Car Dealer Magazine: Issue 29

CarDealer.

Lexus LFa Issue 29 | August 2010 | CarDealerMag.co.uk | £3.50

[ Bangers4BEN 3 – Join us for the ultimate road trip: p09 ]

Driving the future of the motor trade

Behind the wheel of £330k monster what it means to aLL Lexus dealers Meet the only salesman in europe

EWARDS 2010 Enter your website and win one of our prestigious gongs!

PLUS: Top tips for improving your website

CarDealer.

I N A S S O C I AT I O N W I T H

autotorq.com

911 FOR 2011 – GRABBING A BARGAIN! Meet the next car in our challenge to turn £0 into a Porsche 911

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start

Issue 29 | August 2010

SALES figures for June show another 10.8 per cent rise (p81) – but behind the good news, it’s the gathering storm clouds that are worrying me. As a number of dealers pointed out when I posted the latest news on our website, the SMMT figures are purely registrations.

That distorts the truth a bit too much for many dealers’ liking. Most consider a ‘sale’ as an order – when someone pays a deposit and signs an order form. The registration part of the deal is purely a matter of course, something that often happens in the future, when the car finally arrives.

Ok, so the SMMT has been reporting registrations like this for years, and gathering orders would be nigh on impossible to do accurately as manufacturers would be reluctant to give this information out. So why am I bringing it up now? Well, it’s because from what we’re hearing from our dealer contacts, while the news agencies are reporting positive things on the back of those June registration figures, nothing could be further from the truth.

Dealers tell us things are very quiet out there at the moment, orders are thin on the ground and buyers are few and far between. But because the industry only reports registrations – often orders that were placed months before – the picture we’re seeing on paper is a bit of a smoke screen.

An SMMT spokesman told me he believed registrations were still the best way to report ‘sales’.

And added it wouldn’t feel like the market was up for dealers as the fleet market was the sector that pushed sales up last month not retail.

With a rise in VAT announced in the recent Emergency Budget due to come into force in January, many in our industry are predicting things are going to get even tougher. Some point to the fact the drop to 15 per cent VAT had little effect on sales, so a rise is unlikely to cause too many problems either, but I fear they may be wrong.

The VAT hike is a 2.5 per cent across-the-board rise for every new and used car you sell. And no matter what people say that is bound to put some customers off. Couple all this with the fact Vince Cable has said handouts for the car industry are over, don’t bet on the government bailing the industry out again if things really do go belly up.

I don’t like to be pessimistic, it’s not really in my nature, so I hope I’m wrong. The chancellor’s VAT rise was supposedly timed to coincide with a rise in confidence that would ease cash from buyers’ wallets. I might not agree with his policies, but certainly hope he’s made the right call on this one...

into signatures on order forms. The Car Dealer Ewards are all about celebrating the very best dealer sites and are a great way to see what the best in the business are doing online to achieve sales success.

Now in its third year, our Ewards, sponsored by Autotorq.com, will be looking for the best websites in seven categories. In this issue we show you how you can put your site forward for a gong (p44), give you top tips on fine tuning your offering (p48) and look at how serial Eward winners GForces go about producing websites for dealers like you (p54).

Remember you have to be in it to win it, so don’t delay in sending details of your website to us (it costs nothing to enter). The sooner your entry gets here the higher the chance of your site being featured in one of our roundups in the months leading up to the big event.

LUCKY SOD THE Lexus LFA is an incredible achievement for a first stab at a supercar. This month I was given the chance to drive it up the hill at the Goodwood Festival of Speed and can testify to its greatness. But is there any point to a car only one dealer in the whole of Europe can sell?

Find out on page 32.

EWARDS 2010 WITH buyers thin on the ground you need to ensure you do everything possible to convert clicks on your website James Baggott, Editor

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ignition Issue 29 | August 2010

32

dashboard 06 Feedback

What’s got you talking this month?

09 Bangers4BEN 3 Fancy a trip to Monaco?

10 SMMT Summit

Cable tells industry handouts are over

12 happy days!

Camaro is coming to the UK

14 interview: Vertu

Robert Forrester on latest acquisitions

16 On the Spot

Volvo Cars london’s Tracey Perry

19 comment

Motoring.co.uk on too much choice

21 Big Mike

When buying a leggy car causes problems

22 Finance

70

26

forecourt

25 Saab 9-5 26 Porsche cayenne hybrid 28 Audi A1 30 Suzuki Swift 39 cult car: caterham 7 40 Sales Legend: BMW 5 Series

features 32 Lexus LFA

We drive the incredible £330k supercar

14

42 Trader-Net.co.uk

A new way to sell your part exchanges

44 EWARdS 2010

Our hunt for the best automotive websites begins

48 Top tips

Our judges’ tips for making your site a winner

52 Web help

Two companies that can help you online

39

54 Building a website

The process from start to finish with GForces

59 car care Plan

What warranty firm can do for you

65 Auctions 67 Right click 68 interview

28

We catch up with TradeMyMotor.co.uk

70 911 for 2011

The latest car in our charity challenge

44

75 Recruitment 79 Suppliers Guide 80 used cars 82 Sub-Prime Time

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feedback Your comments via email at james@blackballmedia.co.uk| From our website at CarDealerMag.co.uk | And from Twitter: Follow editor @CarDealerEd

The price drops that aren’t all that RECENT news about prices dropping on key models in August relates to list price – not market price. Ford is dropping the published list price but then the discount behind the scenes to dealers drops by more than that amount so the actual available price advertised by sellers will be more... as less discount will be able to be applied! For example, a car where Ford might drop the list price by £900, where the dealer currently gets say, a £1,500 bonus which he can use as discount to incentivise sales, he’ll now get something in the region of a £300 bonus only.

This means although the official list price has dropped by £900, the dealer now only has c.£300 to discount it by rather than the £1,500 previously. So, dealers who use all their available bonuses to get customers through the door can only discount by c£300, plus the £900 drop in list price, to get to their best market price... leaving them advertising it at c£200 more expensive than was previously achievable as the ‘market place’ price!

In a nutshell, the £300 bonus plus £900 drop in list price only adds up to £1,200 to help achieve the price he can hit the market at with his advertisements.

The previous list price may have been £900 more, but the dealer had £1,500 or so to play with as discount, meaning he could hit the market at a lower price if he needed to. This same method was previously used to market a list price drop by Ford on SMax, Mondeo and Galaxy this Spring, but it had a net result of increasing the real ‘market-available price’ as the dealer’s money behind the scenes was reduced.

Anon, via Email

Vince cable addresses SMMT

Link: bit.ly/VATrisewoe VAT will rise to 20 per cent next year and we’re now stuck with it for the next four years. Lets look outside the box - by the end of this year there will be a lot of ‘old trade’ retire, leaving the rest of us tax paying boys with a slightly bigger slice of the smaller cake.

We must urge the the SMMT to push Vince Cable next week into doing something quickly to stop the roadside traders getting away with not paying their taxes. Banning private sales so used cars could only be purchased from official Government approved dealers is also a great idea, which has proved very successful in the Japanese car market.

Phil Wight, via CarDealerMag.co.uk

Autoquake strengthens

Link: bit.ly/Autoquake I THINK this is a thoroughly bold and interesting development for automotive and digital. Here you have a proven management team coming from an online industry vertical which Forrester values at $157bn in the USA alone. Used car sales are worth in the UK over £30bn per year and when you look at how much of that is done online – it’s small in comparison to its neighbouring travel vertical. I’m thinking though – you can spend anything from £1,000-2,000 per person easily on a holiday and book a destination and hotel of which you have no knowledge bar some reviews on various sites. Successful ecommerce can make you do that – now that same user experience and buying process is going to be applied to online car sales where you could be parting with similar (and more) amounts of money.

Internet usage is up… broadband penetration is up…

WiFi is becoming faster and free in more places and the

Talking LFA drive on Twitter You won’t be so much ‘driving’ it as ‘firing’ / ‘catapulting’ / ‘unleashing’ it up the hill! Gutted I can’t make it.

Via @torquespeak I’ll be there with my godsons.

Expect tail-out action through the 1st right-handers. Doughnuts in front of the house obv Via @NeilatNissanEu You’ll love it. Just don’t whack it

into the Flint wall - it gets quite narrow there in our experience.. ;-) Via @ukmotortalk Here is some advice. DON’T HIT THE FLINT WALL! Have fun.

Via @motormorph I gather you heard 8 models of Lexus have been recalled due to throttle problems? Hope it doesn’t affect that one!

Via @catchamonkey

I dont want to scare you but yesterday, a Lexus bloke was gluing back one of the little rear spoilers because it had broken off.

Via @thefirstgear Just seen @cardealered coming back down the hill in the new Lexus, and he gave it an impressive amount of beans for us #biggrin Via @SurreySteve

Get involved. Follow the editor on Twitter @CarDealerEd or @CarDealerMag to join the conversation consumer is more web savvy and confident to spend their money online than ever before. I wish Autoquake every success and I wish the same success to those competitors that step up for the ecommerce challenge.

For those that choose ignore it… do so at their peril.

Zahid K, via CarDealerMag.co.uk

Residual value EV shock

Link: bit.ly/EVshock THIS is ridiculous. I guess this gent hasn’t looked at prices on evtradingpost.com or ebay.com. Old Toyota Rav 4 EVs and production models of GM and Ford trucks go for well more than a similar year petrol car with and without batteries. Probably 10 times the value. Replacing the batteries is nothing when you consider the lack of overall other maintenance. It is similar to expect to pay for a battery and expecting to pay for a transmission, carburettor, etc.

Joe Mammo, via CarDealerMag.co.uk

internet sales one-in-five

Link: bit.ly/WebCarSales WE HAD an interesting discussion with a wide group of dealers recently on this topic. There were those who thought it happen more quickly and those who thought it was a long way off as customers (particularly for used) want to see if the condition of the car is as described on the web. One interesting view that emerged was that many dealers already sell significant numbers of cars ‘blind’ to customers who pay a deposit over the telephone. As Tim says, the web savvy customers are the ones who will decide how they purchase and who they purchase from at the end of the day – dealers who offer the facility to transact online will win those customers, those who lag behind will lose out (technically it’s easy for your website supplier to do it, but I believe dealers are cautious because of the legal/regulatory and internal policy issues).

Stewart Niblock, via CarDealerMag.co.uk

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Bangers4BEN 3: Who’s up for a trip to Monaco!

dashboard

Hill

Net gains

My tips for making your site a champion in the Ewards 2010

T THIS year we’ve supercharged our Bangers4BEN adventure – and we’re heading to Monaco! No, we’re not joking, we actually want you to come along and drive with us to the playground of the rich and famous in a bunch of old bangers.

The 1,600-mile route is fraught with dangers – French drivers, stinky cheese and incredibly strong red wine – but you’ll be safe in the knowledge you’re doing it for a very good cause.

If you’re not familiar with Bangers4BEN here’s how it works. First you have to buy a banger for no more than £500 (we’ve upped the price this year to take into account the longer trip).

It can cost less, it can cost more (and you’ll realise why in a minute), but you must get a receipt that shows you paid less than £500 for it. You then use that trusty steed to drive all the way to Monaco and back, then enter it in our special auction where all the cars are sold in aid of BEN, the automotive industry charity. Now you see why we don’t mind you spending more than £500 on the car… last year the sale of the cars, coupled with those teams that raised sponsorship money, meant together we raised more than £15,000 for BEN – and had a lot of fun along the way too!

There’s a £500 entry fee that covers accommodation for two people (sharing), ferry crossings, evening meals and breakfast. Not bad value, eh? You’ll have to cover the cost of fuel, tolls and insurance but that shouldn’t break the bank.

We’ll leave on Sunday, September 12, and arrive back in the UK on Wednesday, September 15. We’ve included a Sunday this year so it doesn’t take too much time out of your busy schedule and means we can have a (slightly) more leisurely run down

...did we mention it was in £500 bangers? Come on, you know you want to! through France. There are also prizes to be won. There will be a gong for the overall winners – this is the team that raises the most money when selling their car (after the purchase price has been deducted).

There will also be prizes for the best fancy dress – this will be mandatory on the first day; and a prize for the best themed car (last year’s winners made their Hyundai look like a Rolls-Royce)! And every team gets a very cool participants’ trophy – which last year was an old engine valve encapsulated in perspex.

We’ve only got 30 places on the 2010 event and last year it sold out within a week, so you need to get in quick.

To reserve your place simply log on to ben.org.uk/Bangers4BEN where you can pay your entrance fee. This reserves your team’s place. You’ll then need to start looking for a car – which is the hard bit! Please be aware the entrance fee is non-refundable.

Participants get lots of coverage in Car Dealer and on our website – full details of last year’s rally, blogs, pictures and videos can be found by visiting Bangers4BEN.com – and you may even be able to write the entry fee off as a marketing expense. Check with your accountant first though!

Next month we’ll reveal more details about the event and the route, but we suggest in the meantime you get in quick and reserve your places.

If you’ve got any questions give the Car Dealer team a call on 023 9252 2434 and we’ll do our best to help.

911 for 2011 latest, p70

he Car Dealer Ewards for 2010 are fast approaching, and I wanted to use this month’s column to list what I believe are some of the things to consider when building or refreshing your website. If your approach to your web strategy is like a lot of car dealers, you will have trawled around different websites looking for fresh ideas and innovations. You may even have engaged a web consultant to do this work for you. But what should you do next?

Some dealers insist on implementing all of the ideas at once, thereby providing a fresh and more interactive site that delivers more functionality than your site previously had. But there are issues with implementing more than one new website initiative – for ‘Your site may instance, how do you know what the effect of each of work well them has been? in Internet It is far better to implement these new features over time, Explorer, but so the cumulative effect of how well does it new content can be tracked. work in Google Another tip I would endorse would be asking your web Chrome?’ partner whether the site they have built you will be displayed properly across different web browsers. For instance, your site may work well in Internet Explorer, but how well does it work in Google Chrome? There are more and more people using different browsers and you need to make sure that your site has been adequately tested.

Also, try and harness the power of the ‘footer’ – otherwise known as the bottom part of your website’s pages. This section of the page is usually reserved for a one line comment saying that the site is ‘Copyright (Dealer Name) 2010’.

This is such a shame – as the footer of your web pages can be used for so much more! It can be used to add extra content such as asking customers to subscribe to a newsletter, links to popular articles or a ‘search’ box. To see some good ones, look at footerfetish.com (don’t worry – not that sort of fetish!).

In addition, don’t forget to proof read the content on your site. Nothing says ‘amateur’ like grammatical or spelling errors. On the subject of where the content sits, don’t forget that the important stuff needs to be given the prime location.

I see many sites where secondary information is given too much prominence. And remember your customers will always search for information such as ‘Careers’ or ‘About Us’ – you need to keep their attention on the stuff that matters such as your products and services!

Ewards launch, p44

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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dashboard Vertu snaps up two sites from administrators VERTU Motors Plc has bought two Vauxhall sites. The company acquired the franchises from Baker limited, which is in administration.

Consideration of the deal is expected to be £1.5m – that’s £1.3m for freehold property and £200k for fixed assets.

Vertu has also, in a separate deal, acquired the working capital of the firms; this works out to be around £2m annually.

The main deal includes franchise property and operations of Crewe Vauxhall, plus the leasehold premises and operations of Macclesfield Vauxhall.

Chief executive Robert Forrester said: ‘We are delighted to have acquired these businesses in one of our developing geographical areas.

‘Vertu will benefit from building a stronger regional concentration and there is considerable scope to integrate these dealerships on to Vertu’s scalable platform.’

Vertu boss interviewed, p14

Cable: No more handouts BUSINESS secretary Vince Cable has told the UK automotive industry that it is the ‘hinge’ to economic strength in this country. But the industry should not expect a continuation of shortterm subsidies such as scrappage.

