake up to
we've got to work with these guys.
With that, the dealer franchise is now starting to understand
I would rather work with them than against them.
You know, we were, there's a couple of procurement platforms that leasing brokers use.
You know, one I was speaking to only recently where they have 240 dealers signed up.
I'm sorry, they've got 600 dealers signed up, but 240 are really engaging.
Now, it's a huge amount of volume goes through that.
And, you know, so it's no surprise that more and more product is getting bought online.
Get back to my dad again.
My dad could not believe that someone would take a car without opening a door and sitting in it
and feeling the steering wheel.
You know, people this day and days, they rely on like what you guys put together with reviews.
You know, they're everywhere, aren't they?
Car reviews over all the platforms.
Vince, give me an idea then of how it works.
So, do you, do you get bulk deals from the manufacturers?
Is that, is that how it works?
They come to you and say, look, we want to push X model.
We've got a bulk load.
Can you push them out of our lease?
Or is it, is it slightly different to that?
That's how I imagine it works.
Give me the reality.
You do get that.
You do get that where you've got, you know, you will get a commit to volume type deal.
It's been, you know, listening to the podcast as I do.
And, you know, it's clear that you guys are talking a lot about the Chinese product that's
come into the country.
The broker world likes an oversupply position.
You know, if an OEM is trying to get product into the market,
they will put a deal together that gives you incredible, you know, some of the rentals that
we have on our website and we've had on our website have just been crazy.
When you look at it and thinking, you can get out for under 200 quid a month, you know, it's mad.
It was one of the reasons I wanted to reach out to you, to be honest with you,
because we have talked about the rise of these Chinese manufacturers a lot and some of them,
well, most of them are pushing that surge in sales through amazing deals.
Are you seeing a huge proportion of consumers looking at these Chinese brands now?
Yeah, I think what's been pretty, I think there's quite a lot of Chinese brands coming into the
country and I don't think that's the end of it.
I think there's still more from what I'm told.
But what you are certainly seeing is the front runners.
If you're happy with me naming brands, I'm more than happy to.
I also chair the BVRLA Leasing Broker Committee and a part of the wider BVRLA structure and
competition law is something that we're really, really strict on in that environment.
But you're looking at people like BYD, Cherry, Geely, Geely, however people pronounce it.
Not only they bring in product that is affordable, is driving the industry forward.
Look at the Denzer product and that fast charging network.
You know, I've been driving a full electric car since 2019
and it does take listening to you guys.
It does take some getting used to, you know, the no sound in there.
And as much as mine has a synthesized sport sound to it, it's not the same.
You know, it's not just the sound, it's the vibration and feel through the car is different.
But those brands are coming out with high-spec vehicles, great tech in them,
moving bits, obstacles that have been in the way, you know, range and a charging infrastructure.
There's three factors, isn't there with EV?
It's range, charging infrastructure to whether you can have it at home or not and to whether
it's affordable, you know, and they're bringing product in.
BYD with the Denzer, you look at the seal and the quality when you jump in it,
you know, what a great mid-range company car that is or a family saloon.
Just, you know, at one point it looked like saloons were on their way out, didn't it?
It looked like there was more SUVs and saloons.
They seem to be bringing reliability.
They're desperately trying to set up an infrastructure across the country because
after sales and, you know, vehicle off-road is to SMEs and to businesses, let alone to,
you know, I won't be the only one that has ever experienced your wife even saying the car won't
start, you know, and all that sort of support.
Every time there's an open point, it seems to be a Chinese brand are in the open points.
The dealer groups that they're working with, they're forcing their brand in dealer groups,
even if it's multi-franchise sites and who thought you'd have a Mercedes-Benz dealer
sharing a site with someone else, but the groups are looking at how that is changing.
They're a big part of what we're doing.
I am seeing, I see the orders coming every day that we take.
You know, and that's a fair number when you're doing 6,000 a year.
And I keep a note on it and the amount of new entrants to our market that are coming through,
people are seeing them, people are talking about them.
You know, they'll be, if the weather's good this weekend, who knows whether it will be,
but there'll be a barbecue somewhere and someone will be talking about their car and someone will
be talking about someone who knows someone that's got a BYD or a similar product.
It's getting that momentum behind it now.
And at one point, I thought the OEMs were, what you called the traditional OEMs that have
supplied into this country, whether not obviously many, hardly any left now here,
but when you're looking at the European brands, whether you're looking at Stalantis or Renault
or our German friends, it felt like that they weren't fighting back at one stage.
