Blog

15 Ways to Keep Driving Costs Down

If you've just purchased your first car you may be surprised at how much it could cost on a monthly basis but, not to worry, we've found the top 15 tips to keeping the costs of a used car down. Read More

Looking After a Used Car

We spoke with our Customer Experience team to find the best advice and tips when it comes to owning and looking after a used car. They've detailed some of the most common issues. Read More

Understanding Credit Files

We simplify the basics of credit files in an easy to read blog and easy to watch video. We gathered some of the team at First Response to talk through what credit files are, what credit scores are and what you need to know about them. Read More 

Improving Your Credit File

This can be tricky but knowing which factors can affect you will help when it comes to making decisions about finance. Finance companies, whether they are loan companies or mobile phone shops will look at certain factors. Read More

Maintaining Credit Files

A blog dedicated to giving you tips on how you can maintain your credit file once it's in a good place. Read why it's important to keep on top of things as well as how easy it is for it to go backwards unless you're watching it. Read More

10 Tips When Purchasing Your Next Vehicle

We highlight 10 key tips that you should keep in mind when you're looking at buying or financing your next vehicle. These tips are designed with you in mind to help you get the most out of the motor. Read More 

How to Avoid Aggressive Driving

As part of our Driver Personas month we're looking into one of the most common driving persons on the road: the aggressive driver. Unfortunately, they're everywhere and sometimes unavoidable. Read how to prevent road rage. Read More

How to Have a Relaxing Commute

It's been proven that driving in congestion or peak times can be frustrating and far from relaxing. With schools going back this week we thought we'd spread some of our best tips and ways for keeping your cool during your commute to and from work. Read More

Saving Bots and Apps

We look into the world of technology, bots and apps to look at how these can help you save money. If you're no good at having spare cash at the end of the month or need a different way to stop you spending then this is the blog for you. Read More

Knowing Your Car Battery

We all have one but how much attention do you actually pay to the health of your car's battery? It's a crucial part of your vehicle do you know how to maintain, replace or even refill your car battery? Read More

Alternatives to Scrapping Vehicles

Sometimes the value of a part exchange or scrap value can come as a shock as it’s lower than you were expecting. Our social media buffs have interesting ways to upcycle or reuse parts of your old vehicle and keep you reminiscing. Read More

Charity and Fundraising

We do a lot of fundraising for our chosen charity Magic Breakfast as well as our employees chosen charities. We've raised an astonishing amount so far. This blog goes through some of the best ways we've raised money. Read More

Helping Students Thrive

Last year we partnered with Derby College to give a little bit of extra help to their A Level Business students by giving them real life examples of the work that they have learning in their classes, seminars and workshops. Read More

Office Refurbishment

On a regular basis you’ll find our CEO and HR Manager giving every member of staff the opportunity to give opinions on the business. One item that was mentioned by a few members of staff was that there weren’t enough spaces to relax. Read More

Team Building & Social Events

We put a lot of time into our staff by ensuring their well being is a priority, one way we do this is by encouraging team building and social events outside of work with a quarterly budget for each staff member. Read why this is important and how teams have spent their budgets. Read More

Finance Provider of the Year 2016

We attended the much anticipated award ceremony at Spinnaker Tower to find out whether we had won our nominated award of Finance Provider of the Year. Read the blog to find out if we did! Read More

The Number 1 Car Loan Company

We've been the Number 1 Car Loan Company for almost 4 years! We took the top spot on Review Centre in 2014. At the time of reaching the top spot we had over 450 unique reviews. Read More

Best Companies Results

A round up of our Best Company results over the last few years. Currently we are 9th in the UK (mid-size), the second year in the top 10. Read how we work, how we look after our staff and what our staff love. Read more.

Number 1 Car Finance Company

We've been voted the best car finance company (non-prime). We're very proud to receive this prestigious award as it's voted for by UK dealers. Read More

The Best Car Finance Provider

We are the best car finance provider within the UK. Read why we're the best and what you should compare if looking at other companies. Read More

What Your Car Colour Means

A part of our Driver Personas month we investigate the differences between car colours and what they usually mean about the driver. We look at the most popular colours to drive and those which are no longer that common. Read More

What Your Car Choice Says About You

BMW drivers are aggressive right? Nissan drivers are happy tootling along? We've conducted some research into the most popular driving styles and their associated vehicle to find out if these stereotypes are right. Read More

Car Insurance Myths

Unfortunately there are several things you should consider when looking for a new vehicle as they could increase your insurance. Not all cars are equal in the eyes of an insurer and neither are job titles or your accommodation type. Read More

Dealer Updates

The place to check out all of the improvements we make to our website, the dealer portal, commissions or First Response in general. Read More

CDX

We've visited CDX in 2016 and 2017. At the exhibition we were on hand to advise dealers about finance as well as give away some goodies. Read More

Bad Credit Car Loan

At First Response we have been specialising in providing "bad credit" car loans since 1998 and have financed over 130,000 customers with poor credit histories. Read More

Why we Only Work With Selected Dealers

You may not know, but in order to sell finance products a company must be registered with the FCA, otherwise they’re trading illegally. Read More

30% of Drivers Would Fail Their Test

We recently ran a survey of 1,000 UK drivers to find out exactly what their knowledge is about different parts under the bonnet. How many knew how to check the oil? How to check the coolant or check the brake fluid? Read More

Driverless Taxis Tested

With driverless taxis being tested in Singapore and Google pumping more money into their research into driverless cars, we examine if it really is the future. What's next? Will it succeed? Read the blog to learn more. Read More

Pros and Cons of Electric Cars

We look into the true costs of an electric car taking into consideration all government grants and help that's available. We use the average costs to calculate if it's worth splashing out on an electric car or to stick with the traditional. Read More

The Science Behind Sat Navs

Sometimes we can blindly follow technology without ever stopping to think about how they actually work. We were curious about the magic of Sat Navs so did some investigating about how they get us from A to B. Read More

An F1 Engine

Rules in F1 are more complex than they ever have been before. As the dust settles on the British Grand Prix and the confetti is cleared away after Lewis Hamilton’s victory, we thought we’d take a closer look under the bonnet. Read More

Is Finance Cheaper than Train Travel?

