The Credit Hire OrganisationProtecting, promoting & advancing credit hire

6th Annual General Meeting19 November 2015

The Credit Hire OrganisationProtecting, promoting & advancing credit hire

Martin AndrewsDirector Generalmandrews@thecho.co.uk

Welcome - Members, Speakers and Sponsors

Welcome to the 6th CHO AGM and Conference

Big thank you to the event speakers this afternoon:

Ben Welsh – PR Activity Alan Gilbert – Code of Conduct / ADR Iain Stephen – Training Courses / Regulation Craig McAdam – VW Emissions / Fleet Valuation Impact James Bilham – Referrer Fraud / Insurer Initiatives Craig McAdam – VW emissions Steve Densley – Tracing Uncooperative Clients Marc Levy – Is there value in closed claims where insurers told you they were fraudulent? Craig Budsworth – Legal Cases Update Steve Evans – two sessions:

The 2015 GTA Rate Review; and Tactics to Employ Post Stevens

Welcome - Members, Sponsors and Speakers

Welcome to the 6th CHO AGM and Conference

Big thank you to the event advertisers and exhibitors:

Accident Credit Group Daniels Silverman Alliance Asset Management – please visit the stand Slater & Gordon DCML Nesbit Law Car or Van Specialist Vehicle Hire Magna Accident Services

1st Piece of Formal Business – Approve Minutes of 2014 and 5th AGM

The minutes were emailed to you all on 25 November 2014 and have been available on the members only section on the CHO website since then They are confidential

You need your user name and password to access them!

These have been emailed to you – and are available again on request

The website was redesigned last year

We have asked you to complete your personal pages

Various other documents are also available from the members only section including the presentations from last year’s AGM and Conference and the summer conferences

1st Piece of Formal Business – Approve Minutes of 2014 and 5th AGM - continued The minutes of the 2014 AGM – held on 20 November 2015 noted that:

Thanked the sponsors of the event (Including In Car Cleverness and Hill Dickinson)

Thanked the speakers at the conference covering topics such as Steve Jones – The CMA Final Report Jodi Daubney – Member initiatives (training / insurance / vehicle protection) Alan Gilbert – Statement of Consumer Rights Craig Budsworth – Legal Cases Update Ben Welsh – PR Activities John Hall / Rob Cummings / Tim Wallis (ABI and GTA) re the future of the GTA post the CMA

Confirmed accounts to 31 December 2013 had been filed with Companies House and HMRC, showing a loss for the year of £50k and reserves at 31 December 2013 of £31k

Recorded that as of Nov 2014 membership comprised 62 members (Jan 2014: 63; Nov 2012: 87; Nov 2011; 110) 45 (Jan 2014: 42; Nov 2012: 52; Nov 2011; 68) full members 17 (Jan 2014: 21; Nov 2012: 35; Nov 2011; 42) associate members

1st Piece of Formal Business – Approve Minutes of 2014 and 5th AGM - cont

Reminded members that the 2014 was expected to be year of concluding CMA matters – and it did – or did it?

We had budgeted costs of £75k to fight the CMA re PR and economic advice

Noted that the CMA’s conclusions in September 2014 which, whilst flawed, represented a significant victory for us and aside from following up on consumer treatment under the direct hire model we would not need to pursue further action against the CMA

Noted that we intended to launch our own consumer charter (that afternoon)

Noted that the ABI were already lobbying government post CMA and that we had already met with consumer group “Which”

Urged members to use “The CHO User Group” on Linkedin Now over 800 discussion threads Now over 200 registered users

1st Piece of Formal Business – Approve Minutes of 2014 and 5th AGM - continued

Forecast the loss for 2014 at £15k (Budget: breakeven)

2015 budgeted costs excluded any provision for further CMA related costs

2015 admin costs (MA and BW) held static for third year

Potential recruitment of additional person (training materials) in 2015

Subscriptions kept static to raise a targeted £211k

Subscriptions set so as to project a profit of c. £20k to add to reserves

Discount for prompt payment before 31 January at 20%

1st Piece of Formal Business – Approve Minutes of 2014 and 5th AGM - cont

Proposed Subscriptions for 2015 held static from 2014 as follows:

