Alastair Shephard

Content Writer

Alastair Shephard | Author

With the cost of owning a car skyrocketing, new research conducted by vehicle repairs service 

 has found that, of those who needed repairs, UK drivers spent an average of £803 last year on car repairs.

The research asked 2,320 UK drivers over the age of 18 if they have needed vehicle repairs in the last 12 months. Almost two-thirds (64%) of those questioned said they did have to fork out for repairs in the past 12 months, with an 

 (the lowest repair cost stated was just £37, while the highest was £1,796).

The latest National Travel Survey conducted by the Department for Transport* estimated that they are approximately 35.9m driving licence holders in the UK. When multiplied by the average cost that drivers admit spending in the past year on vehicle repairs, this would mean that drivers who required motor repairs in the past year collectively spent an estimated £18.5bn.

The results found that the below cities were home to the motorists who had to shell out the most on their car repairs:

Meanwhile, the cities which reported the lowest repair costs were found to be Liverpool (£37), Newcastle (£61) and Cardiff (£85).

The survey also asked respondents what repairs they needed to pay for over the past year. The most common answers were:

Interestingly, drivers in the South West were more likely to need tyres replaced that the rest of the country, with 73% saying they needed this repair done. Meanwhile, in the North of England, the most 

 reported was windscreen repair/replacement (59%).

“We all know that maintaining a vehicle can be expensive, but this new research really highlights just how much vehicle owners might need to spend every year. High repair costs can leave some road users feeling unable to maintain a vehicle and therefore unable to travel for both essential reasons, such as work or childcare, and also to do the things they love, such as visit friends and family or even go on holiday.

“Since the start of the year, we’ve seen the cost of living increase rapidly, particularly in the motoring sector with the cost of fuel reaching record highs. It’s more important than ever that drivers are aware of the cost of repairs and different ways to manage the financial strain of this. From putting aside a little bit of money for future repairs every month to looking into affordable buy now, pay later services, there are many ways to stay on top of your vehicle costs so that you’re not left stranded.”

Founded in 2013, Bumper (formerly Auto Service Finance) provides an interest-free digital payment platform for vehicle repairs and services, enabling owners to spread their costs. It also delivers an instalment financing solution using proprietary AI-enabled technology to facilitate real-time lending decisions.

Bumper enables dealerships and garages to sell a larger proportion of red and amber work, reducing workshop downtime, with no risks or liabilities, while also creating greater customer loyalty.

 fastest-growing fintech in the 2022 FT1000 rankings of Europe’s fastest-growing companies, Bumper works with over 3,000 dealerships and garages across the UK and the Republic of Ireland, helping over 160,000 drivers to fund their servicing and repair bills.

Bumper is based in London and Sheffield, with a tech development centre in Ankara, Turkey.

UK motorists have collectively spent over £18bn on car repairs in the last year

Leah has amassed considerable experience in managing staff growth at tech start-ups, most recently at Goodlord, the property lettings platform, and Eve Sleep, the online sleep brand.

Leah will manage the rapid employee growth Bumper is planning following its recent Series A funding round and its expansion into several key European markets, which will take the fintech’s headcount from 40 to over 100 within the next 12 months.

“This is an exciting time to be joining Bumper as the business accelerates its growth plans. My role will be to recruit the best possible team members to make this growth possible, while also helping shape the company’s evolving culture to ensure we have ways of working that will enable us to grow in the way we want to,” she said.

An immediate priority is the recruitment of tech staff to develop Bumper’s expanding platform as the UK-based business launches into new international markets.

“I enjoy working in the tech start-up world and look forward to helping Bumper achieve its growth plans by having the best possible staff in place over the coming months. We have an ambitious plan to virtually triple our headcount by the end of 2022 and that process is now underway,” she said.

Bumper has appointed Leah Ellis to the newly created position of Interim Chief People Officer 

The appointment reflects Bumper’s focus on evolving its platform, bringing further innovation to the automotive sector and delivering tech-led convenience to dealers and their customers.

Fran joins from Experian where she served as Domain Leader and Senior Product Manager. She was also formerly a Senior Product Manager at Lebara, where she was in charge of the business’ ecommerce platform and, prior to which she was Product Manager at Wonga where she co-led the rollout in Spain. 