Addressing delegates at the SMMT International Automotive Summit, he said: ‘It is becoming clear government success depends on the automotive industry.’ It employs 800,000 people, he acknowledged, and the car industry accounts for 10 per cent of all national exports.

‘Government sees the automotive industry as extremely important.

Therefore, how do we back it in an affordable and helpful way? It is important we create a good business environment (for the industry).’

This will be without government intervention, though. ‘We are in a different era. The future is not in large scale government support,’ he said.

Unlike other countries, Cable is not looking to offer handouts – ‘we can’t fight in and win a subsidy war with other countries’.

So where does the £5,000 lowcarbon grant stand in this? Cable said he heard delegates’ frustration at the uncertainty, but was not in a position to announce whether it will go ahead or not. ‘We are aware of its urgency – and I will relay back to government

GADGETS

‘The automotive industry is extremely important.’ we need a fast decision. But I cannot say when that will be.’

So it still remains unclear what will happen to the flagship programme to incentivise the take-up of ultra low carbon cars through car dealers.

Cable did not rule it out, though.

Speaking of the economic crisis, he said it was caused because there was an economic imbalance – the basic model was wrong.

The nation was too reliant on debt, there was a housing bubble, there was too much international banking and the UK was regionally unbalanced.

The car industry and its employees provide ‘a great example’ of flexibility, he said, which has helped beat the recession.

The business secretary did reveal a personal side too – admitting a lurking enthusiasm for ‘fast noisy cars’ to delegates. When he was on Desert Island Discs a few years ago, his one luxury was? ‘A fast Aston Martin – and a road track around the desert island…’ Good man. [RA]

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This super bright rechargeable torch will always be in the right place as it fits into your cigarette lighter for storage and recharging. Beautifully made from aluminium, it comes in Ford, Vauxhall and unbranded styles. The beam is extremely powerful using LEDs for illumination and you turn it on with a simple twist of the torch body. Each charge gives two hours of power and from flat it takes just six hours to boost back to full. If left fully charged, the torch can last for several months before needing to be topped up thanks to a Ni-MH battery pack. And it’s waterproof too so you can use it to help change that tyre at the side of road in the pouring rain… £9.95, caagis.com ALLOY wheels are more or less vital to a car’s good looks. Standard or aftermarket, they can make a huge difference, whether on your own car or on the forecourt. Problem is they get very dirty, very quickly and very easily. Never fear, though; Halfords

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Halfords.com, £11.99 ONCE you’ve polished up your alloy wheels, it’d be sensible to have a once over your car and check everything is in order. The Halfords Motorists Toolkit is the ideal kit for basic jobs, like changing spark plugs, tightening loose bolts, checking tread depth and seeking out electrical gremlins. It comes with an array of tools including an adjustable wrench, a ratchet with various sockets, screwdriver with an assortment of bits, and a feeler gauge. There are also expendables such as insulation tape, hose clamps, and that item nobody should ever be without: zip ties. This all comes in a small, easily portable carry case.

Halfords.com, £24.99 [Reviews by John Slavin]

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interview

Buy it now The big dealer groups are snapping up sites this year.

JAMES BAGGOTT talked to Vertu’s boss the day he sealed the deal on two more purchases

V

ertu’s chief executive Robert Forrester is on the prowl. Already this year he’s added Shield Automotive’s Vauxhall sites to his stable north of the border and just weeks ago snapped up Vauxhall sites in Crewe and Macclesfield. And that won’t be the last of it.

The boss of the eighth biggest dealer group in the UK has been buoyed by a successful 2009 which saw the group’s profits rise to £4.6m – a 7.8 per cent increase on turnover of £818m. And he hopes to continue that success in 2010 with more acquisitions and a focus on improving the fortunes of the sites Vertu has bought. Here the straight-talking chief chats to Car Dealer about why he thinks the rise in VAT won’t make any difference to sales, his support of the coalition government’s drastic Budget cuts and his ambitions for his company.

You’ve recently announced the Crewe Vauxhall and Macclesfield deal and this follows the Ford and Mazda sites acquired in Scotland from Shields Automotive, does this mark the start of a trend of acquisitions for Vertu? It’s a continuation of a trend in so far as we set out our stall around three-and-a-half years ago to be a scaled dealership group. Our shareholders have been very supportive of that strategy and have made sure we have the funds available to do it. When the right opportunities come up – very much on an opportunistic basis – and if we’ve got the management and financial capacity then we’ll engage in acquisitions.

So does that mean you’ve got a few more up your sleeve? I think the remainder of 2010 will be a period of a lot of change for the industry.

To have an acquisition you need a willing seller and a willing buyer. Dealers have had a very good time with scrappage and a very good time with used car margins, but clearly those times are over. We’re moving into a new economic environment that might last for a number of years. But we believe that with our model and how we operate our businesses with systems and processes means we can make appropriate returns in that climate. But others might take a different view.

Looking at Vertu’s results, despite the economic climate last year, you’ve done very well – what do you think that success was down to? I actually think the whole industry had a very good time in 2009. I don’t think our results were exceptional by any means. We only starting buying dealerships in March 2007 so we haven’t

Name Robert Forrester Job title CEO, Vertu Motors plc Age 40 Family Married, three children Drives Seat Exeo Lives Newcastle CV Since Vertu Motors floated on AIM in December 2006, Robert has led the business to become the eighth largest motor retailer in the UK with 66 sales outlets and a turnover in excess of £800m.

Previously Robert was a director of Reg Vardy plc between 2001 and 2006, appointed as finance director in 2001 and managing director in 2005, until the sale of the business to Pendragon plc in 2006.

Robert qualified as a chartered accountant with Arthur Andersen and was educated at Oxford University. He is also a member of the Economic Affairs Committee of the Confederation of British Industry and a Burnley FC supporter.

seen the full benefits of the changes we’ve made in those businesses. Clearly the motor sector was extremely profitable in 2009.

Would you put that down to scrappage? Well, I think we were underweight on scrappage. Ford were obviously significant. But we only had one Hyundai dealership in 2009 (we now have two), we had no Kia dealerships and we only got our first Fiat dealership in October 2009 so I think we were underweight compared to the overall market. I think the reason why people did well last year was down to three reasons. One: People took a lot of costs out of their businesses at the back half of 2008; Two: Scrappage clearly led to significant new car profitability; and three: Used car margins, certainly in the first half of last year, were very strong.

Used cars obviously played an important part in your success – will that continue? I think really it does depend on where the new car market goes.

That market is, to some extent, dependent on where the Euro-Sterling exchange rate is going to be in the medium term. But the used market is a fundamental part of our business. We sell 1.7 used retail cars to every new retail car we sell.

What are your thoughts on the VAT rising in January? It will have no impact at all. We’ve seen three per cent price increases every 12-18 months because of the Euro exchange rate. So to be honest that rise isn’t even a three per cent price increase. People have got used to these price increases and we’re now seeing the Euro weaken against Sterling so in some ways you’d like to think if that trend continues, the manufacturers will be able to absorb the VAT rise.

With the showroom tax now in place and a VAT rise looming at the start of 2011, do you think the scrappage scheme should be revived? There’s always a case for a reintroduction of the scrappage scheme because of the environmental benefits and the fact it raises money for the Treasury. There are some good arguments for it.

But having said that we’re going into a period where a lot of industries are going to want a lot of special treatment and I’m not so sure that the UK government will listen to the car industry more than anyone else. In fact if you take Vince Cable’s announcement that the special treatment for the car industry is over then I don’t think we should be basing our business planning on the reintroduction of scrappage.

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‘We have to turn the businesses we’ve bought which are under-performing around to create a robust and profitable dealer group.

Our focus will be generating the return we’d like to see out of the businesses.’

Are you a car fan yourself? What made you get into this industry? I always enjoyed, when I was an accountant, looking into motor dealerships for business, so when a job came up for finance director for Reg Vardy I thought that would be a very interesting and stimulating job. I wouldn’t describe myself as a petrolhead though, I’d describe myself as an enthusiast of the car business rather than an enthusiast of the car.

What would you like to see the coalition do to help the car industry? I think the government is doing absolutely everything it needs to do to help the UK car industry and that is to get the economy driven by private sector entrepreneurial growth and to reduce public debt. That is the primary function of our government at the moment.

There is nothing I think it needs to do for our industry, bar getting the UK economy back into some kind of shape. I think the Budget was a fantastic start. I’m sure the Chancellor didn’t take any great pleasure in making the choices he did, but that Budget was exactly what the British economy needed.

Fair enough. What about Vertu in general then – what are your ambitions for the group? We have to turn the businesses we’ve bought, which are under-performing, around to create a robust and profitable dealer group. Our focus will be generating the return we’d like to see out of the businesses.

Where do you see growth for Vertu this year? I see growth in every aspect of the business. In order to make a dealership work you have to be good at new cars, used cars, parts, bodyshop, servicing

– you can’t afford not to be good at everything in our business. It’s such a small margin business that you’ve got to keep all the plates spinning.

Aftersales may be important for other dealers but you don’t have an aftersales business unless you sell cars. One of the businesses we bought a couple of months ago is doing very well on sales but it will take two or three years to do well on aftersales as we need to build the vehicle parc up so they can come back for a service.

This month we’re launching our Ewards. How important do you see the web to your business?

It’s an integrated part. We’ll be launching a new website in the next couple of weeks which will take us on again. The internet is crucial to sales and aftersales.

Do you think buyers will ever have the confidence to click and buy cars? Some will. I don’t think they’ll do it in big numbers, but some will. It’s not something we’re thinking about.

Are there any brands you’d like to represent that you don’t already? Yes, there’s a couple. Our core strategy is to have good, strong relationships with those that we’ve got – and we have.

What about green technology – there are fears that electric and fuel cell cars will need less servicing. Is this something that worries you? Well, I think it’s something I’ll have to worry about shortly before I retire – in 20 years. Petrol and diesel engines are going to be in by far and away the vast majority of cars we sell for the next 10, 15, 20 years. My understanding with regards to electric cars is that we’ll still be required to service them. If the model changes, which it may very well do, then the value of the proposition between dealers and manufacturers will have to change too.

Where do you see Vertu in five years time? I think it will be what it is today, but bigger. It will be a very sizeable retail group in the United Kingdom, doing a good job for the manufacturers, consumers and shareholders. I think we’ll be somewhere between the eighth and sixth biggest dealer group. Our focus won’t just be on turnover, it will be on profit and generating cash.

And finally, if you had one piece of advice for car dealers what would it be? I wouldn’t be so presumptuous to give other car dealers advice. I think if a car dealer has survived the last 20 years of being in business they already know what they should be doing and don’t need advice from me. [CD]

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Peering into the lives of the motor trade...

On The Spot Name: Tracey Perry Age: 45 Job title: MD, Volvo Cars london How is your business made up? Five sites – four in london (Colindale, Chiswick and two in Central london) and one in Hatfield, Herts.

Owned by? Myself and two other shareholders.

First job? Sales administrator in a Volvo/Ford dealership in Potters Bar called Twymans (now a block of flats!).

What made you get into the car trade? I had been working in the school holidays for a family business and when I left school this sales admin role was the first job I applied for. I loved the idea of working in a car dealership and could not wait to talk to customers as soon as I started.

What was the first car you ever sold? A Ford Fiesta 1.0 Popular!

What’s your best ever deal? Forming the MBO and buying the Volvo dealerships from HR Owen Plc last year.

How many cars do you sell a month?

More than 250.

What do you love about your job? Running a successful business with happy customers and staff – seeing a great order take every week!

What do you hate? Parking tickets and congestion charges – a part of running car dealerships in london...

‘What do i hate? Parking tickets and congestion charges – a part of running car dealerships in London...’

Best sales tip? Be nice to people and listen to them.

What car would you buy for £30,000 and why (and it can’t be one you sell)? I would buy a classic Porsche 911 – a timeless icon.

What car would you buy if money were no object and why? I think I would probably have a Bentley Continental Convertible – a beautiful car and I could get my children in the back!

What’s your ring tone? I am a technophobe, so it’s the one that the phone came with!

Who do you look up to? My Mum and Dad – learning the best values and always living by them.

What newspapers and magazines do you read? Homes And Gardens – I love interior

What would be your best tip for someone starting in the motor trade? Work hard

design.

and concentrate on listening to customers and looking after them. If they like their experience with you, they will always send friends and colleagues to you. Keep your standards high – people buy what they see – make sure you, the cars and your working environment reflect high standards.

Favourite film? Probably love Actually.

First record? I grew up in a pub in the Midlands and my parents bought every new single for the juke box in the bar, so I never had to buy anything myself!

What is the most expensive thing you’ve bought after your house? A Cartier Watch.

What is the biggest threat facing car dealers?

I think the government scrappage scheme has probably helped a lot of dealers who might have been struggling and now it is finishing, I think there is a real risk of businesses going under this coming year and beyond. I am not looking forward to the introduction of 20 per cent VAT.

Have you any ambitions? To grow our business profitably over the next three years and to be recognised as the best Volvo group in the UK. Finally, what’s your motto in life and business?

Be optimistic, treat people properly, forgive mistakes and focus on the positive.

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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comment

...with Motoring.co.uk

Let’s make things clear...

Terry

Hogan I

n the 1980’s the Swiss watch industry was in turmoil. Japanese manufacturers were undercutting their prices with more accurate quartz models. Industry leader Nicolas Hayek was brought in by UBS to consult on the very survival of watch manufacture in Switzerland, and set about the task with vigour.

The Omega brand was one of the most famous manufacturers, producing 2,000 different models of watch, 15 per cent of which accounted for 80 per cent of sales. Hayek reduced the range to just 130 models and increased sales and profitability massively.

Now if you are wondering where I am going with this, it’s July 2, and our dealers are filling up our website and their own sites with new car offers, using our online toolkit.

If you’re a Vauxhall dealer, you probably sell a lot of Insignia ‘Exclusiv’, but not many 2.8 V6 T 4x4 Auto Saloons. I guess that around 80 per cent of your sales are from 15 per cent of the models. There are 75 different Insignia saloons.

Why? And do we really need 59 different flavours of Audi A5.

What about a basic one, a pretty good one, and one with all the toys?

I am absolutely sure there are business reasons that are completely incomprehensible to the vast majority for giving so much choice, but doesn’t it just make the job harder for everybody in our sector?

In 1994, when I used to sell Ford new cars, the Fiesta was on run out. You could have an Azura (wheels and a steering wheel), a Sapphire (electric windows, central locking, radiocassette and RWW) or a Finesse (all the above plus PAS, air conditioning and metallic paint) They sold by the bucket load, and the walk

We’re all for choice – and love the Audi A5 – but do we really need 59 different flavours?

‘You can’t please all the people all the time unless you have every model in stock. And that’s just not realistic.’ through was easy. life was good back then.

Some of the problems caused by the huge model choice are stock inventory and website management. You can’t please all the people all the time unless you have every model in stock.

And that’s just not realistic, so you stock the most popular cars only.

On your website, it’s difficult to show all the offers for so many models, it just takes too much time. However, our new car tool kit makes large and small volumes of inventory equally manageable. We have dealers with 20 offers,

and multi franchise dealers with more than 500 offers using it to sell cars, who save time and money by using our software to manage their new car offers on their own site. They also load finance, motability, contract hire and nearly new car special offers with it too.

The opportunities are there to use the tools at our disposal to take a lead over your competitors in speed to market, volume of offers and completeness. While most people want a Focus Zetec, some will hanker for a Titanium 2.0 TDCI Powershift DPF. So why not give them both and win?

Anyway, I’m just loading an offer, and timing it with my Omega chronograph – 6.3 seconds isn’t bad! How long does it take you to get an offer on your site? Follow us on Twitter.com/ motoringcouk.

