Volvo Financial Services now in South Africa

Volvo Group will now be providing financial services to customers from all Volvo Group brands in South Africa, which include Volvo Bus, Volvo Truck, Volvo CE and UD Trucks. These financial services include instalment sales agreements, finance leases and operating leases. 

Volvo Financial Services (VFS), the division of Volvo Group that will be providing the services, has teamed up with WesBank to bring VFS to South African buyers. The instalment sales agreement allows the customer to gain ownership of the vehicle from the first payment, while Volvo retains only some rights until the vehicle is fully paid.

With the finance lease, ownership shifts to the customer only on the last payment. An operating lease will allow the customer to use the vehicle while ownership remains with Volvo. At the end of the operating lease, Volvo will trade the used vehicle.

VFS is currently operating in 45 countries. According to country manager of VFS South Africa, Jens Winkelmann, one out of every three Volvo units sold in the countries where Volvo offers financial services is financed through VFS.

He adds that Volvo Group and UD Trucks have a combined market share of 25 percent in South Africa. The country contributed SEK 4,3 billion (R7,2 billion) in Volvo sales during 2016. For this reason, Volvo Group believes South Africa is the perfect market for its VFS offering.

“The South African truck market is an extremely competitive environment and we therefore see a great opportunity for VFS, as a captive financial solution provider, to present our customers with a customisable transport solution,” says Winkelmann.

“We are fortunate to be taking market share in a declining market. We are actually selling more trucks than last year,” notes president of Volvo Group Southern Africa, Torbjörn Christensson.

“Although VFS will initially be present only in South Africa, we will aim to make it available to our customers across southern and eastern Africa as these markets continue to develop,” he explains.

Scott Rafkin, president of VFS, concludes: “We deliver value to customers by being easy to do business with – through our speed and industry knowledge, as well as by working hard to develop a long-term relationship with our customers throughout the business cycles.”