People were pulling out of the volume franchise.
Mercedes were talking about just going back into that prestige world again.
But I do feel now that the brands are starting to shape up.
So I do feel like there's a bit more competition on the floor.
Will somebody, if they can get into an Audi or a nice VW for similar money to a Chinese brand,
will they still pick the Chinese brand?
And I don't know enough about that data.
We have the data.
We store an incredible amount of data.
It'd be interesting to see if somebody has picked an Audi,
whether we've quoted for a Chinese product as well.
That's where the market changes, if there is an opportunity on the German side.
So Vince, the leasing world seems to be incredibly competitive now.
I mean, wherever I go, I seem to see an advert for a different leasing company.
Has it become more competitive?
And why have more companies started to join this industry?
It's always been competitive.
I think you've got a look at the amount of registrations that are generated from this
sector in the industry.
The BVRLA are trying to get a grip of this, actually.
They've got certain funders and leasing codes that are associated with the BVRLA,
which all give them numbers.
And that would genuinely tell you that there's about 250,000 registrations a year
come out of the leasing broker sector.
But that's not an accurate number because there's quite a lot of people
that aren't affiliated to the BVRLA, therefore don't report their numbers to the BVRLA.
So there's probably somewhere between four and 500,000.
So when you've got that sort of market, there's always going to be that competitive edge in
there.
You've got to be at the forefront of your marketing.
You've got to be agile.
One of the big strengths of a leasing broker is that your agile and nimble, and if a campaign
comes in, we've got my marketing team.
If there's a campaign, a promotion, an OEM offering that's a really good one that we can
put it through, we run with 12 different finance companies, leasing companies.
We can get that OEM's offer and put it through our software to show who is going to be the most
competitive over all the terms available.
Most of the offerings are between two and five years, no surprise there,
but the pricing can vary over, you've got your annual mileage is, what your initial rentals
might be, so it's a really competitive space and you can find that sometimes a two-year price
is better than a four-year price or a three-year price.
And then we see some people that would say, I quite like the idea of a two-year price because
I'm not tied in for too long. Very much the sort of mobile phone culture and you'll say you would
have seen, you've been in the lose at a service station and you've been stood there and there's
a board in front of you. You go around the M25 near Heathrow, huge, great banners, comparison
sites promoting the products. I just think it's that there's not a lot of new entrants into the
market. I think there's been a lot of consolidation in the market because of, as an example, when we
were the smaller leasing broker before we became part of Rivervale again in January 2009 and when
we've acquired smaller leasing brokers along the way, you've got the owner driver who's the managing
director, the finance director, the marketing director, does HR, really difficult and looks
after compliance in a forever-changing landscape. What a job. So I think there's been a lot of
consolidation. There's been a lot of deals which are volume-driven. So you've got to be competitive,
you've got to get your marketing out there. If I'm being brutally honest, I think the
leasing broker marketing on the top 25 leasing brokers across the country is miles ahead of what
most dealer groups put out. It's very strong. Like you say, you see it absolutely everywhere, don't
you? I'm interested. You've mentioned Chinese cars, you mentioned electric cars. Have you
surprised at how aggressive those Chinese companies have been when it comes to
offering leasing deals? Because some of the numbers that you can buy these new cars for
are ridiculous, really, aren't they? Are they some of the best deals you've ever seen?
Yeah, but they certainly are. But then you've also got, as we said previously, I think a lot of
the traditional OEMs are waking up to that a little bit because they also have factories to keep
turning. They also have registration objectives to keep meeting. What they do, what reg gets
registered here as it works, it's why you're all back to the factory, doesn't it? You've got to
keep the factories turning and keep production going. So they're being sharper at the front end.
I wouldn't want to even start to talk about if I was an OEM, how I'd look at the Zebman date,
but you're seeing OEMs that would rather register cars and not make any money than take the fines
from not hitting your Zebman date targets. It seems crazy, doesn't it? And of course,
like we mentioned, the leasing broker world loves that position that we've got more supply coming
out. It was tough after COVID through COVID and after COVID was tough. We'd seen growth all the
way through. A personal contract, a business contract, it's just consistently growing. COVID
come along, there was no product. So that hurt us. We were having to pay more for the product before
we put it on a lease contract. So all of a sudden, the leasing program, was it as attractive as
it had been previously? More and more people, I think, were then looking at more traditional ways
of acquiring vehicles. People were paying big numbers really. The used car market was incredibly
strong on the back of it because you couldn't get the new product. So we've had this real
period of turbulence across the whole sector, not just leasing. It's been there for everybody.
