point of sale...point of sale... PRIVATE HIRE VEHICLE HIRE WITH MAXIMUM RENTAL PROTECTION
Private hire and rental firms across the UK are now using in-car sub prime car finance equipment to collect their weekly hire rentals when they are due. One would think that supplying a driver, with equipment to earn a liv- ing, a licensed vehicle to operate within regulation, and a solution for personal transportation use, would compel hirers to pay private hire oper- ators in a timely manner.
Sadly not! For many operators late payments can exceed 45 per cent, with one very sizable company reporting that 53 per cent of their weekly hire rentals are in arrears. Despite some vehicles having trackers installed, invariably operators are finding that physically repossessing and finding the car is much more difficult than one would imagine. Some driver loca- tions are out of signal preventing GPS communication and when they do communicate and send location information, the driver is on the move making trace and track extremely problematic. Some tracker units are wired to the vehicle CAN-bus, allowing a signal to be sent instructing the car to be shut down. This process has multiple implementation issues as one cannot shut a car down in motion and passengers cannot be embroiled with operator-v-hirer collection issues. Just over 50 private hire operators across the UK have now turned to the sub prime car industry for a solution. These businesses are now installing Rental/Payment Reminder, Payment Enforcement and Starter interrupt devices supplied by Prompt Pay UK Ltd. The Prompt Pay system allows private hire operators who rent out vehicles to supply their cars, safe in the knowledge that rental receivables can be collected on time, with the use of an in-car audio-visual keypad immobilis- er device.
The device is installed prior to commencement of the contract. When a weekly payment becomes due, the driver is required to enter a six-digit security number into the device supplied by the operator upon receipt of payment, which then allows vehicle usage until the next instalment
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the hirer fails to make their weekly/ month- ly rental pay- ment on the required date, then the device will audibly and visibly warn the user that the car will become immobilised un-
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less payment is made. The shutdown time, usually 04:00, is set by the company and can be changed from contract to con- tract. Shutdown, or starting prevention, will only activate when the vehicle is turned off and the keys removed. Robert Toon, National Sales Director for Prompt Pay, commented: “Cur- rently we have over 35,000 devices in cars protecting £200 million in loan balances across the UK. We have just over 1,000 taxis protected with the technology, which has gained very significant momentum this year. Of the vehicles protected with the equipment, delinquency and poor payment is at negligible levels.” One operator commented recently that “implementation of this technology has transformed our business. Previously we had put our faith in trackers, which do help. But trackers are all about cab recovery of non-paying driv- ers. We have found that the Prompt Pay system is a preventative measure stopping problems from happening in the first place. We run 122 cabs and now only have four or five problem accounts.” On his recent visit to the UK, Gerald C Varley, President and CEO for the product manufacturer, said “The UK market has now become the second largest user of the product in all 13 countries within which we operate. Canada and the USA now protect loan books totalling $4 billion. We find that many of our operators in the USA from Los Angeles to New York time the payment/rental schedules to occur just after the drivers have been paid by Uber.” “We have found that utilising this overt technology with select borrowers, filters out rogue and fraudulent applicants from the onset but is welcomed by previously excluded hire applicants,” remarks the proprietor of a Greater Manchester based private hire firm. Hire, leasing, conditional sale, taxi rental, near prime, sub prime and non- qualifying applicants are the primary market sectors for the technology. When asked why these payment devices have such an impact on instal- ment/rental based agreements, Robert Toon remarks: “It’s simply down to direct and immediate enforcement action. Historically drivers only ever really had the threat of litigation should they fail to pay. When eventually operators and loan providers catch up with defaulting clients, several months would have elapsed with no real prospect of any reclaim of money from court action. The in-car device warns the client a payment is due and prevents vehicle use immediately default occurs. “If they can’t work and have use of a vehicle, they are forced to pay!” Toon concludes. Prompt Pay has commissioned Vehicle Accessories Ltd to provide a national installation service. Vehicle Accessories have over 60 engineers nationally trained to install the devices for operators who do not have workshop facilities. Lee Fletcher, Managing Director of Vehicle Acces- sories, confirms that the design of this technology provides compatibility with Toyota Prius and other hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles.
For further information contact Prompt Pay on 0845 226 4317, visit
www.promptpay.co.uk or see our advert on page 57.
OCTOBER 2015
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