The Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary in east Cambodia protects almost 300,000 hectares of forest. Previously known as the Seima Biodiversity Conservation Area from 2002-09 and the Seima Protection Forest from 2009-16, the protected area is home to a wide range of biodiversity, forests, mountains, and indigenous communities.

For the Bunong people who live there, the forest is a key source of income and plays a large role in their spiritual beliefs. 

The region is also home to two geographically distinct areas of natural significance. The Annamite Mountains are notable for their vast evergreen forests and high levels of local species and the Mekong dry forest is crucial for local wildlife typical of the region to survive.

84 globally threatened species can be found in the project area, including Asian Elephants, primates, wild cattle, and birds such as the Giant Ibis and Green Peafowl. The world’s largest population of black-shanked douc and yellow-cheeked crested gibbon lives in the area.

However, local biodiversity and forest-dependent communities are increasingly under threat from unstainable resource extraction such as logging, hunting, and fishing.

The conservation work by the Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary has had a huge impact on reducing emissions and protecting local wildlife and communities. Through their work, more than 20 million tonnes of CO2e emissions have been prevented from being released into the atmosphere and 25,000 hectares of forest saved from destruction. Shielding areas from deforestation prevents the release of emissions held within the forests’ biomass and soil.

The project also gives back to local communities, creating employment opportunities and supporting education and training programmes. An ecotourism venture has been established that supports these communities. 

Through a Cash for Communities Programme, that shares the revenue of carbon credit sales, the sanctuary has distributed almost $1 million. Funds go directly to the people of the region, who decide where funds should be allocated. The initiative has supported activities such as developing healthcare, education and building wells and bridges.

The Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary is one of the many climate-positive projects Bumper is contributing to through its partnership with 

Protecting Local Communities and Wildlife in Cambodia

Protegemos las comunidades locales y la fauna salvaje de Camboya

We've partnered with Volt to power our open banking payment option with real-time payments for vehicle deposits, repairs, parts, services and outright vehicle purchases. Open banking allows drivers to make secure, account-to-account payments. 

This next phase of open banking addresses friction caused by slow settlement times for dealers. With greater oversight of the transactions via payment notifications, dealers significantly reduce the risk of customer non-payment. The update also includes the option to make instant refunds to customers. 

The collaboration marks a significant rise in the use of open banking for Bumper with more drivers opting for the method at the point of sale. 

For dealers, open banking presents a huge cost-saving opportunity, with transaction fees a fraction of traditional payment methods. As of January 2024, open banking has saved 152 Bumper dealerships an estimated £200,000 in transaction fees. Moreover, open banking reduces the risk of fraudulent payments – customers are required to authenticate the payment within their banking app. 

The news comes at a time of exceptional growth in the used car market with more sold in 2023 than any other post-pandemic year. This rebound is reflected in the £3 million in payments processed through the Bumper-Volt integration since its launch in January 2024. 

Currently available in the UK, the integration will accelerate the rollout of Bumper’s open banking offering across other European territories.

Richard Drury, VP of Partnerships at Volt, said: “For car dealerships, the payments process has been a major challenge, and our solution is a real asset in alleviating those challenges many dealership owners are facing today. We’ve created a perfect solution for Bumper, with the initial results and quick adoption proving that it resonates with both buyers and sellers. There’s huge potential for real-time payments to take off in the automotive industry, so this partnership was a no-brainer for Volt.” 

Jack Allman, CCO and Co-Founder at Bumper, said, "The move to Volt as Bumper's Open Banking payment provider will have a huge impact on functionality for our partnered dealerships and their customers, providing them with a frictionless account-to-account payment experience. 

"This new partnership enhances our open banking infrastructure with increased functionality including settlement accounts, real-time notifications and refunds. These developments will increase operational efficiency and automation across all users, whether they work in accounts, sales or service. 

“Additionally, Volt’s global payment network facilitates Bumper to roll out our Open Banking product across Europe in the near future. We're incredibly excited to have launched this next phase of our Open Banking platform and can't wait to see the increased value this new iteration will bring to our partners." 

Bumper Partners with Volt to Empower Dealers with Open Banking

We’re thrilled to announce the last Dealership of the Month for 2023 is Lookers BMW and MINI Stafford.

The site managed an outstanding end to 2023, increasing the number of drivers using Bumper’s PayLater to split their bill into interest-free instalments by 50%.

Service advisor Kacey led the way in December helping 17 customers to drive away with their bills split with Bumper, closely followed by Andrea, known to the team as Queenie, with 14 PayLaters under her belt.