You've only got to look at some of the group results that come out. Some are doing incredibly well.
Some are nowhere near what their objectives have been set out as. So I just feel now that the
Chinese, certainly them coming into our sector, have certainly spiced it up and they know that
they forced the traditional OEMs to sharpen their pencil. That is for sure. And regardless,
I believe now the leasing broker industry is seen as a strong route to market for OEMs,
as well as the traditional channels. Yeah, absolutely. Vince, it's been amazing to have you
on the podcast talking all about your business. I'm very glad you're going to stick around
for the second half, but John, we should probably do some stories.
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trade.autotrader.co.uk. Now, back to the podcast.
So James and I are going to run through our favorite stories of the week. And at the end,
Vince gets to decide which one of us chose the best ones and who is the winner. Last week,
I completely neglected to check who'd won, but I think I won last week. Therefore,
I get to start. Are you happy with that, James? We've started a new, I've just consulted my notes
and we've started a new round. So it's nil nil. So if you just decided that we've started a new
round, right? Yes, just like the World Cup. It's the World Cup podcast, John. We could have a
special six week special. You love football, don't you? You're a big fan.
Silence is golden. Excellent. I'll let, because I'm a nice person, I'll let you go first.
Well, I don't know if that's been evidence, but thank you. Lovely. So I'm going to start with
electric cars. So Batch has been chatting away to Darren Martin, formerly of this podcast,
a few weeks ago, of course, Darren Martin at Kazana, formerly CapHPI. I keep wanting to say
CapHPI, but no, he's Kazana now, Kazana. Darren Martin at Kazana. But their data has been showing
that of the 25 strongest performing three year old cars, EVs have accounted for basically,
nearly half of the fastest rising car values in the used car market. That was a bit worthy,
but basically EV values are on the up. And you could argue from this, perhaps more so than
petrol and diesel and hybrid cars are, which I thought was very interesting. So we've got
a nice little list here, which you can check out on the website. So I won't list all 25 of them.
But there's things like BMW X3, Skoda N-Yac, VW ID5, Cooper Bourne, et cetera, et cetera,
are all in the top 10 of this list. I just thought this was quite interesting because
I'm minded to think back to the days post when the Ukraine war kicked off, EV values went
absolutely through the roof. Did they not use ones? I remember like, our household had an EV
that we went and bought second hand and paid way over the odds for. Like it was an original
Nissan Leaf. And I remember going to the dealer and the phone was ringing off the hook with people
trying to buy a 24 kilowatt hour Nissan Leaf like in 2021. And it wasn't a particularly good deal,
but it was the better deal of all the Nissan Leafs around there. And then three years later,
the value plummeted. So I'm kind of, I'm looking at this and thinking, is this a new normal again?
Are we now up to the point where EVs have been so undervalued? I mean, really,
I should be asking Darren this, but EVs are so undervalued historically in the last few years
that they've now just reached a point where they're kind of, this is the new price point for
used EVs. Or are we going to get to the point again in a couple of years where, I don't know,
oil prices stabilized, hopefully possibly, and EV prices plummet again. I suppose that the difference
is what kicked off the price crash for EVs? Was that when Elon came along and
chopped the price to the Model 3? Can you remember, James?
Yeah, that was the catalyst, I think. But it was, if you look back, I mean, I think we were chatting
to Darren about it. He said it was at a time a lot of supply for electric cars were coming back
into the market as well. I think people looked at it as Tesla's fault. But actually, there was
just a lot of cars coming back from leases. But I guess my question is, if everyone goes out tomorrow
and fills their full court with EVs in six months time, what point is that going to end? Or is this
just where we are now? Is this new normal? Well, I do think we've obviously seen a surge in
interest in electric cars off the back of the Iran war and the rising in petrol and diesel
prices. I mean, there's no doubt about that. We've seen it in our little used car dealership. We've
written about it countless times on the website from the data that we're seeing from searches on
those used car platforms. And I think that's what we're seeing now is a bit of a sea change,
really. Whereas in the past, it's been a bit of a knee jerk reaction. People have gone,
oh, it's really expensive to fuel my car. I'm going to go and try an electric one. And then
that's died down. That demand has died down afterwards. I think this time it's happened enough now.