At the start of this year the rail networks made their annual price increases taking the overall price increase to 25% in 5 years. We found the stats to be interesting and thought we'd do some investigation to see how the prices compared with driving. Read More

What is HPI?

It's a status you'll read on a number of dealer's websites and even on car comparison sites but do you understand what it means? We've simplified the terms 'HPI check' and 'HPI clear' so you can find out if it's something you need to be worried about. Read More

The Rise of Dash Cams in the UK

More and more people are using dashboard cameras in order to monitor their driving and the driving of others around them. We didn't know much about them so spent some time investigating exactly why they've become popular and why you might consider buying one. Read More 

UK Driving Statistics

Who’s better at driving, men or women? No doubt this question has caused a few arguments and heated debates in the past as men claim their parking’s top notch and women claim to be more careful on the road. Well, statistically..
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Starting with Why

Inspired by a TED Talk we decided to challenge ourselves and ask our staff 'why we do what we do'. We asked our staff and filmed their first response to the question - have a look at what they said. Read More

Understanding our Recruitment

If you're looking to get a job role at First Response or are just curious about our process then you can read this handy blog. Here you'll find infor on what to expect from an Open or Assessment Day. Read More

Employee Benefits

Read about how, as a company, we ensure all employees are getting a fair deal with their benefits, bonuses and little extras that make working for us an overall great package. Read More

New Job Survival Guide

We delve into the unwritten rules of a new office job, from navigating the tea round to simple office politics. A must read if you're looking to make it through the first few weeks of any job! Read More

Do Companies Want Feedback?

Why do companies spend time finding out what employees think, do they really care? Is all feedback important or is some just negative? We've shared some thoughts about the subject. Read More

Internal Feedback Sessions

We hold regular meetings across the business and across all three sites in order to give staff the chance to speak their mind to the CEO. This means we can act on any issues that the business faces. Read More

Leadership Development

We spend time to invest and train our future leaders. We have various ways of doing this from leadership opportunities to a full internal academy. Read More

Should you Share Your Life at Work?

Sharing your personal life in work should be encouraged, find out why and how you could be doing it. A simple way to improve your working life. Read More

Understanding Degree Apprenticeships

Parents - what do you know about degree apprenticeships? If you're child is looking into one and you have no idea what it is then you need to read this blog. Read More

Setting Personal Goals

We look at how goals can benefit you long term at work, whether they're personal or work-focused. Find out why it's important and how to get started. Read More

Navigating the Tea Round

The office tea round is something which can strike fear into any new starter, what if you do it wrong? What are the rules? Are there any rules? Read More

Tenure & Retirement

We will always look to encourage staff staying as long as they can. These things help our employees feel wanted and happy within their roles. Read More

Getting the Best Ideas Heard

We look at the age old debate of extrovertism and introvertism and how you need to balance these within a business to ensure you're moving the business forward and making the best ideas heard. Read More

How to be the Perfect Employee

We look at the four traits that make you a perfect employee, whether these are correct and how you can work towards becoming "perfect", and if that's even possible within the workplace. Read More

Is Having Nothing to do a Good Thing?

Some people don't enjoy the periods at work where there's down time but what type of things should you do to keep you occupied? We've looked at the ways to optimise this time. Read More

Winning Attitude

It may seem like a strange thing to encourage but we actively encourage our staff to fail. We believe failing and learning from your mistakes creates a winning attitude that helps the business thrive. Find out how we encourage failure and learning. Read More

Common Interview Questions

Our recruitment team often see the same queries from candidates or people coming for interviews so they've decided to share some of their knowledge. This week they're looking for at the perfect timing for interviews: how early should you arrive? Read More

Internal Development at First Response

We talk through the different development opportunities that we offer to our staff and how we can help you progress. There are several different options when it comes to personal development designed to challenge you personally and professionally. Read More

Taking Part in Some Seasonal Reflection

It's always good to reflect on how the year's gone and whether we should be helping friends, family or charities a little bit more. We reflect on the work we do internally and for charity. Read More

What Makes a Good Company?

As the 7th Best Company to Work For in the UK we decided to do some investigating into three main reasons that people enjoy working for a company. Have a read of what to look for from an employer. Read More

Know Yourself and Your Goals

Can understanding yourself really help with your work relationships? We believe it can and it's a great starting point for some self-reflection along with tips and guidance. Read More

Christmas Opening Hours (2017)

Make sure you're aware of our amended opening hours this Christmas and New Year. These opening hours will affect all customers and dealers who are looking to contact all three offices including Renewals, New Business and Account Management. Read More

Advice for Carcraft Customers

Carcraft announced that they have been taken into receivership, which means that they will no longer be trading. Carcraft dealerships have now closed and newspaper reports state that they are no longer honouring current or past agreements. Read More