Tell me about your company – where did the idea come from? How did you get started?
In 2003 I was working at a small local car dealership in a town called Chalfont St Giles in Buckinghamshire. I noticed that very few people were using the web to effectively promote and sell vehicles and realised the potential that the internet had. I therefore decided to give it a go myself and promote a deal that we had on. From this we sold out entirely within two months! Seeing the opportunity that the internet offered contributed to my decision to go it alone and set up Autorama, of which Vanarama is a part of.
How would you describe your business’ ideology?
From the very start I had a basic principle that we would always do the best deal for our customer, not for ourselves. This ethos allowed us to drive volume quickly and increase our buying power with the manufacturers, savings which are passed down to our customers. Of course, hiring the right people for the business is vital and ensuring that you give them the tools to succeed.
Could you tell me a bit about your product/services range?
We are a leasing broker, which means that we match our customers to the right vehicle and the right finance product for their situation. Being regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) means that we have a robust and thorough sales process that determines our customers’ needs and ensures they get the right finance product and vehicle. We started leasing pickup trucks and quickly became the market leader. This same process and service lead proposition was transferred to vans in 2007 when we started Vanarama, and in the last six months we have launched Vanarama Cars with great success.