We've seen it after Ukraine. We've seen it after the Iran war. I think people have probably had
enough. Those two big problems were close together enough for people to remember them
and start thinking, well, actually, that could happen again quite easily. I think now is the
time to try an electric car. And the people I'm talking to in the dealership is certainly saying
that those ones that are buying EVs have realized it's a much cheaper way if you are just driving
around town. I'm still knocking around this Tesla Model 3 that I keep on banging on about
and enjoying it and using it for long distance. And it's a very, very affordable way of getting
around. And I just think more and more people are realizing that's the case. So I do think
this is a change that's going to continue. I think we've seen a big change and I think
that's going to continue. And that demand is going to continue now, especially as more and more
electric vehicles drop into this affordable price point, which we're seeing at the moment.
Is there anyone that specializes in EVs? Because I think they've, you know,
I spoke to EV experts the other day, Martin rang me for a bit of a catch up. And he said
they've had an absolute storm in a few months. He said they'd sold a car every month in April
and May. And it's finally come good. Sorry, every day. Did I say that?
He said every month.
Oh, sorry. Every day that month. Yeah, it's finally come good. They were early investors in
used electric cars and now what their biggest problem is getting hold of. So I think there are
some specialists out there who are going to be doing very well. And there's more and more people
like me who are trying to stock more electric cars. So yeah, it's been an interesting change.
We saw a huge change through 25, early 25, where all of a sudden there were some
strong deals on electric product and there was a big increase. You could understand why
electric cars are going into the business market because of your P11D and all those sort of,
and you're benefiting kind and all those sort of bits and pieces where there was,
it was really attractive to go in there. But all of a sudden we were starting to see a surge in
PCH and we still are. Every day we are taking orders for full electric cars. No question
on PCH. Not one point that would have been, oh, I don't get the range or I can't charge it or
whatever, people have got their heads around it. And if there is such a thing, if you were trying
to put a broad stroke that every house has two vehicles in it, has one of them been a company
vehicle that's been, all of a sudden the charging point's gone in because you've needed one?
You're starting to see the real benefits of the electric like James just talked about. When you
get 350 miles, 300 plus miles, most people that do up 300 miles need to get out and
either have a coffee or use a loo or whatever. And they've got into this mindset. People know
where the charging stations are when they plug in. So as it become, yeah, it's great. I love it. And
then that's progressed into the second car at home. As it made it affordable now to go, well,
hold on a second, we can get you into an electric car as a second car. You can plug in and the
electric's more affordable and you can get even some of the earlier ones. You can get 200 miles
out of it and it's going to cost you eight quid to charge it up or whatever tariff it might be.
All of a sudden that becomes really cost effective. So if you can buy it at the right price,
there's a big push for used contract hire on electric. And we are starting to see that,
but there's not as much demand because you can near enough get a new one on contract
for the same price as a used one. So why would you go down the user route if you could get
a new one on PCH for good money? But we are seeing it. I guess from my side, I get a little bit
frustrated when I read some of the headlines where a cap will come out and say, you know,
great news, EVs have gone up and you look at it and they've gone up by 1% in the book in that
month. And you look like it needs to, I guess it's not dropping back is what we want it to see.
And again, the BVRLA are campaigning big time on this to try and look at how
the used market improves for BEV. And it is definitely there. It's definitely starting to
happen. Again, I get a bit of flak off of my team because we employ 84 people, 85 people,
and there's some youngsters in here. And some of the early product reminds me of Betamax video
and they go, what's Betamax? But is it going to be that point that it becomes no use? And that's
the worry. The bit I haven't got my head around yet is even if it's no use, is there a value in
the battery? Or is that holding it up where you can pick an old run around car up probably,
an old trade-in for 500 quid, is the battery worth more than 500 quid at the year? That's the
bit. It's definitely being a big push and more than 100% we are seeing more and more
EV product go through our channels. Yeah, not surprised. Time to stock up, Shuri. Use dealer.
Trying, John. I'm trying. Right, let me move us on to my first headline of the week. And I would
like to talk about former Perso boss, Linda Jackson joining Hendy as non-executive director.
I think this is the signing of the century for Hendy. I mean, this is an incredible appointment.