Her career in product management began after graduating with an MBA from the London Business School in 2011.

Fran sits on Bumper’s six-strong executive team and is currently managing the international launch of the platform into continental Europe, starting with Germany, followed by Spain, the Netherlands, and Portugal.

She is also leading the development of a new white label customer app which will be offered by dealer groups to help improve aftersales retention. 

“I was attracted to Bumper because it’s a fintech with ambitious growth plans. The business is still relatively small, which makes it agile, but it has good funding which is allowing it to scale quickly,” she said.

“It was also an exciting opportunity to work with a tech leader and help further develop a platform which resonates with dealers and their customers. A major part of my job is listening to dealerships and understanding their requirements and working out how they can make better use of the Bumper platform, especially as we move into Europe where each market has different local nuances.”

Bumper has appointed Francisca Gutierrez Marticorena to the new position of Chief Product Officer

Bumper CPO Francisca Gutierrez has become the latest business leader to join the Automotive 30% Club. 

Gutierrez said gender balance is central to the expanding business’ accelerated recruitment drive as it scales up its digital aftersales payment platform in the UK and across Europe. 

The Automotive 30% Club is a voluntary group comprised of managing directors and CEOs founded to achieve a better gender balance across the automotive industry, with the aim of filling at least 30% of key leadership positions in its members’ organisations with women by 2030. 

Gutierrez said: “I’m really excited and honoured to be joining the Automotive 30% Club and look forward to working with the team and fellow members to actively promote gender balance by recruiting and retaining the best possible talent across the automotive sector. 

“As a fast-growing fintech business, Bumper is now hiring a lot of people at scale, which brings a number of challenges. Being a member of the Automotive 30% Club will help us build a framework and structure to ensure our hiring process is always as inclusive and diverse as possible. 

"This is not only a moral and ethical responsibility but also adds commercial value, as we believe a diverse management team makes better strategic decisions.” 

Julia Muir, the founder of the Automotive 30% Club, said: "It's great to welcome Francisca Gutierrez to the Automotive 30% Club. I'm very pleased that Francisca is putting a gender-balance and inclusion strategy at the centre of Bumper's growth plans and it is evident that she recognises the important role played by gender-balanced diverse teams in achieving business success. I shall look forward to bringing her into our network where we all share ideas and solutions to achieve diversity and inclusion goals" 

Bumper CPO Francisca Gutierrez becomes latest member to join Automotive 30% Club 

A recent survey by the Motor Ombudsman found that 68% of motorists plan to 

 due to the current cost of living crisis.

The survey of 2,000 participants revealed that 56% of car owners didn't currently have a service plan, 23% expected to delay their service and 33% expected to miss their annual recommend service entirely.

 isn’t mandatory, the check is recommended by manufacturers and is important for keeping the vehicle in good condition and safe for road users. 60% of respondents recognised the importance of an annual service and 35% understood the positive impact a service history can have on the vehicle’s resale value.

The survey revealed motorists were concerned about the cost-of-living hike, with 87% of motorists concerned about the high cost of petrol and diesel, as well as other large increases, such as National Insurance rising to 1.25% and an increase in inflation resulting in higher supermarket goods.

Consumers plan to react by cutting back on their vehicle use by walking or cycling, driving more efficiently to reduce fuel consumption, and shopping around for cheaper car insurance.

Find out more about reducing your fuel consumption.

Bill Fennell, Managing Director of the Motor Ombudsman, said “April has seen a coming together of several cost of living increases, which have unfortunately hit the wallets of consumers all at the same time. It’s therefore inevitable that something has to give, and our study has shown that servicing and vehicle maintenance is being seen as less of a priority. This is, of course, concerning – not following the vehicle manufacturer’s servicing schedule, and not taking their car to a garage to be looked at by a professional in the event of any mechanical problems is essentially compromising the safety and value of the vehicle.” 

Bumper’s PayLater platform puts drivers back in the driving seat by allowing them to split repairs, MOTs, services and accessories in monthly instalments, completely interest-free. Our quick and easy-to-complete applications are completed online in just a few clicks.

Complete the registration form on our website for more information about how Bumper can grow your aftersales department.

