Business Stories Chris Nickson, CEO of The Vehicle Finance Network The Vehicle Finance Network (VFN) is the brainchild of Chris Nickson, an experienced operator in the car finance industry. Chris founded the company after noticing that people were finding it increasingly difficult to obtain credit for a new car, despite the vehicle being available as security. The VFN is dedicated to matching customers with the right finance company for their needs. Chris’s business model relies on being able to supply cars to his clients quickly, so he used iwoca to help him to finance the steep upfront payments. Chris aims to give every customer a truly personal service, and unlike other providers, doesn’t have a restrictive ‘stock list’ of cars from which they have to choose. Chris now has five employees working from his Merseyside office and has been very happy with the company’s first year growth. The Snapshot Founded in 2014 Based in Merseyside Helps customers finance their vehicle purchases vehiclefinancenetwork.co.uk In order to ensure prompt service, Chris often has to purchase vehicles before his finance providers release the funding. Though manageable when his business was only serving a few customers per week, as orders grew this required that he had access to a significant amount of short-term capital. “I needed to bridge the cash flow gap to make sure I could keep up with demand”, Chris tells us. “but that turned out not to be so easy.” Initially he tried to get finance from the high-street banks, but had major difficulty convincing them to lend to him because his company had been trading for under a year. That was when he turned to iwoca. “I know that if I need money and that I can prove we’ve got customers waiting, iwoca will tell me straight.” Chris was quickly approved and could immediately purchase two new vehicles for his customers. “I have a really good relationship with my account manager, Nick” Chris tells us. “For example, two months ago I was able to upload bank statements to show we’d taken deposits from more customers. Nick looked at this and increased my credit limit within an hour.” He compared this to the service he’s received from traditional providers; “It takes too long to get an appointment at the bank, and you end up speaking to different people all the time.” Over the next few years, Chris hopes to expand the business to locations around Merseyside. “Having a physical location will allow us to reach more people. It’s easier to explain face-to-face that we can help them get a car, even in difficult circumstances.” The VFN is now one of the country’s fastest growing finance brokers. Don’t be surprised if they pop up on a high-street near you! www.iwoca.co.uk