Car Dealer Magazine: Issue 24 by Blackball Media

CarDealer. Issue 24 | March 2010 | CarDealerMag.co.uk | £3.50

[ New Finance Section: p21-23 ]

Driving the future of the motor trade

Bangers& Crash We mark the end of the scrappage scheme by writing off a Hyundai i10 in a banger race

(and yes, it still hurts...)

Special Issue

AFTER

SCRAP

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What Now?

Help me!

Industry experts, dealers and car manufacturers on what will happen after scrappage

The companies that can keep proﬁts booming when scheme comes to an end

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It WAS bound to happen. As soon as we decided to produce an issue dedicated to life after scrap, the announcement a day before we went to press that the scheme was to be extended was inevitable. It’s all my fault really. Just an hour before we were tipped off I was sat at my desk talking to commercial manager duncan and uttered these fateful words: ‘Just imagine the nightmare it would cause if they extended the scheme now.’ that was mid-afternoon the day before deadline with 95 per cent of the pages of this magazine completed. the phone rang about an hour later and our ‘mole’ told us what they’d heard: the scrappage scheme was to be extended the next day. We called around our contacts and it was soon clear the rumour was true – so we went live with a story on our website, exclusively breaking the news before any other news outlet in the Uk. A call to the BIS press office only confirmed our feeling that the tip-offs were correct, especially when the spokeswoman chuckled when I said ‘I know the answer’s going to be no comment, but…’ her answer? Yep, no comment. that evening the official release arrived – our story

start

meant they had to announce it earlier – but by then it was too late to change this issue. however, my thinking was this – the extension only adds an extra four weeks to the scheme and no more money is being pledged to the pot. So, by running with our After Scrap guide, which takes up more than 20 pages in this issue, you’ve got more time to plan ahead, digest what our experts have got to say and help make the end of the scheme less of a traumatic affair. SPECIAL ISSUE It MAY have been delayed, but the end of the scheme is inevitable and dealers are already reporting a tail-off in interest. to help you prepare for life after it and declining new car sales we’ve spoken to a number of companies that can ensure you bring in profits from other quarters. We’ve also quizzed experts in the trade on what they think the rest of the year will be like post-scrap, taken a look at the deals car makers are offering to entice buyers into showrooms, oh, and I’ve been banger racing. Yes, that i10 below really was my trusty stead for the scariest evening of my life – lining up against 35 scrapheap dodgers in a race to the death (of the cars, obviously). If you’ve never been to a banger race

it’s hard to describe the ferocity of the impacts that happen every five seconds – but I’ve tried in my feature which starts on p30. We’ve also produced a video of the event which documents the preparation of the hyundai, explains the Jeremy clarkson connection and documents the sad ending to my night. If you want to see it log on to cardealerMag.co.uk and look for the cd-tV tab. ALSO INSIDE I knOW not everyone is mourning the end of the scrappage scheme – there are many of you out there that can’t wait to see the back of it. If that’s you avoid the middle section of the mag and head for Big Mike’s column, which is a cracker this month, our new Finance section or our cult car page which features the stunning Lamborghini Murcielago. enjoy!

James Baggott, Editor

Issue 24 | March 2010

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ignition

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It’s a no from us

Toyota recall

Scrap rations

Renault’s Wind

Interview: Mazda boss

Happy returns

Big Mike

Issue 24 | March 2010

Peugeot boss on after scrap scheme The models affected and more Kia plans to divvy up last of funds Most ridiculous car name ever? Q&A with Jeremy Thomson

Volvo dealers double profits A corker from our man in the trade

NEW: Finance

Special three-page finance section

‘Lamborghini is, we hear, working on a replacement for the mighty Murci as we speak, but that hasn’t stopped the madcap Italian development engineers helping the current one go out with a bang.’ [Lamborghini Murcielago Cult Car: Page 25]

forecourt

Cult Car

Sales Legend

Citroen DS3

Lamborghini Murcielago Boxy but beautiful Volvo 240 French take on the Mini

after scrap 30

Banger race

What next?

Help at hand

The editor dices with death Our experts on life after scrap Firms who can help you NOW

features 53 55 57 59 60 63 64 66

Auctions Right Click Dot Com Online Trader Directory Suppliers Guide HPI Valuations Sub-Prime Time

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No Peugeot scrap scheme, says boss

Peugeot gets the blues with new showrooms

French firm’s MD says carmaker won’t launch its own version of the scrappage initiative SCRAPPAGE has been a great success in broadening car dealer opportunities, says Peugeot chief Jon Goodman – but it has to come to an end. And the managing director is now looking to other creative plans to incentivise cars, rather than launch a self-financed copycat scheme. ‘The scheme has brought people into car showrooms who would not normally be buying a new car,’ Goodman told Car Dealer. ‘These are not traditional new car buyers – they are an entirely new type of car buyer. This means dealers have not had to sacrifice their traditional buyers – those people who own and change six-year-old cars. Such people are the familiar heartland of the new car market.’ Despite this, Goodman says he is not a subscriber to carmakers simply substituting the scrappage scheme when it ends. ‘Such schemes are far too trite and simple,’ he told us.

Peugeot MD Jon Goodman talks to Car Dealer Instead, Goodman wants to see a range of offers developed, that consider all car buyers – he describes them as ‘whole offers’, that are not dependent on driving an older car. But the MD also says it will be new products that drivs car buyers to Peugeot showrooms in 2010.

‘Peugeot dealers have had a tough time, but 2010 will be the year we get back to growth,’ he said. ‘This will be driven by new product, including the 3008, the 5008 and the (Audi TT-rivaling) RCZ. Retail in particular is a great opportunity with these vehicles.’

After Scrap Special, p30-51

BLUE Box is Peugeot’s big dealer rebrand that is getting close to completion, says a company executive. Network development director Rod Philpott told Car Dealer the end is in sight for the distinctive rebranding programme. And it has been well received by the network, he said, because Peugeot chose not to make the Europe-wide signature branding mandatory. ‘We showed them our plans, told them this was what we wanted, and worked to get the programme into the cycle of refurbishments, dealership enlargements and so on,’ he said. Philpott was talking to us at the opening of the latest Blue Box Peugeot unveiling: the super-impressive Robins & Day Birmingham North outlet. The new dealership replaces the old ‘Clock Peugeot’ site a few miles away. Development took six months and investment has been huge. Dealer principal Paul Cole said: ‘The old Clock site had to be overhauled. Our challenge is ensuring we retain the parochial following, while also still attracting new custom.’

Car Dealer was at the launch of Robins & Day Birmingham

Feedback

Your comments posted online at CarDealerMag.co.uk – add yours now to be included And from the Twitterverse: Follow the editor on Twitter @CarDealerEd to join the coversation

Scrappage, bangers and wind issues Scrappage To Continue

Link: http://is.gd/7Bviz I think the end of the scrappage scheme should be seen as an opportunity to offer the customer a fair deal to exchange their old car for a new one, and hopefully reduce their change cycle going forward. More needs to be done on after sales to retain these new customers. They have been used to having their old cars serviced by ‘Fred in the shed’ and may be put off by high main dealer charges. Service plans are the way forward, but also we must be able to do small jobs without high minimum charges. [Ron Gwilliams]

Editors’ Blog: Banger Racing

Link: http://is.gd/7BvDG Nice too see someone new to the sport giving it ago! However I don’t like modern cars. They are well and truly crap and this proved it! What happened to the days of ‘drivers cars’ that were rwd and made of a stranger material called ‘metal’. I love banger racing

but I can see it on the decline over the next few years because of the cars companies now make! [Jamie C] A stripped out Mk1 or Mk2 Granada was the backbone of banger racing for years and still rules today in ‘unlimiteds’ amongst other big tin. I’d rather be on track with a Pinto-engined Granada than a Hyundai i10 powered by hamsters and the green party! [Pikey Mikey] Love it – well done to you! Old Granadas ain’t good looking, ain’t reliable and are about as boring as a shoe box filled with bricks. Bring on the new cars and keep the life in banger racing. [Harry]

Saab Saved By Spyker

Link: http://is.gd/7BvOH I am encouraged that the buyer has experience in manufacturing cars. I hope the pockets are deep enough in the near term. [Cole Harris]

Hyundai’s Scrap Scheme

Link: http://is.gd/7Bwld Wow. I’ve already bought two i20s under the existing scrappage scheme, now I could yet be persuaded to buy a third! Well done to Hyundai for offering its customers quality cars at real value for money prices. Those that disagree have clearly not driven one of the company’s more recent models. [L W Pearce]

Renault to release Wind

Link: http://is.gd/7BwD7 It looks like a Chinese Tigra knock-off. You’d think someone would have warned them about all the Wind jokes as well... [Via @sam_burnett]

On poor after scrap deals…

Manu’s only think one quarter at a time, that is the problem with the whole industry. Lack of strategy and implementation. [via @internetcarlot]

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Toyota dealers hit with huge recall for sticking throttles TOYOTA has revealed that seven models will be recalled across Europe to fix a potential sticking accelerator problem. The full list – which includes the biggest sellers in the marque’s line-up – is printed in our panel right. The extent of the recall, and the large numbers of popular models involved, means that Toyota car dealers could be set for a busy time. Affected vehicles could reach 1.8m cars across the continent. No Toyotas other than those listed are affected, though. Furthermore, no Lexus vehicles are affected, either. Toyota Europe president Tadashi Arashima admitted the current situation is causing some big concerns and has admitted the carmaker ‘deeply regrets’ it. ‘We would also like to reassure customers: the potential accelerator pedal issue only occurs in very rare circumstances,’ he said. ‘The announced action is a preventive measure aimed to guarantee the highest safety standards to all customers. ‘Only a limited number of incidents have been reported in Europe, and Toyota Motor Europe is not aware of any accident resulting from this issue. Toyota is making every effort to address this situation for our customers as quickly as possible.’ The fault has already been fixed on the production line, so Toyota won’t be stopping new car production in Europe and the remedy has been released to dealers too. The fix involves reinforcing the pedal assembly with a steel reinforcement bar. This reduces surface tension in the pedal – and ensures the friction that can cause the pedal to stick is eliminated. Toyota says it has fully tested the new solution and states it is completely effective. Peugeot and Citroen dealers will also be affected. It has been confirmed that both the Citroen C1 and Peugeot 107 are going to be recalled to check and rectify

The models affected... Aygo MMT only (Feb 2005 – Aug 2009) iQ (Nov 2008 – Nov 2009) Yaris (Nov 2005 – Sep 2009) Auris (Oct 2006 – 5 Jan 2010) Corolla (Oct 2006 – Dec 2009) Verso (Feb 2009 – 5 Jan 2010) Avensis (Nov 2008 – Dec 2009) The following models are NOT affected: RAV4 Aygo Manual

Toyota IQ and Yaris are affected by Toyota’s huge recall the same problem. Toyota builds the cars for PSA at its factory in the Czech Republic. Since Toyota’s announcement, there had been speculation as to whether Peugeot and Citroen would be involved, too. Although we’ve had confirmation, at the time of going to press, neither firm had specified how many cars are involved, nor the age range of the models affected. [RA]

And Honda issues Jazz recall too HONDA is to join fellow Japanese brand Toyota in issuing a big recall of one of its biggest selling models. The firm has announced that all Jazz models sold between 2002 and 2008 must go back to Honda dealers for a check-up. It is due to the possibility of the electric window mechanism catching fire – and affects more than 170,000 models in the

UK alone! Worldwide, nearly 650,000 Jazz models are affected. During the recall, Honda dealers will be required to fit a waterproof cover to the electric mechanism, to protect against the risk of water leaking in and causing a short circuit. The Jazz is Honda’s best selling car in the UK, and has rightly earned a reputation for reliability and customer satisfaction.

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Hill

Net gains

How can you make sure web users become customers?

n previous issues of Car Dealer, we have discussed the various ways in which the car buying public prefer to contact motor dealers (walk-in, phone call, e-mail, website, etc). We have also mentioned that care should be taken when trying to apply a ‘walk-in’ customer sales process/approach with any other method of enquiry: they need to be tackled differently. Encouragingly, it would appear as though my monthly ‘rants’ have been (tacitly!) endorsed by the latest CAP Gemini report, released just a few weeks ago. The report makes great reading and some of the findings should make us all sit up and take notice. For instance, the report ‘The good news highlights that 36 per cent of customers use the web to is that 90 research their car purchase per cent of because they feel they will customers are get a better deal. This may still using the be no surprise to you. However, nearly as many web to conduct customers (28 per cent, and their vehicle rising) said the reason they used the web was that they purchase.’ did not want to engage or interact with a dealer. So how can we begin to correct this situation? A good starting point would be to acknowledge that this is an issue that needs addressing. Also, ask yourself how your sales process/lead management differs for your web enquiries to your walk-ins. Remember, the fact that a potential customer prefers to contact you via your website means they shouldn’t be forced into a process that suits you but not them. To illustrate this, one of Codeweavers’ clients recently informed us that nearly half of their website leads weren’t being followed up at all. The good news is that 90 per cent of customers are still using the web to conduct their vehicle purchase. This means that if a dealer can engage a customer fully at the research stage, then that customer will be more likely to be fully informed of your offering and the way you do business. So it’s not just about the aesthetic appeal of your site – ask yourself if you are working with a web partner that really understands the way that web customers purchase vehicles. Does your site have content that is engaging, interactive, relevant and above all easy to find? Is your site built using old technologies? If the answer to any of these is ‘I’m not sure,’ then my advice would be to meet with your web partner now!

Who is Martin Hill? Martin is commercial director at Codeweavers. Learn more about how he can help you at Codeweavers.net or call 0870 443 0888.

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Metro Kia dealer hunt KIA is still on the hunt for new dealers in metro areas including Liverpool, Birmingham and Croydon. Michael Cole, the marque’s UK MD, exclusively told Car Dealer, that these inner city areas are proving the hardest to fill – despite interest in the brand blossoming. ‘These locations typically require a large investment,’ he said. ‘But the real problem is finding the right location and property.’ Cole added potential new franchisees had been knocking down his door in the past year – with the marque’s success under scrappage playing a major part in this interest. ‘We’re attracting interest from PLCs,’ he said. ‘But mostly it’s regional groups that are interested. ‘However, it’s important not to forget the great work our many owner operators have put in – some have been with Kia for 20 years – and it’s these dealers that have stuck by the brand as we’ve grown.’ A number of other open points for the manufacturer are in advanced stages of negotiation and Cole is determined to get these in place before 2011. ‘Next year will be a massive year for the brand and we need to make sure these partners are in place and ready to sell the products we have coming,’ he told Car Dealer. [JB]

Kia to ration last of its scrap funds KIA managing director Michael Cole has said scrappage funds for dealers will have to be rationed. With the last portion of funds due to be divided up between manufacturers in the dying days of the scheme (see p40), carmakers’ next hurdle is to work out how to divvy those funds up between their network. Cole told Car Dealer: ‘It is clear that we will need to allocate scrappage allowances to our dealer network, but how we do that is still unclear. ‘We just don’t have any choice. We’ll be making decisions on how we divide that between our network. ‘It’s not easy,’ added Cole. ‘It’s a very difficult thing to decide and I’d rather leave it to customers to make the choice – that means scrappage sales go where demand is. ‘I don’t want a dealer to be at a disadvantage because it can’t sell a car under the scheme – but it’s clear we are going to have to manage it from a manufacturer level on an allocation basis.

Ridgeway snaps up two VW dealers

Firm’s UK boss reveals cash will have to be divvied up in dying days ‘Scrappage went so well in the early days that many thought the funds would just be used up – and there’s still a chance that could happen. But the problem is when you get towards the end of a scheme like this the interest picks up again and brands have a renewed push for sales.’ Cole was also confident the new Venga will be available in time for dealers to sell some in the tail-end

of scrappage. Rules state carmakers must deliver vehicles ordered under the scheme within four months and the first Vengas hit showrooms on February 1. ‘I wondered whether we would sell any Venga under scrappage,’ said Cole. ‘And I think that we will, but that’s if we can deliver them in the four-month time frame. I’m still pretty confident we can do that.’ [JB]

Saab saved at the 11th hour by supercar maker

RIDGEWAY Group has acquired two former Motorworld Volkswagen car dealers in Oxford. The deal takes Ridgeway’s total Volkswagen representation to five. All former Motorworld staff have moved to Ridgeway, which takes the firm’s payroll from 650 to 740 staff. It also means, for the first time ever, the firm’s used stock count exceeds 1,000 vehicles. ‘The acquisition of the two Oxford sites is a perfect strategic fit for us,’ said David Newman, Ridgeway Group chairman.

Westdrive wins European award WESTDRIVE Kia has won a Europe-wide prize from Kia in the recent Dealer Excellence Awards. The franchise beat 1,700 other Kia showrooms across the EU to snare Platinum Dealer status. Jason Westwood from Westdrive Kia recently visited Vienna for the awards ceremony – one of only two Kia dealers in the UK to get the Platinum Dealer prize. ‘It’s fantastic to have been recognised,’ he said.

New Skoda dealer appointed in Surrey

SAAB has been saved by Swedish supercar maker Spyker after a complicated sale process. The on-off-on-off sale by GM came after Saab had been given the last rites by the American giant. A deal is expected to now be concluded by the end of February, which will create an independent company and also see Saab exiting the orderly wind-down process that had already been set

running by GM. Spyker will buy up all of Saab Great Britain from General Motors UK Ltd, and then commence a number of ‘ancillary agreements’ to handle car distribution in the future. What then? Well, Spyker confirms Saab has already commenced production of the flash new Saab 9-5 in Sweden. What’s more, the recent sale

of the pre-2003 Saab 9-3 and old Saab 9-5 to China ‘did not result in any part of Saab’s business being divested or devalued’. ‘Spyker Cars will provide Saab with the backing required to compete as a competitive global brand,’ said Victor Muller, Spyker CEO. ‘We are delighted to have secured the jobs and livelihoods of thousands of loyal Saab employees.’

SKODA has appointed Colbornes Skoda Woking as its latest franchise. Formerly a retail and servicing specialist for VW and Audi, Colbornes is hoping to snare many new customers with the addition of Skoda. ‘We wanted to be able to offer our customers a complete range of cars,’ said Colbornes’ Tony Cook. Stay up to date every day at CarDealerMag.co.uk

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LOTUS won 1,800 quality leads by using HPI Prospect Leads for the launch of its Porsche Cayman-rivalling Evora. Lotus recruited HPI at the launch of the Evora, from which the firm established 2,000 potential customers from its Prospect Leads system. ‘I will not hesitate to turn to HPI again,’ said Lotus’ Matthew Nice. ‘These opportunities are there for other makers too,’ added HPI’s Daniel Burgess.

