Volkswagen Financial Services (UK) Limited (VWFS) is continually looking for ways to help Volkswagen Group retailers improve their income at a time when the latest franchise surveys show falling returns for many dealerships in the UK.

Finance and insurance products such as the Solutions PCP and the Fixed-cost Maintenance plans are designed to provide the retailer with more reasons to engage with the customer and to open up more income
opportunities.

It is part of the company’s ‘working with our customer’ philosophy, which has seen marked changes in the way Volkswagen Group retailers view VWFS. To underline the point, Volkswagen Group retailers gave VWFS their highest ever satisfaction rating in the latest New Car Finance House Survey published by industry researcher, Sewells Information and Research. According to the results, Volkswagen Group retailer satisfaction is at an alltime high with some 88% of retailers rating VWFS as “good or very good” across all areas, the third highest score in the whole survey.

There were marked improvements in retailer satisfaction for fi nance products such as contract hire, leasing and PCPs, and VWFS also scored highly for its payment protection plans and hire purchase. While the results make satisfying reading, VWFS is determined not to rest on its laurels but is continually seeking ways to help retailers sell more cars more profi tably and to provide them with the low cost tools to present a one-stop-shop for customers.

One recent example is the creation of a PCP development team for the Volkswagen brand, which has been set up to help retailers maximize their opportunities in this area. The move is being seen as a way of helping enhance retailers’ CRM opportunities with new and existing customers and to help lock them into new vehicle life cycles. As one model is replaced with a newer, more fashionable version, the plan is to help the customer realise the dream while staying locked into the network.

VWFS Managing Director Graham Wheeler said the Sewells survey results had been testimony to the amount of effort that VWFS had spent in working more closely with the retail networks to improve service levels and
introduce innovative products. “Our aim is to provide our retailers with low investment cost products with a high value return because, after all, out of our retailers’ success comes our success. An enormous amount of work has gone into that process over the last three or four years, in terms of improving communication and sharing best practice across the retailer networks. 

“And we want to build on the joint successes that have been achieved for the benefi t of all retailers across the Volkswagen Group,” he added.