Associates and Full Members with Revenue < £1m £2,480

Revenue £1m - £4m £5,425

Revenue £4m - £10m £9,145

Revenue above £10m - £25m £13,800

Revenue above £25 million £20,000

Invoiced Dec 2014: Discounts of 20% if paid pre 31 January 2015

1st Piece of Formal Business – Approve Minutes of 2014 and 5th AGM - cont

Set out the 19 applications for Executive Committee membership and all were voted in by a show of hands

Noted that various sub committees would be selected from the above Executive Committee at the next scheduled meeting Election of Chairman GTA Technical Committee GTA Vehicle Groupings Committee Rate Review Lead Negotiator Governance Committee

Code of Conduct was adopted formally

Ben Welsh outlined the PR activities scheduled for 2015 Focus on the rights of the consumer Advocate the GTA as an appropriate mechanism to avoid friction Use of website by members Keep relationships with journalists and MPs (noting it was an election year)

Approve the minutes of the 2014 AGM held on 20 November 2014 as a correct record – show of hands please

2nd Piece of Formal Business – election of 2016 Executive Committee

Thanks to the 2015 Executive Committee for their contribution during the year

Specific thanks to Steve Evans, Alan Gilbert, Andrew Makepeace and Ben Welsh Steve put in a large shift re the GTA rate review Alan stepped down from the GTA TC (but remains on the Exec) after a decade of service Andrew – is on the board of The CHO Limited Ben Welsh – PR and rehearsal of messaging

Approve the election of the 2015 Executive Committee as per page 15 of the event brochure by a single show of hands

To Note - the Chairman will be elected from within this Committee at the next Executive Committee meeting scheduled for December

To Note - other sub committees will also be elected from within this Committee: GTA Technical Committee representatives GTA 2016 Rate Review lead negotiator GTA Vehicle Groupings Committee Governance and Compliance Committee (approve / review bank transactions and accounts)

Director General – Review of year

Recognise that times are hard

When aren’t they?

Bikers Legal Defence

Thanks to Jason Richards for his Executive Committee and GTA TC contributions and wish him and others impacted the very best

Director General – Review of year

In my address last year I wrote….

“We cannot gloat, significant threats remain, not least the inevitable legal challenges that are coming in Q1 ….”

In February we had the Stevens v Equity judgement Immediate PR initiative launched by Beachcrofts Expectations set within insurers as to the material cost savings that should result Insurer behaviour slow to change but change it did…..

At the summer conferences (we had two remember) I reminded us all that the CMA had said in their press release accompanying their final report in September 2014:

“The CMA is, however, encouraging some action by those with the ability to make the market work better within the existing legal framework. This includes a reconsideration of the benchmarks used when making awards for damages in non-fault temporary replacement vehicle claims as the benchmarks used currently appear both artificial and high”

No surprises that our world did not stay calm for long then

Director General – Review of year - continued

The CMA went on to say

“It (the CMA) is also encouraging insurers to consider more readily providing insurance cover for a replacement car when their customer is not at fault in an accident, whilst ensuring that claimants’ legal rights are preserved; and encouraging both insurers and the providers of vehicles to consider wider use of bilateral agreements and electronic solutions to bring down the costs of handling claims”

The CMA also pointed to the GTA

Indeed you will recall we had Tim Wallis (GTA Chairman), John Hall (Insurer GTA TC representative) and Rob Cummings (ABI) at last year’s conference!

But the GTA Portal energy died as a result of Stevens….

And the 2015 GTA Rate Review was clearly going to be interesting post Stevens….

