One Direct targets Car Finance Market as 30% surge predicted
17 July 2015
Car Finance, a Hire Purchase finance product for Cars or Light Commercial Vehicles (LCVs), offering a typical APR of 8.5%* will be available from One Direct’s Athlone-based call centre at 1890 22 22 22, online at www.onedirect.ie and through One Direct high street branches. Within weeks, the competitive new finance product will also be available through An Post’s national network of 1,135 Post Offices. An Post’s retail strategy is to invest in the provision of services with strong revenue growth potential and which can be driven through its unique retail network, in addition to other channels.
Car Finance will be open to Irish residents, aged 18 and over who are in employment and looking to borrow €4,000 or more for the purchase of a new car, or a vehicle less than five years old. Only Cars/ LCV’s purchased from an approved SIMI/ Franchised Motor Dealer in the Republic of Ireland will be eligible and the finance must be paid back over 1 – 5 years, depending upon the age of the car when purchased.
While new and used car sales suffered significant falls through the recessionary years, sales of new cars have increased over recent times. Mr. David Egan, Managing Director, One Direct said “Our analysis indicates that new car sales for 2015 could be as high as 125,000 units, an increase of 30% on last year. This is an exciting opportunity for One Direct to enter a growing market and we aim to become a leading supplier of retail Car Finance to the Irish Market”.
Mr. Chris Hanlon, Managing Director, First Citizen said “All our indicators predict that the personal hire purchase market will exceed €1 billion for the first time since 2008 and is likely to double over the next three years as the economy improves and consumers take the opportunity to replace their ageing cars with new and more efficient models. This agreement with One Direct allows us to greatly extend our reach to the Irish consumer”.
*APR stands for Annual Percentage Rate and is inclusive of a Completion Fee of €1.00.Typical Example: The payments on a €15,000 hire purchase agreement over 48 months are €367.50 per month and the total cost of credit is €2,641. Finance example is based on a fixed rate Typical APR of 8.5%. Rate is correct at time of print (July 2015) and may change.
Who is One Direct?
One Direct (Ireland) Limited trading as One Direct is a wholly owned subsidiary of An Post registered as a Credit Intermediary and Insurance Intermediary which offers car insurance, home insurance, life assurance and associated insurance products to the Irish market. In existence for over 15 years, One Direct has doubled its share of the Irish general insurance market in the past five years.
Who is First Citizen Finance?
First Citizen Finance Limited was established in late 2012 by the Senior Management Team of permanenttsb Finance which was the dominant player in the Motor Finance Market in Ireland. That company provided support services to over 400 Motor Dealers together with 92 branch offices. First Citizen Finance commenced providing car finance in 2014.