Ewards 2010 launch, p44 Top tips to improve your website, p48

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big mike

Buying mileage unknown can have its ups and downs I

was chewing the fat recently with an old colleague of mine about the good old days of motor trading, spurred on by a car I purchased and quickly regretted down at my local auction hall.

The motor in question was a Jaguar x-Type 2.0 diesel, and, like many used offerings, it was sent through the block as ‘mileage unknown’. This is quite often the case when service books are lost, or if there’s some anomaly with the way the mileage was recorded on an MOT certificate or such like.

Often, if the car comes from a main dealer group, the mileage is declared unknown simply to cover the company’s corporate backside should it later transpire otherwise. All an independent trader such as I has to do is a little investigative work, starting with a quick look in the glovebox and seat pockets for the mislaid service history, then a few calls to the manufacturer to see if there’s a computerised service record, and finally a polite letter to the previous registered keeper asking if they, perhaps, have any service documents or similar that they could send on.

It normally works quite well, so satisfied I’d come up trumps again I bidded merrily away to win the Jag for what I thought was an amazing knockdown price.

But my excitement didn’t last long. Not only did the thing seem very sloppy in the steering and gearbox departments on the drive home, but the odometer readout was frozen at 999,999.

Even with a sloppy gearchange, I didn’t believe the car would have covered a million miles, so I did some homework on the interweb. Apparently, said x-Type’s digital odometer is presided over by a somewhat regimental ECU, whose job it is to ensure that if anyone attempts to reprogram the mileage, the thing defaults to the highest number it knows in order to rain on their parade.

My x-Type, it appeared, had clearly been the victim of an amateur clocker, and the only way to get it mended would be to have the whole thing reprogrammed, and even then I wouldn’t know what mileage the car had covered. like any good trader, I cut my losses and chucked it back through the block, taking a £60 hit. Could have been worse…

I was telling my pal Stan about it over a pint of Spitfire the other night, and it led us back to the days when, both in our twenties, we were employed by a local fly-by-night car dealer.

Our boss had one of the largest used car lots in the West Midlands, the 1980s equivalent of a car supermarket, and got most of his stock direct from local companies, or occasionally from the auction. Stan was his chief mechanic, and I was his smiling suntanned salesman – back then I like to think I was quite a looker. I certainly wasn’t as chunky, that’s for sure.

One of the owner’s favourite tricks was clocking, or giving cars ‘a quick trim’ as he preferred to

‘Behind the speedo head, Stan struck gold, for there, taped to the cable, was a scrap of paper upon which was printed the simple message: On no – not again!’ euphemistically call it. In order to keep his hands squeaky clean, he would always get Stan to do his dirty work for him.

On one occasion, Stan was given a Cortina to do rather quickly, as he’d had a call on it and the punter was coming in two hours. So, as was often the case, Stan set to work dismantling the dashboard, while I set to work on the sills with a rattle can full of matt black stonechip paint.

Behind the speedo head, Stan struck pure gold, for there, taped to the cable, was a little scrap of paper upon which was printed the simple message ‘On no – not again!’

Seems that Tina had been round the block a few more times than we gave her credit for, so Stan did the decent thing and wound the clock forward instead, while I decided to leave the car without bodging up its sills. We were both fed up of working for him and his pitiful commission and had already decided to look for jobs in main dealer groups, so we thought we’d make the Cortina our ultimate downfall – but it wasn’t to be. Despite our best efforts, the stupid punter still bought the bloody thing!

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

Demand still up for finance NEW car finance grew for the eighth month running in April – the first month figures were not boosted by scrappage.

The FLA says finance for new cars was up 20 per cent, giving a clear picture of demand from new car buyers. It’s still down on pre-recession levels, but should be considered positive by dealers. A 16 per cent new car sales rise suggests customers remain happy to commit.

Paul Harrison, head of motor finance at the FLA, said: ‘These latest figures are good news for dealers and finance providers, especially since the drop in demand that we saw in other countries when scrappage schemes ended, has not been repeated in the UK.’

New Citroen chief installed CITROEN UK has replaced departing MD Gary Savage with in-house finance whiz Linda Jackson.

Jackson joins from Citroen France, where she was finance director – a role she was promoted to after being finance controller for Citroen UK. Savage has joined Mercedes.

Jackson has also been managing director of MG Rover Group in France, as well as European sales financial controller. Starting on July 1, Jackson said she was ‘delighted’ to be returning back to Slough as MD of Citroen UK, at such a key time.

She added: ‘Citroen is undergoing something of a renaissance with its new brand image and the launch of a whole range of new vehicles.’

Dealers are going to play a key part in her new role, she added: ‘The potential for the brand and the dealer network is enormous.’

Deal finder

Seven-Seat People Carriers

Peugeot 5008 Peugeot has come up with a decent PCP deal for the 5008 people carrier. It is particularly impressive in £19,495 1.6 THP 156 Sport guise – not least because of that smooth, rapid petrol engine.

Over a standard three-year term, this requires an initial deposit of a manageable £1,961.

After that, it is £369 a month, which is much less than the other two cars here – £500-plus APR payments.

The flipside is a final payment of £6,938 – but, of course, dealers will be more keen instead to get customers into a new model. The total amount payable over the terms of the Peugeot

Passport deal is £22,183.

PCP deals remain a good way to keep payments low for car buyers, and while this deal has a higher interest rate, it could still swing it for owners who are starting to feel the monthly paypacket pinch.

Model: Peugeot 5008 1.6 THP 156 Sport Price: £19,495 Power: 156bhp 0-60mph: 9.7s Max: 121mph Economy: 39.8mpg CO2: 167g/km

Vauxhall Zafira Vauxhall will surely be previewing an all-new Zafira soon. The current one is starting to look dated alongside some of the flash alternatives in Vauxhall showrooms. It does, however, still offer a sensible all-round solution for practicallyminded buyers, even if it is far from cheap. £21,260 for the 1.6 115 Design we looked at is a fair chunk higher than the French pair Vauxhall is flagging up zero per cent APR on many of its cars, including the Zafira. Here, it’s over three years, and requires a 10 per cent deposit. For our chosen test example, that works out to be £2,126.

Then, it’s a straightforward process of £531 a

month for 36 months. At the end, the sevenseat Vauxhall will be owned outright by the buyer, who’ll have not paid a penny for securing finance of £19,134. They’ll also be getting the most fuel efficient model of our three here, along with a tax-advantageous CO2 figure.

Model: Vauxhall Zafira 1.6 115 Design Price: £21,260 Power: 115bhp 0-60mph: 12.5secs Max: 115mph Economy: 42.2mpg CO2: 159g/km

Renault Grand Scenic Renault offers by far the best standard spec of all the cars tested here. That’s because it’s the only one to come with sat nav as standard! The firm has integrated its ingenious TomTom system into many variants, including the Dynamique we’re looking at here. This alone is a big draw.

The engine is not the fastest (and it’s also hardly fuel-efficient, either), but it’s a good overall package that’s made even more desirable by the lure of zero per cent finance. What’s more, unlike the Vauxhall, Renault asks for NO deposit here; simply sign up and drive away, without having to find a chunk of up-front cash.

It works out to be a simple, straightforward

£532 a month for three years. Again, after which the Grand Scenic will be owned outright. Like Vauxhall, Renault offers other finance packages too – but for some buyers, there’s no beating the lure of paying not a penny for the benefit of finance.

Model: Renault Grand Scenic 1.6 110 Dynamique TomTom Price: £19,170 Power: 110bhp 0-60mph: 12.6secs Max: 115mph Economy: 37.7mpg CO2: 177g/km

ervice Valuing – Valuing Service You! – Valuing You!

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22 | CarDealerMag.co.uk CarDealerIss29.indd 22

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!

...in association with

Jim

Meldrum Can you remember the last recession? I can...

T

he recent emergency budget showed that the country is far from being out of the woods in recessionary terms – so maybe now is the time to fully review your business strategy. Do you remember the recession of the late 80s and early 90s and if you do, can you remember how you survived it?

I’m afraid to say that I do remember that far back and my memories are of a time of turmoil as the recession caused huge uncertainty for point of sales motor finance in the UK. This time around we have a double whammy due to the banking crisis that has left lenders with a lack of appetite for lending money to anyone other than the best of the best.

This may be an underlying ‘Perhaps you symptom of things to come, or is it because the should consider prime lending market is satisfying the now dominated by only two lenders who have no need to one POS finance take high risks? market that is In the 80s there were at guaranteed least seven independent finance companies who to grow.’ could command a fair-sized chunk of the POS finance market: Mercantile Credit, Lloyds Bowmaker, Lombard, Chartered Trust, UDT, Forward Trust and NWS… where are they now? The good ones merged or were bought up by competitors while the rest have simply exited the market or become extinct altogether.

If you can’t merge with others or buy your way to survival then what strategy will you adopt to get through the predicted downturn ahead?

Perhaps you should consider satisfying the one POS finance market that is guaranteed to grow in a recession and take another look at the possibilities within sub prime finance.

If you’d like to learn more about the survival opportunities that exist in recessionary years then you’ll find we are always willing to help.

Who is Jim Meldrum?

Jim is regional sales manager for First Response Finance. Call him on 07917 460 111 or email Jimm@frfl.co.uk to respond to this column

Tel: 0844 8730819 Tel: 0844 8730819 Web: www.frfl.co.ukWeb: www.frfl.co.uk CarDealerMag.co.uk | 23 CarDealerIss29.indd 23

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9/7/10 10:15:16 1/27/09 11:07:53 AM

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07:53 AM

[Forecourt]

Road tests in association with

New dawn

The first car from Saab under new owners is here, but is it good enough to compete in this sector?

S

Saab 9-5 2.0 TTiD 190 Linear SE Price: £28,495 Engine: 2.0-litre turbodiesel Power: 190bhp, 399Nm Max: 143mph 0-60mph: 8.6s Economy: 47.1mpg recommends Mobil Super 3000 X1 5W-40 top up packs for this vehicle. See Mobil-1.co.uk for details

aab is alive! We’ve reported about the on/off saga seemingly non-stop over the past few months here at Car Dealer Magazine. The final instalment, though, saw the revival of the firm, under supercar maker Spyker. Not only is it saved, but there’s also a brand-new model to mark the rebirth. Enter the BMW 5 Seriesrivaling Saab 9-5.

They haven’t done the impossible and developed an all-new car in weeks, of course. The 9-5 was actually developed completely under GM stewardship; it is thus based on a stretched version of the Insignia platform.

Even so, there are no visual links with GM cars at all.

The styling is confident, modern and distinctive, while remaining true to Saab’s aeroplane-inspired heritage. An imposing car on the road – not least because of its length – it makes a refreshing alternative to the German norm of Audi, BMW and Mercedes.

We like the inside, too. Traditional Saab quirks like the old ignition key between the seats get a modern twist and the bulky dashboard wraps around the driver to give that ‘cockpit’ feel of cars like the old 99 and 900. The aircraft influence continues with an optional head-up display projecting speed, revs and navigation info on to the windscreen and the options sheet is packed with all manner of gadgets and gizmos.

Typically comfy seats mean it feels like a Saab too. It’s just a shame the acres of plastic fail to live up to the premium pretensions. Audi can rest easy on this score. Oh, and those sleek looks also rob rear headroom and make rear visibility somewhat limited. Best spec parking sensors then. The boot is usefully big, however, and an optional divider on floor-mounted rails keeps things from rattling about.

More tradition lies in wait under the bonnet. All Saabs get a turbocharged engine, be they diesel or petrol, harking right back to the pioneering Saab 99 Turbos of the 70s. The range will eventually kick off with a 180bhp 1.6 turbo petrol but for now makes do with a 220bhp 2.0 and a 300bhp 2.8 V6. The 160bhp 2.0 TiD diesel will later be joined by a 190bhp twin-turbo TTiD version too.

Most engines are okay, if not groundbreaking. We can’t see the point in the V6 petrol, though, and reckon things will get more interesting when the powerful diesel arrives, along with that downsized 1.6-litre petrol turbo.

Likewise the handling. Front-drive Saab 9-5s dominate the range; here, Saab’s engineers at least able to eke a degree of steering feel out of the Insignia-based architecture. Which is more than can be said for their former colleagues at Vauxhall.

Faster cars, though, get an all-inclusive four-wheel drive (XWD in Saab speak) suspension with the ‘HyPer Strut’ front suspension seen on the Insignia VXR. The flagship 2.8 T and 2.0 TTiD get the full works and you can pick and choose the various chassis options on the other models depending on how you want your 9-5 to drive.

It’s all very sophisticated the more you spend; maybe this is why the 300bhp 2.8 T doesn’t feel quite as punchy as you might want it to. Also, this flagship model’s autoonly transmission is prone to hunting for ratios.

It does at least have enough power to give the XWD chassis a bit of a workout, the three-way DriveSense switch on this model offering Comfort, Intelligent and Sport settings. These make a big difference to the way it drives and in Sport the firmer steering, suspension and sharper throttle response are all noticeable. Not that the 9-5 ever strays from the path of solid, safe grip and go.

The 2.8-litre T is thirsty. 26.9mpg will win no fans – we think the smaller four-pot petrols are much more impressive, and more in keeping with Saab heritage.

Company buyers will inevitably be drawn to the diesels though, the entry-level 2.0 TiD offering respectable 53.2mpg and 139g/km. Best warn customers if they want an auto though – CO2 climbs to 179g/km and mpg drops to 41.5. That’s a huge drop!

Saabs have a loyal fanbase and the 9-5 should go a long way to winning them back to the brand. That’s enough to see Saab survive, but will it help the firm take on the German establishment? There, the jury is out. It’s certainly something different though...

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[Forecourt]

Road tests in association with

Y

Green Machine Porsche has taken the plunge with hybrid tech in its new Cayenne. Duncan Chappell tries it out

I

Cayenne Hybrid S Price: £57,609 Engine: 3.0-litre, electric Price: £57,609 Max: 150mph 0-60: 6.5s Combined: 34mpg recommends ESP Formula 5W-30 top up packs for this vehicle. See Mobil-1.co.uk for more details

t’s never really been the prettiest of cars, and to be honest compared to its stable mates it’s pretty, well, ugly. But the Cayenne has always been capable, not only at taking the kids to school, but as a proper 4x4 and all-round family car.

To some non-believers it can come as a bit of a surprise that so many have found homes – in fact an impressive 280,000 have been sold since 2003. Something the marque’s dealers will know only too well.

If buyers have the money, they can fill their garage with cars for all occasions from Porsche.

Everything’s on offer from a supercar to a family saloon. But the Cayenne has found the real market – offering wheels for the school run or comfortable motorway cruising for businessmen after a badge.

That explains why this is Porsche’s best-selling model in the world. And explains why a facelift and new look are so important to the manufacturer and its retailers. The Cayenne has a lot of weight on its shoulders and this refreshed model has to be right.

At first glance, the new Cayenne looks pretty similar to the old model. It’s a bit 911/Panamera on stilts. But look more closely and it is possible to spot the difference. A more streamlined and aggressive front end gets rid of that rabbit caught in headlights look, and is a huge improvement. At the back, though, it has adopted the generic look of pretty much most Japanese 4x4s. Not too much imagination here then. Or maybe this is to appeal to the masses? We’re still undecided as to whether it works.

The car is slightly longer than the outgoing model – 48mm longer to be exact – and it’s also higher and wider too, giving more space inside. The cabin is a very comfortable place to be – it rivals pretty much ANY car we can think of. Comfortable, beautifully designed and really well put together, the materials Porsche have used are second to none. But that

doesn’t come cheap. We drove the new Hybrid model, with larger wheels, full leather and a few other extras that pushed the on-the-road price to just shy of £70k. That’s a long way from the £57,609 starting price, but very typical of how easy it is to go mad with the Porsche extras.