Dealers missing out on free PR TWITTER and Facebook are opportunities missed by the vast majority of UK car dealers, says GForces. It found less than 10 per cent of the UK’s top 200 dealers are represented on social networking sites. Director Tim Smith said dealers are missing out on ‘free PR’.

Renault Wind blows in

Renault’s Wind concept is based on Twingo

New baby drop top to be unveiled at Geneva. And yes, it really is going to be called that... RENAULT will take the wraps off its new mini convertible model in a world debut at the Geneva Motor Show next month. The Wind is a coupe-roadster that is based on the Twingo city car and boasts a particularly trick electric roof that pivots open in just 12 seconds. It’s a two-seater model that’s 3.83m in length. That’s longer than a Twingo, but shorter than a Clio. It helps the Wind boast a 270-litre boot – which, in a sector first, is the same size no matter if the roof is up or down. No official word yet on production, but we hear that the model should be in Renault car dealer showrooms before the year is out. Meanwhile, Renault dealers can look forward to better returns in 2010, says a director of the firm. Commercial operations boss Len Curran

Share watch

said that although there will be a retail market decline, Renault dealers will still see an upturn. ‘Renault has targeted a 40 per cent sales increase on cars and vans in 2009,’ he told Car Dealer. ‘And this will be through a smaller dealer network.’ This means, he said, most Renault dealers will see ‘a significant increase in volume’. Such a position is thanks to ongoing work by Renault over the past few years. This has all been

done with the aim of strengthening the brand’s position and is the ‘best response for our network following the end of government scrappage’. Further positives for Renault car dealers have come in the firm’s clear VAT increase position: it added on the cost of the 2.5 per cent VAT but not a single penny more. This means there have been no hidden price increases. ‘We will also take advantage of the residual scrappage customers by offering them a special Super Scrappage offer aimed at customers driving cars over seven years and older,’ said Curran. [RA]

...in association with ASE-global.com

Are those dark clouds on the horizon? F

or the UK listed motor retailer stocks, 2010 has started on a much more stable footing than 2009. This time last year we had Pendragon valued as a penny stock with significant doubt over the financial stability of a number of the groups as they struggled to meet banking covenants. The recapitalisation and refinancing efforts made, along with strong trading performance for the sector as a whole, has resulted in significantly stronger balance sheets and banking relationships 12 months on. In spite of that, the structure of the sector means that it is still open to relatively significant percentage price swings. The majority of the stocks currently trade at under 50p per share meaning that small movements in the share price produce significant gains and losses. The stock market is also still heavily discounting asset bases and weighting forecast future performance when deriving the share price movements.

‘The snow in January resulted in most businesses forecasting a poor performance. March will be pivotal in driving market sentiment as will the recovery pace of the general retail economy.’ The final quarter of 2009 saw significant drops in share values for the listed stocks as analysts balanced the summer optimism resulting from a strong trading performance with fears for the post-scrappage scheme trading environment in 2010. In the main, share prices have risen during January with HR Owen, Pendragon and Vertu all reporting gains of more than 30 per cent on the year to date.

This has been supported by positive trading statements for the final quarter of 2009. But share prices have not returned to their October levels, reflecting underlying concerns over 2010 performance however the current trend is positive. Lookers and Inchcape have not fared as well during January, with Inchcape dropping by 30 per cent and Lookers returning to the 2009 closing price after a mid-month price rise. Caffyns has remained stable, with little trading volume. The outlook for the next few months depends heavily on retail performance after the end of the scrappage scheme. The snow during January resulted in most businesses forecasting a poor performance for the month. However, the level of undelivered orders is strong. March performance will be pivotal in driving market sentiment as will the recovery pace of the general retail economy. If you have any questions about the above, please contact me on 0161 493 1930.

Mike Jones, ASE director

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Meet Mazda’s Mr Nice Mazda UK chief Jeremy Thomson is one of the good guys, but when it comes down to business he’s deadly serious. Here he chats to JAMES BAGGOTT about his plans for 2010

EREMY THOMSON is the instantly likeable and charismatic boss of Mazda UK. Friendly, warm and chatty he’s open and honest on most subjects we quiz him about during our hour-long interview. Car Dealer met him at the firm’s UK headquarters, nestled in the shadow of the Dartford Crossing, and chatted over crisps and sandwiches about the UK scrappage scheme, his dealers and his favourite cars. Sharing space with the firm’s 90-odd staff, Thomson sits in the middle of an open plan office – ‘We’ve a small team and I like to be approachable,’ he says – and it’s clear from our chat he wouldn’t be an intimidating boss. Mazda’s sales were down three per cent in 2009 and with no real scrappage star car, the firm had to work hard in a recessionary year. But with a fresh set of models and a determined team, Thomson thinks that despite 2010 being the ‘year everyone feared 2009 would be’, Mazda has what it takes to grow.

This issue is dedicated to what happens after scrappage, so it makes sense to kick things off with what you think the rest of 2010 holds? We came into the scheme with a reasonable degree of caution. We’re not a manufacturer that makes a sub-B car and we don’t make budget cars – it was clear from the beginning that was where the volume in the scheme would be. Right up to the point we thought there was going to be a £2,000 government contribution to it we were very positive about it, but as it gradually became clearer that manufacturer’s would need to make a £1,000 contribution that changed our perceptions a little. We didn’t come into it with great expectations of how we’d do, but right from the beginning I was very keen that at the very least we’d get our fair market share of it.

Sales were down for Mazda in 2010. Do you think you capitalised on scrappage well enough? In 2009 we were gunning for our ninth year of market share growth – that’s unbroken for eight consecutive years. It was a matter of pride as we’d come from quite a low base in 2001 and the real key measure of performance is to steadily grow your business. That’s one of the things that gives our dealers reassurance about a

Are you hoping for more sales under the scheme? We think scrappage – with delivery times being what they are – will give us a unique sales channel through to the summer, which gives us a degree of confidence for the first calendar half of the year. We’ve sold 8,000 cars to date on the scrappage scheme and if they’d all been Mazda 2 TS models then it wouldn’t have been a viable programme for us. The key has been up-selling.

What will you do after scrappage? Name Jeremy Thomson Job title Mazda UK managing director Age 43 Family Married Drives Mazda3 MPS Lives Surrey CV Joined Ford Motor Company in 1989. Variety of roles before moving to Mazda UK in aftersales, sales and marketing; Ford of Britain direct marketing manager; Joined Mazda UK in 2005 as director, fleet and remarketing; Marketing director; Sales director; Current position: Managing director since October 2008. brand – that it’s not boom and bust. With scrappage we were realistic about what the opportunity was. I’m delighted that we came out of it with just marginally over our normal market share. That was a real achievement.

What sold well under the scheme? What we sold was a surprise. We haven’t sold lots of the very cheapest, base models. One of the surprises was that the profile of scrappage customers was exactly the same as our normal buyers. When I look at rejection rates on finance, they’re no different to typical customers. We saw them as incremental sales. Where we’ve been particularly strong is when people want to move segments with their purchases – a third of all our scrappage sales have been Mazda 3 or larger cars and that was also a surprise. We’ve even sold 60 RX-8s under scrappage. There’s been a wide spread and therefore a more profitable spread for our dealers.

For some carmakers the scrappage scheme has been everything – and it’s been likened to a sugar rush. There will be some car manufacturers and dealer networks that have become so used to scrappage, and the relative ease of the message behind it, that it becomes a comfort blanket for reality. With us, we only wanted to get our fair share of it. And underlying that has been an incredibly strong retail performance. At the start of scrappage we made it very clear internally and with the dealer network that we must not let go of the basics. We had to remain strong on core retail business and user-chooser fleet business, because otherwise, when this stops, everything would come to a grinding halt. Last year we had our best ever retail mix the company has ever experienced; 70 per cent of all our business was core retail and I think in a recession that is a tremendous endorsement for getting the basics right. We’ll continue focussing on this after scrappage.

Are dealers confident about the market after scrappage? Everyone is cautious as there’s an expectation that this year could be the year that everyone feared 2009 was going to be. What we’ve effectively done is defer that difficulty. But in deferring it – and I think we’re all thankful that scrappage was there as a scheme – we’ve bought ourselves time to get the basics of the business much more robust. Some of the decisions we made at the back end of 2008 were in the face of what was clearly an impending crisis. But we’ve now been able to fine-tune those decisions. Scrappage bought manufacturers and dealers time. Look at the number of dealer failures – they’re much lower than that which was anticipated. I think dealer networks are far more robust than people think.

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Quick fire... Mazda UK managing director Jeremy Thomson on...

The next big thing for Mazda... The immediate future will be less about new models for us and more about new powertrains. The Sky engines in particular. These start from around 2011 onwards and will represent a tremendous leap forward. The plan is to reduce emissions by 30 per cent between 2008 and 2015 in conventional engine technology. This is the next major quantum leap. How dealers are faring... We’ve had one of the most successful dealer finance performances in recent times. The average return on sales was 50 per cent greater than the industry average. Dealers made 1.8 per cent return on sales and the average is 1.2 per cent. Our top 25 per cent of dealers reported a 4.3 per cent return on sales, that’s up from 2.8 the year prior. So we’ve had fantastic financial strengthening in a year that no-one would have predicted it. The importance of the internet... The profile of our typical customer is very web-savvy. Online advertising needs to be typically where people will search when they are starting to move towards making the decision about which car to buy. That’s when we need to get Mazda on to their shopping list. So, what are your hopes for sales this year? We see the passenger car industry sales to be around 1.7m. Within that we will seek to maintain a very slight growth on our market share again. We would like a ninth consecutive year of growth, but we recognise it will be a smaller overall market. Our total sales will reduce from just shy of 50,000 last year to around 45,000 units. That would give us a 2.5 per cent share of the market, last year we achieved 2.4 per cent and the year before that 2.3 per cent.

What would be your one piece of advice for car dealers this year? Continue to control your costs, but invest in marketing. In a recession we think everything’s bad, but there are a lot of people out there who are better off than they have been for some time. They’re cash rich, their mortgages have never been cheaper and for those that have got jobs and relative job security they’re probably sitting there with a lot more money to be spent. That’s why advertising is important.

Have you got a pet hate when you visit a dealer? Are there any open points in the network? We think our ideal network size is around 160 dealers and we’re at 152 today. There are currently eight open points – key ones would be Reading, West London, Bridgend and Gateshead. At least half of those have potential partners in place. Last year was our busiest year for dealer representation enquiries which was a bit of a surprise, but I think our consistent performance since 2001 has helped.

Would Mazda ever think about running a dealership? A lot of manufacturers have had to resort to manufacturer-owned facilities within the M25 that are leased back to an operator. We don’t believe that Mazda’s expertise lies in property management or pure retailing – that’s what the network do – and we wouldn’t want to have an orgnanisation that would be potentially operating in competition with the rest of the network. That’s why we’d always like to get the right partner with the right funding in place in the right property.

No salesman. Having been in many field roles in 20 years in the industry I’m very demanding. There are many reasons for someone not to be in a showroom because it’s a complex business, but there should always be someone there. It frustrates customers.

And a final word for dealers? This is a very serious business with some very serious challenges – but importantly we need to have some fun along the way. That has sadly been missing for the last few years, but we still need to find ways of injecting it into our business. At Mazda we like to quietly get on with the job and not worry about what the next manufacturer around the corner is doing. We’re not overly concerned about that – as long as the dealers are happy and making money and we’re on track to do the volumes that we need to do then I couldn’t really ask for more. [CD]

Mazda’s finance deals, p21 Car Dealer’s Guide to life After Scrap, p30-51

Above: Mazda 2 wasn’t the only car sold under scrappage. Firm also found homes for 80 RX-8s under the scheme

‘Mazda is not always on the shopping list. So we need to find a way of getting there.’ We have to be realistic – we’re not one of the big three manufacturers – so on the positive side we don’t have the issue of ubiquity, but on the negative side we’re not always on the shopping list. So we need to find a way of getting there. Online is particularly helpful and cost effective. Favourite Mazda of all time... Probably the RX-8. It’s undeniably a lovely car. It was something I lived through – the run up to it, the launch and the realisation that we had twice as many customers for that car than we had planned for. The impact it made on the dealer network financially in 2003/2004 was tremendous. The MX-5’s 20th anniversary... We’ll exploit its anniversary, but the key to us is reminding people that it remains a fresh car but is absolutely true to it’s original design. The car you drive today is literally no more than a couple of thousand pounds more expensive than it was in 1989. By any measure – houses, pint of beer or loaf of bread – that is exceptional. March will see a real push.

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Volvo dealer returns are still shooting up Manufacturer’s network is making more cash as head office relaxes its requirements VOLVO dealers doubled their return on sales from one to two per cent in 2009, network development director Kevin Meeks has told Car Dealer. And it’s not just down to scrappage, he says, with improvements across the board. It has led to most new recruits telling Meeks they’ve been shocked by Volvo – but in a good way! ‘Most dealers had no idea our cars were so good,’ he said. ‘Volvo is currently an attractive franchise because it is a profitable one.’ Return on sales currently average

around the one per cent mark, but the latest results from the back end of 2009 have seen this double to two per cent. ‘It’s tempting to put this down to one-off factors – scrappage, an upturn in used RVs – but even without these, most of our dealers have made profit improvements in every single area.’ This, until recently, certainly wasn’t the case though, admits Meeks. Return on investment was negligible not too long ago, and there were far too many examples of car dealers losing money.

Volvo director Kevin Meeks

‘Unsustainable,’ he says. Which is why Volvo conducted a huge amount of work in 2008 and 2009 on reducing car dealers’ cost base. ‘It has to be a partnership: we achieve nothing without our dealers,’ said Meeks. ‘At HQ, we sometimes think we have to control things more than we do. Part of the reason for 2009 being so good was that we relaxed. ‘Dealers seemed to appreciate this realism – believe it or not, they said, they want to sell cars! There are still a few loss-makers, but our current focus is to help these lower quartile businesses drive out of it.’ And if dealers are unreceptive? ‘We won’t accept any dealers remaining in the lower quartile,’ warns Meeks. ‘It’s up or out, frankly.’ Meeks wants dealers to get better though, rather than come down hard on poor performers. Thus, he does not plan a big recruitment drive. Besides, he adds: ‘Volvo’s current network consists of 104 sales outlets, with a further 21 service portals. This is almost right for the UK. We’re keen for car dealers to be as viable as possible.’ [RA]

Peering into the lives of the motor trade...

On The Spot

Name: Surinder Holait Age: 48 Works for: TW White & Sons Ltd as Hyundai franchise manager

What car would you buy for £30,000 and why – and it can’t be one you sell! BMW 520 Diesel SE. Great fuel economy, good room inside and a boot you can use.

How is the business made up? The group has four showrooms, three service outlets and one bodyshop.

What car would you buy if money were no object and why? Rolls Royce Phantom. I like the look of it but it would have to come with a chauffeur.

Owned by? Neil White. First job? Apprentice motor mechanic. What made you get into the car trade? From a very early age I had an interest in motor vehicles which developed on how they run, hence the apprenticeship.

month? No comment. What do you love about your job? Seeing the excitement and happiness on the customer’s face when they collect their new vehicle.

What would be your best tip for someone starting out in the motor trade? It is a good trade to go into. Learn all aspects of your job and try and move into other departments within the trade to experience how they work.

What do you hate? Nothing. What was the ﬁrst car you ever sold? Ford Fiesta 950 Popular Plus. What’s your best ever deal? Jaguar sold in the trade. How many cars do you sell a

Best sales tip? Never forget the customer is the most important visitor. He is not dependant on us, we are dependant on him. We are not doing him a favour by serving him, he is doing us a favour.

Who do you look up to? My father. He came over here from India in 1952, aged 19, worked hard all his life and brought up six children successfully. What is the biggest threat facing car dealers? Other

dealers. (We can be our own worst enemy). What’s your ring tone? Tinker (Nokia). What is the most expensive thing you’ve bought after your house? Rolex watch. What magazines do you read? Sunday Times, Country Life and gardening magazines. Have you any ambitions? Be able to retire young enough to enjoy time with family. Favourite ﬁlm and last ﬁlm you saw? Sholay (Bollywood film) and The Book of Eli. Finally what’s your motto in life and business? Work hard in whatever you do. Ensure a good balance between work and time with your family and friends and I am sure you will be successful.

Want to face the Car Dealer questions? It’s not as bad as it sounds. Email james@blackballmedia.co.uk for details

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big mike T Beware of the buyers

hey say that dogs are like their owners. As the owner of both a rather angry-looking German shepherd and a stupidly daft floppyeared mongrel, I’m not sure what that tells you about me. But it is true that certain things appeal to certain people, be it in the form of a dog, a cat, a house or a car. There really is no accounting for taste. When it comes to cars, it’s quite a variable. I like most of them, even some of the traditionally rubbish ones like pre-VW Group Skodas and 1970s Fiats. But I draw the line at some of the overtly flabby American stuff, especially from the 1970s onwards (though I would make an exception for a Boss Hogg Cadillac). I also find it hard to enthuse about anything Japanese or Korean with the odd notable exception. But, by and large, I’m a car enthusiast. And being an enthusiast has been a huge bonus to me in the past few months. With mainstream dealers falling over each other at auction to bid secondhand prices through the roof on all but the most unsaleable of ordinary rubbish, I’ve spent a good few months specialising instead in finding immaculate, low mileage older cars that are on the brink of becoming classics. We’re talking late Eighties, early Nineties stuff here, where the enthusiasts are of the age where they no longer live with their parents and earn enough money to throw some disposable income down Memory Lane, while there are sufficient cars still out there with owners who don’t yet realise they have such a following. If I can find a rot-free Mercedes 190E, BMW E30 3-Series, Saab 900 or Audi Coupe, I know straight away that I can sell it at the drop of a hat, often for at least double what I paid for it; the key being to describe it well with warts and all, stick it on a well-known auction website (can you guess which one?) and then wait for the techno-savvy thirtysomethings to get a little bit drunk, get sucked in by your waffle, and outbid each other (Tip: about 11pm on a Saturday evening is always a good time for your auction to end!). One thing I have learned, though, is that you have to very careful what kind of car you sell. Not once have I failed to make a profit (Big Mike doesn’t do that…), but sometimes it has been much harder work than it should have been. And it’s not quite how you’d expect. For example, a couple of months ago I came across a gorgeous Citroen XM. How often do you see those on the roads these days? Said car was a lovely one-owner example, low mileage and well maintained,

certain cars attract...

