PACCAR Financial (PFC) is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. “We’re celebrating a milestone,” said Todd Hubbard, president of PACCAR Financial. “The growth of PACCAR’s captive finance company has been dramatic. In 1970, PFC had total assets of $87 million in its portfolio compared to $3.6 billion in 2010. The finance group saw a 30 percent jump in business between 2009 and 2010, and it’s looking to grow significantly again in 2011.”

Recent customer surveys reinforce PFC’s commitment to customer service which Hubbard said helped propel PFC’s growth. “On a scale of 1 to 10, our customers gave us, on average, a 9-plus in all the key metrics of customer service and loan programs,” he said.  “You can’t get much better than that.”

According to Hubbard, PFC has grown to be a primary lender to customers through Peterbilt’s and Kenworth’s network of dealerships. “Our mission is to support our dealers with innovative and attractive lease and finance packages for their customers,” said Hubbard.  “And, since we have a vested interest in the transportation industry, we can be more creative and responsive to our dealerships’ customers than other finance sources.”

Hubbard said that mission was very evident during the recent downturn in the economy from which the trucking industry is emerging.

“We had a perfect storm of events, which impacted many customers ability to obtain financing due to the tightening of credit,” he said. “Because of PACCAR Inc’s superior A+ corporate credit rating, we had good access to funding at reasonable costs and were well positioned to work with our customers and address the issues.”

PFC also stepped in to help customers through the introduction of a used truck trade package program.

“In some cases, our customers wanted to purchase new trucks, but trading in their existing used trucks was a problem due to depressed resale values in the used truck market,” said Hubbard. “PFC bridged that gap by taking a portion of the trades and limiting a dealer’s risk of absorbing an entire trade package. The end result was that it helped facilitate new truck purchases, which was good for our customers, good for our dealers, and good for PACCAR.”

PFC’s vested interest in the transportation industry has been a fundamental building block for many PACCAR dealers.  So has the finance company’s longevity and track record with customers.