ASF secures £14m backing
Automotive payment provider Auto Service Finance has secured a debt and equity deal worth over £14m.
The company, which uses its platform to provide car dealerships in the UK with an interest free payment solution for customers when servicing their vehicles, has secured £850,000 through equity given to private investors, as well as a further £13.3m debt facility. The facility was provided by London based Naviter Capital, which is also one of the equity investors.
The investment comes after a sustained period of growth for the automotive fin-tech start-up, which has seen UK car dealerships use its loan platform as a buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) option to sell £50m worth of service work since its launch in 2015.
James Jackson, co-founder and CEO of ASF, said: “Dealerships are going through a particularly difficult time at the moment amid the ongoing impact of the coronavirus and while this will lead to an unavoidable short-term slowdown in aftersales activity many have already recognised the longer term importance of adopting interest-free payment methods within their service departments. This is especially important when it comes to selling work that they would have otherwise missed out on.
“In the short term we’re committed to helping provide dealers that are still offering aftersales support with the ability to offer their customers flexible payment methods, something that will be beneficial to both vehicle owners and dealerships alike in the challenging times ahead. This has included developing a fund to help vulnerable customers by discounting their final repayment bills during the ongoing pandemic. Beyond this, we aim to increase both our footprint and the utilisation of our platform across the UK.”
Auto Service Finance is now used by more than 2,000 dealership sites in the UK, and intends to double its tech team following the investment as it prepares for expansion into European markets in the months ahead.