Selling a Citroen XM opened Big Mike’s eyes to a new breed of buyer; don’t ask why this one is on a golf course

‘I wanted just to avoid having any more contact with these human dinosaurs.’

and I picked it up for pennies. Within a week it had attracted more than 30 auction bids and was sold for three times the price I paid for it to a very charming and polite man who was more than willing to accept my description, and to buy one of the most technically complex cars ever made without ever having clapped eyes on it. He was exactly how you’d expect a buyer of an overly complex big Citroen to be – eccentric, effeminate, intelligent and a little bit bonkers, but at the same time incredibly nice and easy to deal with. Job done. Big Mike gets his money, and another happy customer to enhance his reputation. Skip forward a couple of months and I found a very basic, but clearly well loved Ford Sierra for sale locally. The thing was lovely, a couple of very small parking dings and some minor marks to the interior, but you don’t see them these days and overall the condition was incredible. Unfortunately, the people who were interested in it were not so nice. At risk of sounding like I’m making a sweeping generalisation (I am, after all, doing just that), nearly everyone who was interested was an illiterate, rude and thoroughly unpleasant buffoon, capable only of

writing in phonetics and text speak. Examples (all genuine): ‘Alrite M8, wud u consider px 4 a gold ring and a pedigree pitbull?’ No. ‘Nice Siera (sic) M8, had 1 b4, I’ll give you 2hundred 4 it no bullsh*t pick it up tomoz n save u the hassle.’ What hassle? And: ‘Itz not as gud as it looks I bet – u want to much 4 it.’ Fool. In the end, I sold it to a very nice man who battled his way through ice and snow to come and pick it up, but for considerably less than I wanted just to avoid having any more contact with these human dinosaurs. I had a similar experience once selling an old Vauxhall, and while the old Rover and BL cars I’ve sold in the past have attracted a slightly more articulate class of human being, they did tend to err on the a little boring and smelly side of normal. BMWs, Mercs and VWs attract, on the whole, reasonably pleasant bidders, but there’s the odd one, that can be a touch arrogant. So if I can help it I’m going to stick to Saabs, Volvos and Citroens. Lovely folk that buy those… Who is Big Mike? Well, that would be telling. What we do know is he’s had 30 years in the car trade and picked up some seriously funny tales along the way.

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Mazda finance deals kick in Mazda is rolling out a host of attractive finance schemes as the scrappage scheme comes to an end. Mazda MD Jeremy Thomson told Car Dealer the firm would be having a real push on PCP finance schemes to help keep bringing customers back into showrooms. ‘We’ve got a particular emphasis at the moment on PCPs because of trade cycle management,’ he said. ‘This quarter we’re really trying to drive PCP business and that’s incentivising dealers and their customers to focus on this trade cycle management of finance products. ‘It’s easy to sell zero per cent finance and be successful, but over a few years there’s a degree of losing customers at the end of the term as they go after the next cheapest deal.’

That’s why Thomson has launched a range of attractive finance deals on the entire range. ‘We’re going to focus on that going through this year,’ he added. ‘It takes a bit of adjustment for dealers – multi-franchised dealers in the network are comfortable with it. ‘It’s about planning not for next year, or the year after, but putting an underlying strength in the business that will stay there for some period of time.’ PCPs force customers back into dealerships at the end of the term and are successful at generating repeat business for dealers. ‘As long as it’s been sold in the right way and both parties go into it completely clear as to why you’re doing it, they’re great,’ said Thomson. [JB]

New boss for JLR finance Jaguar Land Rover has given its finance department a boost with the appointment of a new director. Former Toyota vice-president David Betteley has become the firm’s new financial services director. He’s now going to lead JLR finance services across the globe, reporting to customer service director Mike Wright. ‘Having someone of David’s expertise and knowledge joining Jaguar Land Rover is a reflection of our determination to provide the highest standards in every area of our business,’ said Wright. For his part, Betteley said customer service will be his focus: ‘Offering optimum financial services opportunities has never been more important, particularly in the premium vehicle segments and I am looking forward to delivering new levels of excellence for Jaguar

and Land Rover customers. Betteley will be directing financial products from a number of service providers worldwide, including Fiat Credit Aricole, Chase Manhattan and Wesbank. These have all replaced previous arrangements with Ford Credit. Betteley started his role in January.

Sutton

Money talks

Smart businesses will need to stay focused in 2010

he ‘green shoots’ which we’ve been hearing about for some time now would seem to have finally emerged from their buds, following the government’s announcement that the UK is officially out of recession (just!). Strong car sales during 2009, buoyed in no small way by the scrappage scheme, were cited in some of the reports as having played a major factor in Britain’s economic recovery. Markets, as we are all acutely aware, change constantly and while the latest figures are warmly welcomed, the road ahead continues to be filled with fresh challenges. The scrappage scheme is due to finish this month, and VAT increased at the start of the year with another increase later in the year likely. Smart businesses will stay focused on developments and re-adjust their strategies accordingly to reflect market shifts and pre-empt future changes. Successful dealers follow this approach, as do we at Black Horse. Last month we announced that going forward our priority will be to focus on committed relationships with dealers, and exit from purely transactional-based business. As a result we have taken the step of moving away from some relationships, a decision which was not taken lightly. Our strategy is very clearly focused on establishing and maintaining significant face-to-face based dealer relationships, through our dedicated field-based sales teams to add real value to our dealers’ businesses. This model, which is already in place with the majority of our dealer relationships, helps us to create greater rewards for both parties. For dealers it will provide greater access to the full range of benefits which come from dealing with Black Horse. We have industry leading point of sale technology which allows deals to be processed with ease and speed. We have a range of innovative products designed to help you sell more cars. And we offer informed advice on regulatory requirements and on how to maximise F&I and point of sale opportunities. Black Horse remains committed to supporting dealers with point of sale finance and we are confident that by focusing on these solid long-term relationships we can face the future side by side with you.

Who is Chris Sutton? Chris is Managing Director of Black Horse

MOTOR FINANCE MADE SIMPLE blackhorse.co.uk

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finance Finance news

Deal fin d

Car Dealer rounds up the latest stories from the world of car finance

Fleets delaying new orders Company car fleets are retaining their vehicles for longer rather than replacing them with new models. As a consequence, leasing companies have seen medium term lease renewals double in recent times. Leasing firm Equalease says that leases between three and 12 months used to represent less than 30 per cent of its business. Now, the percentage is more than 55 per cent. Company MD Paul Ashton blames two factors: ‘Employers have been using rolling medium term leases as a way of postponing the decision to buy or long-term lease a new car until their business prospects become clearer.’ Ashton says this trend has been seen for both existing and new employees. But also, he continued: ‘We now have some customers, especially SMEs, who are using medium term leasing as their primary source of fleet acquisition. ‘They are happy to pay the slight premium over

a traditional three-four year lease in order to retain the high degree of flexibility that medium term leasing brings.’ It also means a different type of corporate lease customer. Before, these used to be employees on probation, drivers faced with long order times, or those who liked to change regularly. ‘Now, we are operating much more at the sharp end of the fleet market where acquisition decisions are being driven almost entirely by financial factors,’ added Ashton. ‘The flexibility that we offer is finding favour with all kinds of companies.’ Vehicles provided by Equalease on three to 12 month leases are taken from its fleet of cars, all of which are less than two years old. Leases are arranged to include a standard annual mileage allowance of 15,000 miles a year or 1,250 miles a month and include all maintenance, breakdown recovery and road fund licence.

SAF approval for Black Horse team Black Horse has successfully put its 345-strong motor finance sales team through the SAF test. The recent completion of this means the motor finance market leader has, from January, boasted full SAF Approved status. Black Horse field sales teams will now be able to promote SAF status to car dealers, further helping improve customer confidence in car finance. ‘Better informed sales staff with an enhanced understanding of the features and benefits of point of sale finance helps to nurture consumer confidence,’ said Black Horse MD Chris Sutton. ‘Customers rely on salespeople to unravel and explain the more complex aspects of finance

provision, which gives the customer piece of mind when they come to make their decision.’ It benefits both parties, he said: ‘The SAF logo is a kite-mark for car buyers, and gives dealership sales staff the confidence and knowledge they need to sell point of sale finance effectively and responsibly. We strongly welcome the introduction of this industry standard and have given it our full backing by ensuring all of our field sales teams have gone through the test.’ Black Horse, with other SAF Approved financiers, is set to benefit from a range of SAF initiatives in 2010, to help car dealers show off to customers the many benefits of approval.

Vauxhall Astra Who says great finance deals are dead? Vauxhall stuns its rivals here with a near-unbeatable deal – zero per cent finance! This is available on all models in the Vauxhall range, including the flash new Astra seen here. The deal is over three years, and sees car buyers charged a manageable £353 per month. This is just £19 more than the Ford Focus model we investigated here. The only stumbling block for car buyers may be the deposit required. Although this sounds manageable at 30 per cent, it equates to £5,461 for the 1.6 SRi 115. On the flip side, it means that car buyers will pay not a penny more than the £18,205 list price.

Recovery could be ‘shaky’ Finance lending rates continue to rise, says the FLA, but has warned things may be different in 2010. At the end of 2009 new cars bought on finance shot up 18 per cent compared with 2008, says the Finance & Leasing Association. A rush of customers eager to take up the final weeks of the reduced VAT rate and scrappage scheme drove business. But car dealers should not get too carried away – the recovery from recession is going to be shaky. Paul Harrison, head of motor finance, said: ‘While recent growth in new car finance is welcome, the

withdrawal of government incentives in 2010 – in particular, the reduced 15 per cent VAT rate – will affect demand.’ Scrappage ending will also cause the market to begin to resemble more normal behaviour – sadly, the same cannot be said for funding rates. ‘Wholesale finance remains expensive and we shall be closely monitoring how this impacts on the motor finance market in 2010,’ he said. ‘We hope to see positive results from the government’s efforts to improve the wholesale market.’

MOTOR FINANCE MADE SIMPLE blackhorse.co.uk

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...in association with

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he car finance market has been badly hit by the financial crisis of the past few years. The perception is that the supply of money has been scaled right back to a mere trickle. However, while there remain some difficulties in areas of car finance, new car credit deals are once again starting to star. And with the scrappage scheme coming to an end, deals are key to keeping customers coming through the door and sales flowing. But what sort of offers are out there? Here, Car Dealer has

looked at the highly popular five-door family hatchback sector, to see what the nation’s best-selling brands have on the table. Do their offers show the sort of customer-drawing winning deals this high volume sector is traditionally famed for? Or is the supply of money still so restricted that even here, finance offers remain in short supply? We looked at popular versions of the Ford Focus, Vauxhall Astra and Volkswagen Golf.

Ford Focus We know there is a new Ford Focus on the way – which makes the very steep list prices Ford charges for the current model a little hard to stomach. However, a quick look at the Ford Options PCP deal soon shows where all the incentives come in. The 1.6 Zetec 100 5dr model has an official list price of more than £18,000 – but this soon drops down to £16,745 if car buyers take the finance route, courtesy of a £1,500 saving offered by Ford. What’s more, the model is also still priced at the 15 per cent VAT price, in an added promotion thrown in by Ford. It doesn’t end there either. Ford chucks in a free Sport pack for the Zetec model, plus standard

Bluetooth, and asks for a manageable deposit of £2,547 – something that may well be covered by the customer’s trade-in motor. After that, the car costs £334 a month, and is subject to an acceptable APR rate of 4.9 per cent.

Specification Model: Price: Engine: 0-60: Max speed: MPG: CO2:

1.6 Zetec 100 5dr £18,245 1.6-litre, 100bhp 11.9secs 112mph 42.2 159g/km

Furthermore, at the end of the 36-month deal, buyers will own the motor outright, rather than having a final payment to deal with. A great deal for a great car.

Specification Model: Price: Engine: 0-60: Max speed: MPG: CO2:

1.6 SRi 115 5dr £18,205 1.6-litre, 115bhp 10.9secs 118mph 44.8 147g/km

Volkswagen Golf Volkswagen’s upmarket status in the family hatchback sector is reflected in the small print of the finance deal it offers. The headline APR rate is 7.6 per cent, for the £17,965 1.4 TSI 122 Golf model we looked at. That’s a fair bit more than the zero per cent offered on the Vauxhall Astra! However, the Volkswagen Solutions PCP offer still has its plus sides. So long as customers cover no more than 10,000 miles per year, they will get a new Golf for an initial payment of £2,694. After this, the model costs £295 a month, the lowest and most manageable amount here.

That’s a surprise given the brand image of the Golf! On the other hand, there is a £7,454 final payment – the excellent retained values of the VW means the model will still be worth a good amount at the end of the deal.

Specification Model: Price: Engine: 0-60: Max speed: MPG: CO2:

1.4 TSI 122 SE 5dr £17,965 1.4-litre turbo, 122bhp 9.5secs 124mph 45.6 144g/km

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[Cult Car]

d 0 ar 0

6.5-litres, 670bhp and £270,000 – when it comes to figures Lamborghini doesn’t do small

ny production car that produces 670bhp is worthy of cult car status lighter, it also sounds absolutely sensational. A bit of weight was added by fitting six-piston brake calipers, but even in Car Dealer Magazine’s eyes. It’s even better when said power is produced at a dizzy, screaming 8,000rpm – and little short of genius this was offset by the use of carbon-ceramic brake discs. The stoppers themselves are bigger than the wheels on a standard Ford Fiesta; just what when it is a mighty mid-mounted 6.5-litre V12 that’s doing all the hard you need when you’re dealing with a 200mph car as super as this. work. Yes, there is little doubt that the Lamborghini Murcielago LP 670-4 Not just 200mph, either; Lamborghini claims a top speed of 209mph with SuperVeloce would be on our Lottery win shortlist. the standard Aeropack set of wings. Blimey, even the name is uber-cool. Say it out And if even that is too slow, you can get the loud… ‘just taking the SuperVeloce out…’ yeah! factory to fit an optional high-speed small-spoiler How could you not be cool with one of them in set, which takes the all-out speed to a monumental the garage? 213mph. To us, being able to claim our car could It is, in short, the world’s ultimate do 213mph ranks right up among the top pub Murcielago. Lamborghini is, we hear, working boasts in the world… on a replacement for the mighty Murci as we Mind you, our mates would probably already speak, but that hasn’t stopped the madcap Italian know this. See, it’s been on Top Gear, too. The development engineers helping the current one Hamster set up a race between the Lambo and go out with a bang. a McLaren-Mercedes SLR 722. Despite being a It was revealed this time last year at the mega-car, the SLR only just beat it, showing that Geneva Motor Show. SuperVeloce is becoming Lamborghini Murcielago LP670-4 the Murcielago still has a trick or two up its sleeve something of a traditional run-out special name Price: £271,719 despite its advancing years. in Lamborghini’s world, and the Murcielago SV is Engine: 6.5-litre, V12 It would have to be a lottery win car, though. fittingly bespoke for a model that will be limited Power: 670bhp, 660Nm The current list price stands at more than £270k, to just 350 super-tuned cars. Top Speed: 213mph which makes it one of the world’s most expensive Just look at it, for one. Car Dealer Magazine 0-60mph: 3.2s production supercars. You could get a Ferrari 458 was simply blown away when we saw it in Italia AND a Porsche 911 Turbo for that money. Geneva last year – bright yellow, all wings, MPG: 13.2 (comb’d) But, you know, the Porsche isn’t quite as quick in spoilers and menacing black alloy wheels; the dash from 0-60 and the Ferrari’s name isn’t quite as cool. combined with the sheer enormity of the massive Murcielago, And neither can be bought with quite as many wings, in quite a simply staring at it became an event in itself. violent a shade of yellow. Neither has a stupidly large V12 engine. Lamborghini didn’t stop at the styling, though. Acknowledging that Neither looks like they’re about to take off. By modern car standards, the Murcielago is monstrous, it chopped a staggering 100kg from the the mighty Lamborghini is a bit of a dinosaur. But in terms of cult car kerbweight, through the use of lightweight carbonfibre body parts and a hyper-expensive exhaust. Apparently, this is not just whole kilogrammes status, it’s a bit of an icon. [RA]

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[Sales Legend]

hink Volvo, think square estates, think 240. The maker is still intent on changing this – senior managers have stated their determination to do so to Car Dealer Magazine – but, for now, the image remains. Thing is, though, the 240 may be square, but that sure doesn’t make it bad. It was launched in 1974 and would continue, pretty much unchanged, until 1992. Given how every other large Volvo in the 1970s and 1980s was inspired by it – even the 1990s ‘new generation’ 850 was basically a slightly smoother 240 – it is no wonder the reputation for the angle has stuck. Volvo had its reasons for keeping it on sale, though. The 240 range was originally designed to keep Volvo in the large family car range. It was no revelation even at launch: much of the body was the same as the outgoing 140 and 164 range, while the suspension was decidedly tried and tested. Engines sprang no great surprises either, with a go-on-forever series of four-cylinder motors. A V6 also shared with Peugeot and Renault was a nice addition at the top of the range though, particularly in plush GLT trim models. Unsurprisingly, safety was a major factor in design. Big rubber bumpers, massive glowing seatbelt-fasten tell-tales and a rubbery dashboard designed to cushion most things hard and fragile were all standard features. Oh, and while it wasn’t all that economical, it was at least eco-friendly: the 240 was one of the first cars to start offering exhaust-cleaning catalytic convertors. Believe it or not, the vast majority of 240s sold were not estates, but saloons. The estate was way more practical, and could even have those famed rear-facing child seats in the boot. But while the profile was iconic Volvo, buyers still snared the saloon twice as much. There was even a bonkers two-door coupe. The styling hardly led itself to slinky sporty idol worship, but Volvo still went ahead and produced a two-door version, mainly for sale in the US. Crazily, it didn’t bomb, and remained on sale for a good few years. It clearly lit a fuse in someone. For Volvo also

GREAT

eStAteS

Square and boxy, it’s the car you instantly think of when someone mentions Volvo. But the firm’s trying to change that

decided to take it saloon car racing. The firm competed in the European Touring Car championship – yes, the same series that Britain’s Rover SD1 famously raced in. Volvo didn’t do bad, either… it even won one year. Hundreds of Car Dealer Magazine’s new banger-racing friends are so inspired today: the rear-drive 240 is a bit of a fave in the banger circles. Not least because it is virtually indestructible. Indeed, this is a further reason why Volvo’s reputation for the angle has stuck around for so long. All the old 240s do the same, and rarely rust away into nothing. The thickness of the steel is measured in inches, the engines may not be fast but they’re virtually unbreakable – the engineering was well proven in the 1970s, so it

carries not a single weakness that someone hasn’t figured out how to fix today. That’s why it stuck around for so damn long. It wasn’t exciting, but in terms of reassurance, it was exactly what customers wanted, time after time. Volvo car dealers may prefer to forget it, but the 240 is absolutely an icon for the brand. By the 1990s, it had sold over 2.8m units, an exceptional figure for a firm the size of Volvo. The end of production was even celebrated with a special edition totally befitting of the 240 tradition. The Torslanda was no kitted-out special, but a proper tough winter-spec model, priced low and shorn of the electrical fripperies that can break and get in the way. This was a model for the long run, even lacking exterior chromework which, in the long run, could rust or tarnish. Age shall never weary them, demanded Volvo. They’re proving right, too. So, actually, the 240 established two reputations for Volvo. That of the square. And that of righton, customer-focused reassurance and trust. Design may be slowly altering the former, but Volvo is determined to keep hold of the latter, for the massive help it is to dealers in squaring the circle of car buying… [RA]