Driven by Aftersales Manager Lee Tucket, Lookers BMW and MINI Stafford use PayLater via the RTC integration. The team offer the monthly instalment option across both their aftersales and service departments.

Lee said, “Bumper's PayLater has been a huge success for us at Lookers BMW and MINI Stafford. By using flexible payment methods positioned at the right time, we've afforded our customers the opportunity to make what could be a large, unexpected cost much more achievable. This has had a significant impact in boosting our customer satisfaction levels and red work conversion.”

The Bumper-Lookers partnership has also had a positive impact on customer feedback. Mohammed visited the site in January and said, “Went for an MOT test, I was informed the rear tyre needed replacement but also both the front two. I saw I could have interest-free over 3 months, easy to apply and accepted. Saved shelling out in one go and spread over 3 months, great option. I will definitely do that again next time.”

Congratulations to Lee, Kacey, Andrea, Steven, Ashley and the whole team at Lookers BMW & MINI Stafford.

Lookers BMW & MINI Stafford Win Dealership of the Month 

The automotive industry is undoubtedly one of the most dynamic in the world. It is a sector that lives and breathes on innovation, with those businesses innovating fastest and deepest always winning. Consumers are quick to vote with their wallets if a brand comes out with something they are desperate to get a piece of.

Whether you are a manufacturer or dealer, maintaining competitive advantage is no longer just about the vehicles you make and sell; it’s about product, service and brand seamlessly combining to tell consumers that this is the one for them.

This is where partners like Bumper have a critical role to play. Manufacturers and dealers do what they do best – make and sell cars – and bring the very best partners in the world in other crucial elements of the customer experience to ensure those three components of excellence are delivered.

Given this context, at Bumper we have always known that staying ahead of the curve is not just a goal, it is an absolute necessity. If you stand still, you die – and while we have been on an incredible growth journey to date, becoming what is undoubtedly one of the leading businesses in automotive payments in Europe, we – like our industry partners – strive for better.

The $48 million funding round we announced last week underpins that ambition. We want to be the dominant payment platform for car dealers across Europe, giving their customers the ultimate flexibility in making the necessary payments to keep their cars on the road.

Our journey began with a simple yet powerful idea: to make car repairs less financially burdensome for owners while empowering dealerships with advanced, digital payment solutions to enable those customers to say “yes” to the repairs and upgrades they need. Delivering a product to meet this simple mission has ultimately driven our exponential growth, and the endorsement of investment from JLR’s InMotion Ventures and Porsche Ventures is a hugely positive moment.

The recent funding round, led by Autotech Ventures and bolstered by Shell Ventures, in addition to both JLR and Porsche, is about more than capital: it is a resounding vote of confidence in our vision to become the go-to payment platform for dealers anywhere in the world.

Our strategy is straightforward yet ambitious. We’re expanding our reach, targeting key European markets including the UK, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, and Ireland. While Bumper is already available through 5,000 dealers, enabling more than 250,000 repairs in the past year alone, our goal is to double this number annually.

While the growth strategies of automotive businesses vary widely from brand to brand, they increasingly have one consistent goal: to support their customers with the car-related challenges they face, take the pressure away when decisions are difficult and, ultimately, give them the most enjoyable car-buying and owning experience possible. Financing servicing and repairs is a fundamental part of delivering that, and there has never been a more critical time for dealers to consider the services they provide, with the cost-of-living crisis leading any car owner or buyer to consider their options more deeply than I have seen in my lifetime.

Bumper’s success isn’t just measured in numbers, it’s reflected in the relief and satisfaction of car owners who can keep their vehicles on the road without financial strain, and in seeing the thriving businesses of our dealer partners that can offer more to their customers. These objectives are ultimately two that not only mean the end customer is hugely positive, it speeds-up the time to purchase and drives incremental revenue.

Innovative payments: Bumper’s new funding will support an exciting future for car dealers across Europe

Pagos innovadores: La nueva propuesta de Bumper abrirá un futuro apasionante para los concesionarios de automóviles de toda Europa.

We're pleased to announce the winner of the Dealership of the Month for November 2023 is York, Ward & Rowlatt.

The site achieved a record-breaking month in November by doubling the number of customers paying for their repairs through Bumper.

York, Ward & Rowlatt has been a part of the Bumper network since 2016 and in that time has established the pay monthly option as a fundamental part of their aftersales process. The team have now installed the Bumper PayPads, giving customers the power to choose between PayLater and PayNow in just a few clicks.