This hybrid version of the Cayenne has a 3.0-litre supercharged Audi lump, combined with a 38kw electric motor that produces 380bhp. That’s enough to shift the car to 60mph in just 6.5 seconds. It’s quick enough to have fun in too and you don’t feel so bad when driving around town keeping it in full electric mode. CO2 emissions are down to just 193g/ km for the hybrid – the standard 3.6-litre V6 petrol lump pumps out 236g/km.

The hybrid offers much better economy than the rest of the range too – averaging 34mpg around town compared to the 3.6-litre’s 28.5mpg. But the problem is it likes to tell you exactly how efficient it’s being, all the time. The driver is bombarded with information from the centre screen. Where the power is coming from, how efficiently you are driving. We just wanted to switch the radio on… It’s technology overload and all a bit too much.

But if you can pull yourself away from the centre screen, you’ll notice the Cayenne drives beautifully.

And it’s eerily silent in town as it‘s powered by the battery up to 31mph. The only clue pedestrians have that you’re coming is the stereo, if you can work out how to turn it on…

The car handles like a sports saloon on the twisty bits. It’s a little soft, but for a 4x4 is mighty impressive. Real fun is to be reserved for drivers of the range-topping Turbo though.

However, the hybrid’s the one we’d choose.

It performs like a Porsche, goes like a Porsche and looks like a Porsche, yet buyers can be smug knowing they’re being far greener than most of the marque’s owners on the road.

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9/7/10 10:15:28

[Forecourt] Mini’s had it easy for too long – now there’s a real contender for the prestige city car crown. CJ HUBBARD meets Audi’s A1

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elcome to the most important Audi for car dealers, ever. Bold claim – what leads us to make it? Well, Audi says this is going to be its best-selling car; better than the A3, better than the A4. You’ll quickly be seeing a lot of this little hatch…

Little? Indeed: The A1 is Audi’s Mini, with premium prices and top-drawer quality to match.

Smaller, posher cars are going to be big news in the future, with Audi the latest premium maker to enter the fray. BMW makes well over 200,000 Minis every single year, with healthy profit margins to match. Now it’s Audi’s turn to see some of that market.

Audi said at the launch it is a ‘shrink wrapping of everything the brand stands for. It is concentrated Vorsprung durch Technik’.

A spokesman added: ‘It is modern and edgy, but not retro. Masculine and self-confident, stylish and sporty.’ It will bring a far wider audience to Audi – particularly as it’s the ‘only A0 contender backed by a premium quality sales network’. Yes, Audi reckons dealers are going to play a big role in the car’s success.

So, what do you need to know?

Well, looks-wise, it’s not unlike a mini-coupe.

It has a strong shoulderline, clamshell bonnet and bootlid, rear lights that stand proud of the boot and Audi’s trademark rising crease through the bottom of the door. Also note the way the roofline falls short of connecting with the trailing edge of the car: how cool is that?

Audi says the interior is the really exciting bit, with a dash design influenced by aircraft wings, turbine air vents and a centre console modelled on a sailing boat’s hind end. The quality is everything you’d expect from an Audi, an excellent attribute for a car in this class. We’re failing to see where the plane wing comes into it, but you can option plenty of extra colour all over the dashboard.

Like the rest of the A1, the interior is endlessly customisable – eventually, there will be exterior graphic packs to complement the colour variable roof rails, with the entire interior also offering a full suite of options to suit. Most intriguing is the ‘distinctive’ Wasabi Green option.

Links with the larger models abound. Indeed, the dual clutch S tronic semi-auto is the only DSGstyle gearbox offered in the small car segment.

Technical leadership that Audi is driving initially on the 1.4 TFSI engine, but will bring to other variants in time.

Audi dealers can also tempt customers with keyless go, 465-watt Bose stereo with 10 channels, 14 speakers and 5.1 surround sound, LED interior lighting tech and no end of other pricey but sweetshop-tempting treats.

‘Customisation is regarded as highly important within the A0 segment,’ says Audi. ‘The A1 will embrace the customer desire to customise in a premium way.’ Audi reckons the Sport is the most customisable trim line with six ‘packs’ to choose from, plus all the regular options.

All UK launch trims – SE, Sport and S line – get a pop-up 6.5-inch screen in the dashtop as standard, six speakers, air conditioning and iPod connection. The screen really is ‘pop-up’ – you press it with a finger to make it open and close

– and a nice feature. But to properly impress you’ll have to spec the MMI+ navigation system, straight out of the latest range-topping Audi A8.

It will be available with a choice of 86bhp 1.2litre TFSI turbo petrol, 122bhp 1.4-litre TFSI turbo petrol or 105bhp 1.6-litre TDI turbodiesel, all with stop-start. The cheapest, that tiny turbo petrol, is smooth but slow. Indeed, most buyers are expected to opt for the diesel. With an additional 89Nm of torque – 249Nm compare to 159Nm – this is much more immediate and muscular; relaxed both around and out of town.

Sound levels are well controlled on the inside – as they are on all Audi A1s – and with its smooth-revving nature you lose nothing from the everyday driving experience. The extra engine weight does, however, mildly blunt the cornering performance.

For a more spirited drive, there’s always the 1.4 turbo petrol. Complete with a six-speed manual as standard (the others only get a fivespeeder), this is one try-hard little turbo with enough on-the-move shove to give much larger cars a surprise.

Even so, none of the engines really set our spirits flowing, and it’s a similar story with the handling. Mini offers the genuinely sporty choice in this sector, just as BMW does for its larger cars. The A1, in contrast, seems lead footed and uninspired. There’s no infectious nippiness, no sharp sprightliness about the steering, nothing to really get you wired.

It’s thoroughly competent, of course, but just a bit soft with it. The ride, however, is good, and the handling is secure and stable in all situations.

Audi even fits a clever electronic limited-slip differential, which works well under duress.

Low weight, start-stop, brake energy recuperation, direct injection and turbocharging make the Audi A1 one clean, green supermini. In fact, it goes straight to the top of the premium compact hatchback class. The petrol 1.2 has the lowest CO2 emissions in the sector, while the 1.4 TFSI is lowest-CO2 in its sector. All three boasting the best RVs in the class. CAP says 56 per cent after three years. Mini? 48 per cent. Alfa Romeo MiTo? 44 per cent…

Yes, the A1 is an Audi. A statement of the obvious but also an almost perfect explanation and conclusion: Audis are brilliantly built, good to look at, and high technology capable, but most of them are ultimately disappointing to drive. There is plenty to admire about this new product – and for time it’s sure to become the must-have urban centre ride. The A1 is a comprehensively accomplished all-rounder, but ultimately we can’t see it stealing Mini’s funster crown.

The Mini has such character, which infuses everything from the driving experience to its appearance inside and out; the A1 seems certain to appeal to Audi aspirations, but leaves our emotional driving enthusiasm just too cold.

Still, the A1 is more practical, even more premium, highly efficient and blessed with a top quality badge. Audi are going to sell an absolute shed load, and if you haven’t joined the queue already we suspect you’ll be at the back of a very long line.

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Road tests in association with

Audi’s new best-seller?

Audi A1 1.4 TFSI 122 Sport Price: £15,345 Engine: 1.4-litre, turbo Power: 122bhp, 249Nm 0-60mph: 8.9s Max: 126mph Economy: 54.3mpg recommends ESP Formula 5W-30 top up packs for this vehicle. See Mobil-1.co.uk for more details

Audi’s new A1 is the cheapest car in the maker’s range and as such will quickly become the marque’s best-seller; smart interior is typically German; and aluminium roof rail is striking

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[Forecourt]

Road tests in association with

Swift wings in

Suzuki dealers rely a lot on return customers – so a new Swift is big news to the network

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Suzuki Swift Price: £10,500 (est) Engine: 1.2-litre Power: 94bhp Max: 110mph (est) 0-60mph: 11s (est) Economy: 56.5mpg recommends Mobil Super 3000 Formula FE 5W-30 top up packs for this vehicle.

See Mobil-1.co.uk for more details

uzuki car buyers are a loyal bunch, as its 150 UK dealers will know only too well. Mainly retail customers, they will buy model after model; fourth-generation Suzuki ownership is not uncommon, which isn’t bad going given the average three-year replacement cycle. That’s a lot of customer currency to trade on.

Why do they keep returning? Because the well-priced models do everything they could wish for, given them no hassle in the process, and are everything the drama-free car owner really wants from their motor.

It is such thinking Suzuki has applied to the new Swift. Yes, the new Swift. The car you see pictured here is all-new. Not a single bit is shared with the old one; it’s new both outside and in. We’ll keep repeating ‘new’, too, because you probably won’t believe us.

See, Suzuki has chosen a decidedly evolutionary path with the styling of the new Swift. Bigger than before, particularly in length and wheelbase, it nevertheless carries over all of the 2005 original’s details; front light shape, MINI-style black A-pillars, Audi-style body shoulders and, yes, rear light shape ‘n all. This is not a disaster – the old Swift was always one of the funkier superminis – but it doesn’t really help the car stand out.

Suzuki knows, though. Knows its customers didn’t want big changes on the outside – but understands they were crying out for a better interior. So this is what they’ve been given; the latest Swift, which hits showrooms in September, boasts a dashboard way more interesting and premium-look than before. In many ways, it apes a Volkswagen; fitting, that, given the recent VW Group family link.

Clever packaging means there’s more space than before – the benefits of that wheelbase stretch pay off, particularly in the rear, while those in the front will love the firm, high and broad seats. Shame the

boot remains small, though. And, surprisingly, a focus on safety has meant the opening has grown smaller, not bigger!

This is to stiffen the bodyshell and make it more robust in a crash. To further this, Suzuki has used far more high tensile strength steel throughout; far sturdier than cheaper steel, it also means the bigger Swift is 20kg lighter than the old one. Now that’s impressive. As is the new petrol engine, even if it doesn’t sound it on paper. The old car had a 1.3-litre; this one now has a 1.2-litre. Hang on, a reduction in size, buyers will ask – how’s that an advance? Well, through the addition of Honda-style DVVT variable valve timing.

This sees the smooth, revvy motor put out 94bhp, while also proving way more economical than before.

It averages more than 56mpg, and emits just 116g/km of CO2. Petrol cars with such low CO2 emissions really are rare.

Refreshing in a different way is the Swift’s dynamics. It’s really quite spirited, with a sporty ride aiding engaging handling and tidy prowess through bends. There’s even a new variable-ratio steering system, that’s pleasingly sharp straight ahead, for incisive turn into corners you wouldn’t believe from such a similar-looking motor to before.

So, all told, there’s much more to interest here than first appears. Offered in three-door and five-door guise, along with a 1.3-litre diesel customers will barely be interested in, Suzuki will announce prices next month, but promises they will be keen.

‘It’s our most important model,’ said a spokesman.

‘The new Swift answers all the requests of our customers and really lives up to our motto “more Swift”.’ Once you get exploring, it’s hard to disagree.

But it’s going to take all of that famed customer loyalty and more to make people aware of the fact this car is all-new. But then again, maybe that’s the whole idea?

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Pictures @dean_photo | Lexus | James Mann

It costs £330k.

There’s only one in Europe. All 500 are sold out.

And they put us behind the wheel... ...and not just on the road – at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, in front of thousands of people. Potential for monumental PR disaster? High. Here’s how we managed to bag the ride of our lives in the Lexus LFA, what the car means to the marque’s dealers and meet the only man in Europe allowed to sell it...

By James Baggott

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wo words send a shiver down my spine: You’re On. They arrive via direct message on Twitter from lexus PR chief Scott Brownlee and I know immediately what they’re referring too – the lexus lFA, at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, with me at the wheel.

Cue involuntary sweating, palpitations that have nothing to do with the morning’s caffeine intake and quite a bit of disbelief. This is closely followed by a morning on YouTube watching several rather expensive automobiles being completely rearranged on Goodwood’s infamous hill climb.

In hindsight, that probably wasn’t the best way to calm my already frayed nerves.

The sheer magnitude of the stroke of luck I’ve somehow

managed to pull off takes a while to sink in. This is the very same lFA that Top Gear’s Hamster has thrashed around their track, it is the same lFA that The Stig has wrung to within an inch of its life to set the programme’s fastest ever wet lap, and it is the only lFA in Europe.

Not only that, but I am to be the only UK journalist to pilot the lFA up the Goodwood hill climb at the Festival of Speed and one of only three hacks being put behind the wheel that weekend.

Then there are the figures to worry about. Those lexus dealers among you – and in fact most car fans – will already know the lFA costs a staggering £330,000. There are only 500 of them being built and they’re all sold. It produces an ear-piercing 552bhp from it’s V10 engine and can rev to a stratospheric 9,000rpm. Oh, and it’ll top 200mph and crack 60mph in just 3.7 seconds.

This is a supercar – plain and simple. >

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Lexus LFA Those figures soon find a quiet, dark corner in my brain to hide as just a few days later I’m sat on the hill climb startline watching a £1.2m Lamborghini Reventon Roadster – being driven quite angrily by a very young, very rich, and very lucky son (it was his dad’s) – squirm and slither as it distributes its rubber on the tarmac in front of me.

Tucked in tight to the red leather sports seats in the left-hand drive supercar, all that’s going around and round in my head are those images from the web of expensive supercars being wrapped around hay bales and stone walls.

Traction control clicked off, paddle-shift gear change set in super-angry fight mode, and a blip of the V10 in neutral sends a shiver down my spine.

The LFA really does sound ferocious. Touch the throttle pedal in neutral and it barks like a racing car. It’s a high-pitched shriek, like a startled scream, and every time it brings an evil grin to my face.

In the days leading up to this event I’ve be studying the track to try and work out which way it goes. Not only have I never been up the famous hill before, but the only time I’ve driven the LFA before now is the two-minute quarter mile-ish drive down to the startline. This explains why I am currently softening the leather handgrips on the carbon-fibre steering wheel with sweaty palms…

A marshall pokes his head around the passenger side of the windscreen and waves me off. I give it a full pedal-mashing start to try and make it look like I know what I’m doing and two eye-blink gear-changes later I’m at the first right-hander.

The LFA angrily blips the V10 for me on the downchanges – further helping me bluff my way as a ‘proper’ driver in front of the thousands watching – and it hunkers down into the first rubber-strewn arc of the hill.

Even with a ham-fisted hack at the wheel like me, this Lexus is positively explosive – it fires through up-shifts with mind-boggling speed and feels every bit as rapid as its performance figures suggest.

In seconds I’m hurtling along in front of the famous Goodwood House, under the bridge and rapidly approaching the left-hander I’d been warned so many times about. Already this morning someone has stacked some automotive exotica into the hay bales here and I am not prepared to be the star of a smashed-up-supercars-blog rogue’s gallery.

So when I spot a three hundred metre board signalling a left turn, then 200m, then 100m, I’m already hauling on the anchors before I realise I’m about to cock up in the highest order.

Those boards aren’t signalling the arrival of the left-hander – they’re highlighting a SERVICE road. What. A. Div. I try and make up for it by knocking it down a few cogs and roaring off – I can always pretend I was showboating, as it is the Festival of Speed after all. But the fact of the matter is, I’ve been a complete numpty. I just hope no-one notices.

NORMAL(ish) What’s really remarkable about the Lexus is just how ‘normal’ it feels.

It’s not as intimidating as I thought it would be, and I’m surprised at how quickly I get used to it. There’s no doubt though as to just what this machine is capable of. Power delivery is brutal – the closest thing I’ve come to it is in a Caterham R500 – but whereas that rocket-powered rollerskate feels untamed and raw, the LFA feels controlled; more guided missile than sledge-hammer.