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6/2/10 13:40:29

[Forecourt]

Car makers are desperate for a slice of the personalisation action – the DS3 is Citroen’s offering

ini has been such a phenomenal success for BMW, many carmakers have looked on enviously. Particularly those whose modern-times sales staples have been smaller cars. Take Citroen. It sells no end of city cars and superminis, but are they able to command Mini-like premiums? Alas not. Enter, then, the DS3. A new range created by Citroen to ride the forthcoming trend towards further downsizing. The maker has realised not everyone buying a small car wants a basic supermini – something Mini picked up on a while back, but which Fiat has also shown can be applied to mass-market brands with the 500. Premium feel, retro charm, lots of personalisation – and good profit margins for car dealers. Now Citroen wants in on the act. The basic idea for the new DS3 range is the same – options galore for colour and trim, dinky dimensions to suit trendy urban lifestyles and a name harking back to a classic model that defines the brand. But where both the Mini and 500 trade on retro vibes – respectively with a sporty and a trendy twist – the DS3 has no visual link with the famous DS of days gone by. It’s a model in its own right. A very distinctive one at that, too. The range topping DS3 1.6THP’s 150bhp is more than enough to have it chasing the warm hatch brigade and beats the 120bhp Mini Cooper, 120bhp MiTo 1.4 TB and 135bhp Abarth 500. The 1.6 turbo, which is shared with, among others, the Mini Cooper S, achieves 0-60mph in a brisk 7.5 seconds. It really is a peach, with a thick power band, discreetly raspy exhaust note and brisk throttle response. The rest of the DS3 range is made up of 95bhp 1.4-litre and 120bhp 1.6-litre petrol engines and three versions of the widely used 1.6-litre HDi diesel engine found in Fords, Minis and others besides the Peugeot/Citroen family. The DS3’s underpinnings are as per the closely

I SELL THEM Mark Lloyd DS3 designer Citroen dealers are going to be fitted with special new computers when the DS3 is launched, to help buyers configure the models. It enables them to try out the multitude of different colour schemes and

trim options. It’s about personalisation of the car - it’s more than just designing a new car, it’s participating in its creation. Promoting this will be an entire marketing campaign emphasising the car’s anti-retro statement. We want to help buyers create the memories of tomorrow, today.

related C3 supermini, but Citroen has devised a new set-up for the DS3 to give it a character of its own. The focus shifts from the rather inert nature of the C3 to a rather more dynamic feel absent from most Citroens. It’s not overtly sporty in the mould of the MINI or MiTo. But it’s crisp enough to ensure the DS3 can be hustled down a twisty back road without disgracing itself or isolating the driver from the experience. Citroen has succeeded in finding a fine balance between comfort and composure too and the DS3 rides better than its rivals. As with those competitors, the cabin can be customised with a myriad of options. Everything from the colour of the dash to the type of gearstick and patterns on the floormats

can be selected from a number of variations. Sound familiar, Mini dealers? Suffice to say, if buyers are downsizing from a bigger, more luxurious car the scope is there for them to indulge to their heart’s content. As for quality, It’s easily as good as a 500 and way better than the MiTo. And size-wise, the DS3 is longer than a Mini or 500 but a tad shorter than a MiTo, the interior space is on the cosy side in the back but generous up front thanks to a deeply sculpted dash on the passenger side. Citroen is already boasting five-star Euro NCAP ratings for occupant crash protection. Six airbags, Isofix mounts and the usual ESP and ABS safety nets are all standard. The DS3 scores well on CO2 and fuel economy too. Even the worst in the range – the 150bhp 1.6 THP DSport – emits just 155g/km and the 1.6 HDI DStyle 99g slipping in with VED-free bracket. Sure, it’s brave for Citroen to reject outright the current retro trend. However, the DS3 successfully manages to put a new spin on the premium supermini format. Decent to drive, eyecatching to look at inside and out and sensibly priced it’s a welcome addition to the fold.

Citroen DS3 1.6THP DSport Price: £15,900 Engine: 1.6-litre turbo Power: 150bhp 0-60mph: 7.5s Top speed: 133mph MPG: 42.2 (comb’d)

DAN TRENT

DS3 has a funky interior, daylight running lights and cool clocks

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AFTER SCRAP

i10... iTrashed By James Baggott

The scrappage scheme – saviour of many dealers – finishes this month. To mark its demise, Hyundai gave us an i10 that had to be crushed. We decided we could do better than that and pitched it against a pack of scrapheap dodgers in the ultimate challenge... a banger race. Things did NOT go well.

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Pictures @dean_photo

ithout the UK car scrappage scheme, 2009 would have been an apocalyptic year of disastrous proportions. Hundreds of dealers would have gone pop, car manufacturers would have been pushed to the brink and sorry tales of redundancies and bailouts would have been even more rife. But, instead of disaster, a year of conquest sales many firms could never have dreamed of blossomed. It was all thanks to that darling of the car industry, The Right Honourable Alistair Darling MP, who announced a scrappage scheme that would take 10-year-old cars off the road in exchange for a £2,000 discount off a new car. Many car firms were quick to pounce, despite the fact they had to stump up £1,000 themselves. Chiefly those at the forefront were the Korean pairing of Hyundai and Kia. Alongside Ford, these two marques have taken the lion’s share of scrappage sales with the baby models in their ranges – the i10, Picanto and Fiesta/Ka – the most popular. Yes, the scheme had its critics – many moaning that running an old car is far greener than producing a new one – but for dealers and car manufacturers it was the saviour everyone had hoped it would be. And boy did the industry need it. The government initially pledged £300m. That sounded generous but analysts soon worked out they were making that back – and more – from the VAT receipts on the cars sold. Clever stuff. So, when the cash looked like it would run out last October, lobbyists successfully managed to squeeze another £100m from the public purse. Considering Govt Plc was making on every sale, it would have been madness not to. Ministers said the scheme would carry on until the end of February 2010 or until the pot of cash ran out – whichever was sooner – and at the time of going to press it looked like it would be the former, even with a last minute extension to the end of March. Because the scheme has payed such an important part in the lives of everyone in the motor industry, Car Dealer wanted to do something to mark the end of the scheme. Most franchise dealers among you will mourn its passing, but equally independent traders will be celebrating the fact their forecourt fodder is no longer being sent straight to the crusher. Either way, a monumental scheme such as this deserved a fitting send of – so Car Dealer hatched a plan. Well, I say we hatched a plan, but what I really mean, is we made a phone call to the undisputed kings of scrappage – Hyundai. And let them do it for us…

SCRAP KINGS

yundai has capitalised on the scrappage scheme more than most makers for one simple reason – price. The initiative has driven buyers into showrooms that would never normally be able to afford a new car and most simply want a brand new motor on their drive for as little outlay as possible. The Hyundai i10 fitted the bill perfectly. Costing just £7,200 before scrappage, take into account the government and carmakers’ discount and most dealers were knocking out new i10s for under £5k. And whichever way you look at that, it’s a bargain. Mate this discount store price point with impressive press reviews, decent equipment levels, smart looks and the fact the i10 is actually a very good car – and it’s unsurprising it’s managed to find 20,000 homes under the scheme. Sales for the i10 were up a massive 262 per cent in 2009 with dealers diverting salesman away from the frontline simply to fill out order forms. Richmond Hyundai, in Portsmouth and Southampton, was so swamped it had queues of buyers waiting to sign on the dotted line. Dealer principal Michael Nobes told Car Dealer he was forced to slow the buying process down, purely to keep customers happy and give them something to do while his staff dealt with the orders. A gold rush, this most certainly was. With this fresh in our mind we got in touch with Tom Barnard, PR manager for Hyundai, and generally good egg. Our email exchange went something like this: Me – ‘Tom, we want to do something special to mark the end of the scrappage scheme, any ideas?’ Tom – ‘Well, I’ve got an i10 you can have, why don’t you take it banger racing? Me – ‘Ok.’ Spot the lack of hesitation that’s so evidently missing from that communication. Had I realised the true extent of what a banger race actually involves, in hindsight my reply might not have been so committal. But, by this point, my journalistic desire to find a good story was overriding any self-preservation and, more importantly, my rarely-used common sense gland. ‘The king of scrappage, the sales winner that’s sent more bangers to meet their makers than any other, takes on the crusher dodgers in one final battle to the death. It’s do or die, crush or be crushed – and a fitting finale to the end of the scheme.’ Well, that’s what I was thinking anyway. Not the very real possibility of getting hurt. Seriously hurt. It wasn’t long before I realised I’d be sat in the driver’s seat with a potential maiming on the cards. The problem here was I had no real idea what banger racing was; surely it’s just a few old cars pottering around a track nudging each other, right? Wrong. One afternoon session on YouTube later and I realised my foolish mistake. A mistake that could render me with permanent whiplash… if I was lucky. >

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AFTER SCRAP

Our i10 was looking a little worse for wear... and that was before Cecil took a sledgehammer to it

We felt a bit like the A-Team transforming a car into a racer in a lock-up. So who does that make Mr T? C

The Clarkson connection

n the face of it, Hyundai handing over a brand new i10 seemed an overly generous offer, so I dug a little deeper. ‘Oh, did I tell you it’s been rolled,’ Barnard explained on the phone. No, you didn’t, but that explains the generosity. Turns out this little i10 had quite a life in its short 834-miles. ‘Jeremy Clarkson asked us for two i10s late last year to use in his Christmas DVD, but said they’d get a little damaged,’ Tom said. ‘When Clarkson says your cars are going to get a little damage what he really means is total write-offs, so we found two i10s at Tilbury docks that had sustained some damage in transit. ‘Thing was, the management wanted to make sure nothing would go wrong with the cars if they were continuously doing handbrake turns, high speed slaloms and J-turns. It’s not the sort of thing we usually test so we had no idea. We thought maybe the best case scenario would be the clutch going flakey and the worst case was the car rolling. That would obviously be a major issue for us so I was tasked with finding the i10’s limits.’ Rather him than me… Anyway, Barnard booked a test track and took a Hyundai field engineer with him with one mission – to see what it would take to break an i10. ‘We spent the day trying our hardest to roll it, but just couldn’t,’ explained the PR man. ‘In a last ditch attempt we found a really grippy surface and let the tyre pressures down to 15psi – sort of worst case scenario – and barrelled into a slalom at 60mph. At the forth cone I jammed on the brakes while on full lock we got the tyre to deform enough to make the wheel dig in. Well, that did the trick and it plopped over.’ So, who was driving then Tom? ‘Er, that would have been me, but don’t tell the missus.’ Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with us… Sort of. Suffice to say our i10 had sustained a bit of damage – both the front windows were missing, the windscreen was cracked, it was minus a wing mirror and the bonnet looked like it had been in an S&M session with a grinder. But none of that really mattered as most of it had to go anyway. To prepare our Hyundai for the banger race we got in touch with Steve ‘Cecil’ Anscombe. A hardened stock car racer and banger expert, Cecil has carved a niche for himself preparing cars for stag-do parties that want to go racing. He’s also helped prepare vehicles for countless TV shows including Top Gear’s ‘BTCC stars go motorhome racing’ feature, as well as helping out Fifth Gear and Sky One’s now defunct Vroom Vroom. Working from a workshop-cum-Frankenstein’s lair in Hailsham, East Sussex, Cecil and his crew carve up cars for their final fling before a date with that great scrapheap in the sky. For around £350 he will prepare the car, take it

‘Jeremy Clarkson asked us for two i10s for his Christmas dVd, but said they’d get a little damaged. When he says a little damage what he really means is total write-offs.’

CMY

to the race and supply you with all the safety kit you need, allowing you to K simply turn up and race. For the money, that’s a scrappage-rivalling good deal.

Preparation ‘H’

e decided to give Cecil a hand getting our i10 race ready. Considering I’m about as mechanically minded as a potato, the extent of this help would probably stretch to turning the kettle on and off – but still I’d have a go. It’s not like ripping parts out of a car is a hard job, is it? Well, turns out I’d been way off the mark again. Take one look inside the interior of any modern car and have a guess at where to start unscrewing. It’s like a giant jigsaw puzzle that only gets easier with experience. You need to work backwards – so, to take that bit off there, I need to take that bit off there, but can’t get to that bit without… well, you get the picture. For banger racing anything that ‘can burn’ has to be removed, so that means stripping out everything, right down to the bare metal. One of the only bits that remains in place is the driver’s seat – which is somewhat worrying considering it’s made out of the same material as the rest of the car. I couldn’t help thinking that meant if I did go up in flames it’d be like a ritual burning at the stake as I’d be strapped to the kindling with a five-point harness... Under Cecil’s expert guidance I’m handed a screwdriver and tasked with removing a door card. Tom’s come along to help us out and is expertly de-sheafing the rear door and putting my feeble attempts to shame. After five minutes of stabbing at it like a crystal-meth-fuelled hoodie, I’m shown where the screws are. Funnily enough this makes things a lot easier. If only I’d read the instructions… ‘Get the hang of the screwdriver and Cecil might let you have a power tool,’ says Tom. Judging by my efforts with the door, that would probably not be a good idea… After a battle with a stubborn sun visor, which sees me tumble backwards into the bare cabin scattering screws and nuts across the workshop floor, I’m relieved of my duties. ‘One word of advice,’ says Cecil’s spanner-wielding mate Vaughan. ‘In this workshop you can never make enough tea.’ >

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So how do you get your hands on more profit if you’re tied? Most people want to run their own business for just that reason, to make their own decisions based on sound commercial sense. You wouldn’t be the first dealer principal to wonder why you chose a route that seems to be increasingly restrictive. If a product is too expensive for you, then how on earth are you going to sell it to your customer unless your profit is so skinny or your salesman just opts for something cheaper to sell with a greater margin, but that may not be in the customers’ best interest.

CMY

Would you prefer your customer to leave the showroom with an extended warranty or a set of mats or maybe some paint protection. I know which one will help to retain the customer, bring him back for service or repair work and present a further re-solicitation opportunity. Actually, if the warranty is reasonably priced, the customer should leave with all three. A sales manager at a franchised dealership, recently contacted me because he wanted to provide a 12 month warranty for one of his customers only to find that the price quoted by the approved warranty provider was in excess of £1700 and this was not acceptable for the customer. This resulted in no sale, and a customer without a warranty is like a profit time bomb just waiting to go off. The first sign of trouble and the vehicle is in your workshop on your ramp being repaired by your mechanic in your time and at your cost. Fortunately we were able to offer a warranty for a price that was acceptable to the customer and also make a healthy profit for the dealer.

Ease of use and flexibility are also key to providing the customer with choice, whatever the vehicle or their situation. When you want to tailor a product to your customers, specific needs, how easy is it to get this sanctioned and at what cost or timescale? We have fantastic offers for your customers and at affordable prices, it’s a tremendous opportunity to cement the first stage in the customer care cycle. We even have FREE WARRANTIES to help your customer protect their vehicles for longer, and present a brilliant retention opportunity for you. The important thing is that your customers can choose based on their needs, and that will always include affordability. Our dealer base covers franchised and independent suppliers and is growing at a fast rate with no conditions or ties... we’re committed to help you sell vehicles and increase profits. It’s simple – we help you make money.

If you would like more information on the excellent range of products available from Warranty Management Services, please contact our business development Director Eric Stone on 07789 682502

0844 477 4909 sales@warrantymanagementservices.co.uk

www.wmswarranty.co.uk

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AFTER SCRAP

Enough said. I know my place and hide in the office to make the first brew of the day. Problem is I manage to get even that wrong, mixing up tea with coffee and the number of sugars. I just hope no-one’s diabetic. The workshop pauses for some caffeine and I take the chance to ask Cecil what he thinks of the scrappage scheme. ‘I bloody hate it,’ he says. ‘All the cars I would have usually prepared for banger racing are crushed. The supply of cars that would have been never ending before the scheme simply dried up. I’m glad to see the back of scrappage really – perhaps now we’ll see a few more bangers back in the market.’

Test mule

fter several hours’ hard graft, the i10’s factory fresh interior is lying on the workshop floor and Cecil and his team begin to weld a metal frame behind the driver’s seat. This would act as a roll bar if I ‘did a Tom’ and roly-poly the i10 down the track. You might still be thinking, what with i10 residual values so high, the cost to repair a rolled model – however badly damaged – could still be a profitable exercise, but our i10 HAD to be crushed. That’s because our car was a pre-production test mule – a model sent down the line for a practice run before full production starts and then used for brochure photography, mechanics’ training and accessory prototypes – and it cost considerably more to airfreight to the UK than it did to produce. The car can never be registered and Hyundai can claim the VAT back on the flight and development work WHAT IS BANGER RACING? if they can later prove the car’s t’s the most fun way to give your been scrapped. So think of our MOT failure a final fling. Good banger race as an elaborate way to crush racing cars have long overhangs front it. The i10 was easily the newest and rear and a solid chassis. King of car Cecil had ever prepared for the pile is the humble Ford Mondeo, banger racing – normal motors destroyer of Jaguars and defender of include Honda Civics, Rovers, the scrapyard realm. Astras, etc. That meant the Hyundai Preparation for the race involves posed a unique set of problems. removing everything from the interior, Firstly there were countless bumpers, lights and glass. The fuel explosive airbags to deal with. The tank needs to be relocated inside the i10’s got four of these and all had car along with the battery and a simple to be ditched. To be completely roll bar structure fitted. honest I’d rather they’d been left Entering a race costs £21 and no in but, as Cecil put it, ‘that would experience is necessary. Just don’t be like driving a children’s ball pit’. The battery also had to be relocated inside the car along with a fuel tank. This presented its own unique set of problems – namely the fuel return (whatever that is). I was assured this is most important and it took several phone calls from Tom to Hyundai UK to get it rectified. Unfortunately whatever these problems were, they weren’t fixed completely, but I’d only find this out later… The radiator also had to be moved. Normally situated at the front of the engine bay, one shunt and it’d be good night, so our experts decided to move it. Where exactly wasn’t entirely clear, until Cecil spotted a gap behind the engine that would be perfect – but only after some careful bodywork manipulation with a sledgehammer. The exhaust also needed shortening to protect it from a rear shunt. Without a ramp I was wondering how they’d get to it, that was until the three of them simply picked the car up and rolled it on its side, leaving it resting on a pile of alloy wheels. After a day’s hard graft (from Cecil and his team, not me) the i10 was ready. With the bumpers removed the engine looked perilously exposed, the clutch actuator particularly at risk, but it would have to do. Inside, thankfully, it looked reasonably safe – the roll cage was reassuringly sturdy and the five-point harness was vice-like tight. I tried to ignore the exposed fuel lines, battery covered with a plastic floor mat and the football-sized hole in the floor where the fuel tank had once been.