Motorists plan to delay service due to cost of living crisis

Bumper, the digital payment platform for vehicle repairs, services, accessories and add-ons, has announced the appointment of James Hind as a non-executive director.

The co-founder and CEO of carwow brings a wealth of digital automotive experience to the business as it prepares to launch across Europe.

“We’re incredibly excited to welcome James Hind as a non-executive director. His extensive experience of successfully scaling a disruptive automotive tech business in the UK, Spain and Germany will be invaluable to us,” said James Jackson, CEO and co-founder, Bumper.

“As an entrepreneur James is highly regarded across the automotive sector having grown carwow from a small start-up to an international business with over 400 employees and £5bn of car sales through it in 2021 alone, so we’re thrilled to have him onboard,” he said.

Speaking about his appointment Hind said: “Car repair and servicing bills are often a big financial burden for many consumers and Bumper has created a great way to spread the cost of that, helping avoid the need to take on expensive loans. Its platform is great for dealers too, providing them with a full suite of digital payment options for customers to fund workshop and add-on bills which has been a gamechanger and that shows with the huge adoption they’ve got.

“I’ll be supporting the management team as they grow its operations and offerings in the UK and across Europe. I’ve followed Bumper’s rapid rise with keen interest and look forward to working with the business to assist the next phase of its growth,” he said.

Hind joins Bumper following the recent expansion of its executive team with four new appointments: Francisca Gutierrez (chief product officer

Paul Edgecombe (chief compliance officer), 

Matt Williams (chief growth officer) and Leah Ellis (

named by the Financial Times as one of the fastest-growing FinTechs in its FT1000 rankings of Europe’s fastest growing companies.

Bumper appoints carwow’s James Hind as non-executive director

In total, the company has raised more than £950,000 from a number of private investors. The funding will be used to enhance the machine learning capabilities used to process customer applications quickly yet responsibly.

It comes after the business enjoyed 1,000 per cent year-on-year revenue growth in 2016 as the total amount of repairs, servicing and accessories funded through Bumper exceeded £6 million, a 100% increase over the last six months. This followed an increase of more than 150% in its customer base, with the number of UK dealerships offering Bumper rising from 300 to 850 over the last 12 months.

The popularity of Bumper’s solution has led to it being rolled out across franchised dealerships belonging to some of the world’s biggest vehicle brands such as Jaguar Land Rover, Peugeot Citroën, Ford and Vauxhall. Dealerships have found their customers have been able to go ahead with work using Bumper that they otherwise couldn’t have afforded, allowing them to ensure their vehicles are safe and operational, while managing the cost.

The payment method is funded exclusively by dealers, who pay a small transaction fee on any sales made through Bumper, meaning the customer gets flexibility with no extra or hidden costs. It is the only funding solution available that focuses solely on the repairs and service market.

James Jackson, co-founder and CEO of Bumper, said: “It is clear there is great demand for more options when it comes to covering the cost of maintaining our vehicles, which is all too often an expensive and stressful experience. Bumper provides greater flexibility and transparency to enable motorists to stay on the road without the hassle of high, and often unplanned for, one-off bills."

“Dealerships have been offering finance packages on vehicle sales for many years, and they are beginning to recognise the importance of adopting interest-free payment methods within their service divisions."

“This investment will enable us to continue our rapid growth by growing our technology team to enable us to further improve the customer experience, adding more features and even greater flexibility."

Bumper secures major investment boost

Now in it’s 19th year, the FStech awards celebrate innovative and outstanding technologies in the UK and EMEA financial services sector.

Bumper is pleased to announce that we have been shortlisted for the Best Use of Social Networks or Gamification category. The nomination is a result of the implementation of our service advisor dashboard; an area for users in which they can earn points and prizes for helping customers to pay their repair bills.

We are competing against two other start-ups. Invstr, an app for aspiring investors and Yu Life a mindfulness and wellbeing app. Also in the running, is investment bank JP. Morgan.

Bumper CEO, James Jackson, said, “it’s an honour to be shortlisted at the FStech award and is testament to the team’s hard work and dedication in continuing to improve our product’s user experience”.

The awards ceremony will be held at London’s Marriott Hotel, Grosvenor Square on 21st March and hosted by Kerry Godliman, comedian and star of Ricky Gervais’ sitcom Derek.

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