CONNECTED Vehicles, which is trading under the Carbucks brand, has established an exclusive distribution agreement for Australia and New Zealand with aftermarket warranty group Presidian.

Under the 10-year agreement, Presidian will take over the sales of the Carbucks Rewards program and the newly-launched Carbucks Protect aftermarket insurance product. The unique rewards program is designed to increasingly generate long-term customer loyalty for participating dealers.

Mark Lancaster

Dealers get cash returns when Carbucks Rewards users use their credit cards for paying bills at selected merchants – even at supermarkets.

Carbucks Rewards and now Carbucks Protect are sold to car owners by auto dealers. 

The arrangement means that Carbucks sales focus through dealers will be managed by Presidian. This will leave the ongoing IT development of the Carbucks services to Connected Vehicles.

The arrangement also means that Connected Vehicles can focus on taking the concept to overseas markets following interest from Asia, the UK and the United States. 

The CEO of Connected Vehicles, Mark Lancaster, told GoAutoNews Premium: “Presidian has a  strong dealer network of more than 1400 dealer partners. They also have 25 salespeople all over Australia and New Zealand. This arrangement means that Carbucks can instantly expand our reach and recruit dealers more efficiently. 

“At the same time, Connected Vehicles can focus on what we do best, which is our specialised IT expertise for creating and refining innovative automotive products and programs designed to generate revenue and customer loyalty for dealers. 

“Together with Presidian, we are poised to provide dealerships with these programs that generate immediate returns, enhance customer satisfaction and foster long-term loyalty across the dealership.

Peter Fowler

“Presidian is very good at acquiring dealers and we are pretty good at building products, so we thought it was a good, good match.”

Mr Lancaster said: “We have half a dozen really interested parties internationally who want to take these programs for their markets because they realise there’s nothing similar internationally. So by signing up to a partnership with Presidian in Australia means I can start focusing on these opportunities.”

Mr Lancaster said it was the addition of instant profitability for dealers that is now flowing from the new Carbucks Protect roll-out that captured the attention of Presidian.

Presidian sells aftermarket warranty products via dealers. It was part of McMillian Shakespeare Group until it was bought by well-known insurance industry identity Peter Fowler and his business partner Chris Bignoux.

Mr Fowler joined McMillan Shakespeare as group executive of risk and insurance products in October 2016. Prior to that, he had held senior positions at RACV, Suncorp, AIG Australia and Insurance Australia Group (IAG). He spent six years as part of the executive team heading up the sales division for Swann Insurance, an IAG-owned company.

By John Mellor