Race day

‘W

hat on earth is that? Someone is either mad or just plain stupid,’ says one of the assembled throng of racers surrounding the i10 as it rolls up on the back of a low loader. Considering the racer in question is sporting a worryingly complicated neck brace, it doesn’t help my nerves. I ask him what’s wrong with my i10. ‘Don’t tell me you’re racing in that? The world’s tallest man in the world’s smallest car is not a good combination for banger racing. Trust me, I know,’ he says, pointing at the

scaffolding around his head. Turns out his comments were of the tamer variety, uttered in the lead up to the race. Most were prefixed with words beginning in ‘F’. Suffice to say the i10 attracted a lot of attention. The arena for my demise/unikely victory was Wimbledon Stadium – market by day, home to some of the maddest collection of metal by night. The race meeting I’d been entered into was run by Spedeworth.net and was the first big event of the year. Assembling in the paddock was all manner of rusting metal, hot-hatch Novas and Fiesta XR2s alongside wacky-racer style Stock Cars with dragster fins protruding out of their rear ends. The biggest collection of low-loaders this side of a parking wardens convention slowly began to fill the huge litter-strewn car park in south London. If I’d wanted to avoid drawing attention to myself, setting up our cars for cover photography in the middle of this mobile workshop was probably a bad idea. The fact we had to make a queue of racers wait behind us while our snapper captured the shots, probably didn’t help keep my profile on the ‘down-low’ either. We managed to get out of the way before we were shot, but the scowls said more than enough. I might of well have painted ‘Banger Racing Is For Girls’ on the back of the Hyundai because at this point in the day I was more hated than Bin Laden. The fact I’d be lining up to race alongside the angry crowd in the not too distant future did not bode well for my prospects. In a hut in the shadown of the stadium – which doubles as a greyhound-track – I find the signing-on forms and scribble my life away. One of the organisers took the opportunity to give me some expect to do brilliantly in your first words of advice as I filled out a outing. The regulars take it very form which basically said ‘I will seriously indeed and techniques for punting newcomers off the track are not sue…’. practised time and time again. ‘Try to stay out of the way, Our advice would be to get the help of stick to the inside of the track, an expert – like Steve ‘Cecil’ Anscombe, and make sure you wear a who prepared our i10 for us. He’ll do neckbrace – until your neck everything for you, letting you simply gets used to whiplash you’ll turn up and race – all for around £350. need one,’ he said cheerfully. Cecil and his team are top guys and Right, not quite sure if have loads of experience organising ‘getting used to’ whiplash is events for stag dos and corporate days. medically possible, but thanks Give him a call on 01323 831791 or 07976 for the tips all the same. I scurry 904560, or you could come and have a off in search of a HANS device, go with us… details on p37. or at the very least, some foam tubing. By this point my hands are sweating enough liquid to drown a rat, my stomach’s performing Olympic-class involuntary back-flips and I’m feeling a little giddy. No Fear says the T-shirts – that’s all very well if you’ve got nothing to be fearful of, but I’m worried my arms are going to be separated from my body. And there’s nothing like an amputation to give you the shakes. Cecil’s crew are extremely efficient, decking me out in overalls, gloves warmed on the dash of a low loader and a helmet. Oh, and a red Sparco neck brace, just to be on the safe side. While I’m pulling the kit on, Spike gives me a safety briefing and some words of advice (there were many of those on the day). ‘Keep your thumbs out of the centre of the steering wheel – when you hit something that wheel’s going to go crazy and you’ll break them,’ he explains. Right so that’s the neck and thumbs to worry about. ‘And keep to the outside of the track – that way hopefully you’ll stay out of trouble,’ he adds. Either Spike wants me to crash or the organiser wants to keep the crowd happy with a journalist bashing, as that’s two quite obvious pieces of conflicting information. I decide to stick with Spike’s advice – but from the chaos I’ve seen on the YouTube, wherever I drive I’m going to get hit.

Starters orders

trapped into the i10, helmet and gloves on, I’m sent in the direction of the track and my heart starts its first of many attempts at escaping through my ribcage. The i10 feels unbelievably light, the steering is featherweight and alongside the 35 other racing machines it looks – and feels – tiny. Waiting in line for the last race to peel off the track I try to focus and remain conscious, but the driver next to me is determined to chat. Look mate, I do not want to talk, I’m finding it hard enough at the moment intiating core body functions like breathing, let alone chat about the >

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Tom, Cecil and Duncan hard at work. But where’s the editor? Probably making the tea... Again.

Interior was rough round the edges

Standing room only at the track

SO IS THIS I10 ANY GOOD? yundai’s i10 hasn’t just sold by the bucket load because it’s cheap – there are a number of budget cars out there that are available for around the same price under scrappage – the i10 has been such a success because it’s actually a very good car too. Featuring a cheeky 1.2-litre engine that’ll get it to 60mph in 12.8s and on to a top speed of 102mph, it’s a great car to drive. It doesn’t feel anywhere near as basic as you’d expect for its price and is spacious, comfortable and handles well. Yes, price has played an important part in its sales success last year, but that looks set to continue this year with Hyundai’s incredible brace of new offers. The first is called Trade & Upgrade

i10 was so popular it got its own man in a yellow jacket to guard it

and is a generous scrappage-type scheme, that will give owners of cars aged between seven and 10 years old the same £2,000 discount gained from the government scrappage scheme. Hyundai says 6.4m UK car owners will be eligible. But it is the Happy Returns scheme that has really captured the headlines. This allows existing Hyundai scrappage customers to switch into a ‘10’ registration car in March – for as little as £499. Yes, really! Hyundai is guaranteeing the buy-back of last year’s i10, i20 and i30 models, in exchange for a brand new model – made possible, says the firm, through the excellent retained values of the latest ‘i’ range of cars. Hyundai’s march onwards and upwards looks set to continue…

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AFTER SCRAP

i10’s stereo. Yes, it’s still there, and no it doesn’t work – leave me alone. I manage to put him off passing the time of day with some nervous Joker-style laughing and a weird steely stare. I must have looked mad. The marshal waves us on to the track and I repeat my banger racing mantra: ‘Small and nimble, stays out of trouble; heavy and slow, broken they will go.’ Yes, I was that scared I made up a mantra. Yes it was a bit weird – but then adrenalin does very funny things to a man. Wimbledon Stadium is a fully enclosed, football-ground style arena, but where the pitch should be is a concrete loop of chaos. It’s fenced in by sturdy steel posts and thick tensile steel wire. Because it doubles up as the dog track – this runs around the outside of the concrete loop – there’s lots of facilities for ‘fans’. For £12 a ticket, thousands of people have packed the stadium to watch a night of car carnage. I take one look left at the baying crowd and feel like I’m in the modern day equivalent of a Gladiator tournament. Except instead of lions and sweaty men with swords, in this battle I’m up against rusty Astra Estates and Ford Escorts. I’ve been entered in the sub-1,600cc category which limits the chances of being rogered by a bone-crushing Ford Scorpio. But there’s still a hell of a lot of large, heavy cars that manufacturers stupidly fitted with tiny petrol powerplants…

‘It’s all a bit of a blur but I’m involved in what can only be described as an horrendous and serious accident, the sort of which hospitalises drivers who aren’t wearing a harness’ It seems to take an age to get going. I’m sat on the rudimentary grid and forced to constantly blip the throttle to keep the i10 running. It’s that fuelling issue rearing its ugly head again and the car stalls three times while I’m waiting. Blip bliping away, the relocated radiator begins to boil, emitting plumes of steam from under the battered bonnet. This is not a good start. Every time it dies I pray it’ll get going again; I don’t want to become a pinball in a giant car-based machine. Then revs rise, the smell of poorlycombusted unleaded stings my nostrils and my heart’s bid for escape takes on road drill proportions. Crawling behind the pace car at 15mph, speed is slowly increased and as we roll along the back straight a sudden cacophony of noise from 34 high-mileage powerplants, and one not-yet-run-in engine, pollute the night in a determined charge towards their red lines. The pace car peels off and before I have time to pass out adrenaline takes over. One car is instantly obliterated in front of me and I just manage to nip up the outside and around it, dodging the chaos by inches. I make it to the far end of the circuit, keeping out of trouble on the outside of the track, and manage to squeeze past two cars. Then I pass another three on the straight and dodge in and out of a further four – this is going well, too well… Whoops, turns out my focussed determination for survival had meant I’d missed a waved red flag that means one thing – SCH-TOP! I only realised I’d been passing the cars under the red flag when a marshal in the middle of the track shouts some form of abuse at me. Quite why the race had been halted is unclear – especially considering the chaos that was to follow. But what is obvious is that if I’d slipped under the radar of the other banger racers with the annoying magazine photography and video filming in the pits, by now I was well and truly on their target list. As the race restarts I’ve got 10 or so quite clearly thoroughly cheesedoff racers behind me, all of whom I’ve passed illegally. This is not going to do my chances of survival any favours. Within seconds of the restart, it happens...

It was all going so well...

...our editor even overtook...

It’ll polish out...

...but here comes trouble...

...monumental trouble...

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Now watch the video...

We had the presence of mind to capture the editor’s stupid idea on film. See his useless attempts at preparing the car, laugh at how scared he looks and fall off your chair when he crashes. It’s funny. Visit CarDealerMag.co.uk to see it all

It’s all a bit of a blur but I’m involved in what can only be described as an horrendous and serious accident, the sort of which hospitalises drivers who aren’t wearing four-point harnesses. My i10 is rear-ended and I’m punted into a post, sent spinning twice and left stranded in the middle of the track. Dazed and confused I’m smacked again from behind, the force of which was so strong the rear wheel is repositioned at a right angle to the bodywork. The engine is still running but despite stirring the gearbox I can’t find a ratio. This presents a horrible dilemma – the accident has rendered my vehicle immovable and I’m now a new chicane on the start-finish straight. Out of the passenger window I can see the accidents coming towards me. It’s like being sat stationary in lane two of a busy motorway as cars desperately try to avoid you on either side. Honestly, this was easily the scariest – and longest – 10 minutes of my life. Every time a car approached I closed my eyes and prayed I wasn’t hit again. As the laps counted down, the number of competitors dwindle with countless crashes taking place around the circuit. Not that I can see them – just hear the metal bending. When the tow-truck arrives, the relief is immediate. It’s only then that I take a step back, survey the damage and even my mechanically-inept mind can see it’s game over. Back in the pits Cecil’s crew confirm the worst and read the i10 the last rites. ‘The engine has moved from its mountings and is now pretty much touching the floor, plus that rear wheel will take some fixing,’ explains Spike. ‘But your real problem is the drive shaft has come out and the coupling is nowhere to be seen – it’s probably out there on the dog track somewhere.’ ‘It’s dead,’ adds Vaughan. ‘There’s no way even we can get that going again.’ To be honest – despite the fear, nerves and very real chance of serious injury – at this point, I’m gutted. The very small amount of banger racing I’d done, I’d enjoyed and with another two races still to run I would have loved to have been lining up on the start for them both. I retire to the stands for a cold beer and reflect. Maybe the i10 wasn’t the best car to take banger racing, but even without all its standard safety equipment in place, it still managed to keep me in one piece. Let’s just call it justice then; payback for all those scrappage cars it’s been responsible for sending to the crusher. This i10 fell on its sword – slain by a scrapyard hero in the ultimate payback for a year’s worth of killing. But, one thing’s for sure, if Hyundai has anything to do with it there’ll be plenty more i10s to carry on its good work in 2010. [CD]

Want to have a go? hances are you’re in two camps right now – the ‘I’m never, ever doing that’ camp and the ‘pass me some overalls I’m going racing’ camp. If it’s the latter, you could be in luck. We’re arranging a Car Dealer Banger Race, pitching automotive industry types against each other. Our thinking is this: You guys are taking in scrappage cars all the time and these have to be sent away to be crushed. So surely having a bit of fun with one before that happens wouldn’t be too much of a problem? This is the plan: You send one of your scrappage cars to Cecil and his crew. He’ll do everything needed to get it ready for the banger race, take it to the track, supply you with all the safety kit needed and then crush it afterwards – even sending you back a Certificate of Destruction so you can claim your scrappage cash afterwards. All you’ll need to do is turn up and race. We’ve spoken to our man and he says all it would cost teams is £350 a car – not bad for a day of destruction. And if you haven’t got access to a car that’s not a problem either, he’ll find one for you for an extra £50. We’ve already had a number of dealers say they’ll be up for it and only need a few more. If you want in, get in touch via james@blackballmedia.co.uk and we’ll send you the details. Come on, you know you want to!

...i10 is punted into fence...

...spun twice...

Turn over for... what the experts think will happen after scrap, p38-40

...nearly tipped over...

...and comes to a rest as a chicane

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AFTER SCRAP

What next?

With many predicting 2010 could be the year everyone feared 2009 would be, what do those on the ground think will happen after the By scrappage James Baggottscheme finished?

t’s the question on everybody’s lips – what happens next? The scrappage scheme is coming to an end this month and it’s been largely responsible for keeping sales figures in the black in 2009. Couple this with VAT back up, a general election looming and showroom tax on the horizon, and 2010 could be a very tough year indeed. With that in mind we wanted some expert opinion from the guys in the thick of it. We chatted to car manufacturers, dealers, suppliers and industry experts and asked them one question: What happens next?

Simon Henstock

Operations director, BCA THE immediate effect on the market once the scrappage subsidy is withdrawn, is that new car retail sales will be slower. Every indication is that consumers are going to remain cautious and prudent and for many households a new car simply will not be on the agenda in the coming months. However, there will still be market churn. Motorists will replace their current vehicle when it becomes uneconomical not to do so, or lifestyle changes dictate another vehicle is necessary. New motorists will want personal transport, as they always have done. The used market is likely to be the primary source for these purchases and therefore represents the best profit opportunity for dealers over the next 12 to 18 months while the UK continues to recover from the recession. The critical factor for dealers is to be able to source the right profile of used car stock to tempt their customers, and to be able buy it and sell it profitably.

that while 2010 is going to be challenging there will still be 1.8m people buying a new car – our job at Marshalls is to steal other peoples’ dinner.

Kevin Watson

director, Autotrade-mail.com GOING forward I would like to see the government extend the (self-funding) programme due to its success and broaden it to vehicles from over 10 years old to over eight. This may impact on us as a business, but I feel it would serve the industry very well. Talking to various dealerships up and down the country I have been surprised that as the deadline looms they have begun to withdraw from the programme fearing the government money will run out and they’ll not be reimbursed. The industry requires nursing back out of intensive care, therefore I’m hopeful they will introduce a stepped removal of the scheme, even if it was for a further six months and maybe instead of a total of £2,000 make it a £1,500 incentive. A further six months would also do the government no harm at the polls.

‘As the scrappage scheme fades and VAT and other price rises come into play, many are predicting a market slump this year. But it doesn’t have to be like that.’ Paul Williams

daksh Gupta

Managing director, Ssangyong importer Koelliker UK

I THINK it is going to be very challenging for dealers after the scrappage scheme finishes. Since inception 20 per cent of all new car registrations sales were as a result of the scheme, and that saved many dealerships. I believe that without the scheme in 2009 we would have seen significantly more dealership closures or sales. With the market expected to be anywhere between 1.75m to 1.8m there is no question many dealers will hurt and potentially the predicted dealer decline we expected to see in 2009 may happen in 2010 which, if you are acquisitive like us, is good news! I am positive

ALTHOUGH SsangYong only benefited from a magnificent two scrappage deals in 2009, I was, and still am, a big supporter of the scheme. It was never going to give us much of an advantage, but I could see that it would boost interest in the market, awaken latent buyers and create showroom traffic – and that had to be good for the industry. As the scrappage scheme fades and VAT and other price rises come into play, many are predicting a market slump this year. But it doesn’t have to be like that. The fact that SsangYong increased registrations by 25 per cent last year with no help from scrappage shows that sales can be gained and there are other

Chief Executive Officer, Marshall Group

makes that would make similar claims. The fact is, it takes hard work and, in particular, identifying and meticulously following-up potential customers. In 2010, we’ll be doing more of the same and building on what we’ve learned. That means working with our dealer partners to ensure they have good margins so they can be as flexible as possible in securing a sale.

Paul Harrison

Head of motor finance, FLA OUR statistics show a significant increase in new car finance volumes at the end of 2009. However, the scrappage scheme has had limited impact on finance demand as buyers used cash to fund purchases. Instead, the increase in finance volumes can be attributed to limited availability of credit from other sources, incentives such as 15 per cent VAT and weaker 2008 demand. Our members are forecasting similar finance volumes this year to 2009 with an expected pick-up in used car finance off-setting a decline in new car deals. Tailor-made finance packages will help dealers secure sales in 2010.

Keith Parry

Head of motor retail, Barclays THE lasting legacy of the scrappage scheme is the interest it created in the sector and its ability to drive customers into dealerships. Postscrappage, high levels of consumer interest can still be achieved if dealers and manufacturers work together on deals with a headline saving of £2,000 – the same as the scrappage discount. These deals then need to be heavily promoted by the sector in order to incentivise consumers. The end of the scheme also means that trade-in cars will no longer be age-restricted as they were under scrappage. This means dealers can now boost used car supply as the trade-ins will not have to be scrapped.

Bob Grant

Managing director, Ford Retail FORD’S great product line-up puts us in a strong position to maintain sales volumes without an over-dependency on scrappage to support sales. This fact, combined with a ‘refreshed’ Mondeo, S-Max and Galaxy due in the first half of 2010 and an all new C-Max and seven-seat ‘Grande C Max’ in quarter two, means we have a lot to talk about and lots of reasons to attract traffic into our dealerships in the months ahead.

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The after scrap offers CAR DEALER contacted all manufacturers and asked what deals they’d be offering after scrappage. Most didn’t even give us an answer – such is the competition in the industry the majority are refusing to reveal their plans until the last minute. Expect a raft of special offers and incentives being announced in the next few weeks. HYUNDAI THE firm has two post-scrappage offers – Trade & Upgrade and Happy Returns. Trade & Upgrade is a generous scrappage-type scheme, that gives owners of cars aged between seven and 10 years old the same £2,000 discount. Happy Returns allows existing Hyundai scrappage customers to switch into a ‘10’ registration car in March – for as little as £499. Hyundai is guaranteeing the buy-back of last year’s i10, i20 and i30 models, in exchange for a brand new model. The swap can be made any time up until the car’s first anniversary, saving the customer the cost of the first service and tax disc renewal, while also ensuring they once again benefit from a full five-year new car warranty.

