By Kristy Dorsey
A financing brokerage based in North Lanarkshire is looking to expand its workforce by more than half following a surge in profits, with growth continuing throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
Alastair Grier, managing director of CarMoney, said the company will take its headcount from 74 to 120 as new contracts with clients such as Confused.com and Exchange & Mart come online in the next few months. The deals follow an 861 per cent increase in pre-tax profits during 2019, with year-on-year revenue growth continuing at a pace of 20% in 2020.
Set up in 2016, privately-owned CarMoney provides financing packages from a panel of 25 lenders to people looking to buy a used car. It also helps buyers find their ideal motor, and vets dealerships based on quality and reliability.
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About 70% of its business comes via direct consumer enquiries, providing borrowers with a guaranteed funding package before they buy a car. The remainder is generated through dealerships who refer their customers to the CarMoney website.
“The increase in profit is driven through the now-firmly secured embedding of our operating model,” Mr Grier said. “We have been working hard with our partner fintech businesses, AutoConvert and Xero, to increase efficiencies and to give customers and dealer partners a faster, slicker experience when financing a car.”
Headquartered at Eurocentral, CarMoney has benefitted from the shift to online consumer commerce that has been accelerated by Covid health restrictions. Meanwhile, demand for used cars has held up relatively well compared to new car sales amid the economic turmoil from the pandemic.
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“CarMoney’s ever-growing team is disrupting the market across the UK by applying technology to take away the discomfort of buying a car through helping guests smoothly navigate their way through the process, all the way from choosing the right vehicle from a respected dealer, to putting the best finance package in place,” Mr Grier said.
“We have sustained our growth throughout 2020 despite the Covid-19 epidemic, and continue to win new contracts by maintaining very high customer satisfaction levels and hiring motivated team members.”
During the year to December 2019, CarMoney posted a rise in turnover to £4.1 million against £3.4m previously. From this, it made a pre-tax profit of £305,000.
The firm secured £879m of approved car finance in 2020 for 6,805 vehicles, up from 5,736 vehicles in 2018.
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