What makes a “different kind of Credit Hire Company?”

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before.

“We’re not like other recruiters/insurers/marketers/pie shops/credit hire companies. We do things differently.”

Cogent Hire isn’t the first company in the UK to say we’re not like our competitors. And we’re certainly not the first CHC to make that claim. But we hear time and time again from insurers, from repairers, from companies and from drivers that we actually are a different kind of credit hire company. That we really do do things differently.

We’re proud of that. Because we believe that doing the same as everyone else won’t solve the problems everyone is facing. And we all know about all those problems. We spent 2022 interviewing, asking and probing as part of our Perfect Storm series, so we know what’s wrong and what we need to do to fix it.

We need to be collaborative. To talk with you, stand beside you and advocate for you.

But how do we do that? What really makes a different kind of credit hire company?

Easy.

People.

If you want to be a different kind of credit hire company, you need to hire the right people. And we have. Over the past 18 months, we’ve expanded the headcount here at Cogent Hire tenfold.

We’ve hired enthusiastic, friendly, warm and dedicated people to form our growing company. But that’s not enough. Because being warm and dedicated is great, but you also need to be an expert. Enthusiasm and friendliness is fantastic, but you need to know your stuff too. And you need to be well supported.

How?

You need to train your people.

Over the coming months, we’ll be providing our people with all the support, guidance and help they need.

Kirsty McKno has opened up her contact book and called many of the experts from our Perfect Storm series to come and explain their corner of the motor industry and make sure every single member of our team is well-informed and up to speed.

Because that way, they can make sure our customers are well-informed and up to speed too. So that everyone knows what to expect, and we can all work together and collaborate.

We’ve already had green parts expert Joe March explaining how cars being written off for a computer issue leads to an increase in the number of perfectly safe, high quality pre-used parts on the market, meaning we’re able to advise drivers on green parts and have them back on the road much more quickly.

That’s not all. We’re planning day trips to meet repairers out in the world and get hands on with their side of the industry, and we’re inviting branding and tone of voice experts to come and make sure we’re communicating as well as we can with you.

But if you want to keep people enthusiastic and friendly, you can’t just throw training exercises at them like you’re an over-exuberant supply teacher. No, if we want to be a different kind of credit hire company, we also need to be a different kind of employer…

You need to support your people

If our people care enough to develop their skills, the least we can do is say thank you.

But it’s not the Cogent Hire way to do the least we can do.

Instead, we’re investing in a full wellbeing strategy called ‘Safe Space’ for our whole team. We’ve formed an 8 person wellbeing committee to answer the question “how do we make sure our people have good mental health,” and we’ll be investing in the right support for every single person we employ.

We’re also working closely with Ben - Support for Life,  a motor industry charity designed to support everyone who works or has worked in our industry. And on the charitable side of things, we’re giving our team free paid charity days so they can devote their time to causes they care about.

It’s easy to say you do things differently. Cogent Hire doesn’t do the easy things - we do the right things. That means demonstrating that we do things differently. That we really are a different kind of credit hire company.

And we’re doing that by investing in our people. Because they’re the ones who’ll be there - beside insurers, with businesses and for drivers.

It’s the Cogent Hire way.