Auxiga: a new name, a wider footprint – and a sharper focus on audit, oversight and trust

After more than three decades operating as Vehicle & Asset Solutions (VAS), the business has rebranded as Auxiga, a change that reflects both its evolution and its future direction.

Speaking to Finance Connect, Paul Neal, Managing Director, and Grant West, Commercial Director, described the move as part of aligning the UK business with its European parent and positioning the firm more clearly as a pan-European audit and risk partner.

Paul traced the roots of the business back to the early 1990s, when banks were first beginning to outsource unit stocking audits. Over time, the company expanded from a UK base into Ireland and then linked up with Auxiga in France as clients increasingly looked for cross-border solutions. That relationship ultimately led to the group structure seen today.

As Paul put it, the business has grown alongside its clients, extending its footprint in response to how the market itself has evolved.

“For our clients, it’s the same people and the same service. The rebrand is about unifying the business, not changing what we stand for.”

For Grant, the rebrand is about clarity and scale as much as geography. “It’s aligning with the parent… promoting the geography that we cover and the scale of the business,” he said, adding that the move away from a purely descriptive name helps signal that Auxiga today is about more than vehicles alone. The intention is to present one unified brand to clients operating across multiple markets, rather than fragmented identities.

Importantly, both leaders stressed that for customers, the change has been seamless. “It’s still the same business, same people, same service,” Grant noted, a sentiment Paul echoed in emphasising that relationships and delivery matter far more to clients than branding alone.

Scale, trust and £28.6bn of assets audited

Auxiga now audits £28.6bn of assets each year, a figure that both leaders see as evidence of steady, trust-based growth rather than headline-chasing expansion.

Paul described the milestone as “testimony to the trust our clients put in us,” noting that as client portfolios have grown, Auxiga has scaled its auditor footprint and technology platform to support this without compromising quality. “We’re not just a service provider,” he said. “We’re much more of an extension of their risk team.”

“In uncertain markets, funders want deeper visibility of their risk. Independent audit gives them confidence in the assets securing their lending.”

Grant linked the growth in audit volumes to the wider economic and regulatory environment. With uncertainty in lending markets, funders are more focused on the quality and condition of the assets securing their exposure. That, he argued, naturally increases demand for independent verification and ongoing in-life audits, not just checks at the point of payout.

From cars to “anything with a unique identifier”

While Auxiga’s heritage is firmly rooted in motor finance and dealership audits, the mix of assets inspected today is far broader. Paul explained that the guiding principle is simple: if an asset has a unique identifier and sits under a finance agreement, it can be audited. In practice, that means everything from cars and trucks to agricultural machinery, construction equipment, marine assets and specialist plant.

Grant added that this diversity reflects both the breadth of modern asset finance and Auxiga’s capability to apply consistent audit standards across very different asset classes. It also reinforces the point behind the rebrand: the business has outgrown a narrow “vehicle-only” identity.

Oversight in a post-redress world

The interview took place against the backdrop of increased scrutiny on broker and dealer oversight, driven in part by the FCA’s work on historic motor finance practices and the potential for industry-wide redress. For Auxiga, this has accelerated a shift that was already under way: oversight is no longer a “nice to have”, but a core part of reputational and regulatory risk management.

“Broker and dealer oversight has moved from a ‘nice to have’ to a regulatory and reputational necessity.”

Grant’s message to funders was clear: preparation and evidence of governance cannot wait until regulatory outcomes are finalised. He pointed out that lenders are accountable for how their products are sold by intermediaries, making effective oversight a fundamental part of protecting customers and safeguarding brand trust.

“Bringing it all together”: smarter oversight

Paul described the current oversight landscape as fragmented, with information flowing in from multiple sources and in different formats. Auxiga’s response has been to develop an attestation and audit portal that brings governance evidence into a single platform. “There’s nothing really revolutionary in what we’ve done,” he said, “it’s just bringing it all together, putting it into one place where people can see it.”

“Funders are accountable for how their products are sold. Oversight is about protecting customers as much as protecting the lender.”

The portal allows funders to assess broker and dealer practices against consistent standards, generate risk scores and, where concerns arise, trigger physical follow-up audits for deeper insight. The longer-term ambition is to move towards more standardised reporting across the industry, reducing duplication for intermediaries and giving funders a clearer, more consistent view of conduct risk.

Arena, fraud and the case for a hybrid model

Reflecting on the Arena Television fraud, both leaders returned to the theme of discipline and consistency. Policies and procedures, they argued, only work if they are applied rigorously over time. “Don’t cut corners,” Grant said, while Paul warned against complacency as memories fade.

“Fraud is ever-present – the next big case is always just around the corner.”

Despite advances in digital audits, automation and AI, Auxiga believes physical inspections still play an essential role. With 145 auditors employed in the UK and Ireland, Grant noted Auxiga has “excellent coverage and capacity… and the ability to deal with any ad hoc or emergency requirements.”

Paul noted that on-site audits often provide contextual insights that data alone cannot capture, while Grant described the future as firmly hybrid: technology to scale and targeted effort, combined with physical presence where risk signals demand deeper investigation.

“Technology brings speed and scale, but physical inspections still deliver the insight that data alone can’t.”

Looking ahead

Over the next three to five years, Auxiga expects audits and inspections to become more proactive and data-led, with greater use of analytics and connected asset data to move beyond point-in-time checks. At the same time, both leaders were cautious about adopting AI simply because it is fashionable. The focus, they said, must be on targeted use of AI technology where it will improve the service for funders and customers. As Paul noted: “Investing in AI can be expensive, so making sure your business case is really going to add value is vitally important.”

“AI should be applied where it genuinely improves outcomes. It has to add real value.”

For Auxiga, success in the next phase is about becoming the “industry benchmark” for asset audits as well as dealer and broker oversight, not just as a supplier but as a strategic partner embedded within clients’ risk and governance frameworks. “We’re not transactional led, we’re about long-term relationships,” said Grant, “we want to be the strategic partner.”

As Paul put it, if the business continues to work “in partnership” with funders as an extension of their teams, the growth and evolution of the brand will follow naturally.