Scrap: April’09-March’10 Yaris available under ‘Swappage’

Joe dowd

Managing director AuctionCarBuyer.co.uk

Mike Welch

Managing director, Blackcircles.com

THE scrappage scheme may have been good for the franchised dealers and mostly foreign manufacturers but little thought was given to the everyday drivers who need those very cars, the older cheaper vehicles, for their first car to help keep their insurance costs down. Having read Big Mike’s article in Issue 23 of Car Dealer, it appears they haven’t scrapped them all, have they? So, where do we go from here? Hopefully, things will improve whereby dealers sell more new cars and create a lot of used cars for the market place. At the moment, used cars are undervalued in both car guides.

THE scrappage scheme provided a timely boost for vehicle manufacturers at a point when many were fearing for their futures. However, it was always understood that this would only ever be a short-term measure and that the crutch of government aid could not be justified indefinitely. There are plenty of businesses in other industries which are struggling to keep their heads above water and lift themselves from the mire of recession, so we must accept that it’s time for the motoring industry to find a new, creative approach that ensures long-term stability.

Chris Craft

Sales director, Carsite.co.uk

director of Volkswagen UK THE scrappage scheme gave the UK car industry a much-needed boost, generating incremental sales at a time when the market was severely depressed. The most popular Volkswagen bought through the scheme was the Golf, followed closely by the New Polo. Our order bank for both these models remains strong.

Alistair Jeff

WE EXPECT the end of scrappage to bring about a return to the importance of smaller second-hand cars, especially those basic models hit harder by comparison with the generous scrappage deals that were available. During the scrappage scheme it was often difficult to justify the purchase of some used, lower-spec models against their new scrappage-discounted alternatives. Often the only >

TOYOTA SWAPPAGE is taking over scrappage at Toyota dealers. It offers buyers a £2,000 saving on the price of select new models. Cars aged between seven and 10 years old are eligible – W-plate motors to 52-plate cars. Yaris, Auris and Avensis models are eligible, but traded-in cars must have tax, insurance and a current MOT. The car buyer must have also been the registered keeper for at least a year. KIA PUSHING seven-year warranty with heavy marketing and advertising. FORD FORD is committed to pay VAT and ongoing scrappage deals to the end of March. No comment on what’s next. RENAULT THE French firm will be taking advantage of residual scrappage customers by offering them a ‘Super Scrappage’ deal. It’s aimed at buyers driving cars over seven years old and will allow them a bonus of between £2,300 and £3,100 on entry level Extreme models.

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AFTER SCRAP exception was if a driver’s potential ‘scrapper’ was worth more sold privately, and thus generating a bigger discount off a new or even a nearly-new car. At Carsite we found it difficult to quantify whether we sold less basic small cars than before the scheme was introduced since our volumes have grown significantly over the period. However, we did receive feedback from a large number of customers buying higher-spec small cars from us who had already checked the ‘value’ deals available on scrappage and found the value-forequipment levels restrictive. Given the continued economic climate we would expect a post-scrappage market to see an increased consumer interest in smaller used cars, with all buyers being more aware of getting the best value for money from their next vehicle purchase.

2 o

Ian Griffiths

Managing director, Makeandmodel.co.uk BEING a brand new start-up, we here at Makeandmodel.co.uk know how important it is to control costs. That’s why the launch of our new website will be of such interest after scrappage. Our site allows dealers to advertise their cars completely free of charge, cutting back on expensive costs. It has been designed with simplicity and functionality in mind and looks very different to other advertising portals. When something as big as the scrappage scheme comes to an end it is vital to fill that void with other ways to make money and new avenues. Uploading cars to our site is easy – it uses CAP data to fill in most of the details for you – and you can add up to nine images. We’ll work with dealers who need to upload large quantities of cars – all they need to do is get in touch.

Edmund King AA president

IT IS interesting that the top five car sales in 2009 were all fuel efficient models. Consumers have used the scrappage scheme to purchase cleaner, greener, safer cars. Despite the increase in VAT, the introduction of showroom tax in April, and end of the scrappage scheme in February, there are still great deals out there. The canny consumer can still negotiate a bargain on a new car. Perhaps the lack of salt and driving chaos in the snow and ice will see a re-emergence of the 4x4 as an essential vehicle for all-weather mobility.

Peter Vardy

Chairman, Peter Vardy IT’S THE manufacturer that is facing a big, big problem. Their rises have forced prices out of line so when scrappage ends, they’ll have to do something. We’re hoping they’ve been planning for it!

Clive Jackson

Founder, Autotorq.com MANY of our dealer network generated an increase in leads of more than 12 per cent as a direct result of our online scrappage tool. However, as the government scheme draws to an end, dealers should be focussed on sustaining sales and thus profit. More than 40 per cent of the profits made from a car during its lifetime are attributable to aftersales and servicing, compared to 14 per cent on selling it. Make sure you know what your customers want and when, for example by sending automated service and MOT reminders. Dealers should also find out which marketing channels and campaigns give you the best value for money sales value and long

Scrap scheme extension and the exit strategy JUST as Car Dealer was going to press, BIS – the government department responsible for the scrappage scheme – announced it would be extending the scheme by another month. Originally planned to finish at the end of February, the extension will see the scheme now coming to an end on March 31. However there are no

additional funds being allocated. It’s likely the extension has been announced to help ease the burden of the complicated exit strategy announced by BIS in the hope the funds will run out before it kicks in. The exit strategy will work like this: • Quotas allocated to carmakers from TOTAL PRIVATE RETAIL SALES between May-December 2009 • Phase one: 80 per cent of subsidies will be allocated proportionally • Phase two: Remaining subsidies

They think it’s all over... time client value, so be sure to monitor and measure and re-invest where it’s working.

Tom Gardner

Head of marketing and acting general manager, Honda (UK) OUR network has used 2009 to get into good shape and their businesses have enjoyed a profitable year. A lot of this has been the result of simply focussing on our customers and doing the basics brilliantly. This allows us to approach 2010 with a sensible business plan supported by refreshed product and consumer offers that we know suit our customers. This year will be challenging as the recovery slowly starts, but we’re cautiously optimistic we’re in the right shape and so are our retailers.

daniel Burgess

Automotive director, HPI FINANCE has become harder to secure on the forecourt, especially with a number of high profile companies withdrawing their support for smaller dealers. However, with the scrappage scheme nearing its end it is imperative that dealers make the most of the opportunity of increased showroom traffic before the scheme finishes. HPI Finance Gateway brings dealers a new way to increase the profitability of their point-of-sale finance. Completely free, HPI Finance Gateway offers dealers direct access to competitive rates from leading finance providers. And with no commission claw-back, dealers gain an instant online proposal from the finance company best suited to the customer’s personal credit rating and the profile of the car – crucial in this tough economic climate. [CD]

Turn over for... the companies who can help after scrap, p43-51 will be allocated to manufacturers ‘who have proved particularly popular… those who have been less popular will get a smaller or zero additional allocation at this stage’. The exit strategy will commence when the 360,000th scrappage order is received – so far around 330,000 orders have been placed. Phase one will then kick in – with phase two’s introduction entirely dependent on how this goes. In short, Car Dealer sees the final

scrappage orders being prioritised to the brands who have done well under the scheme. They’ll be guaranteed a larger ‘share’ of the final funds. Interestingly, there will be penalties enforced from the start of the exit strategy, too! These will be imposed on makers guilty of ‘artificially inflating order figures and ‘wasting orders that could be used by other companies’. The next problem though is how car manufacturers divvy up the funds between dealers, should it get to that.

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F N D

I A c

Run by dealers for dealers Est 1999

20,568 prime used cars offered on Autotrade-mail last month *

* Excludes Wanted Ads

A FEW FRANCHISED DEALER QUOTES LAST MONTH “There are several routes to market for buying and selling trade stock but by far I find Autotrade-mail the best for vehicle exposure. There have been countless times that I’ve been able to jump online and find that elusive sold order. The members of Autotrade-mail.com are professional and pleasant to deal with, in a nutshell Autotrade-mail.com is a true credit to the industry”

Franchised & Non Franchised Dealers If you aren’t already a subscriber to Autotrade-mail we’re certain we can help you make more profit!

Stuart Mackinnon, Group Used Car Stock Manager, Peter Vardy Group January 2010.

“We wouldn't use anyone else despite copycat companies inviting us to do so. We like to use someone that everyone else uses and that’s Autotrade-mail. We very often find £500+ more on deals made through Autotrade-mail than we could have achieved locally” Andy Walkingshaw, Managing Director, Walkingshaw January 2010

Call us on 08444 702514 for a FREE two week trial to experience the full range of Autotrade-mail subscriber benefits.

The UK’s leading online real time used-car trading network CarDealerIss24.indd 41

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AFTER SCRAP

The

Intro

fter scrappage

Finding new revenue streams after scrappage is vital if you don’t want to undo all your good work of the past year. Here Richard Aucock chats to six companies with clever ways to help make 2010 a prosperous year too

crappage is ending. It’s served us well, but the government is committing no more money to the hit scheme. This is a worry, for car dealers who now face a delayed hit; the double dip that many feared could be just around the corner. So how, as car dealers, can you still make money in 2010? By looking to some of the experts we have spoken to here, that’s how. They all have advice on how to capitalise in different ways so you don’t miss out on those much-needed profits. Scrappage isn’t the only tool available to car dealers – our friends at these various firms all have their own tips and advice on how you can still make sure 2010 is a good year. Read on, for some great money-making advice… >

BUYERS KEEP COMING. SELLERS KEEP COMING.CARS KEEP GOING. Make BCA your ﬁrst choice for buying and selling used vehicles in 2010. Only BCA puts more vehicles in front of more buyers across physical auctions and online sales. Start the year as you mean to go on, and choose the vehicle remarketing leaders who never stop.

We never stop 

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www.bca-europe.com CarDealerMag.co.uk | 43  6/2/10 13:41:47

S lo t

AFTER SCRAP

O w it co “I w d it g

cArtAkeBAck.cOM, 0845 257 3233

Cartakeback C

artakeback.com, the largest vehicle manufacturer backed scrap car recycling network in the UK, has so far paid out more than £10m for end-of-life vehicles which have been surrendered under the scrappage scheme. The organisation continues to help dealerships enhance their returns by offering competitive payouts for all scrap cars along with the offer of a free collection service. Cartakeback’s secure online systems allow dealerships to request collection from anywhere in the UK within 48 hours and to receive that all-important DVLA Certificate of Destruction electronically via e-mail and within 24 hours. December was a milestone for Cartakeback as the company collected its 100,000th scrappage scheme car and as part of the celebrations F H Winter Skoda on the Isle of Wight was rewarded with £1,000. By the close of the scheme, Cartakeback expects this figure to have risen to more than 140,000, contributing significantly to the half a million vehicles that are recycled through its

nationwide network of 300 authorised treatment facilities annually. With the final few orders expected to be placed during the next six weeks and with lead times of anywhere up to four months, Cartakeback expects the collection of government scrappage scheme vehicles to continue into the summer alongside its usual collections and any additional government or manufacturer-backed incentive schemes that may materialise. As future incentive schemes take shape over the coming months, Cartakeback intends to expand on the trade secured during the past five years through its collection and drive-in car recycling services, with the introduction of a new service offering. This time in the form of an online auction service aimed at higher value trade-in vehicles, which incorporates collection, storage and delivery to the customer. So, if you want to find out how Cartakeback can help, give them a call. >

H o th a fr a W o g

W re tu o In p a C

CMY

A o a th th

W a p p a p a

FR & o ye re

W p d o u p

A fu sc b

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scrappage advertorial jan10 v2.pdf 20/01/2010 12:53:34

Scrappage - a throw away idea or a lost opportunity? How will you replace the profit generated from this scheme? OK, so hand on heart, when the scrappage scheme was launched in 2009, how many dealers thought that it was a rubbish idea? Some dealers were quick to comment: “It’s not going to benefit a dealership like ours because we rarely see old cars and this is a cash rich area, so I don’t think it will make any difference to us” and “I think it’s just a gimmick and the public will be wary of any government initiative, I can’t see it taking off” How many dealers actually made the most of the opportunity? We’ve all seen the spivved up S plate on the forecourt with £2000 scrappage in bold letters across every panel. Some were able with a little help from the manufacturer to sweeten the pot and offer as much as £4000 plus in a bid to increase footfall. We’ve also seen a lot of the old traders look sadly on as some good retail vehicles were sent to the great car site in the sky. Website, local radio, TV advertising and a tremendous re-solicitation opportunity has seen many dealerships turn what was looking like a tough year amidst fears of the impact of the recession, into a decent year. In fact, many dealer principles have said that it was partly due to the scrappage scheme that they were able to bridge the profit gap in 2009.

SCRAPPAGE MAY BE GOING BUT THE PROFIT DOESN'T HAVE TO!

CMY

And now that it’s going, how many will lament the loss of a great opportunity and scratch their heads to find another Golden Goose.“I wish I had seen the value of this at the outset... It’s going to be tough to replace the lost profit”

Here at WMS we work hard to help dealers acheive real profit from our excellent range of protection products. So, if you want to add to your bottom line,

Well if it’s the additional profit that you are worried about replacing then look no further. We have been providing dealerships throughout the UK with fantastic profit making opportunities. Before, during and even after scrappage has gone, we provide a range of protection products designed to retain customers and increase profits.

why not arrange for one of our regional managers

FREE WARRANTIES, RTI/GAP, RE-SOLICITATION, MOT, TYRE & ALLOY WHEEL - Just some of the products that helped our business partners increase their profitability last year and help to retain customers for service, MOT and repair work for 2010.

We’re one of the fastest growing warranty

We have more than 2000 dealerships creating additional profit by offering some or all of our products before during and after sale, so it’s no surprise that we are one of the fastest growing warranty companies. We understand your business and can provide bespoke products to meet your customers, requirements.

07789 682502 today.

to show you the potential, after all we have over 2000 dealers throughout the UK who are already bridging the profit gap after the scrappage scheme.

companies in the UK - if you would like to make more profits please call our Business Development Director, Eric Stone, on

And if it’s scrappage that you really want then look no further... we will even offer your existing customers a scrappage scheme for their old warranty when they buy a new WMS one from you – but it won’t last forever. To find out more about our range of innovative products and services, please contact Eric Stone our Business Development Director on 07789 682502.

0844 477 4909

sales@warrantymanagementservices.co.uk www.wmswarranty.co.uk CarDealerIss24.indd 45

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AFTER SCRAP cOMpUcArS.cO.Uk, 0845 250 8820

Compucars T

o get through the post-scrappage period, says Compucars.co.uk group marketing manager Rob Queen, car dealers should not be looking at wacky ways of increasing footfall. Instead, he says, they should be concentrating on three key areas: Driving customers to their professionally designed, easily navigable and informationpacked website; Advertising, advertising, advertising; and complete obsession with customer services. It all starts with that internet site. ‘Dealers need to ensure, perhaps now more than ever, that their website is up-to-date and displays all the services offered,’ he says. This should include any revenue streams such as used car sales, new car sales, servicing, MOT, warranties – and also list comprehensive contact details. ‘While we’re talking computers, it is also vital for dealers to collect all their customer contact data and enter it into a CRM system. This data should be used to contact all customers to ensure they are aware of your business and the services it offers. Look at “loss leaders” to get the customer back into the dealership.’ Don’t forget good housekeeping either, he says. ‘You would be amazed at the number of dealers that advertise cars online without an image. It’s almost not worth bothering as customers will simply not look at them.’ Therefore, make sure ALL cars have multiple images, plus full contact details, location, maps, opening times and so on. On a similar subject, are you spending the pennies on the right place? Internet advertising is now more popular than TV advertising… is your spend reflecting this?

‘I believe that life beyond scrappage is about getting the basic principles of customer service correct,’ says Queen. Ask yourself, say, is the telephone answered 100 per cent of the time? His data suggests not. If the customer enquires via email, do they get a prompt reply also via email? Does the dealer put the customer first?’ Fundamentals such as this matter. And, adds Queen, are free… Feeling brave? ‘Dealers could then look to incorporate some of those “wacky” ideas into their marketing mix – send a salesperson into local companies, for instance, to promote your services and special vehicles. ‘You could offer incentives for people to testdrive cars as once a person is in a car they are more likely to buy it; try and carry on with your own scrappage scheme; or you could offer to clean cars for free if people visit your website and arrange to test drive a vehicle,’ he says. ‘Just make sure you support all this with impeccable customer service levels and collect all new customer data.’ Think Kaizen, says Queen. That’s the Japanese principal of continuous improvement. Just how often do you actually stand back from your business and review all their systems and procedures? He explains: ‘By using the time after the busier scrappage period to, at the very least, review and improve all customer touch-points, you will cut costs, increase customer retention and deliver greater profitability.’ >

‘Dealers need to ensure, perhaps now more than ever, that their website is up-to-date and displays all the services offered. This should include any revenue streams such as used car sales, new car sales, servicing, MOT and warranties.’

Want to DRIVE TRAFFIC to your website? Find out more by calling

0845 2508820 or visiting www.ukwebsites.net

Email: support@ukwebsites.net

Part of

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DRIVE TRAFFIC Your website is your online forecourt. So it needs to work as hard as you do. It’s also got to be easy to navigate and rank highly with Google and other search engines that will drive traffic to your website. We’ve been building bespoke websites exclusively for the motor industry since 1999. A number of our sites for dealerships have won awards. And being automotive professionals ourselves, we know what your site needs to help you sell more cars. Find out more by calling 0845 2508820 or visiting www.ukwebsites.net Email: support@ukwebsites.net

Part of

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AFTER SCRAP BLUecYcLe.cO.Uk, 0844 822 7800

Bluecycle B

luecycle is a top online auction specialist with an enviable reputation – but in what? The automotive salvage sector, explains head of market development Piers Wilson. The Aviva Group firm has built an enviable reputation there, holding hundreds of auctions every week. There’s much more besides, though. The expansion of the service now allows car dealers to stock forecourts and sell used cars online much more cost effectively – just the sort of new avenues that are needed post-scrappage. In short, car dealers can source quality stock and generate more money for

trade-ins, through turning to the Bluecycle service. ‘Helping dealers reduce costs in sourcing documented, clean vehicles and achieving higher returns for part-exchange units is an area where Bluecycle can make a tangible difference,’ said Wilson. ‘Our message to dealers is simple - consider Bluecycle as an alternative and extremely cost-effective supply channel. In what is likely to be another challenging year in car retailing, we believe this proposition will prove attractive to businesses looking to source vehicles, cut costs and speed up stock turn. There’s significant untapped potential for dealers to improve performance.’ The Bluecycle team, he says, manage the entire process. This is from vehicle recovery, through documentation processing and storage, to the completion of the sale and delivery of the car. It’s done this for around half a million cars since it started trading a decade ago. And now, having transformed the vehicle salvage industry through its robust and user friendly auction platform, Bluecycle is entering new markets and is now offering dealers an alternative route to buy-

‘Bluecycle invites readers to register on its website for only 40p… something that’s normally £40!’ ing desirable used vehicles – as well as disposing of trade-ins and any difficult stock, through a process which is truly hassle-free. Even better, Wilson has a special deal ONLY for Car Dealer Magazine readers! ‘Bluecycle invites readers to register on its website for only 40p*… something that’s normally £40! This will enable them to start buying immediately.’ To qualify click the register tab and enter ‘CDM1’ in the promotional code box. Wilson also adds you can call him to discuss the disposal and sale of trade-ins too. Intrigued by what Wilson and his team can offer? He is on 07740 371 489… *Offer closes 30th April 2010 and does not apply to Fast Track registrations.

