Autochek launches financial services to tackle vehicle financing challenges

By Chisom Nwatu

Autochek Africa, a leading automotive technology development company, has launched a new business arm, Autochek Financial Services, to address the challenges of vehicle financing across the continent.

Autochek Financial Services will introduce a range of vehicle financing solutions for consumers and businesses and will continue to support Autochek’s Marketplace platform, making it easier for consumers and businesses to finance their vehicles.

It will also provide best-in-class technology and advisory solutions to car dealers, financial institutions, and other stakeholders in Africa’s automotive ecosystem, supporting them to improve credit decisions, collections, pricing, portfolio management, and product development, as well as deliver an enhanced customer experience.

Headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, Autochek Financial Services will be led by a veteran in the vehicle financial services industry, Johan van der Merwe.

Van der Merwe has more than 20 years of experience in risk, credit, and asset finance. Before joining Autochek Financial Services as CEO, he had previous roles as chief risk officer at WesBank Motor (one of South Africa’s leading vehicle and asset finance providers) and SA Taxi (a vertically integrated company that provides financing, insurance, and other services for the minibus taxi industry in South Africa). He will head a leadership team with more than 60 years of Africa-focused automotive and eCommerce experience.

Commenting on the launch, van der Merwe said there is a great opportunity to drive shared value for consumers, manufacturers, financial institutions, and other stakeholders by unlocking financing.

“And I strongly believe that we can build the infrastructure to make this happen. Etop and the team have done a lot of outstanding work to deliver the success Autochek has seen to date and I am looking forward to working with them to deliver more success and more growth across the continent’s automotive sector,” he said.

About a year ago, Autochek secured $13.1 million in seed funding to bolster its core auto loan processing platform and deepen its footprint across Africa. It currently has active operations in nine countries across East, West, and North Africa.

According to Etop Ikpe, Group CEO and co-founder of Autochek, van der Merwe brings a wealth of experience to Autochek Financial Services and the team is excited to have him on board as it builds the infrastructure to transform automotive commerce across Africa.

“We want to empower more Africans with seamless access to vehicle financing and we are looking forward to delivering more solutions to bridge the affordability gap and make it easier for more Africans to purchase the vehicles they want,” Ikpe said.

Since launching in 2020, Autochek has driven the penetration of auto financing across Africa, enabling more consumers and businesses across North, West, and East Africa to access financing solutions to purchase their desired vehicles.

In less than two years of operations, the company has worked with more than 70 financial institutions and over 2,000 dealerships to process more than 80,000 car loan applications.

With the launch of Autochek Financial Services, the company is now positioned to double down its efforts to accelerate access to finance for Africans and to improve the speed, structure, and pricing of auto-financing on the continent.

Leveraging the vast reach of its online marketplace, the company originates auto loans powered by data analytics that make it easier for financial institutions to offer credit to consumers.