Mutual Bumper and York, Ward & Rowlatt customers agree that the customer service at the site is truly unbeatable. One reviewer said, “Fantastic service and a great team. Really helped me understand everything clearly with good communication.” Another said, “Great to be able to spread the cost of maintaining a car over a set period of time, really helpful in such precarious financial struggles.”

Bumper’s Darren Gloster visited the site to hand over the award. He said, “I’d like to say a big congratulations to York, Ward & Rowlatt. They’ve been a long-standing and valuable partner for Bumper.

“It’s fantastic to see the team working so hard to bring customers greater payment flexibility. They’re incredibly knowledgeable about Bumper’s products and have now adopted the PayPad into their everyday process so easily.”

Congratulations to, Rebecca, Stuart, Paul, Dan and the whole team at York, Ward & Rowlatt!

York, Ward & Rowlatt Win Dealership of the Month 

For many people, Christmas time means one thing - food. And lots of it. That’s why, in celebration of this delicious holiday season, we’ve asked our AI friends to tingle your tinsel tastebuds and turn popular cars into Christmas biscuits.

So, without further ado, let’s take a trip to a biscuity winter wonderland.

Cruise control and chocolate chips in this biscuity BMW M3.

From the biscuit tin to the tailpipe with the VW Touareg.

Cruisin through the snow in a one-horsepower open sleigh.

Take a road trip to flavour town in this Mazda.

Sleigh bells ring, are you listenin'? Turbochargers whir, presents glisten.

Revving up the oven for this flavoursome Fiesta.

Accelerate your taste buds in this delectable Hybrid.

Brake-ing news: Santa's ride just got a festive tune-up.

I’m driving home for Christmas, Oh I can’t wait to eat those Fox’s.

Using AI to Turn Your Cars into Christmas Biscuits

Three teams headed to Ankara, Turkey this month to compete in Bumper’s annual hackathon. 

Racing against the clock, members of our development, product, design, and sales teams were split into three groups. They were tasked with creating a new feature to add to Bumper’s existing product offering. 

Over the course of just two days, the teams had to take their features from an initial concept into a fully workable feature. Teams were judged in five key areas: quality of code, user experience, commerciality, presentation, and inspiration. 

Matt Williams, Bumper’s Chief Growth Officer, headed up the winning team. He said, ‘Our annual hackathon is an opportunity for members of different departments to come together and focus on one project. The result is something really quite incredible. 

‘Last year our winning team created the ability for service advisors to see their customers’ reviews directly on their Bumper dashboard, adding immense value for our partnered garages and dealerships.

‘This year we’ve gone a lot bigger, looking at ways to improve the experience of the end user. The final product we’ve created is going to have a massive impact on the way our customer base can interact with us and we’re all incredibly excited to get it out there.’ 

Following the team’s win in Ankara, the new feature will go through several rounds of meticulous user testing before its release.

Three Bumper Teams Battle It Out for Hackathon Crown

It’s with great pleasure that we announce the Dealership of the Month for October goes to John Clark Audi Aberdeen. 

The team won the award for their quick adoption of Bumper’s open banking payment option – PayByBank.

The new payment option allows customers to make one-off, account-to-account payments directly from their mobile devices. Requiring the use of authentication within the customer’s banking app, Open banking significantly reduces the risk of fraud for the dealer and avoids high processing fees often associated with cards issued by third parties. 

Open banking now sits alongside PayLater and PayNow, allowing Audi Aberdeen to offer a broad range of payment products no matter the customer’s needs.

Bumper’s Ricardo Fishbourne delivered the award to the winning site. He said, ‘A big congratulations to the team at John Clark Audi Aberdeen. The team have successfully integrated open banking into their everyday process, giving customers even greater payment flexibility than before.

‘Customers are looking for smarter, digital alternatives to card and the team here have really taken that on board, starting to work open banking into their everyday conversations with customers. They’ve proved themselves to have an incredible knowledge of our products, which is key when introducing a new payment option such as open banking.’

Mark Duncan, Sales Manager at Audi Aberdeen, said, ‘Open banking has really helped us receive payments from customers in a more efficient and cost-effective manner. We like how simple it is to use and our customers also appreciate its ease of use once we’ve explained it to them. Open banking is helping us reduce merchant costs on our transactions as traditional credit and debit cards carry a much higher processing cost compared to Open banking’.

Congratulations to Keith, Mark, Evelyne, Andrew, Jennifer, Juli, David and the whole team at John Clark Audi Aberdeen!

Alastair Shephard

Content Writer