1000 s OF CARS AVAILABLE TO BUY ONLINE Register with Bluecycle today for only 40p! The online marketplace for part exchange, end of fleet and car salvage Car, motorbike and commercial vehicle specialists All makes and models Hundreds of auctions each week

Registe r for onl y 40 Normall

y £40!

Why choose Bluecycle?

Simply typ promoti e CDM1 in th e ona when re l code box gisterin g

Only 40p to register for Car Dealer subscribers. Normally £40! Vehicle details checked prior to auction Clear vehicle descriptions Open and transparent auction process Thousands of parts available online

For further information or to register visit www.bluecycle.com *Offer closes 30th April 2010 and does not apply to Fast Track registrations

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tOMtOM.cOM

TomTom A

n incredible 15m sat nav units were sold across Europe in 2009 alone. Furthermore, a similar volume and value are expected this year, too – the industry continues to mature and bolster the massive growth it has experienced over the past five years. TomTom is at the forefront of this; that’s why, the firm says, sat nav sales do indeed offer car dealers life after scrappage. ‘This revenue could be filling the pockets of a car dealer,’ states the firm’s Lyndal Newman. Particularly as today’s latest sat nav systems now do far more than simply tell you where to go. ‘The emergence of connected navigation services such as real-time traffic, local search, and map updates means that sat navs are no longer about just getting from A-to-B. It’s about offering real time, two-way connectivity based on cellular and Wi-Fi technology that can compete with handset-based and in-dash connected navigation systems.’ The best way for car dealers to take advantage of this, says Newman, is by a deal that includes a sat nav system as part of the purchase price. Even

better – and to further differentiate themselves from the competition – dealers can do what they do best: make the system bespoke to the car. ‘By hardwiring it into the car, dealers will be doing something no traditional retailer can,’ Newman adds.

TomTom offers every assistance to car dealers in maximising profits – and not only through its very competitive trade prices. ‘Typically, the trade costs of a sat nav are a fraction of the perceived value in the eye of a customer.’ Ideal for helping you offer value WITHOUT reducing your prices… >

Give your customers a solution others can’t The ﬁtted automotive solution Did you know that you can offer to hard wire a satnav into your customers car? With our complete solution the satnav ﬁts neatly onto the dashboard, for better viewing, hidden cables and easy access. This solution is not available in retail.

TomTom GO LIVE

+ Active dock (inclu ding voucher to order car model speciﬁc ProC lip) & USB charger

Don’t want to lower the price of the car? Why not bundle it with a TomTom satnav!

12 mon ths FREE LIVE Serv Worth ices £9 TomTom 5.88 – includ in * g H D Trafﬁ most ac curate a c, the UK’s trafﬁc in nd up-to-date formatio n

Adding a high perceived value at a low trade cost. For more information please contact Automotive.Info@tomtom.com, or to view the full range of TomTom products, visit www.tomtom.com *with the purchase of any TomTom LIVE device between 18th February and 6th April 2010. Online redemption, visit www.tomtompromtions.co.uk/liveoffer for full terms and conditions.

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AFTER SCRAP Autotrade-mail.com, 0844 470 2513

Autotrade-mail A

utotrade-mail members have already benefitted big from the car scrappage scheme. This is courtesy of how the leading online used car trading network helps drive used car sales. Boss Kevin Watson says much-needed boosts to used car profit streams have been earned by all those involved in Autotrade-mail, through some of the most difficult times the industry has seen. This means big-hitters have sat up and taken notice. ‘The new car manufacturers have recognised and supported this important area like never before. Just the direct interest alone we have received from a few of them has been amazing,’ explained Watson. ‘They have recognised that the members of Autotrade-mail are some of the most professional and proactive car dealers out there. This is borne out of the fact that they are the ones consistently featuring within the upper quartile of their dealer composites.’ How does it work? It maximises used car prices and exposure by hooking all car dealer stock on to a central database. This can be then searched by all members. In short, says Watson, this allows one car dealer to ask many others: ‘I’ve been offered this car in part-exchange – which of you chaps will give me the most for it?’ 20,000 cars every single month are offered this way. Yes, 20k! If the loss of scrappage means less incentive to buy new cars, then used cars will be where it’s at. Here’s a simple and genius way to ensure you get maximum returns from every part of the deal. Watson is keen for us not to just take his word for it, though. Peter Vardy group stock manager Stuart Mackinnon who says Autotrade-mail is one of the best routes to market for buying and selling trade stock. In terms of sheer exposure, it really does take some beating. ‘There have been countless times that I’ve been able to jump online and find that elusive sold order. The members of Autotrade-mail.com are professional and pleasant to deal with. In a

nutshell, Autotrade-mail.com is a true credit to the industry,’ he says. High praise indeed! And it’s going to provide much-needed postscrappage aid to car dealers. Watson explains why. ‘If 2010 new car registrations remain on par with last year, and you remove the units that the scrappage scheme is responsible for, the size of the market would be circa 1.7m units, which compares (in less than three years) to 2.4m in 2007 – more than 28 per cent down!’ Scary figures indeed. ‘Obviously, the impact of these stark figures will vary from dealer to dealer – largely upon how reliant they are on their new car margins.’ But Watson’s advice is applicable to all. He suggests some dealers may start bringing their used cars into their showroom and place the brand new cars out on the forecourt… or even on to their workshop ramps that are being predicted to receive less usage through the reducing vehicle parc and extended service intervals! This is where a change in mindset, and a maximising of used car margins, comes in. ‘It is vitally important that the new car dealership is viewed as a family of

departments. When one department is in the sickbay, the others need to support it,’ adds Watson. Car dealers need to all work together as a team… and Watson is keen to become part of that team. ‘2010 will be very tough on the new car sales department; we would like to help nonmembers of our system to at least have a free trial,’ he explains. Contact him, he suggests, to get more information of how his system can help you. And if you’re in any doubt as to whether it may be worth it, listen to Andy Walkingshaw of Walkingshaw Volkswagen: ‘We wouldn’t use anyone else, despite copycat companies inviting us to do so. We like to use someone that everyone else uses – and that’s Autotrade-mail.com.’

...AUCTION CAR BUYING SERVICE....

J & J DOWD ESTABLISHED 1978 AND BASED IN WORTHING, WEST SUSSEX, IS A FAMILY BUSINESS SPECIALISING IN THE PURCHASE OF USED CARS, ON BEHALF OF MAIN DEALERS AND SPECIALISED DEALERS AT BRITISH CAR AUCTIONS, LEET AUCTION GROUP, MANHEIM AUCTIONS & WESTBURY MOTOR AUCTIONS THROUGHTOUT THE UK

Email: joe@auctioncarbuyer.co.uk Phone: 01903 245171 or 07768 338585 Website www.auctioncarbuyer.co.uk

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Castrol.com, 01793 452921

Castrol A

s franchised dealers wind down their scrappage scheme operations, they will no doubt be feeling a touch of trepidation as to what the market holds for 2010. This will be particularly true following the recent announcement that – despite more positive predictions from financial experts – the UK economy grew by just 0.1 per cent in the final quarter of last year, illustrating that the nation is still struggling to emerge from the recession. ‘Looking back to the downturn of the early 1990s,’ says Castrol franchised workshop and OEM marketing manager Nigel Head. ‘There was a strong correlation between new car sales and GDP growth. This, more than new car sales figures (which have been bolstered through the scrappage scheme), should be the most reliable indicator for when a recovery could be on its way. ‘Furthermore, with financial institutions still taking a cautious approach to consumer lending, VAT returning to 17.5 per cent, and no scrappage scheme in place to incentivise purchases, the SMMT is anticipating a drop of 7.8 per cent in new car sales through 2010.’ And it’s not just these more obvious market conditions that dealers need to consider, continues Head. From this year, the franchised network will start to feel the effects of an aftersales ‘black hole’ – a gap in potential aftersales revenues caused by the new car sales slump which began in 2007. Fewer cars sold means fewer to service, maintain or repair, and analysts believe that at the start of 2010 there will be around 15 per cent fewer cars in the four-year parc than there were in 2004. By 2012 it will be closer to 25 per cent fewer cars within this age category. Dealers therefore need

‘Castrol’s Electronic Vehicle Healthcheck helps the average dealership identify 24 per cent more work on every vehicle. This typically equates to around £300,000 per annum of additional revenue opportunity.’ to be confident that they have robust revenue streams in place to maximise opportunities from every vehicle that does come into the workshop. ‘While efficiency and absorption are likely to be the watchwords for many in 2010, maximum performance against these measures must be achieved without directly cutting a dealer’s share of voice or activity,’ says Head. ‘The focus should be on seeking out new (and bolstering existing) profit streams, rather than making cutbacks which could affect the ability of the business to deal with customers effectively.’ For many dealers, Head adds, the most effective means of boosting revenue is through improving aftersales procedures. Castrol Professional works with a number of dealers across the UK and Ireland who, by re-evaluating their existing processes, have improved the efficiency and profitability of their aftersales operations considerably. ‘Integrating Castrol’s Electronic Vehicle Healthcheck (EVHC), for instance, helps the average dealership identify 24 per cent more work on every vehicle. This typically equates to around £300,000 per annum of additional revenue opportunity. The system also features simple, robust and effective

deferred work follow-up procedures, which capture work that would ordinarily be lost to competitors.’ In addition, ‘soft’ skills and sales training for service reception staff will deliver tangible benefits to the dealership’s bottom line to and customer satisfaction and retention. Castrol Professional’s suite of training solutions – including ‘Right Oil Right Car’ lubricants training and the award-winning ‘Red Carpet’ sales training programme – impart these crucial dealership staff with the skills to maximise every sale opportunity, while also increasing their confidence in dealing with customers. While there may be fewer cars within the four-year parc on UK roads, those vehicles will still need servicing and repairing through 2010. Head adds: ‘The dealers best placed to survive and thrive in 2010 will be those able to focus on customer retention and on maximising customers’ aftersales spend. Those dealers with effective aftersales procedures and well-trained and motivated staff can look ahead to a profitable 2010.’ [CD]

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auctions

Wilsons to double capacity at sites

Henstock Auction stations The stark differences weather can play to values

From left: Ben Esp, general manager of Wilsons Queensferry, Ian Wilson, managing director of Wilsons Auctions and Paul Mallon, general manager of Wilsons Telford

Telford and Queensferry to be expanded as Wilsons plans to invest £2m in 2010 WILSONS Auctions is to double capacity at two UK complexes after big rises in sales conversions. The UK’s largest independent auction house, Wilsons says the latest expansion is being driven by main agent part-exchange motors. Some £2m will be invested throughout 2010 and this will create 20 new jobs. Sites in both Telford and Queensferry are to be expanded, which will ultimately double throughput. Wilsons has also announced a strategic partnership with Stratford-upon-Avon’s Jet Logistics. This will create a ‘one stop shop’ for fleet cars.

Auction4Cars breaks records JANUARY has provided rich pickings for one car dealer which has experienced a record-breaking week. Auction4Cars.com says the second week of January has seen a huge 40 per cent like-for-like sales increase. This, says the car-dealer-only firm, proves that internet retailing is the way forward. ‘January has been a very busy month for us, and promises to be our busiest on record,’ said group disposals manager Neil Prescott. What’s led to it? Believe it or not, the cold weather and snow! ‘The extreme weather certainly played its part, with many people now converted to the idea of buying stock online from alternative suppliers such as Auction4Cars.’ Car dealers apparently had to abandon plans to travel out to car auctions, and instead conducted their reckoning online. This led to the traffic spike experienced by Auction4Cars.com. The firm now hopes the rush will continue, to help it achieve its goal of doubling registered users.

There, motors can be de-fleeted, refurbished and sold all in the same place, saving thousands of pounds in transport costs. It aims to support the company’s vision of developing a ‘total vehicle solution’ for manufacturers and leasing companies’ end of contract vehicles. Peter Johnston, director at Wilsons Auctions said the latest moves would enable the firm to target fleet vendors who want a fresh approach to fleet sales. He also announced two new recruits to the sales and auction development team: ‘We are also pleased that both Jacqui Le Put and Andy Conde are joining the team – their experience and reputation will help Wilsons engage with some of the biggest customers in the UK.’ Wilsons Auctions currently has six auction complexes based throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Top Car auction rakes in £3.6m BCA Nottingham recorded a £3.6m prestige car auction spend in just a few hours of trading. It led to BCA director Tony Gannon declaring the recession a thing of the past. The Top Car sale at Nottingham generated the seven-figure sum from a lot of 300 cars at the end of Janauary. Posh motors including Aston Martins, Bentleys, Ferraris, Porsches and Maseratis were among the lots – the highest-priced of which made £82,500 on the day. ‘It was a tremendously exciting sale,’ said Gannon. ‘Clearly the demand is there for these prestige vehicles.

ne thing about the used car market generally, and particularly the auction sector, is that it’s a very ‘true’ market. There’s little room for artifice and device, buyers are not swayed by the same glossy advertisements and lifestyle choices that drive the new car market. At auction, buyers set a price point based on demand and sellers choose to accept it or not. It’s also true that auctions quickly reflect the subtleties and vagaries of demand - you just had to watch the average used values fall as the recession bit in 2008 to realise that. Seasonality has a role to play as well, so it’s interesting to see how the extremes of recent UK weather have affected prices. Nothing makes four-wheel drive more ‘A convertible is attractive than a dusting a pleasure buy of snow and the severe that is likely to be weather we had in January will have convinced many well-planned in drivers they now need a 4x4. advance rather Our figures show that average values for used 4x4 than being an ad vehicles generally climb as hoc decision.’ the weather worsens. Values increased significantly in March 09, for example, following the snowfall in February. In that one month BCA saw average values rise by £2,388 to a then record value of £11,131. From mid-year 2009 onwards, average values for 4x4s remained relatively stable, but as the winter months arrived, values gradually rose again to a peak of £12,271 in December – the highest average price on record for 4x4s and nearly twice the average price that was recorded in July 2008! Despite having established a record benchmark price for four-wheel drive vehicles in December, I still would not be surprised if that was exceeded in January. Of course, the polar opposite of 4x4s are convertibles. A convertible is a pleasure buy that is likely to be well-planned in advance, rather than being an ad hoc decision. What better time to make that purchase than when spring arrives, with warmer days and British Summer Time’s arrival leading to lighter evenings? In fact, the best time to buy would be October to January, when prices average their lowest. Our figures suggest that the UK weather is probably the biggest single factor in determining convertible values. So obviously the secret to success in used car retailing is to sell 4x4s in the winter and convertibles in the summer! If only life was that simple…

Who is Simon Henstock? Simon is UK network operations director for BCA. Find out more at www.bca-europe.com or call 0845 600 6644.

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right click

...in association with GForces

What dealers can learn from javelin... Ok, so it’s not the first thing you think of when it comes to the internet, but you can still learn a lot from one sportsman’s story, says Tim Smith

n 1996 Czechoslovakian javelin thrower Jan Železný sealed his place in the record books by breaking the existing world record, one set three years earlier himself. Some 14 years later and his record throw of 98.48 metres still stands and, as the holder of all top five javelin performances of all time, he’s regarded as the greatest participant in his sport ever. If any sport teaches the importance of technique it’s the javelin. There are many elements that, when changed, could make the difference between a throw that closes in on 100m and one which veers off to the side and worries adjudicators. You can bet that in the years leading up to his record throws, Železný and his coach were monitoring the results of every technique in the push for gold and so too were their competitors. Just as no coaching team would encourage techniques that bring negative results, no business would chase profit-destroying practices. Accordingly, marketing campaigns need to generate results in order to justify the expenditure. With the economy only now nuzzling its way toward the clear, nobody is about to start spending money without being able to measure the success or failure of their marketing. The increase of the internet audience is well documented, so it’s of little surprise that this year is expected to see a 7.6 per cent increase in online advertising spend, according to the European Interactive Advertising Association. The importance of online advertising is no longer a question, it’s been shown to generate 4.4 times as many automotive leads than traditional media (source: GForces LeadBeast).

However, automotive dealers looking to capitalise on the internet-savvy market need to ensure they have the tools in place to measure the success – or failings – of their campaigns. While the success of javelin techniques can be measured in a singular manner, there are many yardsticks when it comes to online marketing success – especially in an industry so susceptible to the whims of the economy. In a recession, when demand for your products is down, what can you measure to ensure your marketing is working? It’s in knowing these measures that automotive dealers can ensure campaigns are driving the most relevant traffic to a website that performs in the most efficient way. One of our clients, a leading UK car supermarket, monitors and fine tunes every aspect of their marketing campaigns. With enquiries and traffic down industry wide, they’ve been able to monitor results which are unaffected by economic fluctuations – those driven by marketing and site functionality – and adjust their techniques accordingly. In doing so they’ve cut their bounce rate down to just 10.5 per cent, while their website has secured more than 250 Top 10 Google positions. By honing their marketing and website’s ‘stickiness,’ they’ve placed themselves in the best position possible – just as the economy is poised for recovery. It’s not necessary to fly blind in marketing when a recession can cloud judgement. Find the metrics that allow you to truly measure the effects of your marketing techniques and you’ll be able to perfect them to achieve winning results.

‘While the success of javelin techniques can be measured in a singular manner, there are many yardsticks when it comes to online marketing success.’

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We can help you unlock the profit potential in your dealership.