Lots of press interaction as everyone tried to assimilate Stevens

Managed to keep “the future of the GTA” outside of the press so far

Director General – Review of year - continued

Steve will take you through the 2015 GTA Rate Review story

If you attended the two summer conferences you will recall that we disagreed with the: processes Tim Wallis was following Concerned about compliance with competition law the intention of the GTA where subscribers reject a Chairman’s recommendation

Insurers presented data in a reckless way

Tim took away our ability to negotiate using phrases such as “post Stevens the direction of travel is downwards”

Finally some good news from an unexpected source

Director General – Review of year - continued

In July 2015 the CMA reported on the European Short Term Rental Market

CMA review found that the main areas of concern related to: (a) a lack of transparency about the total price when making a booking,

particularly when additional charges were only revealed to the consumer at the pick-up desk;

(b) a lack of transparency of rental contract terms and conditions; (c) the way in which additional waiver and insurance products are sold by car

rental companies; (d) a lack of transparency and potential unfairness of some car rental companies’

fuel policies; (e) how vehicle damage is assessed and charged for and how disputes are dealt

with; and (f) additional payments being taken from the consumer’s credit or debit card

after the rental period without adequate prior notification, explanation or supporting evidence

Director General – Review of year - continued

Finally some good news – the CMA demolish their own credit hire counterfactual

Tim had to concede the insurer mainstream car hire pricing / data issues

Steve will take you through the detail

Rates announced as staying unchanged

So, please now pay your GTA subscriptions

What next for the GTA?

Director General – Review of year - continued

Insurer behaviour

GTA Rate Review – beyond negotiation tactics

Autofocus II

Insurer comment when Steve Turner joined the GTA Technical Committee

“Welcome to the Crazy Gang”

A jokey reference we thought – something to do with Wimbledon FC (Vinny Jones et al)

Or……

'The Crazy Gang' - Collectively, the best loved bunch of pensioners ever to tramp the boards, sing a song or raise a laugh. When they first came together in 1931 it was, perhaps, the most unlikely troupe of acts ever assembled on the stage for a single show. A pair of slapstick artists, an acrobatic high-wire act and a couple of comics who laced their jokes with schmaltzy songs wasn't really designed to set the stage on fire. Not even if you threw in a juggler with a red nose and a peculiar line of patter consisting of a little fractured French and a heck of a lot of cockney. But succeed they did and, by the time they made the very final of their many final appearances at the Victoria Palace Theatre in 1962, they had topped the bill for over 30 years.

Can you identify the CHO TC reps from this next picture?

Or….

Wikipedia says…..

“The Crazy Gang is a fictional group of super villains, appearing in Marvel Comics. They are mostly petty thieves, but will work as mercenaries.”

Really……..

Autofocus II and all that ……. stones in glasshouses…..

Its time for me to swear

Cue the graphic though – who is who in this picture?!

Director General – Review of year - continued

Insurer focus on credit hire fraud Mike Brown DLG

I have spoken at various insurer fraud conferences “fraud is rife amongst the minority”!

But this is serious If just one CHC lets its guard down (or worse) it impacts the credibility of us all

The Code of Conduct, MoJ, FCA, GTA all help me to present us as the good guys that are regulated ABI pushing for FCA regulation BBC Had confirmation that CHC’s are outside scope of the CMC review 84% of us in this room are either MoJ or FCA regulated

James Bilham of Hill Dickinson here to talk about protecting ourselves and being alert to the risk from our referrer sources

Government (David Hertzell) Fraud Task Force review to be published in December

Membership – Associate Members

B/F 17 members

Joiners

Hill Dickinson Emerald Law

Leavers

Hamilton Claims Solutions TJL Solicitors

C/F 17 members

Membership – Full Members

B/F 45 members

Joiners Leavers

Kinetik Fleet Limited Autodrive UK LimitedAuto Legal Protection Services Ltd Carrington Claims LimitedVeezu Assist Limited DWA Claims LimitedBlack and White Accident Management Fairway Legal Expenses Limited

Hamilton Levy Limitedidrive Auto SolutionsUnitown Hire Limited

C/F 42 members

BLD now in administration

Financial Position - continued

Abbreviated accounts for the year ended 31 December have been filed with Companies House Small surplus of £3k (better than forecast at the 2014 AGM) Reserves at 31 December are £34k

Costs for 2015 were Budgeted at £195k – subs set to Budget a £15k surplus to restore reserves to the c. £50k level

These costs included £20k for a potential recruit to run member training initiatives

The core training modules were going to focus on the GTA…….

