VWFS to launch ‘inflation-proof’ services

Volkswagen Financial Services UK (VWFS) will activate 810,000 ‘inflation-proof’ service plans this year in an effort to help customers tackle affordability issues in the current economic climate.

The car finance provider has already sold 728,000 service plans in 2022 but says its year-end forecast is an 11% improvement on 2021 and a reflection of customers wanting greater flexibility over their financial commitments.

It says one in four of these (24%) activations is linked to vehicles less than seven years old. It has also seen annual activations of online service plans surge 62% since August 2021, with a significant 69% of these transactions being conquest customers.

According to its insights team, 76% of customers who have bought an online service plan this year have chosen to pay for this product in monthly instalments, reflecting the demand for affordable mobility solutions.

Meanwhile, aftersales products purchases have more than doubled, which is helping to keep older cars on the road.

James Taylor, head of product, said: “Our service plan offerings are effectively inflation-proof as the prices are fixed for two years and I think this aspect has really appealed to customers, especially at a time when budgets are tightening. Our collective ambition has always been to make ownership as easy and simple for as many people as possible and we always welcome the opportunity to work with our network partners to produce compelling finance and aftersales products for customers.”