Preston car leasing bosses still driving success after more than 30 years in business

Bosses of a Preston car leasing firm are reflecting on more than 30 years in business which have seen them manoeuvre everything from financial crashes to global pandemics.

Select Car Leasing Preston, which is based at Nelson Court Business Centre, Preston Docks, has been in business since 1994 and employs 10 salespeople.

Part of nationwide firm Select Car Leasing, business principals Steven Clarke and Tony Cameron first met in the mid-1980s when they were both working for Midland Bank in Manchester before going their own separate ways.

Steven then enjoyed what he calls a ‘baptism of fire’ working as an account manager for GE Capital in Manchester, Merseyside, Chester and North Wales, teaching business managers within car dealerships how to optimise their finance and insurance sales.

He said: “It toughened me up, made me savvy and, looking back, was the best thing that could have happened to me.”

Tony, meanwhile, set up his own commercial finance operation in Preston.

Everything changed in 1993 when Steven visited the British Franchise Exhibition and was tipped-off about Network Vehicles, which specialised in business contract hire, lease purchase, and personal contract purchase on all makes and models of cars. Crucially, Network Vehicles was franchising the operation.

Steven called Tony a business plan was born. Shortly after, in 1994, Cameron Clarke Leasing was born.

Steven said: “Tony and I put everything we had into it. I got a loan for £7,500, let my company car go – a Peugeot 205 GTi 1.9 no less – and we just found a way to make it work. There was no email, no mobile phone, no internet, no social media, no Google – we had the Yellow Pages and the pub, and that’s where you made your contacts and got your business.”

Fast forward to 2019 and Steven and Tony met Mark Tongue and James O’Malley, co-founders and Joint chief executives of Select Car Leasing.

A year later, Cameron Clarke became the first ‘appointed representative’ of Select Car Leasing. Then, however, the world was plunged into Covid-19 lockdown.

For Steven and Tony, it became a case of ‘all hands to the pump’ as staff were furloughed and the business fought for survival.

Steven added: “The best part of the job [is] working with the incredible team we’ve created. I love recruiting, training and working closely with the team as we look forward to future growth.

“As for Tony, we’ve known each other 39 years and we’ve always had each other’s backs. We are different people with our own personalities but we’ve always had the same aims and ambitions. You learn to compromise or else it doesn’t work. We’ve always had an unwritten rule that if one of us feels strongly against a particular plan of action, we don’t do it. It’s as simple as that.”

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