There was no budget for the advice we had to get to defeat Tim Wallis’ GTA processes

£40k of legal and economic advice was obtained in the year – successfully….

Financial Position

With the cost saving of £20k and sundry other cost savings we are still forecasting a surplus of c. £15k for the year despite the £40k cost

We may ask the GTA TC to fund the £40k

Reserves at 31 December 2015 forecast at c. £50k

Executive Committee keen to retain that level of reserves as a contingency for the inevitable next series of unforeseen insurer / legal challenges

We are a not for profit organisation – but keen to avoid rescue fundraisings as happened in 2013

Costs to cover with subscriptions budgeted at c. £195k for 2015 No increases to any costs and assuming no legal / economic costs need to be incurred Will use the £50k reserves to cover unforeseen events

Subscriptions for 2016

Several subscription saving offerings GTA subscribers have their GTA fee discounted from their CHO membership fee Any CHO member referring a new CHO member gets a 10% commission

Lower of 10% of their fee or 10% of the new member fee

Remember we have lost BLD during the year (they paid a large subscription)

We have lost a net 3 members in the year

Subscriptions in 2015 raised £215k Losing BLD Losing a net 4 full members for 2016 Gaining full year effect of new members Offsetting c. £20k of GTA fees Current membership base with unchanged subscriptions would raise an estimated £195k

Proposal is therefore to leave subscription levels for 2016 unchanged from 2015

Subscriptions for 2016 - continued

Proposed Subscriptions for 2016 held static from 2015 as follows:

Associates and Full Members with Revenue < £1m £2,480

Revenue £1m - £4m £5,425

Revenue £4m - £10m £9,145

Revenue above £10m - £25m £13,800

Revenue above £25 million £20,000

Invoiced Dec 2015: Discounts of 20% if paid pre 31 January 2016

Membership

Is the trade body doing what you want it to?

Training initiatives launched this morning PIBULJ – Tim Kevan website DCML member discounts Daniels Silverman Nesbit Law

Iain Stephen to present more

Questionnaire to be sent to all members / non members Please respond!

Would like more GTA subscribers as members Need to find out why they are not joining

Joined up approach re insurer Stevens tactics is needed

As a trade body we are stronger with more members – we are 1% of the size of the ABI

Final Remarks

Future of the GTA?

Stevens / McBride in 2016

2015 / 2016 Rate Review

Will the portal see insurer appetite restored / and do we still have one?

Fraud – Let’s be vigilant and invest in appropriate checks

More regulation / compliance coming our way?

Membership / Non Membership survey

Training courses

Final Thankyou

I cheekily emailed you all giving you the opportunity to sponsor my somewhat long bike ride that I did this September

LeJoG

Final Thank you

I can tell you it is a VERY LONG WAY

The roads in Scotland are awful

Thoughts that kept me going from the rules of the Cog – the Velominati

And these apply to credit hire equally well I feel……

Rule 1 – Obey the rules Rule 2 – Lead by example Rule 3 – Guide the uninitiated Rule 5 – Harden the F up Rule 10 - It never gets easier you just go faster Rule 11 – Family does not come first. The bike does.

What you need most

PERSEVERENCE

Simple

https://www.justgiving.com/Martin-Andrews3

£2,185 raised for Alzheimers – thank you

Because we should be able to choose to act like children

Any other business and dates of next meetings

Is there any other business?

Date of next meeting

Requirement for 2016 half year conference to be reviewed Q1 2016

The 2015 AGM is scheduled to take place here on Thursday 24 November 2016

Declare meeting closed

Buffet lunch in Foyer

Then - back here at 2pm prompt please…..