Dash Gupta is the non-exec chairman over at Hendy. We've talked at length on this podcast
about the troubles that they've been through in terms of their financial results posted a
pre-tax loss of almost 20 million in their last set of accounts. But a signing like Linda Jackson
is absolutely amazing. She is the retired global CEO of Perso. I mean, she's had a
glittering career. She was the chief executive officer of Citrin. So obviously, a Brit that has
done incredibly well. She started obviously working in Stellantis over here. She was managing director
of Citrin UK, moved to the head office of Stellantis and took on that global CEO role for
Citrin and then same for Perso. I mean, what a signing as a non-exec.
I've had experience and knowledge. Yeah, I'm amazing. You know, to get that around the board
room table, you know, to have some input in that business is a super signing, isn't it?
Yeah, I mean, I'm not quite sure how Dash has managed it. I'm sure there was lots of promises
of lovely lunches or something along those lines. But I did send her a message off the back of this
and invited her, John, to be one of our headline speakers in next year's Cardio Live and learn
by whole. She said yes. So Linda Jackson will be on the stage next year at Cardio Live, taking
place in March, early plug. We'll be launching that event very shortly. And Linda will be our
glittering headline speaker. So yeah, very, very pleased about that. So not only has Dash managed
a signing, I've managed it too. Yeah, fantastic signing. You know, if you can get somebody like
that, a live event, you know, that's now going to, by the time you get to the date, is going to have
an experience of both sides, you know, and on that global scale. Where do you get that? You know,
it's incredible signing. I'll tell you where you get that. British Motor Museum in March next year.
It's exactly where you get that. So I've sort of done a little plug there, John, but that is my
first story. So that's very good. Tickets will be available soon, certainly by next week's podcast.
Watch this space. I'm going to move us on to some not so lovely news, which is about this
incredible story, actually, about an insider at the DVLA who's been jailed over record tampering,
alongside a couple of rogue car dealers. So there's these two car dealers and this one chap at
the DVLA, who they paid to falsify records. So he was paid, so says this, £23,000 to change
records of high-end vehicles that have been written off or stolen. You can imagine why
they wanted those records changed. He deleted the accident records and the keeper histories
of several luxury vehicles, which were later sold on by the pair of dealers for a combined £1.3
million. Wow. That's so mental, isn't it? It is. It's incredible. Some innocent consumer there has
bought a car thinking it's legit, but it could be an insurance total loss. Exactly. Well, one of
them was a Ferrari 458 Italia, which had been apparently written off in Australia. And I assume
when it was imported, obviously, that record comes across and then was mysteriously made to disappear.
Wow, at this point. So you can, yeah, you can imagine, can't you, what, have written off Ferrari
versus a non-written off Ferrari as well. Yeah. Yeah. So it's worrying, isn't it? Because all it takes
is, you know, somebody in a position of power like this to abuse their position and where do you
trust? You can't trust the government data. What can you trust? What we don't know from this story
is how it came to light. I'd be fascinated to know how this got uncovered because, I mean,
they've clearly been up to serious no good. I mean, sentenced to five years and three months in prison
Holloway was. And the other two got two years and four months. Third 12 years
and eight months. So some serious sentences there, some proper jail time, isn't it? But yeah, I'd be
interested to see how this, I would have loved to have followed that court case just to see how this
all came to light. Because, yeah, they must have known him outside in some way, because if you
ring, you never get anybody to answer the phone, do you? And the options, what option 15 would be
tampering with registration documents? You have to answer the phone, do you? It's, you are, you are
212 in the queue. So it must have clearly gone on that outside of a net connection. Perhaps there's
like this pub in Swansea where they all hang out and you can just go and bump into one. I don't
know, the official DVLA pub. Well, I was told, and it wasn't so long ago that there were some people
that were previously working in the DVSA or DVLA building, whatever it is, is these days in Swansea,
that were still not refusing to go back and work in the office that they'd got into homework
in after COVID. So I don't know what the latest is with that, is this office building that only
has half the building full and the costs of it while other people are still refusing to go in?
I heard some time back. I don't know what it is now, but it's an enigma in there, isn't it?
That means they can employ some more people to sit at the three desks. Perfect.
Finally answered the phone. I move on, let's move on. I'd like to just talk about as if we
haven't talked about it enough, John, the car finance compensation scheme. I cannot believe
this is still dragging on. I mean, for goodness sake. But yeah, this is news this week that the
FCA has warned that compensation payouts linked to that motor finance missed selling scandal
are now unlikely to begin before 2027, as it's battling four legal challenges
for four. These have actually come. None of them have come from UK based lenders.
