The Volkswagen Bank offers financial services, such as vehicle finance, direct bank business, insurance products, leasing, and fleet management to Volkswagen, Skoda, Audi and Seat customers in France. The Volkswagen Group is in France since 1960 and is a major force in the auto market with a 11,9% market share, 15,000 employees and more than a thousand points of sale and service. In 2010, Volkswagen customer numbers grew by 20-25% with a corresponding increase in debt collection needs. This triggered a decision to select and deploy a customer interaction management platform aiming to make debt collection more effective.
The Altitude uCI multichannel contact center solution was selected and deployed in under three months and it now manages several thousand outbound and inbound calls and texts related to debt collection every month. Agent productivity and debt recovery rates have greatly increased since.
The Altitude uCI solution enabled Volkswagen Bank to become more efficient and effective at debt collection while ensuring compliance with regulations and enabling fair debt collection practices. According to Marc Pazos, Debt Recovery Director at Volkswagen Bank, “The Altitude uCI solution helped us manage growing customer debt, by optimizing our calls, automating agent tasks, retrieving and feeding customer interaction information to our CRM system. This enabled us to be more effective, without becoming annoying or alienating the customers.”
Full Story and Copyright Inside Arm Volkswagen Bank
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Like the Ampera, the plug-in Prius hybrid combines an electric motor, a lithium-ion battery and a petrol engine. It drives 14 miles in pure electric mode, far less than the Ampera’s 50-mile range, and boasts combined cycle CO2 emissions of 49g/km and fuel economy of 134.5mpg.
Toyota expects business customers to pay no more than £52 a month for the car and has signed a deal with fleet company LeasePlan to help position the car as a commercial leasing option.
“With the commercial launch of the new Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid, the partnership with LeasePlan supports our commitment to offer fleet customers a greener, more efficient mobility solution,” said Didier Leroy, Toyota Motor Europe president, in a statement.
“Toyota has already put almost 3.3 million hybrids on the road. The introduction of Prius plug-in hybrid is a major step in our company’s journey towards sustainable mobility by reducing energy consumption, improving air quality and further curbing CO2 emissions.”
Copyright and Full Story Guardian Toyota Prices Plug In
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“After detailed consideration the authority has decided to phase out the current provision of cars to its senior officers in the most cost-effective way.”
Documents obtained by the Yorkshire Post last year showed the force was paying £1,125 a month to lease an Audi A8 diesel car for Chief Constable Meredydd Hughes, who will formally retire from the force tomorrow.
Mr Hughes’s deputy Bob Dyson, who will become Acting Chief Constable from Monday, Assistant Chief Constables Max Sahota and Andy Holt, and finance director Nigel Hiller were each given BMWs costing between £30,000 and £40,000.
Mark Whyman, now a temporary Deputy Chief Constable in charge of regional policing across Yorkshire, drove a BMW estate car which was bought by the force for £33,838 in July 2007.
Copyright and Full Story Yorkshire Post Police Chiefs To Lose Company Car Perks
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ING Car Lease’s risk fleet of 49,544 vehicles with Alphabet’s 51,767 vehicles would give the combined operation 101,311 vehicles and put it in the top five FN50 companies.
Alphabet said that the two companies are combining their assets and services to further expand their existing growth strategy and provides the ideal platform to develop and adapt future mobility services for customers’ needs.
“Alphabet and ING Car Lease complement each other well in all business areas,” said Norbert van den Eijnden, head of Alphabet International and co-CEO.
“It’s a perfect marriage that will open up many new opportunities for the company to become a genuine trendsetter in business mobility.”
For Ed Frederiks, former CEO of ING Car Lease and co-CEO of the integrated company, the impact for existing and future customers will be positive.
“Our customers and prospects will benefit from our stronger positioning and we will be able to optimise our portfolio,” he said.
Read full story and Copyright Fleet News ING Operate under Alphabet
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The leasing of vehicles works like this. A dealer purchases cars from the company and leases them to individuals for a particular period. The dealer can also purchase second-hand cars from the market, refurbish them and lease them to customers.
At the end of the period, the dealer takes back the vehicles. The business plan and market potential are being worked out, he told newspersons at the launch of the company’s dealership – Transcar India Pvt Ltd – in Chennai.
The company hopes to attract people who want to buy cars that are priced below Rs 20 lakh.
Full Story and copyright Hindu Business Line Mercedes Offer Lease
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On the inside, the updated A5 gains new steering wheels, column stalks and ‘narrow chrome clasps framing the control elements’ – not to mention a new selector lever for automatic transmissions, some redesigned buttons, new trim choices and a new ignition key.
Standard, SE and S line are available – which means the A5 Coupé drops the Sport option. A5 Sportback buyers can now opt (at extra cost) for a third rear seatbelt. New high-tech toys include a gadget that turns the A5 into a wireless internet hotspot, with access to Google online services, including Google Earth and Google Points of Interest.
Full pricing and specification details for the 2012 model year Audi A5 range are yet to be announced, but it will cost from £25,540 when it goes on sale this September.
That’s a slight increase over the current £25,465 asking price for the base A5 Sportback. First deliveries are scheduled for December.
Read full story at Which
According to Audi’s official figures, the new engine pushes the A5 to 62mph in around 7.9 seconds, and promises an average fuel economy in the combined cycle of 41.27mpg – a 21 per cent saving compared to the previous generation of engine.
The new engine also benefits from a redesigned and fully-electric cooling system, which sees the traditional water pump replaced with a pair of rotating cores in a single unit and driven by a small electric motor. As a result, the engine promises to make better use of ‘waste’ heat, improving efficiency still further and making the engine more responsive from a cold start.
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As well as servicing and maintenance, the car’s first MOT will be covered by the service, which is due after the first three years of ownership.
Customers may add tyre replacement to their package for an additional fee.
In an Audi A1 the service, for the 30,000 mile/three year package, will start from just £27 per month. The package is extendable to five years/90,000 miles.
Audi Complete can be tailored to suit the driver’s needs. For example, mileage of up to 120,000 over three years can be accounted for. Audi Complete is available with all new orders and confirmed orders.
Read more at Autotrader Audi Offers New Servicing
With this prestigious acknowledgement, the Fiat 500 continues to
attract attention, confirming its standing as representing the best of Made in Italy by combining an innovative and original design with the most advanced technology in the field of engines, safety and on-board comfort.
Additionally, with its prestigious 5-star Euro NCAP crash safety
rating and the 40 international awards it has won to date, the Fiat 500
has proved since its launch in July 2007 that it is not merely a
super-compact city car, but an authentic platform upon which Fiat
Automobiles is building a whole family of cars with technology and
attention to detail worthy of a higher category
Read full story at Fiat Press Fiat 500 wins award
If If you have an open-end lease, it comes down to the current market value of the vehicle versus the residual value. The selling value will be less with paint imperfections, though if the residual value is lower than the market value, you’ll have positive equity in the vehicle and may owe nothing. Depending on your lease conditions, you might discover that you do need to repair damage before the end of your term. There are several organizations which conduct cosmetic and mechanical inspections, and provide you with a laundry-list of deficient items.
The dealership may also help you inspect for anything you could be charged for at the end of the lease. have an open-end lease, it comes down to the current market value of the vehicle versus the residual value. The selling value will be less with paint imperfections, though if the residual value is lower than the market value, you’ll have positive equity in the vehicle and may owe nothing. Depending on your lease conditions, you might discover that you do need to repair damage before the end of your term. The dealership may also help you inspect for anything you could be charged for at the end of the lease.
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