Mike Bailey, CAVA Finance 0161 222 9599
Coach, Minibus/Coach Finance

We recently worked once again with Paul Cruickshanks of Tayforth Travel to secure finance on a VW Transporter Shuttle to expand their luxury minibus travel fleet. We were introduced some time ago by David Fishwick in Colne and have since worked together for several purchases of various minibuses for their growing company.

The company is based in Falkirk in Scotland and are a big part of the community, providing tours of the local area’s tourist attractions alongside minicoach hire for all occasions and travel needs.

CAVA Finance is proud to have helped the company to grow during a difficult time and it’s great to see some normality resuming, with their new shuttle recently providing the transport for a customer’s golf trip to Drumoig Golf Centre in St Andrews, as seen in the photo below.

Tayforth Travel

Tayforth Travel is one of the many minibus, coach and taxi companies that have proved themselves to be invaluable during a crisis.

From helping key workers to ensuring the most vulnerable in society are cared for, transport companies have gone above and beyond what’s expected of them in order to keep communities functioning.

Paul kindly shared his story of how they’ve coped with the pandemic.

“Thanks again to Mike Bailey at CAVA Finance for helping us finance our new bus.

The coronavirus has hit us hard with the loss of tours, football hires, golf outings, airport transfers and schools.

We are fortunate that our local councils in Falkirk and West Lothian have been really good supporting us through these difficult times.

We have been doing some work at a special needs school and with the NHS and some voluntary work with Falkirk Football Club delivering food parcels to the elderly and needy.

We are one of the lucky coach operators that have survived some have not been so lucky.

Looking forward to returning back to normal, hopefully sometime soon.”

As you can see, Paul and the company are a big part of the Falkirk community, from providing transport to supporting their local football club, Falkirk FC. 

We’re looking forward to seeing all our customers again soon, in the meantime we are here to continue to provide advice and assistance around your next vehicle purchases. Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you’d like to discuss your options.

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Coach, Minibus/Coach Finance, News

In a time where everything seems to have been flipped on it’s head, businesses are struggling and people’s daily lives are disrupted, it’s important to make the best out of a bad situation.

Longstanding customer A&A Travel (Sussex) Ltd have done exactly that. Following on from last Friday’s school closures around the country and Monday’s announcement of more significant lockdown measures, the company are doing all they can for their community.

These measures have resulted in unexpected availability of drivers and vehicles, where they would previously have been on the school run or providing transport for commuters.

Based in Sussex, the company have been providing transport to their community for 20 years. Many of their passengers fall into the elderly or vulnerable category. To give back, A&A put in place a free transport service to those who need it most.

“In these difficult times, we want to do our part to give something back to the community, and to our valued customers.”


Of course, with the daily announcements from the Government altering people’s usual routines and them recently imploring people to remain at home, this service will no longer be able to operate for the public in the same way.

However, A&A haven’t stopped there. In between sanitising their vehicles and ensuring passengers are seated a safe distance apart, they’re looking after our NHS and other important key workers.

“We also want to give something back to all those working hard in the NHS, Emergency Services, and “Key Worker” communities.”

Their commitment takes care of the transportation for key workers and their children, including;

– Transporting children of Key workers to School

– Rail Replacement, including emergency

– Transporting Key workers to & from work

– Patient Transport for hospitals

The company have noted on their Facebook page that they are in talks with the Council, Police, Local MP’s and Hospitals about how they could also offer further services or potentially adapt their vehicles to help a greater number of people.

If you have any contacts in East or West Sussex who may benefit from A&A Travel’s generous contribution to essential travel, please get in touch with them here.

We’re also keen to find out what our other clients are doing at the minute. If you have a story to share which could give someone a well needed boost, we want to spread positive news. Please get in touch here.

CAVA Finance is operating as usual during this time, albeit from the home office, and happy to assist with any queries!

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Minibus/Coach Finance, News, Taxis

Are we following in the footsteps of our Parisian neighbours?

 

The 16th of September marked the 3rd ‘Car-Free’ day in the French capital. The scheme was introduced in a bid to tackle both air and noise pollution caused by vehicle emissions. Each year since it began Car Free Day, the city has seen a restricted zone imposed, however this year the ban on motorised traffic applied to the whole of Paris.