They're all other lenders outside of outside of the UK who are not happy with the fact that
12.1 million people or 12.1 million car finance agreements involving those discretionary commission
arrangements could qualify for average payouts of 829 pounds. Now, this is under the scheme
that they have suggested. So obviously, this was a scheme that was set up to really
get this done and dusted. It was so complicated, wasn't it? In so many different ways that some
people might have got more, some people might have got less. They came up with a figure that just
said, look, here's the money everybody's going to have and just make it nice and simple. However,
these legal challenges are causing serious problems. The deputy chief executive of the FCA,
Sarah Pritchard, has said the legal action could cause further delays and costs.
While the chief executive has warned the scheme could be struck down,
potentially forcing a complaints led process that would add 6 billion pounds to the lender's costs
and take three more years. Can you believe we could be talking about this up to 2030 John?
Maybe we should have an understanding that we don't talk about the compensation scheme.
I might drop my resignation if that happens.
I cannot believe we're still talking about this, but I mean, clearly there are some
some of those lenders not happy about it. I mean, there were those four that have challenged
it. They were the financial services arms of the car manufacturers, Volkswagen, Mercedes,
and the car finance arm of the French bank, Credit Agricole, as well as Consumer Voice,
a group representing consumers. So we'll have to see what happens, don't we?
I'm sitting on the fence a bit about this one. I want it to be over.
But I do get it. If I was VW's bank and you, let's say from 2009 onwards or whatever this
applies to, doesn't it? Some ridiculous time in the past. If you've done everything you possibly
can have had your team of probably 30 lawyers going over the exact rules and knowing how to
behave and so on. And then 10 years later, the same people that came up with the rules says,
yeah, no, you're going to have to pay 800 pounds to a customer now because you've
per customer because you've you've not followed the the letter of the law, but you have followed
our rules. But we're now saying that actually those rules were wrong, but we're not going to
pay anything. You're going to pay something. I can see why they would perhaps challenge that.
That being said, the law is the law and it's, you know, judgment has been had in court and some
sort of, you know, redress scheme, some variety now pretty much has to happen. I assume I can't
really work out another way around it. And do they want to pay, yeah, 6000000000 more in total
faffing around with complaints led procedures? I don't think they do. Problem is the sums are so
huge that we're talking about that actually is well within their right to argue it, isn't it?
Probably in their interest to argue it, because if they can shave 100 million off here or there,
they're probably going to save those lawyer's fees. Vince, what's your take on this? I mean,
we've touched on a lot of FCA throughout this podcast. What's your take on that?
It's difficult for us. You know, our sector of the industry has been heavily, if you're a BVOA
member, heavily audited, annually audited, and part of it would be around your promotions and
your promotions register and making sure that you remain compliant. And, you know, the leasing
broker sector has done what has been required over the years and the guidance that we've had,
you know, even in the early days, it would have been we may receive a commission.
To now it's we will receive a commission, you know, but at the time we were told that the
guidance was this is what you got put. We may receive a commission, you know, we're an independent,
we work with a number of leasing partners, and we may receive a reward. So I find it quite
difficult. We're not in that space of the used car dealer space, which of course is where all
this kicked off in the beginning with the original cases. So like you, I just prefer if it ended.
And we drew a line under it and moved on, you know, every BVOA committee meeting or board meeting
we go to, it's a subject on the agenda, everyone. And it feels like all we're doing is kicking the
can down the alley. But like, I also understand, I thought you say that there's a huge amount of
money at stake here. You know, when these some of these that are connected like VW and that are
connected again back to those, those factories where they are having to potentially lose money
on vehicles to get into that competitive space, they don't want to lose this money as well.
And if they can recover some overall, it ends up in the same pot somewhere, you know, that they
are going to, if there is a chance, if the door is slightly open, they're going to try to push
through the door, aren't they? Who wouldn't? It's kicking the can down the alley, you know,
to 2027. People are bored of it, isn't it? It's everywhere. It's still over social media,
still trying to, you know, get people to sign up to have you been sold a car in that period.
We're all fed up of it, aren't we? We are fed up of it. Like we were up a diesel gate,
weren't we? It was, you know, it just, they just run and run. It just worries you what the next one
would be. But I personally would like to see a line drawn under it with a sensible outcome.
