The online automotive aftersales payment specialist Bumper has appointed carwow founder and chief executive James Hind as a non-executive director.

Hind will be supporting the management team as it grows its operations and offerings in the UK and across Europe.

He joins Bumper following the recent expansion of its executive team with four new appointments: Francisca Gutierrez (chief product officer), Paul Edgecombe (chief compliance officer), Matt Williams (chief growth officer) and Leah Ellis (interim chief people officer).

James Jackson, chief executive officer (COE) and co-founder at Bumper, said: “We’re incredibly excited to welcome James Hind as a non-executive director. His extensive experience of successfully scaling a disruptive automotive tech business in the UK, Spain and Germany will be invaluable to us.

“As an entrepreneur James is highly regarded across the automotive sector having grown Carwow from a small start-up to an international business with over 400 employees and £5bn of car sales through it in 2021 alone, so we’re thrilled to have him onboard.”

Bumper said Hind brings a wealth of digital automotive experience to the business as it prepares to launch across Europe.

Speaking about his appointment Hind said: “Car repair and servicing bills are often a big financial burden for many consumers and Bumper has created a great way to spread the cost of that, helping avoid the need to take on expensive loans.

“Its platform is great for dealers too, providing them with a full suite of digital payment options for customers to fund workshop and add-on bills which has been a gamechanger and that shows with the huge adoption they’ve got.

“I’ve followed Bumper’s rapid rise with keen interest and look forward to working with the business to assist the next phase of its growth.”

Bumper completed its Series A funding round in December 2021.