 

In the UK we’re not going quite the whole hog, yet a new, stricter law will be introduced in London by April 2019. The push for this Ultra Low Emissions Zone, will replace the London T-Charge (Toxicity Charge) which is currently in place and has been since October 2017.

 

The ULEZ will cover a much wider area and will be much more expensive. Of course, anything which sees increasing costs is going to cause controversy. This scheme does focus on reducing pollution from vans, cars, buses and lorries and is being enforced to discourage them from driving into the centre of London.

 

The current charges apply to older vehicles, over the age of 12 and is applicable during peak travel times from 7AM-6PM, Monday to Friday and covers the Congestion Zone.

 

How will this affect travel?

 

The changes in the emissions zone will see higher payments for ‘non-compliant’ vehicles. These would include petrol vehicles older than 15 years or diesel vehicles over 6 years old. However, there are some exemptions. According to TFL, “London-licensed taxis are exempt from ULEZ – they are subject to a 15-year age limit and new emissions standards have already been introduced for them. From 1 January 2018 all newly licensed taxis must be capable of producing zero emissions.”

 

Vehicles which are exempt or allowed a ‘sunset’ period, include designated wheelchair accessible Private Hire Vehicles. However, these are only exempt when carrying out a booking by a licenced TFL PHV operator. Meaning that owners of PHV will be eligible to pay the charges at other times if their vehicle doesn’t meet the new emissions regulations.

 

TFL note that “All other private hire vehicles will need to meet the emissions standards or pay the daily charge from 8 April 2019.”

 

Minibus and Taxi companies are now facing a costly decision. Operators would need to pay the daily charges, running the risk of needing to increase their own prices to cover this cost and ultimately losing customers due to increasing expense. Or the other option is for these companies to bring their vehicles in line with the regulations, meaning purchasing new vehicles.

 

With further restrictions planned for the capital by 2025, the latter option, whilst more costly may be a more sensible decision. In the future, newer vehicles with lower emissions are less likely to be affected by plans to potentially ban older vehicles or increase pollution charges further.

 

It looks like low or zero emission zones will be a reality sooner than we think, with plans for London to restrict certain zones to hybrid or electric vehicles only by 2025. Other cities will soon follow suit, with our city centres seeing reduced traffic and as a result, cleaner air.

 

Who knows, Manchester might be next…



Sources:

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/ultra-low-emission-zone/discounts-and-exemptions

https://www.buyacar.co.uk/cars/487/london-t-charge-and-ulez-emissions-charges

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Minibus/Coach Finance, News
In the second part of our ͚Who CAVA works with feature, we͛re focusing on another excellent business relationship. This month we wanted to share the journey weve been on with David Fishwick. CAVA have been working with David Fishwick Minibus Sales since 2003.

It’s been 15 long years and they proudly hold the title as the UK’s largest supplier of minibuses, mini coaches and wheelchair accessible vehicles.

Whilst David might be the man behind the business, we work closely with his team, including Mark Barlow who is the Dealer Principal and Matthew Eames and Peter Hartley who form David’s excellent sales team. As with Clive Knight, Fishwick’s refer customers to me, providing me with the contact details and vehicle details for those who are seeking a competitive deal.

emissions



I speak to all customers directly, adding the CAVA personal touch and arrange the finance, which allows the David Fishwick sales team to concentrate on what they do best. We have recently started a new venture with David Fishwick in conjunction with his other company, Burnley Savings and Loans. This means we are now able to consider finance offerings for near prime businesses, including new starts or companies who appear weaker on the balance sheet.

Take a look below at what David Fishwick Minibus Sales have to say about working with CAVA Finance.

“Mike Bailey and the team at CAVA Finance provide an exceptional service to us and our customers, making an application for funding on both new & used vehicles a seamless part of the deal. A single call or email is all it takes to get the ball rolling; with Mike making initial contact with the customer, taking the required details, processing the required documentation and updating all parties concerned throughout the process with great efficiency. Our customers gain confidence in knowing that their application is being put to a series of lenders without bias in order to obtain the best deal, and consistently report their satisfaction on the simplicity of acquiring finance. Whilst we benefit massively from the associated reduction in workload which allows us to concentrate on what we do best, confident in the knowledge that everything is being handled in a professional and personable manner.”

Here’s to another 15 years if we’re not both retired by then!
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