News & Insights Partnerships

Santander Consumer Finance to provide fleet solution to Silverstone

Santander UK has announced a partnership with Silverstone, one of the most famous iconic motorsport venues in the world, to become its Official Sustainability Partner, underlining the bank’s commitment to accelerating the green transition through supporting customers, businesses, and partners.

Under the new partnership, which will help develop the circuit into a smart, sustainable venue, Santander will provide Silverstone with a wide range of mobility solutions starting with the transition to a fleet of zero or low emission vehicles supplied through Santander Consumer Finance. The new fleet will be used for on-site mobility, event operations and on-track safety and rescue requirements.

Adam Harley, Sales Director, said “With our continued commitment to the green transition, we are delighted to provide a mobility solution and support Silverstone’s shift towards a low emission fleet.”

News & Insights

Nikki Picton appointed as Core Sales Director for Santander Consumer Finance

Santander Consumer Finance UK have appointed Nikki Picton to the position of Core Sales Director.

Nikki had a very successful tenure as National Sales Manager for Volvo Cars Financial Services, before most recently leading Santander Consumer Finance UK’s Strategic Business Development function.  

Stewart Grant, Commercial Director, said “We are delighted with our internal appointment of Nikki to this key sales and business development role. Nikki has consistently delivered great results during her time at SCUK, having previously held senior management positions within the motor industry. With her in-depth knowledge, expertise and understanding of the motor finance sector, we are confident that she will build upon the strong foundation established by Kevin and continue to drive our business forward.”

On her appointment Nikki Picton commented “I look forward to leading and shaping the sales strategy of Santander Consumer Finance and I am excited to continue collaborating with the team to continue delivering exceptional outcomes and results”.

Awards News & Insights

At the 2023 Motor Trader Independent Dealer Awards, Santander Consumer Finance were awarded with ‘Finance Provider of the Year’.

The industry awards see people from across the UK motor sector celebrating excellence. The awards recognise the very best achievements and accomplishments within the industry.

We are delighted that our innovative offerings have been recognised as providing value. The propositions which were recognised for their value include

These offerings equip our partners with the means to enhance their operations and accelerate their sales growth.

This achievement is a direct outcome of the unwavering commitment demonstrated by our team and the steadfast backing of our valued retailer partners.

Awards News & Insights

Santander Consumer Finance Win Best Use of Technology

On 22 June 2023, we won ‘Best Use of Technology’ at the 2023 Car Finance Awards.

The achievement showcases the outstanding capabilities of Gateway3Sixty. The market-leading retention system has demonstrated exceptional value in sustaining positive customer engagement and turning leads into sales.

We are incredibly proud of this recognition of the value we offer our retailer and manufacturer partners through our innovative customer retention programme, Customers For Life, coupled with our intelligent Gateway3Sixty platform. 

We want to extend our appreciation to our partners for their continued support and loyalty, as our success is not without the meaningful relationships we have built with our retailer and manufacturer partners.

News & Insights Partnerships

We’re moving forward

As Santander Consumer Finance celebrated the third anniversary of its partnership with MG Motor UK, there’s plenty to shout about. From a standing start in January 2020, MG Motor Financial Services has financed more than 37,000 vehicles and lent over £660 million to retail customers. In addition, it provides ample funding lines to the entire MG network, ensuring a constant supply of new vehicles.

Stewart Grant, Commercial Director at Santander Consumer said “We’re delighted by the way in which our partnership with MG has flourished over the past three years. Providing funding to both the Retailer network and its customers has helped MG establish itself as a major player in the UK. Achieving a market share of 3.16% in 2022 through the sale of over 51,000 units is a staggering performance given where the brand was just a few years ago. We look forward to supporting MG in its future growth aspirations and to continue forge an ever-closer relationship”.

And there’s more to come.

Having built a sizeable customer portfolio, 2023 will see a huge focus on delivering sales through targeted CRM activity managed via Santander Consumer’s Gateway3Sixty platform and supported by its Customers for Life programme. Couples with the planned introduction of a full, end-to-end online customer finance journey, the future for the UK’s fastest growing major car brand continues to look bright.

News & Insights

Santander Consumer Finance UK has appointed Adam Harley to the new position of sales director with responsibility for growing the business’ contract hire and leasing operations.

Having entered the contract hire market in 2017, Santander Consumer Finance already has the UK’s 11th largest fleet of vehicles. Within five years it plans to treble the size of that fleet and be a top five player in the contract hire space.

Harley brings considerable leasing and corporate experience to the role joining with immediate effect from BMW Group where he was head of key accounts for ALPHERA Financial Services; prior to which he was national leasing manager for BMW UK and national sales manager for Alphabet.  He was previously regional sales manager at Arval.

