Get to know MotorEasy yesterday, today and tomorrow

David Gerrans, Commercial Director of MotorEasy shares history, insights and ambitions for the business

Posted on Dec 21, 2023

We launched MotorEasy in 2016, having learnt in our previous extended warranty company what could be improved and what additional products and services could benefit motorists. A great success right from the start, MotorEasy today has more than a million members and is the foundation of its parent company, Intelligent Motoring.

We are now at a particularly exciting stage, where we can look at expanding into other markets that we avoided in the past while we grew the core business. MotorEasy is spreading its wings.

Expanding sideways

Intelligent Motoring is the fastest-growing motor organisation in the UK, and this year we have utilised that by moving MotorEasy into the traditionally challenging fleet market. With many well-established companies in the field, it’s not easy for new entrants to succeed straight away, so we didn’t expect sudden growth. However, we had success early on, and have continued to build on that in the months following.

Sponsoring the What Car? Awards has helped us build brand awareness in the corporate sector and with the support of an experienced team, we have been able to capitalise on this, meeting and talking with fleets who are already familiar with the business. In fact, leasing companies that have seen what we are achieving for our existing clients have been eager to start working with us, it’s truly been as simple as that. But we won't be diluting our activity elsewhere while we are extending our reach, we are committed to continuously improving the products and services that got us to this stage and that our customers rely on every day.

When it comes to new cars, we are building on our range of extended warranty and value-add insurance solutions, including GAP, alloy wheel, cosmetic and tyre cover. Used car extended warranties are another vital element of our offering, for consumer buyers and dealers but also for disposal at the end of any lease. Buyers need confidence and peace of mind when buying a used vehicle, and used cars don’t often come with an industry leading warranty. 

If a used car does have some time remaining on its manufacturer warranty, we offer a 'warranty wrap' whereby we enhance the remaining warranty period and add to it. For example, a car with three-months left on its manufacturer or dealer warranty can easily be extended to 12 months – the manufacturer warranty remains in place, but when that expires our warranty kicks in and takes over, meaning the vehicle is never without a warranty.

For any leasing company disposing of cars, a fixed period of warranty can be very attractive. We can also help reduce leasing company exposure, for example, if the lease is extended beyond the warranty period and the car remains on the company’s books, we can extend the warranty to provide additional protection and certainty.

New offering

2023 has seen us bring in the MotorEasy service plan, covering normal servicing and MOTs, and we can arrange servicing of new cars while satisfying manufacturer warranty requirements. Extended warranties can save drivers a significant amount of money if something goes wrong with their car. If nothing goes wrong, the cost of that protection and peace of mind can feel wasted. Adding a servicing and MOT plan ensures that everything combined is seen as good value for money.

MotorEasy is generally 40% cheaper than a main dealer for recommended servicing, and that is where our members can save a lot of money. There is often a reluctance to go outside the dealer network to get cars looked after, and historically it has always been a bit of grey area around potentially invalidating the warranty. Thankfully, that need not be the case and there are plenty of independents that know exactly what they must do to conform with the manufacturer's protocols.

Having spoken directly with our fleet company customers, I have heard how they are saving large amounts of time and money by getting their cars serviced through our network instead of the significantly more expensive main dealer. This has been an exciting area of growth in recent months and offers even greater opportunity in the future.

Personalised accounts

Once onboard our customers get their own account area and stay there for however long they wish. From the day they pick up a new car, customers deal with MotorEasy throughout their time owning that car. They can even stay with us for their next new one and add extra cars - as this account area provides road tax and MOT reminders as well as an optional service history log. As a result, we can help them manage their ongoing motoring maintenance from one user-friendly online dashboard.

Some of our happy business customers include Arval, one of the biggest leasing companies out there, and lending firm Close Finance. We provide Arval with warranties for the Driver Sales, while we offer GAP cover for Close Finance customers. These partnerships and more, including collaborations with other big leasing companies, are proving extremely successful. We are both proud and excited that our value-added protection and insurance products and services have been so well received and are already benefiting our clients as well as their underlying customers.

2024 and beyond

At MotorEasy we are in a great place, we can do whatever is required to best serve our growing list of happy clients, with the rare capability to be flexible enough to fit alongside businesses’ existing infrastructures and processes. This is both great for our clients and unusual in the market: there are not many providers in the fleet sector that can also talk B2C.

As we go forward into 2024, we are excited to see what opportunities the market brings and how we can respond to provide our clients and their customers with the best solutions possible whilst also saving them valuable time and cash.