In Focus Collections North of the border
Moving into the Scottish market can be a major decision, and not one to take lightly if you want to crack it
Nick Horton Client services director, Wrights Recoveries nick.horton @
wrightsrecoveries.co.uk
We are not a company that does things on impulse. When it decided to launch VT Validate, our technology-based voluntary termination (VT) tool, it was in response to a clear customer need. Likewise, when we began to expand into
Scotland, it was a move that was driven by client demand. When we would meet with clients face to face – particularly our larger clients – Scotland kept coming up. They told us that they were struggling to find a reliable recoveries service there. So, we took this on board and went to look at Scotland as a separate entity.
Operational perspective From an operational perspective, there is a large geography involved and when we looked at coverage in certain areas, our competition was often not there. Once we had looked at the market, we
made the decision that there was sufficient work up there for us to expand to further expand. That was at the beginning of 2016 – today,
we have two full-time agents based in Scotland, both of whom have been through our rigorous training programme. Each of these agents is equipped with a
specialised, modern recovery truck, which allows them to recover vehicles as quickly as possible, without having to involve a third party. To date, business has been booming
north of the border, which is a testament to our famously diligent approach.
Leap of faith We did not exactly take a leap of faith, but it was sort of an educated guess that we could develop our business up there and clean up, and that is what happened.
January 2020
Chris Jenkins Client services and technology manager, Wrights Recoveries
chris.jenkins@
wrightsrecoveries.co.uk
There is clearly a lot of business for
recoveries agents in Scotland – this is due to the large number of lenders north of the border. There are a number of companies that lend in Scotland, or they ore nationwide companies and Scotland is a part of their patch, and then, obviously, vehicles move up to Scotland.
Minimal coverage The main problem that these lenders were finding was that the existing suppliers have
got minimal coverage and the coverage that they did have was managed by sub-contractors or self-employed agents. We do not use self-employed agents – we only have employed people that work for us. Our strategy has already paid off. In
2018, PSA Finance – Peugeot Citroen’s finance subsidiary – launched a ‘champion challenge’ to discover the top repossession companies in the UK. We won by a mile, achieving a first phase recovery rate of 90% over a five-month period. We are now PSA Finance’s major asset-recovery supplier. We are in talks with a client about the
There are a number of companies that lend in Scotland, or they ore nationwide companies and Scotland is a part of their patch, and then, obviously, vehicles move up to Scotland
www.CCRMagazine.com
possibility of expanding our reach in Scotland, but we are adamant that the firm will only expand in response to demand. And while Scotland remains to be an
Achilles heel for a number of suppliers, it has actually become one of our strength areas. By maintaining a measured approach to our business and going where the demand is, we are destined to go from strength to strength as a truly nationwide recoveries business. CCR
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