“I know that if I need money and that I can prove we`ve got

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