Credit Management July and August 2021

INTERVIEW
DRIVING AMBITION
Sean Feast FCICM speaks to Dave Timmis,
founder of Leasing.com, about the resurgence
in leasing’s share of private new car finance.
DAVE Timmis started selling
classified advertising space on
the Warrington Guardian and is
today the founder and creator
of Leasing.com, the country’s
largest car leasing comparison
website. He is also one of the UK’s leading
advocates of leasing as a financing tool: “John Paul
Getty said if it appreciates, buy it, if it depreciates,
lease it,” Dave laughs.
It is now more than 20 years ago that Dave first
came up with the idea of harnessing the internet
to offer leasing deals in real time: “Even with
the dot com crash happening around us I had
a hunch, a bit of a gut feeling, that the internet
might take off! It’s easy to look back now and think
that, but to me the niche marketing opportunities
that the internet offered just made sense. It was
easy to find a website that provided exactly what
products or services you were looking for from the
comfort of your own home or desk.
“What really struck me as a great idea was to
be able to advertise car leasing offers in real time
to people that were interested in leasing cars (as
opposed to buying). The car leasing market was
really quite small then, and more focussed on
company car users, very time sensitive and niche.
But that was the point. Time sensitive and niche
was what was needed.
“Many of the consumer car magazines had
literally dozens and dozens of pages of ads from
brokers and dealers all advertising car leasing
offers, but it was all out of date by the time it was
printed. That was no good for anyone, and that’s
how the idea of Leasing.com came about.”
SIMPLE CONCEPT
Dave started the site (initially called
ContractHireAndLeasing.com) in 2000, and it
has since grown to become the largest of its
kind, perhaps five or six times the size of its
nearest competitor, according to some estimates.
The concept is simple: the site aggregates and
compares all of the best car and van leasing
deals from brokers, main dealers, funders and
manufacturers. This, Dave believes, is what gives
it its appeal: “Nowhere else attracts the audience
volume that we do or compares offers from the
breadth of partners that we do,” he says.
“Leasing.com enables consumers to find the
best deals, then enquire or apply online through
our platform. For our advertising partners, we
enable them to sell more cars by putting leasing
offers in-front of a huge in-market audience of
consumers looking for what they are offering.”
The business has grown organically, and in 2019
launched the new Leasing.com brand and website.
It was supported by a ‘say goodbye to buying’
media campaign, with the business positioning
itself as the car leasing experts, and with a vision
of being the market-leading, trusted champion of
car leasing.
So what makes leasing such an attractive
proposition in comparison to outright purchase or
Personal Contract Purchase (PCP)?
“Leasing a new car gives certainty, eliminates
residual/future value risk, and most importantly is
usually the most cost-effective method of funding
your new car for the duration of the lease,” Dave
claims, “which is usually between two and four
years. With leasing you are only funding the
car depreciation and not the whole purchase or
financing cost with additional interest applied.”
Dave says that leasing also enables customers
to take advantage of the bulk discounts and
other financial incentives applied that individual
consumers cannot access: “Fixed cost, peace of
mind motoring in a new car, under warranty,
driving the latest model, with road tax included
for the duration and a new car every few years?”
he says. “What isn’t there to like?”
STRAIGHT TALKING
Dave is straight in that he would never say leasing
is always the best option, but it usually is. “By
way of an example my own car, an Audi Q7, has
almost lost more in one year of depreciation than
the total lease cost for two years! The same car
(new) on a PCP was significantly more expensive.
Dealers were offering three plus year-old (used)
now facelifted Q7’s for about the same or more on
PCP than I’m paying to lease.”
From how Dave talks, one would imagine the
market for leasing is growing. And you’d be right.
While lending across all products fell in 2020,
leasing’s share of private new car finance actually
grew from 11.6 to 13.1 percent. That’s not to say the
market isn’t without its challenges, though Dave
thinks COVID has simply accelerated a number of
trends that were evident already.
“Consumers have definitely become more
frugal, cost conscious and want value for money,”
Dave says. “Cars are most people’s second biggest
expense. The pandemic has made everyone assess
their situation and look at costs. Most of us will
always want and need a car. Lower mileage deals
on great value leasing offers will always be a hit
with consumers. Affordable monthly payments
work for everyone. They keep manufacturers
production lines rolling and enable consumers to
afford new, fuel efficient cars with the latest tech.”
Dave believes that if the deals are there,
then the consumers are there: “Even in the
middle of the pandemic, between last May and
Advancing the credit profession / www.cicm.com / July & August 2021 / PAGE 12