FEATURE
I don’t buy this pent-up demand nonsense and I don’t think it will tail off later in the year Peter Waddell isn’t a man to mince his words, as James Baggott found when he was whisked away by helicopter to discover more about Carzam.
exclusive interview
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ig Motoring World boss Peter Waddell will launch his online used car dealership Carzam on September 1 with a stock of 4,000 cars – and he’s betting £50m it’ll be a success. Along with business partner John Bailey, the former president of Cox Automotive, the pair will pump £50m of their own cash into the new online car sales business. In an exclusive video interview with Car Dealer Magazine, the larger-thanlife car dealer boss picked us up in his helicopter, showed us around his incredible house and supercars, before flying us to Peterborough to see a new preparation centre that will churn out 350 cars a day. Waddell and Bailey gave us the inside line on the online used car business they feel will shake up the used car market and told us why they think they’ll be the ones to finally crack it. 26 | CarDealerMag.co.uk
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eter Waddell doesn’t do things by halves. In his recent Car Dealer Live interview, he explained how he started life on the streets and watching ‘flash cars’ drive past him gave him the determination to succeed. ‘I’d see people drive past in Mercedes and think “Why are they driving that and not me?” and it was then I realised I had to do something about it,’ Waddell explained. And do something about it he did. Carzam cars ready to be prepped We’d just landed on the lawn of his incredible multi-million-pound home on the outskirts of London. When Waddell agreed to this interview, he offered to pick us up from Gosport – but little did we know he meant by helicopter. Waddell sent a new AgustaWestland 139 that he was thinking of buying to replace his current chopper to pick us up. Ever the wheeler dealer and always pressed for time, Waddell was using the flight to Gosport-his home-Peterborough and back to ‘road-test’ the new purchase. ‘I’m dyslexic and learning to fly the helicopter was hard, but I love it,’ Waddell explained. ‘It saves so much time for me, as I can visit my dealerships, the prep centre, auctions and my other business interests very easily.’ We take a seat in one of Waddell’s luxurious lounges and he explains how he’s recorded his best-ever June. The reopening of dealerships at the start of June saw buyers flock to his showrooms and he’s now got just two per cent of his staff on furlough. ‘We’re having it off,’ he says with a huge smile. ‘We’ll do 3,200 cars this month. ‘The government paused an F1 race track with the lockdown. We’re all still in the same place in the race. It’s just been paused for 12 weeks. ‘We were all very tired. The government gave us a break. I’ve spent time at home, I’ve had time to relax and now I’m raring to go. I’m fired up and ready to go again.’ As we wander around Waddell’s amazing home, he shows me his home office. It’s covered in well-thumbed A3 printouts of his budget and he explains that he always has his busiest months in the summer. ‘People come out of winter and realise then they want to upgrade their used car – we’re always busy in the summer,’ he says. ‘I don’t buy this pent-up demand nonsense and I don’t think it will tail off later in the year. The used car market is strong and I don’t see that changing, especially when fewer people will be buying new.’ Waddell says his success is down to keeping an eye on the detail. His phone is constantly
