George Janssen understood calculated risks better than most. As a professional poker player, he knew when to bluff, when to fold, and how to read the odds. But when he applied these skills to automotive finance fraud at Bay Auto Brokers in Bay City, Michigan, the stakes became catastrophically real. Over seven years, from 2016…

Timothy Bunn’s case presents the most troubling scenario in automotive finance fraud: systematic violations that continued even under court supervision. At Moxie Auto Sales in Lincoln, Nebraska, Bunn sold vehicles “out of trust” for months despite multiple audits, default notices, and ultimately a court restraining order. The scheme resulted in over £389,000 ($525,000) in losses…

How Mitchell Simpson exploited cross-lender blind spots for seven years—and why traditional funding processes failed to detect the scheme For seven years, Mitchell Simpson operated Mitch Simpson Motors in Cleveland, Georgia, whilst systematically defrauding three separate floorplan financing companies. His operation, which prosecutors called a “shell game with vehicle titles,” resulted in approximately £2.2 million…

For those in the automotive funding industry, the lessons from the 2008 financial crisis serve as a reminder of the importance of being prepared for any eventualities in the economy. The recession highlighted the need for better communication and collaboration between funders and dealers in order to navigate an uncertain financial landscape. In this article,…

Did you know that every car has a unique Vehicle Identification Number? A Vehicle Identification Number is a code used to identify and track vehicles worldwide. The first three positions of the Vehicle Identification Number, or VIN, make up the World Manufacturer Identifier, or WMI. These three positions reflect the manufacturer and the country of…

The automotive industry has been a central focus of the debate around reducing greenhouse gases as the growing pressure to act on climate change is building in intensity. Many countries have committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero. Net-zero is the point at which the country is removing the same amount of these climate-changing…

Dealers are acutely aware of the challenges that these market movements bring and are, on the whole, ready and willing to invest in digitisation to ensure their businesses have ongoing relevance. For funders, some of which will have seen significant digitisation in other sectors within their portfolios, there exists an excellent opportunity to deepen relationships…

Consumers, newly comfortable with the notion of researching and making significant purchase decisions online, have been at the forefront of driving digitisation in dealerships, but this isn’t the only pressure being brought to bear to accelerate the rate of digital change. Forward-looking dealer businesses are also identifying the significant opportunities to enhance the efficiency of…

Deciding to create a new stock audit procedure is not an easy one. Even if you’re upgrading an old framework, numerous options may influence the quality of your future audits. As a result, careful planning may save you time and money in the long run by streamlining and improving the efficiency and accuracy of your…

Gone are the days when dealers relied on their own capital or regular bank lending to stock their forecourts. As competition has increased, business owners have looked for more flexible ways in which to fund a larger number of vehicles, in order to attract more customers. In today’s environment, with rapid stock turnover and huge…