In the Nissan GT-R – another stupidly fast machine from the Far East of a similar ilk – it can feel like you’re only taking part in a life-sized version of a PlayStation game, detached from the process, devoid of precious feel. A bit like swimming in a wet suit. But with the LFA it is nothing like that – it tells you your inputs matter, delivering delicious feedback from the controls that is very rare.

With my pleb moment left behind, next up is the run towards the flint wall – responsible for a number of bodyshop-pleasing car crushing incidents over the years. I treat it with maximum respect. The fact the LFA is a lefthooker means it’s easy to place well away from the wall, but I still end up pootling around it in at a distinctly crowd-displeasing velocity.

But the last section of the climb is where I really get to enjoy myself.

As the course opens up, my bottle returns and I relish in stretching that glorious V10 unit to the 9,000rpm red line. Sadly the whole thing’s over too soon, but at least at the top of the hill I can admire the credit crunchdefying collection of metal as I mingle with the drivers who have far more right to be there than me.

I park next to a McLaren MP4-12C making its public debut at Goodwood, admire two Bugatti Veyrons, a Spyker, Ferrari 599 GTO, Ferrari 458 Italia, a brace of Alfa 8Cs, a Chevrolet Camaro with Jason Plato at the wheel, and the Batmobile-esque CitroenbyGT. My nerves and pulse rate return to a more sedate pace and the sheer enormity of what I’ve just done sinks in…

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ACHIEVEMENT There’s no doubt the LFA is one awesome achievement by Lexus – but I can’t help wondering what dealers think of it. The car is sold by only one person in the whole of Europe – Devshi Varsani at Lexus Park Lane (see over) – so it must be a tad annoying for salesman at other centres to have to hand over enquiries for a car worth 13 times that of a bog standard IS to one of their rivals.

But, according to Lexus UK director Belinda Poole, it’s the ‘halo effect’ that’s really important. That’s what the LFA is all about – a car produced to generate interest in a brand at the very top in the hope that interest filters down to the bread and butter cars.

‘The LFA has undoubtedly had a positive effect for our retailers and for the brand as a whole,’ Poole tells me. ‘For example, we have seen high levels of interest on our website for this car. Thanks to strong media coverage we have benefited not only on LFA but across the range, particularly with our other F marque vehicles such as IS-F and our new IS F-Sport.’

So it seems the halo effect is working. Lexus dealers also got the chance to use the LFA as a marketing tool with customers invited along to drive other ‘F’ models at special events. Poole explained the LFA was key in creating demand for places on these days. But what about those dealers forced to hand over £330,000 car enquiries to rivals? Does Poole think the increased interest the LFA created compensated for that?

‘When I spot a 300m board signalling a left turn, I’m already hauling on the anchors before I realise I’m about to cock up in the highest order.’

The director wouldn’t go into too much detail here, only saying: ‘Lexus Centres in the UK worked actively with us to support taking customer enquiries and then introduced these customers to the LFA Personal Liaison Manager.’ OK, so maybe that’s a bit of a touchy subject, let’s return to the car. A Lexus spokesman told me at Goodwood that it took just five months to sell out – and most of those orders were placed before customers even saw the LFA in the metal. That’s some going, even by supercar standards.

‘We always planned to sell only 500 units to preserve its exclusivity,’ Poole explained. ‘The level of interest is currently in excess of those 500 units.’

The manufacturer is busy allocating those cars to the 56 countries where the LFA is sold. The biggest market is Germany, followed by Japan and the US, with the UK not far behind. The spokesman also told us that it had taken more deposits than it’s got cars for – which means there will be some very disappointed buyers out there when Lexus works out just who they’ll sell the cars to. A nice position to be in though.

So just who is blowing £330k on an LFA? Footballers?

‘The spectrum of LFA customer profiles is very broad, from business people to drivers of competition sports cars,’ said Poole. ‘Some 75-80 per cent of requests for further information or expressions of interest have come from non-Lexus customers. The remaining 20-25 per cent are Lexus owners already familiar with the unparalleled levels of quality, refinement and technological sophistication which hallmark the brand.

‘A high percentage of requests have come from customers who have closely followed the different stages of concept car development since the LFA project was started in 2000, and who appreciate its unique, eye-catching design.’

Interesting stuff, but I can’t help wondering with the manufacturer’s background, why the LFA wasn’t a hybrid? Lexus is a pioneer in this field so an out-and-out sportscar seems a little strange for a marque so dedicated to economy. Surely a hybrid that showcased the technology would have been better, or an electric-powered one like Audi’s e-tron?

‘Lexus is recognised for its hybrid technology and we believe that hybrid is one of the answers to the environmental issues facing the automotive industry and one better adapted to the premium market,’ Poole explains.

‘The LFA and its unique character stands apart from the rest of the line -up.

It is the pinnacle of the Lexus F sub-brand. Since the beginning of the LFA project in 2000, we set ourselves the goal to create a clear demonstrator of Lexus F capabilities to compete with the most prestigious brands in terms of driving dynamics and pleasure. And even if the recent focus on environmental performance along with the difficult global economy >

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Lexus LFa Meet the only LFA salesman in Europe DEVSHI VARSANI is one busy boy. He’s the only LFA salesman in the whole of Europe and is based at the brand’s flagship dealership on Park Lane, London. Here, Car Dealer grabbed five minutes with him to find out what it’s like.

How did you get the job selling the LFA? I have been with Lexus Park Lane now for 15 years selling Lexus and Toyota products to corporate, diplomat and export markets and also form part of the management with more than 30 years’ motor industry experience dealing with high-end clientele.

What’s it been like selling the LFA? It’s been challenging and fulfilling at the same time – an experience of a lifetime.

Have you driven one? Yes. Travelling up to speeds of 262kph was exciting and exhilarating.

Being the only LFA dealer in Europe must have presented some challenges? Yes, it is a challenging position dealing with many European clients. I have had to travel to see them at their own premises.

How did you cope with test drives? With limited availability of a vehicle, test drives and presentation of the car have been done on a group basis in various locations around Europe.

What was the typical customer like? They are successful business people who appreciate Lexus as a brand and the quality it offers in its product. They are also sports enthusiasts.

What did they also have in their garage? Many of the customers own a Lexus and other brands that have been mentioned are Porsche, Ferrari and Lamborghini.

Did some buyers buy other models too?

No. They only had one car in mind this time.

may have slowed down the “horsepower war”, the appeal of a true supercar is still valid.’

Despite the lFA’s undoubted success at heightening awareness of the brand, its performance credentials and its sell-out performance – take a peek at lexus’ sales figures for 2009 and they don’t make happy reading. The maker was 28 per cent down on 2008 against other premium marques like Mercedes (down three per cent) and BMW (down 12 per cent). Why was that?

Poole explains: ‘lexus’s sales strategy is customer led, supplying cars at the level of customer demand. We took a decision to withdraw from a number of fleet channels in 2009 and focus on retail and business customers. By taking this approach we have focused on the quality of sales which has led to strong increases in retained vehicle margins for our retailers.

‘Additionally, lexus did not significantly benefit from scrappage compared to some of our competitors. In the future we intend to continue this strategy, with our growth coming organically through the introduction of new models such as the CT 200h in early 2011. We are confident that the lexus business and our lexus retailers will be strong again this year and in the future.’

And there seems there’s other good news from the lFA’s development for dealers too –the feel, handling and ‘driving pleasure’ ingrained in its DNA is all set to filter down into other models in the range. Poole even hinted that lessons learnt utilising carbon fibre in the lFA could help address tackling weight reduction on future, more mainstream cars.

Okay, so maybe it was a tad annoying for dealers handing over lFA leads to a central hub – but what’s clear is that lexus has learnt a lot from its first supercar. Retailers are enjoying renewed interest across the range and the promise that the ‘total performance philosophy’ of the lFA will make it into other road cars is enough to whet our appetite, if not theirs. If just an ounce of the lFA’s ability makes into an affordable road car from lexus then I for one believe the motoring world would be all the better for it.

See the video of our drive at Goodwood in the LFA by typing bit.ly/LFAdrive into your web browser

What was the level of interest like? We had a very good response from customers all over Europe.

How did you spot a real one from a tyre-kicker?

One can get a sense of who is serious and who is not but ultimately the ones that were prepared to meet and put their name forward to the expression of interest stage were serious in purchasing the LFA. Did the car need ‘selling’ in the normal sense of the word? Yes, as with any car, there needed to be a great deal of marketing to create awareness and interest.

What special treatment did LFA buyers get?

All the LFA customers are treated as VIPs and they have been invited to a number of exclusive events to appreciate their valued purchase. This has allowed us to build a valued closer relationship with the LFA clientele. A service programme for the car will be introduced shortly with the local Lexus markets.

What do you do now they’re all sold? We are progressing further with each client and their individual customisation of their cars. We are also liaising with the factory with the production schedules. Plus there is still interest from prospective clients…

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STAY AHEAD You want your website to shift gear and put you in front. But to do that, it needs to rank highly with Google and other search engines. And be easy to use.

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Part of

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[cult car]

Caterham 7 It’s been around longer than the original Mini and has the ability to thrill like little else

l

otus is moving upmarket. The firm has signalled its intention to aim straight for Porsche, Ferrari and Aston Martin in the future. Bold stuff? Well, it’s a move up from where the firm is today. But not without precedent… let’s go back to the 1970s, and the glory days of mercurial owner Colin Chapman. He was ruling the roost on the Formula 1 racetrack and, thanks to cars such as the Elite and Elan, was doing the same on the road, too. These models really were cult.

One of his earliest road cars, however, remained on sale. The lotus Seven. By then, it may have been on its fourth facelift, but it was still fundamentally the same as the 1950s original. And, thus, a long way from the ever-increasing sophistication lotus road cars were beginning to offer.

Indeed, in 1975, the most sophisticated lotus yet was to arrive – the famous Esprit. In Chapman’s mind, there was no way such a premium and posh car could share showroom space with the aged and basic Seven. So, he gave it the chop.

Really, that should have been that, much as the car remained brilliant fun to drive. But lotus didn’t bargain on the entrepreneurial spirit of one of its dealers.

Caterham Cars. Boss there was Graham Nearn, who loved and rated the Seven more than few others. Indeed, loved it so much, he bought it.

By ‘it’, we mean rights, production machinery, jigs, detailed plans, everything needed to resume production of The Prisoner’s choice of wheels. In 1973, he did just that, too. The lotus Seven was back: called, unsurprisingly, the Caterham Seven.

Initially, it was sold with the blocky, ugly Series 4 bodywork. Customers loved the drive but hated the looks.

Thus, a year later, Nearn went back to the look of the 1968 Series 3. Things have not changed since. Here is the reason why the Seven is so unique, and why it is such a true cult car.

See, the lotus Seven was launched in 1957. It predates the original Mini. Not only that, it is perhaps the purest expression of Chapman’s ideals you could buy. Simple, pure and very light in weight, the same thinking that went into making Formula 1 cars handle also helped create it.

Chapman couldn’t better the fundamentals during the time he built and sold it; the basics were pretty much perfect as they were. This is why it was so canny for Caterham to buy it. The only reason lotus was stopping it was to concentrate on higher-margin motors; there was thus no reason why a Caterham version would be any less epic to drive. And so it proved.

Caterham hasn’t just built facsimiles of the original though. It has made its own improvements through the years, most notably to engines and rear suspension. In time, a wider SV version has also been launched, giving more space for modern-day adults in the process.

You don’t need a big engine in a Caterham to have a blast. The most basic 1600cc Ford unit is good enough for hot hatch humbling acceleration, plus handling, steering feel and manoeuvrability like no other car (and just like a Formula Ford race car).

That hasn’t stopped Caterham over the years, mind; the current range-topper is the R500, complete with 263bhp for 0-60mph in 2.8 seconds (yes, 2.8 seconds) There’s also the CSR, with supermodern suspension and – get this – a vaguely contemporary dashboard! All are helping Caterham boast some of its biggest production order banks in years. Far from fading, the company has never been in ruder health.

Now, five decades on, the brainchild of one of Britain’s brightest car talents remains in rude health. Over the years, there have been 14,000 sold, and with more than ever being added to this now, it’s only set to broaden in appeal. Cult? Most certainly. And one that’s going to be with us for a long while yet. [RA]

Caterham Superlight R500 Price: £40,200 Engine: 2.0-littre Power: 263bhp, 240Nm 0-60mph: 2.8s Top speed: 150mph

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[sales Legend]

BMW 5-Series

A sales legend from the day it arrived, 5.5m have since been sold

T

he BMW 5 Series has been with us for almost four decades, and shows no signs of waning. Rumored to be BMW’s most profitable model line, the current range is extensive, uses cutting-edge technology, and looks set to further sales which today stand at more than 5.5 million.

Why 5 Series, though? Quite simply, because it was the fifth of BMW’s ‘new series’ of models. From aircraft engines back in the day, the Bavarian maker had taken an unconventional approach to post-war car design, majoring on bubble cars and other quirks. Slowly, though, it had begun to deliver ‘prober’ cars. The 1972 5 Series was a core next step in its development.

Designed to rival the already-established Mercedes W114 saloon, it was a conventional three-box shape, with a familiar range of four-cylinder engines. In-line six-cylinder units were also offered though, starting with the 525i that today is a classic name in BMW history. Indeed, the ‘72 5 Series started the three-digit BMW naming trend.

It was facelifted in 1977, but you couldn’t really tell. Indeed, the 1982 E28 was, unusually, very similar to the basic model that had run for a decade too, despite being all-new. Customers struggled to appreciate just how advanced it was; that’s why an all-new one arrived relatively soon after, in 1988.

What a beauty the E34 5 Series was. Probably THE classic 5 Series shape, it remains modern in appearance today, with elegance that has stood the test of time. This model marked the arrival of the Touring variant too, further bolstering the 5 Series offer for BMW car dealers.

The best overall 5 Series, though, may in time be credited to the E39 version, that came in 1995. At the time, BMW almost lost count of the number of 5-star road test reviews this monumentally well developed

machine won. It was utterly divine to drive, particularly the 400bhp V8 M5 version, and is today revered in the trade for its completeness.

Car dealers willingly put these on their forecourts, because they know it will do the business, and that customers will always be there for it.

Its successor, the E60 of 2003, is more controversial. The first ‘Bangledesigned’ 5 Series, those beautiful lines and curves were replaced with more avant-garde edges and angles.

Thing is, it’s a model that really is maturing well. Today, the E60 appears uncommonly well proportioned and although it’s now been replaced by last year’s F10 5 Series, the trade should not worry about its long-term strength. So advanced was it at the time, it’s not going to look dated any time soon.

Now, we’re on generation six of the 5. It’s more efficient than ever, with the best-selling 520d model capable of well over 50mpg. The Touring version has just been launched, and rumour is a hot new M5 is not far away, boasting more power AND more economy over the controversial V10 M5 that preceded it. Apparently, it’s going to mark a return to the V8 M5 concept – but this time, with twin turbos…

BMW can retain this sporting focus for the 5 Series because, nowadays, it has diversified the range. By launching the 5 Series GT, those seeking a more practical alternative for passengers have been catered for – so the saloon and Touring cans stick to doing what they know best. As such, it is THE benchmark in the executive car sector.

With Audi’s A6 and Mercedes’ E-Class, the 5 Series defines the large exec sector. All have their own distinct personalities, but it’s the 5 Series that has the longest-running naming line, and thus the clearest progression through history. 5.6 million means it sure is a sales legend, that shows no signs of tailing off just yet… [RA]

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interview

A new way to offload your part-exchanges There is a third way for shifting used cars. Richard Aucock speaks to the people behind Trader-net.co.uk about their new trade-only auction website

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enuine alternatives in the used car retail world have been, for the past halfcentury, rather thin on the ground. If you take a car in part-exchange and then move it on, it’s either sell through an auction house, or pass on to your chosen underwriter.

