Glasgow motor finance firm boosts headcount amid ongoing used car demand

A Glasgow-based motor finance provider is taking on additional staff as used car demand continues to boom.

Startline Motor Finance said ten employees were being added to the company’s origination team, based at its SkyPark headquarters in the city centre, to handle increased levels of business.

Like all the company’s staff, the new recruits will be given the option of a hybrid working model amid ongoing guidance to try to control the spread of coronavirus.

The firm is headquartered in Glasgow with a sales presence throughout the UK. It has about 160 staff.

While the new car market has been impacted by component shortages, among other issues, the market for used motors has been booming. Picture: Lisa Ferguson

Chief executive Paul Burgess said: “We normally see a bump in demand during January and are expecting this to be a strong month accompanied by a strong Q1, so we want to have the people in place needed to handle demand from dealers and other motor finance introducers.

“The used car market has remained buoyant during 2021 and we have continued to see growth as a result. We have supported this by gradually increasing our employee numbers and are now up to around 160 people in total.”

He said the business expected the general economy next year to be “potentially quite volatile” but demand for motor finance would remain robust.

“There is a good chance that early next year, we will see a range of factors negatively affecting the economy, including materials and labour shortages, the end of furloughing, and the ongoing upheaval resulting from both Brexit and the pandemic,” noted Burgess.

“However, we are confident in the resilience of the used car market.”

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We’re more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers. If you haven’t already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription: www.scotsman.com/subscriptions