CMY

Warranty Management Services have tremendous experience when it comes to delivering added value to your business. Quite simply – we make you money! Innovative products, excellent service and ease of use... Three keys to unlock the profit potential from every vehicle sale. Warranty, admin only, RTI/GAP, MOT and Recovery packages, customer retention, sale at service, re-solicitation... If you want to secure more profit then let us simply arrange for one of our team to visit you and run through the options. Why not contact our Business Development Director – Eric Stone on 07789 682502

0844 477 4909

sales@warrantymanagementservices.co.uk www.wmswarranty.co.uk CarDealerIss24.indd 56

6/2/10 13:45:48

...in association with Really Good Domains

dot com

...in association with Really Good Domains

Use the end of scrappage to look again at your ad spend A

re you mourning the end of the scrappage scheme? Or was your marque one of those that didn’t really benefit from it? Either way there is no doubting the positive effect the scheme had on total car sales during 2009 and the end of the government-backed scheme will again put car sales in sharp focus. There are already several manufacturers planning for life after scrap – as you can read elsewhere in this issue – but how can your dealership steer clear of the choppy waters of fluctuating sales performance for the rest of 2010? Auditing your marketing strategy and making the necessary alterations for the rest of the year is vital – but which media platforms should you focus on? The start of the year has also seen the continuing demise of regional newspapers and publications, and while the closure of any company is a sad affair for those made redundant the fact is that falling readerships and the rise of the internet has made much of the traditional print media industry redundant, a relic of the 19th and 20th centuries. National newspapers have proved more resilient but advertising space remains expensive

The question is not ‘Should we advertise online?’ but rather ‘Who should we advertise with online?’ and out of the grasp of most dealerships. Television advertising has also been in the doldrums with falling, fragmented audiences across all commercial channels and it remains an expensive advertising option. Radio continues to be a viable option for many, with its local focus and high number of listeners it should always be considered as part of your marketing mix. Effectively mining data already held within the business is also an effective way of increasing your sales performance. However, the pressing question is not ‘Should we advertise on the internet?’ but rather ‘Who should we advertise with on the internet?’ As online marketing specialists, we are celebrating our 10th anniversary this month, which when you think about how long the internet has been used as a marketing tool makes the company a venerable elder statesman. The company has experienced first hand the way the internet has altered the car industry; remember when it took two minutes to load a single page on a dial-up connection? Thankfully those days are long gone and now most of the population spends longer and longer periods using the internet and this is where the majority of your advertising budget needs to be directed.

Popular cars for contract hire and leasing currently include the Volvo XC90 and Nissan Qashqai

Contract hire can help boost profits F

ebruary might see the 10th anniversary of online marketing experts Really Good Domains, however that is not the only anniversary of note for the company during 2010. Backbone of the contract hire and leasing market in the UK, ContractHireAndLeasing.com will also be turning 10 later in the year. Originally launched way back in October 2000, the website has grown to become the number one contract hire and leasing website in the country – offering car dealers

unrivalled access to buyers looking for both personal and business deals, while offering visitors to the site unrivalled access to tens of thousands of the latest deals. It’s a great example of where a website portal succeeds in bringing the car retailer and the purchaser together. If your contract hire and leasing operation has been neglected and unloved in the past then 2010 should be the year you look to this potentially valuable source of sales, more

Managing director and Really Good Domains founder Dave Timmis knows more than most about online marketing in the automotive industry. ‘Looking back over the 10 years, when we launched our first motoring website it was for a very niche sector, the majority of people had to make do with dial-up connections and internet marketing was still in its infancy. Car dealerships using the internet to advertise wasn’t the norm,’ he explained. ‘Fast forward 10 years and the internet is

so when the sales boost of the scrappage scheme rescinds. All car types and marques are popular, with large numbers of the public switching to leasing as a way of lowering their motoring costs or to afford that prestigious model they have always had their heart set on. Popular cars on the site currently include the Volvo XC90 and Nissan Qashqai. If you want more information about how the website can help your car dealership, call 0161 482 7650.

without doubt the most important and effective advertising medium for all dealerships, for example, our recently re-launched SaveMoneyOnCars.co.uk, the portal which exclusively advertises up to three year old cars, attracts 400,000 car buyers a month all specifically looking for a new or nearly new car. ‘If it’s those car buyers you’re targeting, and why shouldn’t you be, then there is nowhere busier to advertise your deals.’ For more details on SaveMoneyOnCars.co.uk phone 0161 482 7650.

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automation

Let It help boost profits! Using computers to help you make more cash makes a lot of sense, explains experts WinWin World

T systems are very good at saving you money. In the early days this was the way they were sold. In fact early DMS systems were often promoted on the basis of how many staff members such a system could replace, with administration and accounts departments taking the biggest hit. After all, the highest overhead to most companies is, and always has been, staff salaries. Times have moved on, IT is now everywhere and most people take for granted the original advantages good IT can bring. The focus nowadays is more on process control and customer database management. But what about using IT to make more profit? This is almost a revelation, the ‘P’ word and IT systems don’t usually go together. Saving money? Yes. Making us more efficient? Yes. Cataloguing, marketing, accounts, time management? Again, all yes! But actually directly adding to the bottom line? Well, just take the two customer offers above right – can you see the difference? Not much to choose between them as far as the customer is concerned. But offer A makes the dealer £132 profit whereas offer B makes £586. The customer pretty much pays the same and is unaffected by this process, apart from the fact they got their numbers worked out quickly and professionally. For those of you who know their stuff, or are familiar with our deal optimiser, this is not rocket science. But, without such a tool, can you hand-on-heart swear that your people would do this every time with every deal? Okay so what? It’s just a few quid here and there. Well... percentage wise, we are looking at nearly 450 per cent. Most dealers would kill for just 10 per cent at the moment. What would a mere 10 per cent increase look like on your bottom line right now? If you want to know all the details behind these numbers call us or better still make an appointment to come to see us at the WinWin showroom in Tring, near Aylesbury, in Hertfordshire. WinWin has a full dealership set up in IT terms and running in real time. Here you can see and use all the systems for yourself. And if that wasn’t enough, WinWin has developed a report that predicts your future

WinWin World’s deal examples above show the stark differences in proﬁt and the ﬁrm’s dashboard display helps keep things simple in the showroom

‘Offer A makes the dealer £132 profit whereas offer B makes £586. The customer pretty much pays the same.’ performance. The ‘Destiny Report’ uses all known parameters to accurately predict where you will be at a moment in time. For example, based on what we know already including

adjustments for seasonality, we can tell how many cars you will sell and how much profit you will make on a given date in the future. This report is another first for the industry. All WinWin systems talk to each other (another revelation). We also do showroom lead management, electronic finance proposals, full online DOC’s, real time dashboards provided on widescreen TVs, automated customer process management and more. So now you can add ‘more profit’ to all the usual IT hype. Want to know more? Call us on 01442 800039.

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online

...in association with Motoring.co.uk

Stateside, it’s very different Motoring.co.uk’s Terry Hogan has been checking out dealers in the US – and over there things are very different

ere at Motoring.co.uk we are always searching for inspiration so we can constantly improve our service to both consumers and the dealer network. So this month we’ve carried out some research on portals and dealers in the United States to see how we (and you) compared. You see, we’re building a couple of new platforms, and like to know what best practice is. The portals ‘obviously’ were not as good as Motoring.co.uk, but their integration with the dealer network is superior to anything in the UK. We sent a few enquiries in and ever since we have been bombarded with thank you emails, relevant offers, telephone calls, some automatically-generated, some bespoke. The Mazda dealer that we contacted via the site was superb. Now I only know one US postcode – 90210 Beverley Hills – so that was where I ‘lived’. Immediately on sending the enquiry in we got an email from the CEO of the dealer group as follows. ‘Thank you very much for your inquiry and interest in Galpin Motors. One of our internet coordinators will be following up with you shortly, but I want to take this opportunity to personally express my gratitude for your interest in Galpin. As you may or may not know, we are a family-owned and operated business with a history of award-winning sales and customer service for more than 60 years. Rest assured you are in good hands when you “Go Galpin”. I hope you will enjoy the Galpin style of customer service and many special touches that have helped make Galpin the renowned automobile enterprise it is today.’ It went on to tell me: • Over 4,000 vehicles in stock and ready for

Motoring.co.uk has been looking at dealers on the other side of the pond

‘This month we’ve carried out some research on portals and dealers in the United States to see how we (and you) compared.’ immediate delivery. • We have over 100 ﬁnance sources to better assist you in getting financed. • #1 Volume Ford Dealer in the World for the last 20 years • First-class customer service! Convenient locations and hours. • A full-service restaurant serving breakfast, lunch and dinner – with a menu featuring everything from salads, to lobster, to homemade gourmet desserts. • Our very own Galpin Starbucks. • And much more... And finished by saying: ‘Again, thank you for

your inquiry. We look forward to serving your every automotive need, and will be back in touch with you soon!’ We then got an email from their internet co-ordinator explaining that they had left the office for the evening and would contact us in the morning, which they did. Since these initial emails, we have been contacted by telephone or email every day. This has really shown me what a long way we all have to go to work together to improve every aspect of how we communicate with our customers, to make them feel that we really want their business. We have been busy building an email platform to communicate better with consumers who use the Motoring.co.uk site, and will be adding more features to it based on our experiences with US dealers. So have a look at the Galpin.com experience and see if you can learn from it – we think we did!

For 2010 motoring.co.uk charges you for RESULTS ONLY Expose all your new and used car stock and pay for clicks and enquiries only Call us on 0844 245 1556 or Email: trade@motoring.co.uk Download our brochure: www.motoring.co.uk/brochure

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Trader

d irector y

Our new Trader Directory! Get your name put in front of thousands of dealers in our new Trader Directory

ar Dealer has launched a brand new service to help traders. Used car stocking is a major problem for many dealers – finding the right cars at the right prices can be very difficult. Not only that, selling cars that you don’t necessarily want to put on your forecourt isn’t easy either. So the concept is a simple one – it’s called Trader Directory – and will be THE list to come to when you need a part exchange underwritten.

this idea came from our commercial manager Duncan Chappell who used to work at a main Mercedes dealership,’ explained editor James Baggott. ‘He was often tasked with finding a price for a part exchange being offered as part of a deal and would have to thumb through hundreds of pages of price guides to find a trader willing to buy. ‘This online and magazine directory aims to cut that process down to one easy step – either on our website or in the magazine, helping put dealers in touch with traders.’ Knowing that times are tough for the motor trade, we’ve also pitched the price of being included extremely low:

...advertising cost for traders in Car Dealer for six months

• A listing in the ONLINE directory for six months is £29.99 • A listing in BOTH the magazine and online directories for six months is £39.99

It’s printed on the right, but the Trader Directory can also be found online where the list of active buying traders who want your cars is updated throughout the month. Traders are listed under each manufacturer they’re interested in buying. And those that opt for a magazine listing too are published here every month. ‘Car Dealer is all about helping the trade and

For more information you can contact adverts@ cardealermag.co.uk or call us on 023 9252 2434.

£39.99

If you’d like to be included you can submit your details on our website now and your advert will be live in 24 hours! And if you opt for the magazine listing too it will be included in the next available issue. ‘We also plan to produce a booklet of all traders in the not too distant future, so register your interest early to avoid missing out,’ added James. Want to get shot of a part ex? Try our traders

Manufacturer (your listing will be placed under this heading in the directory): ......................................................................................................................................................................... Your name: ......................................................................................................................................................................... Company name: ......................................................................................................................................................................... Phone numbers (landline & mobile if required): ......................................................................................................................................................................... Email address: ......................................................................................................................................................................... Your advert (no more than 10 words, any more will be cut) ......................................................................................................................................................................... .........................................................................................................................................................................

Please make cheques payable to BLACKBALL MEDIA LTD and send this form to Trader Directory, Blackball Media, 2a Church Rd, Gosport, Hants, PO12 2LB If you’d like to be invoiced instead please tick here [ ] Invoices will be sent to the address specified above. If you would like the invoice to be sent elsewhere please fill in the details below: ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ ............................................................................................................................................................................................................

Or fill it out and pay online: CarDealerMagazine.co.uk/trader-directory.htm

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This is a list of traders looking to buy part exchange vehicles. Phone them for a price on your vehicles. Please tell them where you got their number! Find out how you can be included at the bottom of this page Alfa Romeo

Daihatsu

Hyundai

Sturgess Alfa Romeo Scott Allen 0116 275 8800 scottallen@ sturgesscars.co.uk Buying used Alfa Romeos up to five years old

Woodford Motor Co Ltd Stephen Barnard 0208 504 0017

Bushey Heath Hyundai Jon O’Donoghue 0208 420 5100 07976 177 959

Aston Martin

Proven Daihatsu Keith Pattison 01428 652554 07771 547406

Mangoletsi (Holdings) Limited Fraser info@mangoletsi.com 01565 722899

Ferrari

HWM Aston Martin Paul Spires paul.spires@hwm.co.uk 01932 240611 07850 326755

Monza – Ferrari Andrew Ludlow ferraribuyer@ntlworld. com 07889 305 053

Audi Wimbledon Carriage Company Limited John Crisp 07885 211872 Walton & Epsom Audi Mark Loughnane 01932 220404 07739 519306 Audi - Midlands / Listers Volkswagen Andy O’Connell andy.oconnell@listersgroup.co.uk 07736 787 300

BMW Williams Rochdale Craig Fenlon 01706 717700 07808 092110 Trevor Jones Car Company Trevor Jones trevor@trevorcars.co.uk 01628 663999 07836 750390

Bentley Harwoods Simon Elkin 01798 877211 07803 088711 Jack Barclay Bentley Derek Bennett 020 7629 7444 07713 887 886

Citroen Marlborough Ferdi Khab ferdik@marlborough. uk.com 020 8225 5840 07949 219 830

HR Owen Ferrari Nick Carey nick.carey@hrowen.co.uk 07824 362229

Jaguar

Maserati

Sturgess Jaguar Chris Allen chrisallen@sturgess jaguar.co.uk 0116 282 6868 Buying Used Jaguars up to five years old

Meridien Modena Warren Butt 02380 283404 07860 530703

Fiat

Jeep

Glyn Hopkin Ltd Glyn Hopkin 07730 711889

John Holland Sales John Holland / Mark Holland 07836 690818 07831 824644

Ford

Dick Lovett Edward Lovett 07808 940777 Murray Motor Company Graeme Robertson 0131 200 8888 07765 252745

Maranello Ferrari John Dutton 07817 019 456

Sturgess Fiat Ian Callis 0116 254 1717 icallis@sturgess cars.co.uk Buying used Fiats up to five years olds

Lotus

Hatfield Hyundai Mark Littler/Tim Barnes 0161 767 9500 07920 599 394 07787 921 222

Charles Hurst Jaguar Stewart Begg 0208 938 1300 07534 927 821

Woodleigh Fiat Julian Elliott 01246 850 686 07976 606 983

07740 717209

Nigel Clegg 07836 516945 SMC Motor Group Gavin Horwell gavin.horwell@smc-cars. com 01895 253681 07717 691657

Nissan Sturgess Nissan Ian Callis 0116 254 1717 icallis@sturgess cars.co.uk Buying used Nissans up to five years olds

HR Owen Nick Carey nick.carey@hrowen.co.uk 07824 362229

W R Davies Neil Swan 07739 625958

Mazda

Peugeot Robins & Day Guildford Chris Dabb 01483 414 311 07768 336306

Mitchell Mazda Brian Blanchard 07826 817850

Porsche

Mercedes-Benz

Lee Gilmour Tower Hill Garage 01923 263700 07768 367085

Hughes of Aylesbury Tony Oblein 01296 319600 07785 781623

Chapelhouse Kia Andy / Neil 01925 570800 07891 531129 07825 311 297

Tony Purslow Ltd Simon Sneath 07810 771 161 Mercedes Benz of York Darren Hewitt-Craft dhc@rybrookmercedes. co.uk 01904 694000 07701 001491

Paragon Mark Sumpter 01825 830424 07778 968911 Dove House Cars Simon Lenton 01933 354144 07855 801096

Renault

Mini

Saab

Berry West London Paul Fox / Glen Berry 07747 485185 07966 397796

Ealing Used Saab Specialists Peter or Matthew 020 8579 2969 07836 336 338

Land Rover

Sytner Mini Matthew Jones 07870 688793

SEAT

Specialist Cars Stevenage – Mini Jason Ayriss jason.ayriss@specialistcars.co.uk 01438 760303 07918 680445

Kings Seat Mike Read 07789 956937

Thames Honda Group Jerome Chandiram 0208 845 3551 Holdcroft Honda Luke Regan / Chris Thursfield 07971 543884 07813 737 921

Beadles Land Rover Greg Wilcox g.wilcox@beadles-landrover.co.uk

Mitsubishi Livery Dole Mitsubishi

Sparshatts Subaru Louis Jones louis.jones@sparshattsgroup.co.uk 01489 785111 07775 508255

Glyn Morgans Ltd Glyn Morgans 01189 425024 07836 240059

Toyota Octagon Toyota Paul Elves 01344 789888 07974 256830 Toyota World Stuart Smith 07966 172397

Vauxhall Monorep - Vauxhall Andrew Ringer 020 8836 3031

Volvo

Lamborghini Manchester Mark Woore 0161 474 6730 07717 851939

Sturgess Land Rover Chris Allen chrisallen@sturgess jaguar.co.uk 0116 282 6969 Buying used Land Rovers up to five years old

Cheam Subaru Richard James 020 8394 2266 07836 549553

Renault Retail Group Ian Millichip 07718 967026

Lifestyle Ford Richard Walker 07748 177889

Brayley Honda Mark Corr 07812 342 635

Subaru

Volkswagen

Lamborghini

Honda

Smart of Exeter Darren Webber 07940 756063

Sunwin Renault Preston Sean Dean 01772 329900 07790 253827

Benfield Des Sammon des.sammon@benfieldford.co.uk 07831 828024

Lamborghini London Rupesh Jethwa 0207 589 1472 07958 462 549

Smart

Suzuki

Lifestyle Mazda Mark Spowage 01293 845045 07974 770020

Kia

07500 539791

Hobin Group Ltd – Seat Alex Cullen 07950 566427

Skoda Mitchell Skoda Richard Macklin / Ross Thompson

Ridgeway Newbury Andy Jones 07917 635534

Sturgess Volvo Scott Allen 0116 275 8800 scottallen@ sturgesscars.co.uk Buying used Volvos up to five years old

General Buyers Sol Cars Tim Hancock Wanting part exchanges of all types up to 4k 07973722243 timfoxhancock@btopen world.com Barry Freedman 01753 543105 07836 338694 barry.freedman@virgin.net Trade buyer of PX vehicles anything up to £8k

*New listings this month

To have your details included here log on to CarDealerMagazine.co.uk/trader-directory.htm There’s also a more comprehensive list of traders on the website, updated throughout the month.

Prices for six month listings: £29.99 On Website | Or £39.99 for Magazine & Website Prices inclusive of VAT. Payments can be made online via credit or debit card. Your details will appear in the next available issue

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[classifieds] CAR DEALER SUPPLIER GUIDE ENTRY FORM The Car Dealer Supplier Guide is a great way to get your company’s details in front of our army of readers every single month. Submitting your

Your Name [not for publication] .....................................................................

entry is easy – simply fill out the form below and send to us with a cheque made payable to BLACKBALL MEDIA to Blackball Media, The Old