‘Unconventional broker’ Rivervale targets leasing and SMR growth

An uncle’s Ford Cortina company car and monthly copies of Glass’s Guide captured the imagination of a young Vince Pemberton so much, it set him on a career path to fleet.

It was, perhaps, inevitable the CEO at Brighton-based leasing company Rivervale would end up somewhere in the automotive industry: his father and grandfather both worked in the motor trade while the aforementioned uncle ran a car dealership.

“He had a Ford Cortina as a company car and I thought ‘I want some of that’,” Pemberton tells Fleet News.

“While other kids had football magazines, I got Glass’s Guide to study from my dad!”

Hs first role was as a sales executive at Evans Halshaw before moving into corporate sales with Ford, which was “a great training environment”.

It gave him his first taste of leasing.

Towards the end of the 1990s, leasing brokers started to make their mark, and a work colleague suggested Pemberton should give it a go.

The sticking point was the need for a consumer credit licence and VAT number; fortunately, his father had both and so in 2001 Pemberton launched Eagle Oak Vehicle Contracts from a desk in his father’s office.

The company was an immediate success.

Within eight years, Pemberton was approached by Rivervale where he had previously spent five happy years running the corporate team in the Mercedes dealership, before the manufacturer removed the franchise during a UK-wide restructure.

“(Owner) Tommy Sopwith wanted to buy the business and have me run it with him,” Pemberton said.

“He bought it in January 2009 and since then, the business has continued to grow.”

Rivervale now employs 102 staff and, while the broker channel remains key, in 2019 Pemberton took the decision to offer own-book funding.

“It seemed a natural progression if we were going to grow our business,” he said.

That same year, Sopwith died and Rivervale management was handed over to a trust. In 2020, they offered Pemberton an MBO opportunity which was duly completed on April 29 – just over a month after the country had gone into Covid lockdown.

Thirst for expansion

Rivervale emerged from the pandemic with a thirst for expansion.

Three quick-fire acquisitions last year have strengthened and broadened its services: OVS and 1st Choice Vehicle Finance consolidated its position on the south coast while adding new leasing solutions and services – the former included a salary sacrifice proposition; minibus leasing broker Castle Minibus bolstered Rivervale’s fledging business in that sector.

It is now the largest supplier of minibuses to state and private schools, with between 750-1,000 in market at any one time.

“We are extending our credit lines again this year which will enable us to start funding minibuses as well,” Pemberton said.

The broker division handles just over 4,000 vehicles per year, of which 80% are cars. Forty per cent of the total is corporate; 60% is personal lines.

Its own book funding for fleets adds another 1,200 to the mix, with cars accounting for just over 60%.

Rivervale now has 30 corporate customers, including bluechip companies Red Bull and Auto Windscreens.

“We wanted to work in fleet management and saw a gap with smaller fleets, typically between 20 and 1,000 units,” Pemberton said.

“We created an app with purpose-built software to manage them.”

The suite of fleet management services includes its own service, maintenance and repair offering which other brokers have now started to use. Launched in April, by the end of the year it will have more than 1,000 live contracts.

“We also have a deal with a major leasing company that is using us as their maintenance provider,” Pemberton added.

“My goal is to make Rivervale a diverse business. We collaborate where we can; the industry is moving at such a pace, you have to share insights.”

Diversification has also seen Rivervale return to its dealer roots with both a Maxus van franchise and a used car facility, as well as being a Bosch service centre.

The used car site opens up further opportunities for second life leasing, an area into which several leasing companies have already dipped a toe.

“It’s very interesting, especially as residual values are falling. Why wouldn’t we take that approach?” Pemberton asks, rhetorically. “I think it’s a huge opportunity and we are also talking to other leasing brokers about it.”

Five-year growth strategy

Although the process of merging systems with the three newly acquired businesses is ongoing, Pemberton doesn’t rule out further purchases.

In fact, he states: “We have two conversations ongoing right now with leasing brokers which are potential additions.”

He is also working on a five-year strategy and has already set out three growth pillars: minibus leasing, own-book funding and maintenance, including working with more leasing companies.

“Can we double in size within five years? I can’t see why not with the right resource,” Pemberton said.

“We have a service and offering that works.”

At the same time, he recognises that Rivervale can’t be a “ragbag of businesses”, suggesting that the car sales and service part of the organisation could become a self-contained division to ensure it gets the right level of focus.

Core to Rivervale’s success is its ability to offer a broad range of services that remove inefficiencies, underpinned by its focus on customer service.

“We look for improvements and efficiencies in every bit of the chain,” Pemberton said.

“So, for example, we focus on getting the vehicle back on the road quicker, which saves money.”

Rivervale is also exploiting artificial intelligence (AI) to ensure its rates remain competitive.

“We work with 11 funding partners and AI calculates the pricing, and compares profiles and mileages, on each vehicle to populate our website with the best offers,” Pemberton explained.

“We use AI to ensure that what the customer sees is what the customer gets.”

He added: “We also have our own data scientists who run competitor analyses to see how we compare in the marketplace for each model. This enables us to produce the right pricing and the right marketing.”

It’s an inimitable approach that is characteristic of a company which is full of surprises.

As Pemberton says: “We’re not a conventional leasing broker.”