But now, there is another way, says James Buxton. He’s one of the brains behind new startup Trader-net.co.uk, an online auction site which he intends to see become ‘the default option for motor trade professionals who want to sell to a large audience of trade-only purchasers’.

The team intends it to be big news, a significant new launch for car dealers.

Everything is in place to ensure this, he told us – from funding to key managerial experience.

‘We are the real deal – we have significant financial backing, plus a management team with experience spanning main dealers, independents, Blue Chip corporates and web-focused businesses,’ he explains.

‘We are not just another online auction. We are a genuine corporate company, offering car dealers a real solution to the challenges of disposing unwanted vehicles.’

In its simplest terms, it is an eBay auction for car dealers. Through a single website, car dealers will be connected to multiple trader partners, all operating around an auction model for used cars.

But it’s the specifics of that model that makes Trader-net.co.uk different, Buxton explained to Car Dealer Magazine. Significant time and investment has been put into administrative elements, meaning a serious and professional approach is offered from the start. There is even a seven-day support helpline for the continuous live auction.

‘We are not playing at this in our garden shed! We have used the best servers, for example, which can cope with rapid growth and guarantee always-on access. A million hits and 20,000 user sessions will not be a problem for us…’

It works by allowing car dealers to bid, in real-time, against each other, at any time. It runs continuously, 365 days a year, and also lets dealers load new stock at any time, from anywhere. ‘So long as you have an internet connection, you can use the site,’ says Buxton. Be that home, office or motorway service station.

From the very start of the process, the choices are all down to you: auction length, reserve, starting price, collection time and payment, the whole lot.

Being able to determine your own terms before you put a car on the market means much less hassle and wasted time at the end of it. As volumes of used cars grow, the importance of this is not to be overlooked.

In use, car dealers bid against each over ‘live’, just like in a real-life car auction. They can set their maximum bid if they need to move away from the machine, or monitor it in real time instead. The system emails the car dealer with the winning bid automatically, while simultaneously emailing the seller with all the information they need to sort out payment and collection or delivery.

‘It’s simple to use and we provide full dealership staff training. We also ease things for dealers wherever possible – for example, by using a DVLA auto-upload function, and offering a reporting function if required. We have even designed in the ability to integrate it into a car dealer’s DMS.’ Strict vetting ensures it truly is trade-only. ‘We

conduct VAT number and registered address checks; this is very much in our own interests too – if private individuals do get in our service will be damaged.

‘We also have a strict code of stewardship on the site. Abuse will not be tolerated; we have a five-point code of conduct and, if it is not adhered to, people will be removed from the site. Although we intend to grow rapidly, we are not purely chasing numbers. Trader-net.co.uk will retain a focus on providing a service. We can do this because we are so well funded, which takes the pressure off.

‘There will be no short-cuts or, say, approval of unsuitable members if they do not meet our criteria.’

Franchised car dealers are the initial target, explains Buxton. This is to guarantee the quality of stock – especially those which may not get such favourable rates from auction houses, such as dealers not part of a ‘top 100’ group.

‘We’re also focusing on independents; we have already targeted 5,000 here. However, these are initial targets; really, we’re not pigeon-holing our customer base, as the flexibility of our model means it can be optimised for anyone in the trade.’

Buxton says the timing of it is exactly in tune with market sentiment. ‘The focus on used cars is bound to intensify now scrappage has ended.

Dealers will need to source more used cars, to make up for lower volumes of newer cars sold.

In addition, the tough year many are forecasting will put margins under severe pressure; it is going to be crucial to maximise returns on each used car.’ All are areas where Trader-net.co.uk can help, he says.

‘Don’t overlook the speed of cashflow we offer, either. Anecdotal evidence is that banks

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‘We strongly believe we can improve car dealer’s cashflow and bottom-line profit.’

are maintaining and ever increasing pressures on car dealers. Anything that helps the bottom line here, by keeping cash flowing through, is going to be advantageous.’

Savings on offer are considerable; ‘remember, there are no buying fees, no selling fees, no contract – we even offer 60 days without subscriptions; after this, there’s a monthly fee, but even this is small.’

How much does it cost? Buxton says it’s more than market-competitive. Largely, the focus on high volume (along with the healthy upfront balance from investors) means costs can be kept in check. ‘Remember, there are no buying

fees, no selling fees, no contract.’ Buxton says Trader-Net offers 60 days without subscriptions.

After this, for the trade, there is a monthly subscription fee of £45 plus VAT, but this is a flat rate that doesn’t alter no matter how many cars you sell. ‘It’s the same for traders no matter what their trading profile.’

Precise savings depend on the size of the dealership. ‘We have figures from a five-dealer site that show simply by stopping using the fixed auction, it saved £150,000 per year.

‘This doesn’t include any additional profit that would be made by increasing the amount received for part exchanges, either. However,

every dealer and group will have a different set of terms with the auction, so it is quite difficult to quantify exactly.’

Only you will be able to take what Buxton says and apply it to your own firm; Overall, though, ‘we strongly believe we can improve car dealer’s cashflow and bottom-line profit’.

So in summary, he says, dealers should see it as more of a club than a plain dealer auction site. ‘We treat our members like members, with support and constant communication. You’re not accessing a faceless platform, but a genuine resource that can help your business grow.’ [CD]

Visit the site or call 0844 877 1111 for more details

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Car Dealer Ewards 2010

CarDealer.

I N A S S O C I AT I O N W I T H

autotorq.com

T

he worldwide web is a wonderful place. You can order pizza, do your weekly shop, buy a telly or look at films of sneezing pandas. But if you’re running a car dealership it can also mean the difference between big bucks or going bust.

The way car dealers sell vehicles is changing. And changing fast. Nearly 90 per cent start their search for their next car in the comfort of their own home with the click of a mouse.

There’s no pressure, they can surf and search, click and read for as long as they want. And it’s for this reason that so many buyers start their search online – it’s easy and convenient.

They can take in the opinions of millions of other drivers, read countless road tests and listen to chatter on social media about the cars they want to buy – and more importantly the dealerships they want to buy them from.

But what about when they’ve done their research and they’re ready to actually find the deal? When surfer turns shopper is your website ready to help them?

That’s what the Car Dealer Ewards are all about.

Now in their third year, these gongs being held in association with Autotorq.com aim to find the very best automotive retail websites out there.

Building a car sales website isn’t easy. The companies producing them for dealers come and go all the time and that’s because a dealer’s needs are unique.

You’re dealing with high value products that need to be displayed in the best possible way. And because the buyers visiting your site all come from different walks of life, your website has to cater for many different needs.

The Car Dealer Ewards 2010 will be looking for examples of the very best in seven categories.

Because the needs of franchised dealer websites can differ dramatically depending on how many

The judging panel.

Stuart Niblock

Keith Rountree

Tim Smith

Martin Hill

Matthew Strudwick

James Tew

Autotorq

BCA

british-car-auctions.co.uk gforces.co.uk

GForces

Codeweavers codeweavers.net

CarCarePlan

carcareplan.co.uk

Webzation webzation.com

FOR me, the challenge will be on finding websites that focus on giving the consumer what they want, when they want it. Too many websites now seem to be intent on crowding as many buttons, banners and widgets as possible on to the home page, which often results in higher drop-out rates.

You wouldn’t push all your products, marketing material and advisors to the front door of your showroom, so why do it on the web?

I’ll be looking for sites that really engage with visitors in this year’s entries. Engaging also means two-way communication: give consumers plenty of relevant content and information but allow them to provide their details or optin. Allowing visitors to comment is vital in today’s age where online recommendation is as important to brand reputation and perception as advertising and marketing.

INNOVATION, execution, integration and results are what I will be looking for. Innovation displays a forwardthinking attitude and a willingness to embrace new technology.

Execution is about how well everything is put together; how well it works and how simple it is to use for the visitor. Integration is demonstrating how the business has adapted to meet the expectations of today’s ‘internetempowered’ customer.

I’ll be looking for solid evidence of a well thought out customer journey – one where the constituent parts of the website work together to provide a true ‘pre-dealer contact’ interface. The best sites will be intuitive to use and the winner will effectively demonstrate a differentiated approach to web customers. Does it cater for the web customer by not trying to force them down a sales process or route they don’t want to go down?

I’M looking for websites that focus on making it easy for customers to navigate, that are simply and effectively laid out and that help drive their owner’s bottom line. The best sites load quickly without overloading users with unprompted data and they generate business by encouraging repeat business. They’re as much a window on the dealership as the forecourt frontage so we’re looking for fresh, uncluttered and tidy sites with intuitive usage.

I SIMPlY want to buy a car through your website! How much of the experience can be undertaken online?

The sites getting my vote will be those that enable either all or part of the buying process to be fulfilled online. I would expect to see everything from product presentations to the ability to handle part exchanges. A site should also demonstrate the affordability of the vehicle and a way to ‘shop and collect’.

autotorq.com

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in association with autotorq.com franchises the group holds we’ve added a Multi Franchised Dealer Eward this year. This is for all dealers that represent more than one manufacturer.

We’ve also added a Special Achievement Eward that we’ll be handing out to a car dealer, manufacturer or supplier that we feel has used the internet in a unique way to further their business.

Car dealers need to enter their website for it to be considered by our panel of judges. This is very easy to do – see the box for details of how to do it.

We’ll be accepting entries for the following categories in 2010: 1. Single Franchised Dealer – this is open to all franchised dealers that represent just one manufacturer 2. Multi Franchised Dealer – open to all franchised dealer groups that hold franchises for more than one manufacturer 3. Car Supermarket 4. Independent Dealer 5. Car Manufacturer (automatic entry) The Web Innovation category is nominated and voted for by the judges and then the panel will pick a winner during our judging day. This Eward can be handed to any business connected with the motor trade which the panel feels has done something

truly innovative in the past year.

The Special Achievement Eward will also be nominated by individual judges and decided upon by our panel at the judging day to be held at headline sponsor Autotorq’s Fulham HQ.

To be included you need to enter your website with the details requested in the panel below by emailing ewards@cardealermag.co.uk. The more detail you include the better as this will help our judges analyse what you considered when putting your site together.

We’ll look through all entries and shortlist 10 in each category and these will then be handed to the judges. Each judge uses their own set of criteria to mark the websites and they allocate 10 points to their favourite, nine to the second favourite, descending to one point for their least favourite.

We then take all the judges’ points and add them up to come up with our winners! The closing date for entries is October 14, but the sooner you get your entry in the better.

Every month in the run-up to the results we will highlight one of the entries and our judges will critique what they like about it – so if you get your entry in soon your dealership could be featured in an upcoming issue! Good luck.

Submitting your website is a piece of cake. All we need is an email to ewards@cardealermag.co.uk with the following details: 1 Your name and position 2 Company name 3 Website address 4 Name of the agency who designed the site, or if in-house state this 5 100 words (or more) saying what makes your site an Eward winner. Think about what you considered before building the website and the reasons for adding its functions.

If you’ve entered before that doesn’t mean you can’t enter, but you will need to send us details of your website again. We will also consider nominations made by other parties and our judges will get to nominate some of their favourites too.

WMS Group

wmsgroupuk.com I WIll be looking for the site that compels me to stay online and provides a simple and straightforward path to my goal. How easy and attractive is it for me to buy other products like warranty and GAP protection with the relevant information?

A website can reach millions of people but sometimes we forget that it’s often ‘one at a time’ so make it a good experience through my eyes. Above all, it has to deliver.

Terry Hogan Motoring motoring.co.uk

autotorq.com chief executive officer

HOW IT WORKS

How to enter...

Eric Stone

Stuart Niblock

Rob Queen Starkwood Media Gp

Daniel Burgess HPI hpi.co.uk

I

am delighted that autotorq is sponsoring the Car Dealer Ewards again this year and based on the 2009 judging session, we are in for more healthy and heated debate on what makes a good website.

Over the past year, consumer expectations and sophistication have increased rapidly, driven by advanced offerings in the retail and travel sectors, but I would question if the automotive industry as a whole has kept up. If your website isn’t up to scratch, then potential customers will go straight to your competitors!

In the following months I will focus on how to match your online presence with what users really want, by focusing on four main themes: Is your web strategy integrated into your business strategy? Your online presence must be viewed, managed and developed as part of your overall acquisition and retention strategy. We have been refining our ACR methodology (Attract, Convert & Retain) to help integrate your website into your business strategy to drive sales to new levels.

Social Media - everyone is talking about it, and many are trying to make it work, but will it really improve how you attract, convert and retain customers or can it do more damage than good?

Reporting and Insights - fed up receiving piles of monthly meaningless reports that you don’t have time to read? Knowing what to measure, backed by insights, benchmarking and guidance is key to making the correct decisions. I will show you how to separate the wood from the trees.

Your staff. No matter how good your website, marketing, CRM or reporting tools are, they won’t deliver bottom line success unless your staff are fully engaged. If your staff don’t ‘get it’ then what chance do they have of converting customers that already do? Education and change management are key to getting your team to take ownership.

Alan Stewart

Also judging

Spidersnet

In addition to all the judges profiled here, THIS year we’ll be THIS year I am looking IT IS all too easy to get ATTRACTIVE and well entries will also be focusing less on the for something different, carried away with detail laid out design, but most rated and reviewed by a fine detail and more on but I’m not sure what! and clever applications importantly a site where representative from used consistent branding, ease The world of the web is in an attempt to draw the dealer has fully car market experts CAP of use for consumers and changing so quickly with buyers in, particularly embraced the technology (cap.co.uk), along with a clear message as to why new innovative features with social media that is available to them. Car Dealer editor James a user should buy from being introduced all the complicating matters.

I will be looking for latest Baggott. this vendor. We’re also time that I guess it’s a We will be looking for deals, all vehicles with looking for kerb appeal. motor retailer’s ability simplicity both in terms images, and good quality And we’re hoping for to adapt to this speed of navigation and well ones. Interesting content more innovation in the of change that I am chosen information. That about the dealership new car offering. Certain looking for. However any said, we are big advocates with images of the site, manufacturer websites innovation needs to fall of adding value to with a customer feedback have made leaps and within the parameters of websites. This could be as area that is again up-tobounds this year – but good, solid web design simple as partnering with date. I would also like to can retailers follow that is easily navigable other brands. Too much see video integrated into through on this brand and will be prominent or too little? Striking a the site, either a profile experience on their within the major search balance is not as easy as of the business as well as own sites? engines. It’s a tall order! we all think. individual vehicles.

starkwoodmediagroup.com

autopromotor.co.uk

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AT095

Car Dealer Ewards 2010

Our Ewards Class of 2009

Meet the companies that tasted victory in last year’s Ewards. Will you join them in 2010?

l

ast year’s winners were truly outstanding and are a great place to start if you’re looking for tips as to what makes an Eward-winner. Here we take a look back at last year’s champion sites.

1

1

Franchised Dealer Website of the Year

This accolade went to EssexAutoGroup.com – a GForces produced group offering that was stunningly simple and thoroughly effective. It narrowly took the top spot, beating ArnoldClark.com into second place by just two points.

Judges praised the site’s impact, engaging search facility, clear navigation and excellent search engine optimisation.

2

Independent Dealer Website of the Year

luxury and sportscar dealer CliveSutton.co.uk won the independent category with a website that ‘oozed quality’, according to our judges.

This category was our closest fought of all with just a point separating the podium places, but our panel said the use of multimedia, presentation of stock and social media engagement were all superb. Motoring.co.uk’s Chris Green said the site was ‘stunning’.

3

Car Supermarket Website of the Year

It was another GForces produced website that picked up the honours in this category with Carshop.co.uk’s bright offering currying favour with our experts. It stormed to victory by 21 points – a landslide when compared to the other categories.

