™
Working capital for
automotive companies.
Parts on account, ramps and diagnostic kit, MOT bays, a forecourt that ties up cash — the motor trade runs on money spent before it comes back. These notes look at how short-term finance fits, and on every one the company borrows, never you personally. No personal guarantee.
Creditcorp is the growing name for the Credicorp group, and Credicorp Limited is the lender behind it. For the motor trade it does one thing: short-term working capital for incorporated UK automotive businesses.
An independent garage waiting on a fleet account, a parts factor stocking up before MOT season, a used-car dealer with cash sitting on the forecourt, an MOT station facing a class-change to its test equipment — the pressure is the same shape, but it lands at different moments. This page walks through how a Business Bridging Loan, Credicorp Flex or Credicorp Slice tends to be used in the trade, so you can picture the fit before you apply.
Throughout, the borrower is the company — a UK private limited company (Ltd), LLP or PLC — not the director who signs. That means no personal guarantee, no charge over a home and no personal credit check on a director. These are not personal loans, car finance or sole-trader finance. When you’re ready, applying happens on the lender’s own site, credicorp.co.uk.
Where the motor trade hits a cash gap
The work gets done and the parts get fitted long before the money lands. A few of the usual pinch points.
Most automotive businesses are paying out at exactly the moment they can least afford to. The motor factor wants settling on the account before your customer has even collected the car. A bodyshop carries the cost of paint, panels and a courtesy vehicle for weeks while it waits on an insurer. A used-car dealer ties up thousands per unit the day stock arrives, and only sees it back when the right buyer walks in. None of that is bad trading — it is just how the trade is wired.
Typical reasons a garage, factor or dealer reaches for short-term funding:
- Parts on account: the factor’s 30-day terms fall due before your fleet or trade customer has paid you.
- Diagnostic and test kit: a scan tool, ADAS calibration rig, four-post ramp or air-con machine that pays for itself in jobs, but stings up front.
- MOT bays: a class-change, a re-equip after a DVSA inspection, or a quiet stretch where the tester is busier than the till.
- Forecourt stock: cash sitting in metal on the pitch, plus prep, valeting and warranty before a sale.
- Seasonal swings: the pre-winter tyre and battery rush, or the spring service surge, needing stock bought ahead.
- A job too big to float: an engine or gearbox rebuild where the parts bill dwarfs a week’s normal takings.
The finance that tends to fit
Three shapes of short-term credit. Which one fits depends on whether the gap is a single known cost, an ongoing swing, or one supplier bill to spread.
A single, known cost — the Business Bridging Loan
When you can name the figure and roughly when you’ll clear it — a replacement ramp, a confirmed engine rebuild, a stock buy before MOT season — a fixed lump sum over a short term keeps it simple. One amount in, a clear repayment date out.
An ongoing swing — Credicorp Flex
Garages rarely have two identical months. A revolving facility lets you draw when the parts bill or the wages run lands, repay as your trade accounts settle, then draw again — with interest only on what you’ve actually used. Good for the factor account that ebbs and flows.
One supplier bill to spread — Credicorp Slice
Got a single chunky invoice — a parts order, a piece of test equipment, a tyre delivery — that you’d rather not pay in one hit? Slice settles the supplier in full today and your company repays over a few weeks for a flat fee, so the supplier relationship stays sweet.
The company borrows — not you
This matters more in the motor trade than in most. A lot of garage and dealer owners have grown the business out of their own pocket — the home re-mortgaged once to buy the unit, savings poured into the first ramp, the family car doubling as the courtesy vehicle. The last thing you want is another lender wanting a slice of your house.
With Credicorp the agreement is between the lender and your company. That means:
- No personal guarantee — the director doesn’t underwrite the debt.
- No charge over your home — nothing is secured against where you live.
- No personal credit check on the director’s own file.
The flip side is the rule that defines who can borrow: only bodies corporate — UK limited companies, LLPs and PLCs. If you trade as a sole-trader garage in your own name, this isn’t for you. The full regulatory position sits on the group site at creditcorpgroup.co.uk.
A worked example
Made up to show the shape of the fit — not a real customer, and no figures implied.
Picture a three-ramp independent garage and MOT station, run through a limited company, with a steady book of retail and a couple of local fleet accounts. Its diagnostic platform is getting too old to read the newer hybrids coming through the door, and a software class-change means the brake tester in one bay needs replacing to stay compliant. Both are confirmed costs the owner can name, and both will start earning the day they’re installed.
At the same time, the two fleet accounts pay on 45-day terms, so the parts already fitted to their vans are sitting on the company’s books unpaid. Buying the new kit out of the float would leave nothing to settle the motor factor at month-end.
A Business Bridging Loan for the known kit cost, or a Credicorp Flex facility to ride the factor account and the slow fleet payments, would each fit the gap — the company borrows, the owner’s home stays out of it, and the equipment is earning long before the loan is repaid. Which one, and on what terms, is settled on the lender’s own site.
Automotive funding — common questions
The questions garage, factor and dealer owners ask most. For anything specific, the lender’s team are on credicorp.co.uk.
Can a limited-company garage borrow without a personal guarantee?
Yes. Credicorp lends to the company — your UK limited company, LLP or PLC — not to the director who signs. There is no personal guarantee, no charge over a home and no personal credit check on a director. For a garage owner whose home and workshop are often tangled together on paper, that separation is the whole point.
We are an MOT testing station — does the funding care what the cash is for?
The lender looks at the company and its ability to repay, not at a shopping list. Whether the money buys a replacement brake tester, covers a quiet month after a ramp inspection, or stocks consumables before a busy period is your call. Keep the specifics on the live lender site when you apply.
Can we fund diagnostic equipment or a new ramp?
Working-capital finance can bridge the cost of kit such as a diagnostic platform, a four-post lift or an air-con machine, particularly when the tool starts paying for itself in chargeable jobs straight away. For a fixed, known cost a Business Bridging Loan often fits; for spreading a single supplier invoice, look at Credicorp Slice. See the products page for detail.
Our trade customers pay on 30 to 60 day terms. Does that count against us?
Slow trade-account payments are exactly the gap this kind of finance is built for. Fleet, bodyshop and sub-contract work often pays weeks after you have already bought the parts and done the labour. A short-term facility covers that lag so you are not funding other people’s cars out of your own float.
Is this a personal loan or consumer car finance?
No. This is exempt business lending to incorporated companies, not consumer credit and not motor finance for buying a car. It is not for sole traders and not for borrowing in your own name. The borrower is the business.
Where do we actually apply?
On the operating lender’s own site, credicorp.co.uk. This page is the Creditcorp brand front door and is here to explain the fit; it does not take applications, price loans or accept payments.
Related sectors
If the motor trade isn’t quite your fit, the same company-borrows rule runs through every sector. A few that share the parts-and-payment rhythm: Logistics & transport, Wholesale & distribution and Retail & shops. Or browse all sixteen on the industries hub. Company and legal detail lives at creditcorpgroup.co.uk.
Ready when you are
Whatever you turn over — garage, MOT bay, parts factor or forecourt — applying, drawing down and managing your account all happen on the lender’s site, credicorp.co.uk.