You know, we were in from our perspective, we've always met the guidelines and we've told people,
in fact, from our compliance, we went even further back in 2015. You know, we produced a
separate document to make sure that people understood it was like a highlights document,
really. Where we called it product suitability and affordability, because they were big areas
at the time. And it explained on that document, in above to what finance documents you were
signed, we made every customer sign one of these forms. So they knew more so. It wasn't like it
was hidden somewhere in the T's and C's. You know, we had just to give you an example of why,
you know, I can remember back in the day, you were able to lease a Ford Fiesta for £99 a month
over 36 months. We had some people that thought that after they've paid that all up, they owned
it in three years' time. You know, so we made sure that you will not, this isn't a purchase
agreement, you will not be owning the vehicle. You know, so I do, but that was our compliance
at the time, was to push that on them to do it. Use car dealer, what are they going to do that?
You know, it's difficult, isn't it? It's really difficult. Yeah. I want to see it gone, if I'm
honest. Yeah, I agree. I agree. A bit like, Sue, a bit like Secure Starmer's Premiership, we just
will rather it's over. John, John, have you heard the story? I might not be too far away,
actually. Right, I've got the day's headlines. John, you're all wedged one in?
Well, I was going to say we've run out of time, but...
Well, if we have, can I just do a quick round-up? Go on then. So I just like that there's been a few
car dealer results this week. I'm going to round up in less than 60 seconds. Motorpoint,
better than last year. JC600 ever so slightly worse than last year.
Trade centre group bounced back from a loss, so better than last year, and Cambria
worse than last year. There you go. That's the pool's results for this week.
Lovely. Thank you, James. All right, I'll just digest those. Yeah, thank you.
Full stories on our website if you want to read them.
So, do you need me to pick a winner from those stories? Do you want me to...
I do. Well, I was going to ask you first, are there any stories we haven't covered that you
have signed up to your WhatsApp headlines? And I think that's a great way to just get
the bullet point headlines, and then you can look into it. So the stories that you've mentioned
are all over. So I don't think so. I think you guys are really bang on with that.
But if you was asking me to pick a winner, these glasses, my team often say they are
roast tinted. So you're looking through roast tinted glasses bosses, one of the things I
mentioned when we talked targets. But the story that really stands out for me is the
handy appointment from a positive perspective. I'm the eternal optimist. In our game,
in the motor industry, you've got to get up being optimistic every day. And I think having
Dash getting that sign in to getting her on the board in that capacity, I think is a huge signing.
That would be West Ham getting Alex Ferguson. That was Alex Ferguson on there to help out
getting out of the championship. Alex Ferguson, John, was a very good football manager, just say
you were. Thank you. I thought he didn't even make tracksers. That was his cousin Massey, I think.
Well, I'll take that win. Thank you very much. That's the first win in the group stages of this
Cardiola podcast World Cup, John. I'm sorry, John.
One nil to me. Excellent. That's all right, Vince, don't worry. I mean, he'll declare it's a new
season next week for that particular win. All right, well, lovely. It's been great to have you on,
Vince. Thanks for joining us and talking about all things in the world of leasing and so on and so
I really enjoyed it. So, you know, listen to the podcast, read the bulletin.
So you guys do a great job. So being asked to be part of it was something I was more than happy
to do. You're very kind. You can definitely come back. Thank you very much, Vince. Lovely to see you.
Lovely. Thank you as well to James for coming back from his yacht in Monaco.
And thank you for listening. We'll be back next week with another episode.
Don't make sure you're subscribed. Take me notified when that goes live. Don't forget to
like or whatever the term is. Give us a review on your various favorite podcast platforms.
You can see this is the bit in the script I haven't written. This is just,
I think Rebecca always tells me to do it and I don't do it.
Yeah, there is a script, James. This is how I sound the same every week.
If you want to check out the stories we mentioned today, take a look in the show notes below or
head to carlinamagazine.co.uk. Thanks for listening and goodbye.
About this episode
AutoTrader’s “buying signals” and AI scoring kick things off, then the chat shifts to high-end launches tied to Monaco—plus an embargoed Renault drive. Vince Pemberton of Rivervale takes over for a deep dive into leasing: how compliance has tightened, why OEMs push bulk deals through brokers, and what’s driving EV demand and used BEV values. The episode also covers DVLA insider fraud and the FCA’s timeline for motor-finance compensation, with potential cost shocks if legal challenges succeed.