With four locations around the UK, the supermarket uses a group website to highlight all its stock. Clever use of testimonials, a concentration on the site’s functionality and bright, cheerful graphics all pleased our judges.

4

Web Innovation of the Year Volkswagen.co.uk picked up another gong in the 2009 Ewards, this time for its Car Configurator.

Using clear icons users were trapped into countless hours of enjoyment specifying their next car to their exact requirements.

Headline sponsors Autotorq.com said the ‘rich and engaging’ interactive show was a great way to hook buyers into the brand.

2

Don’t forget there are seven Ewards up for grabs and you need to be in it to win it – winners get a trophy to display in their showrooms as well as promotion in Car Dealer.

Car Manufacturer Website of the Year

Solid and reliable – just like its cars… that’s what impressed our judges about the Volkswagen.co.uk website. But although on first glance it looks pretty simple, once you delve inside its packed with clever touches and functions.

Clear branding, information, and the site’s ability to trap users and filter them through the site, were all highlighted by our judging panel. GForces’ Tim Smith liked the fact it was crammed with offers and linked tightly to offline marketing too.

4

3

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AT095 Car Dealer

1/7/10

11:12

Page 1

What’s faster than email... it’s no big secret The exciting new enhanced Autotrade-mail toolbar

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• Run by dealers for dealers

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We created the concept in 1999 and our passion is to help you earn more

• 20,219 prime used cars offered by dealers in June 2010 • Over 4,500 subscribers Those that have successfully passed our vetting process

The UK’s leading online real time used-car trading network CarDealerIss29.indd 47

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Ewards 2010 Launch

Our top

Tips

Fine tuning your website to be the very best car sales site can be a daunting task. here the car dealer Eward judges give their advice on how to do it

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Top Tips For Your Website

R

elevance – take off your car dealer head and make it relevant to the audience – Eric those people that have no idea of the Stone product or how to find it. Customers do not know the product the way you do so leave WMS Group out the jargon and write it for their eyes and wmsgroupuk.com ears. Try to design it from the customers’ perspective.

Intuitive – help the customer navigate in an easy way and provide some logical steps from one section to another. Ease of use is paramount if you want to get the customer to visit your showroom or at the very least reach the stage where they provide their contact details for re-solicitation. Having a web presence is easy, but having one that delivers needs to be simple.

Presentation – if it looks like you’ve put it together on your computer at your kitchen table – takes too long to load, images are flaky, tries to cram in too much per page then you’ve satisfied your own desire for a website and alienated your customer in one fell swoop. Try to find a vehicle, get the spec, age, mileage, price and find out about the warranty. If it’s easy and pleasurable it will work; if you get no hits, enquiries or phone calls then you’ve failed.

M

y first tip would be make your products and your site visible. I say Keith products because it’s about service, Rountree aftersales, F&I. not just selling vehicles.

Unless visitors can quickly get to relevant BCA information about what you have to offer, british-car-auctions.co.uk they will click off to your competition.

Make sure your site is visible by investing in search optimisation and marketing, as well as careful and relevant domain name choices. It’s an ongoing process, and keeping an eye on google.com/insights/search can help you stay informed on what consumers are searching for on the web.

My second tip would be make it look professional. Your online shop window will be judged by consumers just as critically as a visit to dealer premises. In the past having a website was enough, and while there are still some ugly sites out there, today’s web users are more savvy and have higher expectations. Quality images (and not just of your vehicle stock) are essential, and keep file sizes small and web-friendly. Anything less than professional presentation can make your business appear small and unreliable.

And finally, know what’s happening on your site. Even if visitors can’t buy products and services (such as aftermarket or service pre-payment), it is vital to understand traffic and behaviour on your site. Traffic sources, search performance, top (and poor) performing web content and much more are all metrics that can be provided by a range of web analytics tools. At one end there is the free Google Analytics solution, at the other full enterprise offerings such as Omniture (which of course is not free). Choose the analytics package that best suits your needs, whether free or not.

T

he website should be a solid and proven platform that supports the Tim promotion and management of stock, Smith offers, finance and aftersales in a motor retail environment. It should be built with GForces specific best practice for the automotive retail gforces.co.uk industry. Dealer websites are highly complex and multi-layered business applications that not only support the creation of digital dealerships but offer specialist integration with other key technology components within a dealership including DMS and CRM. The consumer’s awareness of a dealership and its products and

services depend on its online exposure. The majority of this exposure concerns search engines, predominantly Google, so the website or associated digital assets must be easy to find for the car buyer. Digital marketing has moved on greatly in the past year within the industry so a broad online marketing strategy encompassing SEO, Pay Per Click, email marketing and third party portals is essential – all backed up with continual and accurate monitoring of leads to ensure marketing effectiveness.

Managing the change of culture within the dealership is of equal importance to the deployment of advanced online tools and technology. Staff within the dealership should not only understand the demands of the modern consumer whose benchmark of service is set by the likes of Amazon, Ocado and Easyjet, but also how to use digital tools like live Chat and email. The modern consumer demands convenience, speed of response and answers to questions before the door so training is essential to changing entrenched opinions and resistance to the web within a dealership in order to support a successful car sales website.

E

nsure any tools and links on your site enhance your web proposition. I have Martin seen vehicle portals where high value Hill vehicles (£30-£40k or more) are accompanied by third party lender links to finance Codeweavers the deal. The problem is that the normal codeweavers.net maximum advance they offer is £25k – no good if you are genuinely interested in a high value vehicle! This is a good example of a well intentioned website that could potentially confuse or annoy a web customer.

Don’t try to treat the web customer in the same way as the showroom customer. The web customer has made a conscious decision to use your site to research their next purchase, so try not to put barriers in their way by insisting that they have to be immediately forced into your standard sales process. Cater for these people and treat them differently – you will reap the rewards.

Use marketing tools on your website that are trackable, such as dedicated phone numbers or e-mail addresses. This will allow individual campaigns to be monitored carefully, as well as marketing spend evaluated. Also, remember that if you are looking to try more than one new web initiative, that you introduce them one at a time if possible – otherwise how do you know which ones have been successful?

E

ncourage repeat visits. Customers rarely make a purchase based on one site visit, Matthew especially for a major commitment like Strudwick a car, so give customers plenty of reasons to come back again to check your stock or to visit CarCarePlan your dealership directly. carcareplan.co.uk Make the first visit memorable for the right reasons and collect customer email addresses to bring users back when you’ve updated your stock.

Keep it fresh and updated. Your website is your online shop window so out-of-date information reflects poorly on your business. If a website’s worth having, it’s worth keeping it fresh; you wouldn’t show unwashed or poorly maintained cars on your forecourt, so make sure the same is true of your website. If you maintain your site little and often, it goes a long way and the effort shows.

Put the customer first. Good websites are all about customers, not dealers, but put the user in the driving seat and you reap the rewards; customers want images and details of vehicles on sale, summaries of the services you offer along with clear pricing and no surprises. And make sure you’re available to talk to customers when they’re ready to move from the screen to the forecourt. >

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Ewards 2010 Launch

F

inance: Many dealers sell finance to more than half of their customers within the James showroom. As finance is an intrinsic part Tew of the vehicle sale it needs to be presented early within the buying process. The most effective Webzation way is to integrate your full range of products webzation.com including HP, PCP, lease purchase and even finance lease within your website. These products will make your vehicles more affordable and therefore more attractive, ultimately creating an engaging user experience for your potential customers.

Video: Put yourself into your customer’s shoes – do you want to read the reams of copy that exist within your website? With improved technology, video is a viable alternative. It delivers a consistent message time after time, in a manner that fits your utopian sales process. It’s never assumptive, it will add a high degree of professionalism and doesn’t want the weekends off! Not only will video ensure you stand out from the competition, it helps your SEO activities.

New Car Offers: In the highly competitive new car market, to stand out from the crowd requires a captivating offer. Whether you email existing customers or generate traffic through effective SEO; by creating specific offer webpage’s you can target customers more effectively. Visiting prospects should be presented with a more rewarding experience and using interactive finance and video will greatly assist. Ensure you have clear ‘calls to action’ – online chat, enquiry forms and a dedicated number.

A

simple one but so often missed: Make sure that on pages where Terry you’d like a user to contact you Hogan that your call to action, enquiry button and telephone number are above the Motoring fold – the area of the screen that is motoring.co.uk visible to most users. Designers work on fancy 26-inch iMacs and often place vital sections below the bottom of a normal user’s screen. Basically, on their Mac it looks great! Check your main pages on a laptop to see if your site passes this test. If it doesn’t, re-work the page until it does.

Give yourself some space. Don’t try and crowd everything in to one page. Cluttered pages are a turn-off for users. Try benchmarking your site against the sites you like personally, and ask yourself what makes you go back. Choose a consistent font and colour base for the whole site, it’ll just look a whole lot better. Think BMW or Audi for consistency of presentation.

And a tech tip: Think of new cars as used cars. You don’t manage your used car stock by sending each car deal to an ad agency to prepare an offer to put on your site, so why do you do this with new cars?

Choose a solution like Motoring.co.uk’s New Car Upload Tool to manage both your own website and your online feeds. You’ll save time and money and improve your brand consistency too, by instantly updating both manufacturer offers, physical stock and even motability and contract hire.

P

hotos, photos, photos – customers want and need to see multiple high quality Rob images of each and every vehicle being Queen sold. These need to be of a high enough Starkwood Media Gp resolution to be enlargeable without starkwoodmediagroup.com loosing quality. Communication – ensure your customers can talk to you by phone, email, fax, Twitter, live chat, mobile enquiry etc and make sure you respond to them speedily and with courtesy. Innovate with as many communication methods as you can both inbound and outbound and make these available all across your website.

Your website is only your shop window to your business... it is not your total business. Ensure that your website package, branding, style and messages are backed up in your physical premises and that your dealership team knows your branding messages inside and out. In that way your website will become a seamless extension of your business.

And keep your website up-to-date with messages, offers and news and appoint a competent employee to administer this!

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Top Tips For Your Website

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hink like your customers, don’t be too clever as it will turn off Daniel customers. Strike a balance Burgess between being helpful and proactive rather than pushy and aggressive. Take HPI time over the images you use. Forget hpi.co.uk arty and stylised; an uncluttered image with a clean background will show the car at its best. Cross-sell and upsell revenue generating services which will keep customers coming back to you. Track leads from the website effectively and follow them up – quickly!

T

hink like a customer and not like a dealer (when was the last time Stuart you bought a car from a dealer’s Niblock website?). Getting visitors to your website is hard enough but once there, Autotorq you want them to complete a lead form autotorq.com or phone you so you can close the sale.

On average, around 950 out of every 1,000 visitors leave without doing this – start focusing on giving visitors what they want, when they want it to improve conversion.

Nobody likes being confronted by aggressive sales people when they walk into a store, nor do they like being ignored and left to fend for themselves, so why should it be any different on your website? Keep your homepage clean, simple and informative and make sure your navigation and the language you use, works for the users – ask your Mum if she can find her way around the web site without your help.

How much of your marketing spend gets wasted and do you know which channels or campaigns generate the most profitable leads? You have spent a lot of money on advertising to get visitors to your website, so why not track what they do when they get there? Your web supplier can show you where visitors ‘drop off’ your website or where they go around in circles. Compare your performance with your competitors and with other industries.

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lear simple navigation: Spidersnet design policy puts the end user Alan first; ultimately they’re our Stewart combined target. We believe that a user should be able to access any page Spidersnet from any page with relevant content, autopromotor.co.uk we achieve this by consultation with dealer and motor trade-based account managers who understand your profession. A simple navigation structure will invite the user to visit more pages and explore more of your business.

Distinctive design: Apart from user friendliness your site needs to look attractive and modern to grab the user’s attention and create the enquiry. Adding an ‘about us’ and testimonials page as well as placing branded logos across the site from partners like AA, RAC, Santander, will help to create buyer confidence. When designing the site our motor trade-experienced account managers will help reflect the dealer’s style of business. This is where a really good brief from the account manager and close relationship with the designers really count.

Our designers are always competing to design the best-looking and optimised site with the most functionality. Search engine optimization is key to adding incremental profit to the bottom line; this must be part of the design.

Central management system: We know that if ‘it’s hard to update’ it probably won’t be done, despite the best intentions.

Uploading needs to be by VRM lookup or data feed, with a quick way of uploading up to 20 images per vehicle.

It’s not just the vehicles that need to be updated; most web pages are now editable. Video will be playing an increasingly large part in the forward thinking dealer, preferably incorporated with every vehicle.

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Ewards 2010 Launch

Bidding on the

future

There are a huge number of firms able to help you get the most out of the world wide web. here car dealer uses the Ewards as an excuse to focus on two.

Richard Aucock reports

B

CA has not stood still when it comes to embracing the web. The bold headlinegrabber really is that: the firm will sell more than 100,000 cars online in 2010, a rate of growth that it describes as ‘exceptional’.

No wonder; the live Online allows buyers to buy directly from the auction room floor. In January 2009, BCA sold 4,492 vehicles through live Online.

A year later, this number had rocketed to 7,918!

‘Well above 100,000 sales’ is the target for the service in 2010.

BCA’s own figures reveal why used cars are so important to the web.

On a single day in January 2010, says the firm, BCA’s websites cumulatively drew in 57,185 unique visitors. That’s 6,476 hours spent on the sites, viewing 658,456 pages! ‘The vast majority of them,’ adds BCA, ‘were using Auction View to plan their used car purchasing. Indeed, up to 2,500 of them were registering for BCA every single day!

‘Private customers are big buyers of fleet and lease used stock; this approach by BCA has been integral to the strong market conditions enjoyed by fleet operators at BCA in the first quarter of the year.’

BCA remarketing director is D’Vidis Jacobs.

Explaining BCA’s web presence, he revealed: ‘BCA already dominates online, taking 50 per cent of all vehicle remarketing sector traffic in the UK, according to Hitwise and Experian.’

Not that he’s resting on such laurels. ‘We are seeking to build on that remarkable statistic going forward.’ So, to harness a strong start to the year, combined with an ever-growing understanding of the web, BCA has just launched a smart and clever all new website.

This is based around drop-down menus, which improves legibility when really drilling down to finite car data. It also helps revising and amending searches, and is perfect for conducting vehicle comparisons. The site allows visitors to save searches, too; using these, email alerts will

automatically be sent out the moment vehicles allocated to the site meet the specification.’

Such emails highlight another advantage of web-based systems – the ability to communicate marketing campaigns via multiple channels. BCA is able to target specific buyer groups, through running no less than 300 email marketing campaigns every single month. This adds up to – ready for it – 2.5m emails!

‘This generates the maximum buying power for live Online,’ says communications director Tim Naylor. ‘Based on their purchase history, online activity, campaign responses and predictive preference criteria.’

It stretches further as well. Remember the BCA Fast & Furious sale that we reported on in Car Dealer Magazine – the one with the Bugatti Veyron? Well, BCA supported the web offer for this with more than 7,000 SMS text messages, along with space in national newspapers, PR, bulletins in Auction View and online promotion through the website itself. All centered on the landing page for the sale, thus generating maximum exposure.

You can do something similar: all you need is a campaign, a display page for it on your site, and the resources to get the message out there…

As for the secrets behind a modern website, they are, well, not all that secret. BCA says it simply has to look clean, be more intuitive and boast both speed and ease of use. If you can also, as BCA has done, make all the password-protected areas accessible using a single password, then all to the good; BCA uses a single stock locator to search through a range of remarketing channels and catalogues, for example.

‘The web is changing business models,’ said Jacobs. ‘And there is an active demand from customers to use its capabilities to generate crossselling opportunities and improve their bottom line.

‘Our strategy is to bring more buyers and more vehicles together in one online setting, and to make BCA the first place that buyers think of.’