“We are delighted to welcome Adam Harley to the business. He brings a wealth of knowledge to this new leadership role, having over 25 years’ experience at the highest level in the industry,” said Stewart Grant, Santander Consumer Finance’s commercial director.

“Growth within in the contract hire and leasing sector, including establishing a direct to corporate channel, is a key element of our mid-term commercial strategy. Adam will be pivotal in delivering that strategy and I am confident he will make a great success of it,” he said.  

Speaking about his appointment Harley commented: “I welcome this opportunity to lead the growth of Santander Consumer Finance’s contract hire and leasing business and further develop the proposition to appeal to a broader customer base. In the immediacy I am looking forward to working with the current sales and operations teams, and in the future to establishing the organisation’s corporate sales division.”

Since its launch in the UK in 2005, Santander Consumer Finance has funded over 2.5 million vehicles, providing more than £33 billion of loans.

News & Insights Partnerships

MotorSport Vision Racing, the promoter of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship (BSB) is delighted to announce a partnership with Santander Consumer Finance ahead of the 2023 season.

Santander Consumer Finance is one of the UK’s leading independent finance companies and as part of the Banco Santander Group, provides a range of products designed for the purchase of personal and business vehicles. The finance and related products are distributed via a network of dealers and intermediary introducers, alongside partnerships with selected car and motorcycle manufacturers.

The partnership will see the financial services provider granted Associate Sponsor status across two series, the Pirelli National Superstock and Junior Superstock Championships, which are hugely competitive and popular with fans of the series. These classes also hold significant value to the manufacturers competing for the title, as the motorcycles are closely derived to their showroom counterparts, which race fans can purchase from local dealerships. 

In addition, Santander Consumer Finance will deploy a range of branding and communications assets across all eleven race events.  

Eric Seymour, Head of Motorcycle Finance for SCF said: “We are thrilled to be supporting Bennetts British Superbike Championship for the 2023 season as their exclusive financial services sponsor.  Through this partnership, we look forward to continue positioning Santander Consumer Finance as a familiar name within the motorcycling community.”

Bennetts British Superbike Championship Series Director Stuart Higgs commented: “I am delighted to announce the partnership with Santander Consumer Finance ahead of the 2023 season. We look forward to working together to promote the company within the world’s leading domestic motorcycle racing championship.”

News & Insights Partnerships

SANTANDER CONSUMER FINANCE PARTNERS WITH INEOS TO LAUNCH INEOS AUTOMOTIVE FINANCE IN THE UK 

Santander Consumer UK (SCUK) is pleased to have been chosen by INEOS Automotive as their exclusive finance provider in the country from October 2022.

In 2017 Jim Ratcliffe, INEOS Chairman announced INEOS Automotive would be launching its first 4×4 off roader, the Grenadier and entering the automotive market. Thousands of the Grenadier have been reserved since May 2022 ahead of production which started in October 2022. With 24 UK Retail sites already confirmed, SCUK are looking forward to supporting their expansion within the UK automotive industry.  

SCUK’s partnership with INEOS Automotive takes its total number of manufacturer partners to 21. SCUK’s dedicated Commercial Manager will be supporting the partnership ahead of its launch of their brand-new vehicle, as INEOS Automotive focus on expanding their dealer network.

Stewart Grant, SCUK, Commercial Director, commented: 

“We are thrilled to partner with INEOS Automotive, an exciting and innovative brand, and support them with their first automotive launch. We are proud to share their dedication to quality and reliability and look forward to continuing fostering this partnership and working alongside them to achieve their strategic goals.”

Celine Gruizinga, INEOS, Head of Sales and Distribution commented:

“INEOS Automotive’s new partnership with Santander Consumer Finance is a key milestone for our business, enabling the Consumer Finance stage of our online customer journey. Santander’s support helps us to offer our customers a choice in how they can interact with us, and we are confident that through this partnership we’ll be able to match retail and business finance products to our product line-up and customers’ needs. Santander is a partner that many of our Sales Agents are familiar with and we’re confident they will be provided with a high level of service and support.”

Digital banners News & Insights Tools & Resources

We are pleased to announce the launch of our complimentary digital banners. The digital assets are available to all of our supporting dealers for use on your website.

Our digital banners are designed to raise awareness and prompt the customer to enquire about finance. With a range of designs and sizes, the digital banners can be positioned on your website to target the customer at varied stages of the car buying journey. 

At Santander Consumer, we continue to drive towards a more digitally focused customer journey. We provide our partners with resources to ensure an optimal customer experience and an increase in sales.

Andy Green said “We are thrilled to be offering another digital tool which aims to support our dealers in reaching their sales growth objectives. Our Santander Consumer branded banners will bring reassurance to your customers, whilst confirming that you take finance seriously”.

To request access to our digital banners, please click here