There’s more to come too, he added. ‘This is the first of three distinct online product launches that BCA is planning for 2010, with a suite of new online sales channels and a new version of live Online debuting later in the year. BCA will sell more than 100,000 vehicles online this year.’

Details: british-car-auctions.co.uk

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Making the most of the web

Spinning a better web S uccessful websites should boast one thing above all else, says Spidersnet’s Raphael Millin.

Which is? Ease of use. People using web portals want things to be simple, straightforward and painless – the nature of the medium means they won’t hang around if it isn’t. It is your job to immediately give them what they are looking for.

The philosophy behind what Millin does is to ensure customers can access any relevant page from a single landing page. ‘Anything that could be relevant to the page they are viewing should be one click away.’ This really is easier said than done; Millin achieves this by speaking with you to find out what you’re trying to achieve.

‘This consultation is with account managers who are trained both in the dealer world and the broader motor trade,’ he says. ‘They speak your language, know what you’re trying to achieve, and serve as the conduits to this happening.’

The benefits of this are plain – if you crack navigation and make it easy as possible, you’ll be inviting the user to visit more pages and investigate far more of your website. Without this principle in place, you’re starting with one hand tied behind your back.

It should not all be about the customers, either.

Millin says an equal priority is to make your life easier, too. Spidersnet has spent a lot of time and money ensuring the ‘back end’ to its sites – the central management system – is dealer-friendly.

‘We know that if it is hard to update, it won’t be done.’ Dealers will do just as their customers would if it was too tricky – you can’t blame them as you’d be just as guilty! Millin has thus employed all the industry-standard tools to help ease this process.

‘Uploading needs to be by VRM lookup or data feed, with a quick way of uploading up to 20 images per vehicle.’ That’s fine, but as he says, it’s not just the vehicles that need to be updated – this is why ‘most web pages are now editable, too’. A benefit in this is being able to smartly integrate video. ‘Video will be playing an increasingly large part in the forward-thinking dealer, preferably incorporated with every vehicle.’

As all web experts say, it’s only once you’ve considered fundamentals that you should turn to details such as design distinction. Not that it’s any less important, says Millin. ‘Apart from user friendliness your site needs to look attractive and modern, to grab the user’s attention and create the enquiry.

‘When designing the site our motor trade-savvy account managers will help reflect the dealer’s style of business; this is where a really good brief from the account manager and close relationship

with the designers really count.

‘Our designers are always competing to design the best-looking and optimised site with the most functionality. Search engine optimisation is key to adding incremental profit to the bottom line; this must be part of the design.’

Any other tips to make your site a cracker?

‘Adding an about us and testimonials page as well placing branded logos across the site of partners like AA, RAC, Santander and so on will help to create buyer confidence.’ That’s what it’s all about – confidence. In all parties, from customer, to dealer, to web developer. Achieve this, and everything else should start to fall in place.

Details: autopromotor.co.uk

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Feelthe

force

C

reating a new website is an exciting experience. It’s like rebuilding your showroom from scratch – far more than just a lick of paint, it’s the development of an entirely new way of working. With everything done to your spec, the world really is yours for the taking.

But only if you approach it in the right way…

See, website creation is also a mammoth task and can become a nightmare if done badly. Think you can just call up a web developer and then a few weeks later have a shiny new website ready to run? No! As GForces’ head of client services Kevin Robins explains, if it’s done right, it’s anything but an off-the-peg solution.

That’s not to say it need be daunting. Indeed, GForces aims instead to make it an enjoyable process, and one packed with lessons along the way. How? With its new web development Project

Experience system.

This has been introduced by the hi-tech web design firm to give a systematic framework to the complex process of web design. Car dealers, by nature, are not web experts. That’s why you need to employ a firm such as Car Dealer Power winners GForces. Problem is, we still need to understand and acknowledge the web way of working, in order to get the best possible outcome.

This is what the internet-based Project Experience system delivers, says Robins. ‘Right from the very first planning phases, we aim to educate car dealers about web specifics, in an easily digestible way. At the end, it means both parties are clear on the goals and objectives for the project before it commences.

creating a new website from scratch can be a daunting process. But, as Richard Aucock discovered, the whole process isn’t as scary as it first seems...

‘Instead of paying for a process of web education, we give it to them as part of their website build, for free.’ It is this that helps the GForces approach stand out.

The whole idea is not just to deliver a product, but a customer experience, says Robins. ‘It is intended to be educational as well as providing a service,’ he says. ‘We take all our knowledge and apply this to where the customer says they need to be in a year’s time.’

There are real benefits to this education process, that those of you who have engaged website developers may be aware of. ‘We find that if the customer is not engaged, they tend to focus purely

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How To Build A Website

on the aesthetics, rather than what the site can deliver. This is a big gap. We minimise it, and thus remove the pitfalls that can occur if the customer is not on board with our design team.’

These training sessions are what kicks off a website build at GForces. They’re well-run things, too. Customers can visit the firm’s HQ (pictured below left) and conduct them at the same time as talking through the initial concepts and aims for the web build. ‘We have dedicated customer pods where we can set clients up for the day. We always find this hands-on element is very useful.’

This process includes benchmarking – where you decide exactly what you want your website to do.

GForces helps, as it finds most car dealers don’t have the geeky experience to get right down to the nuts and bolts here.

Following the initial briefings, GForces identifies roles and responsibilities for the web build on the client side. ‘If they don’t have specific roles currently in the business, such as content writing, we can help source freelance help here, or generate the copy using our in house team. It ensures we’re fully prepared to avoid delays part way through the project.’

It also helps GForces lay out goals, again using the Project Experience tool (pictured below).

From this, a specification is created, reviewed, agreed and signed off. ‘Our project manager will create a specification document for the build of your new website. This will include a detailed site map showing the navigation of the site, and also the functionality and technical requirements of each section.’

Then, the fun part starts – the design process!

Throughout this stage, says Robins, client liaison is fed in, through a clever tool on the Project Experience portal. There, an entire section is dedicated to design, allowing clients to see the latest page layouts created by GForces.

If there are any areas they’d like to comment on, they can do this in a box below each page mock-up; these comments are fed straight to the design team, who can then respond. Such two-way communications means satisfaction is usually quickly reached; it allows even the smallest points to be debated, which Robins says is muchappreciated by clients.

‘It’s a good idea to encourage as much discussion and feedback from the customer as possible, on

how they see their business. We want to get the key messages across, using the design – this can be quite tricky if we’re not on the same wavelength as web principals and dealer ideas are often quite opposed!

‘That’s why we’re so careful to establish all the outlines from the very beginning.

‘We like to see ourselves as advisers – we’ll flag up the pitfalls to car dealers, offer advice

throughout. We can also help dealers overcome business challenges, such as how to represent multiple franchises on a single template. We have ample experience of the car trade so can provide feedback and guidance to a very high level.’

This design process can take several weeks, but at the end the customer will have helped create a final design. ‘All the notes the client has input will have been seen and actioned; they’re all saved too, >

‘Right from the very first planning phases, we aim to educate car dealers about web specifics, in an easily digestible way.’

Kevin Robins, GForces

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Ewards 2010 Launch

How the build process works Welcome pack Questionnaire Project Kick-Off meeting Benchmarking of current site

so there’s ultimate clarity throughout the process.’

Designs will be fully reviewed before sign-off, to rubber-stamp the fact it will deliver exactly what the customer wants.

If you reckon this sounds like quite an impressive system, you’d be right. It’s all been designed

by Robins, who himself comes from a project management background. ‘I’m used to delivering large projects and have a very good understanding of process management. By fully engaging dealers in the process, we are able to give them maximum say despite not fully understanding what’s involved in website design.’

Once signed off, the actual tech website development commences, and is a wholly internal job for GForces to do. This development stage forms a big part of creating a website, and this is usually

where clients find things go quiet. For weeks on end, they’ll sometimes hear nothing, which can take some of the momentum out of creating a website.

This dims the initial rush and can mean the final excitement isn’t what it could be.

To overcome this fallow period for clients, GForces uses the Project Experience portal again – to help train people in using their new websites. It’s the ideal period to do this, but only really made possible by the ability to tightly manage the process.

GForces has a complete section on training, which explains everything that those who’ll be using the website need to know. This includes both user and site administrator functionality. The aim is to provide everyone in the business with the skills to know and use the company website well, rather than just the one or two people who update it.

Specification creation, review meeting, sign off GForces creates design concepts Client asked to think about content for the site Designs reviewed then GForces gets to work on pages based on decisions made Designs signed off Development work takes place.

Templates created and coding sorted by GForces Both client and GForces then review progress and make amendments where necessary Content training given and a formal handover of the site to client GForces makes the final adjustments, works on search engine optimisation and sign off the project Website is launched

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How To Build A Website

‘We’ll also use this period to get customers thinking about content – again, showing them what’s needed and training them in how best to deliver this.’

But then, after around eight weeks, the real excitement begins. At this stage, the customer will be given a fully functioning new website! Designed to their exact specs, looking just how they intended, with no surprises. It is here where excitement in the project soon flashes back, says Robins.

After reviewing the build with the client, and making any changes they may wish, site-specific training will commence. ‘We will show the client how to use the back end, how to edit it, everything they need to run their site by themselves.’

However, to do this properly, content is needed.

This is where, the client should either have been producing it themselves, or arranging for an outside firm (or, indeed, GForces) to generate it. ‘We only design a template – what goes on to that website is the customer’s domain, as it is their business.

‘What we can do, though, is provide full SEOoptimised generation services here, and also advise on SEO with copy provided by the customer. We want each of our sites to be as highly optimised as possible, and the process we employ plays a big role in ensuring this.’

As the SEO optimisation occurs after final adjustments have been made, it ensures the site can be ready to go the moment it is perfected.

Quite a process, then. But one that’s so incredibly logical and clear, thanks to the Project Experience system GForces has invented. This makes the last few stages, says Robins, particularly fun. ‘Here, we set about socialising the website in the business. We provide advice and training to all sales executives on how to deal with it – how to handle enquiries, for example, or how to manage email enquiries.

‘Once it is launched, there will be a significant increase in traffic, email enquiries and so on.

Everyone in the business needs to be fully up to speed with how to systematically deal with these in order to maximise the potential of the site.’

To illustrate just how big an increase will be seen, GForces sets up a benchmarking report at the very start of the project. This will monitor traffic of the current site, and compare it to the effect of the new site. Commenced right after the Kick-Off meeting, you’ll be able to see this, to check out just how impressive your new site’s uplift is. Great for showing to management!

If you thought designing a website was simply a matter of putting a call in, this will probably be a surprise to you. Fear not. With the system pioneered by GForces, it’s actually MORE straightforward to collaborate with the team this way – and will ensure you get exactly what you want at the end.

More importantly, everyone in the dealership will be trained in how to use it to its fullest, as well! They, as well as you, may be surprised at just what’s involved. But thanks to GForces’ system, it’s actually a logical process that delivers just what you want at the end. It is also, though, a pretty exciting undertaking to boot… [CD]

‘Once a new site is launched, there will be a significant increase in traffic, email enquiries and so on. Everyone in the business needs to be fully up to speed with how to deal with these in order to maximise the potential of the site.’

Kevin Robins, GForces

Find out more at gforces.co.uk

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feature

Taking care of business

Richard Aucock chats to the team behind CarCarePlan – the Car Dealer Power winning warranty firm – and finds out how they can help your business CarDealerMag.co.uk | 59 CarDealerIss29.indd 59

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feature M

ost car dealers know aftersales is a key area for driving business revenue – particularly today, where things remain uncertain in the new and used car sales world. To support this business opportunity, you need a strong partner.

This, says Andrew Jackson, is where Car Care Plan can help you. He’s marketing manager of the expert aftersales provider, which offers a multitude of warranty programmes covering the vital aspects of car ownership peace of mind.

Serving more than one million UK customers each year (which makes it the UK leader), there’s a fair chance it has a product that is going to suit your customers while simultaneously making you money.

It provides a broad base of schemes, to both independent and franchised car dealers. It doesn’t just do that, though; it will also help find the best for you. ‘We employ national sales managers, so we can advise on issues relevant to your car dealership – based on knowledge of the local area,’ said Jackson.

From the very off, Jackson is keen to stress, personal service is the core of the Car Care Plan offer. It has a huge catalogue of warrantyrelated products, but the real differentiator is the backup dealers receive when using them.

In the current climate, he says, this can prove invaluable.

Car Dealer Magazine chatted to Car Care Plan CEO Tim Heavisides too. He’s been at the company since 1982, and epitomises the ethos that runs through the firm. ‘Our reputation is core to our business,’ he said. ‘We focus on being trustworthy, dependable, offering dealers a consistent level of service.’

The firm is able to do this, he said, by being proper specialists. ‘Extended warranty is our sole focus. We are not an insurance company involved in general policies; we are a company dedicated to helping dealers retail add-on warranties. It is not our intention to be a jack of all trades.’

Proof of this is not just in his lengthy tenure; it’s in the fact that most staff share this loyalty.

‘Our people are dedicated to our core products – our average staff tenure is 14 years, and most of our managers have either worked up through the firm, or served in car dealer service departments themselves. This helps us get a great understanding and ability to empathise with dealers.’

As for size, it’s just right, he reckoned. ‘We are small enough to care but big enough to reassure.’ This is why more than 20 car makers list Car Care Plan as preferred warranty supplier; ‘time and again, people say our customer service team is first rate.’

Read the surveys and it seems your customers may well like Car Care Plan, too (why else would so many car firms use them?). ‘95 per cent of our customers said, in a 2008 Benchmark survey, that they are happy the product we sold is the right one for them,’ said Jackson.

‘On average, our warranty customers rated us as 4.2 out of five for dealing with their claims promptly, and gave us 4.3 out of five for ease of getting through to the right person.

‘More than nine in 10 claimants stated they felt we dealt with their claim fairly.’

Another demonstration, you could say, of how you can use Car Care Plan’s service focus to your advantage. If customers are volunteering how

‘More than nine in 10 claimants stated they felt we dealt with their claim fairly.’

much they like the firm, what’s stopping you throwing this into your sales process? Warranties can often be an area of debate in the sales process: here, show people the bald facts that say otherwise.

And it’s not just the customers that are pleased either – you, the dealers, voted them number one warranty provider in last month’s Car Dealer Power awards. That’s quite an achievement and one the firm is very proud of.

It is also proud of its smart online registration and claims system, which it’s spent some time honing. Heavisides reckons this is one of the most advanced in the UK, making the irritation of a warranty claim far less painful for customers. No hour after painful hour at the computer (or on the phone) processing claims with this.

Car Care Plan is owned by the huge GMAC, and was founded in 1976. Currently, it has offices in both the UK and Mexico, giving it a >

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feature

Car Care Plan CEO Tim Heavisides Below: The Car Care Plan UK headquarters in Leeds

worldwide platform few rivals can match; it serves countries right across Europe and latin America. Such organic growth has given it real clout in the sector.

The firm says it also serves nearly every car dealer in the UK; there are teams focusing on both independent and franchised, while there’s a national team which supports dealer-focused local Car Care Plan managers. Products for FSA and non-FSA compliant dealers are on offer, from the firm that itself is FSA registered.

At its core is warranty. This will never change, said Heavisides, who is eager to remind dealers of the benefits warranties offer.

They’ve been around a long time, but still remain an important source of revenue. ‘They increase vehicle saleability, boost retention for aftersales and help reinforce your relationship with a customer.’

There’s still room for creativity, though. Used car warranties are familiar stuff, but Heavisides also asks why you don’t

suggest extended warranties on new cars, too.

That’s because some car makers are offering longer new warranties; maybe you could look into the various schemes Car Care Plan offers, and see if this isn’t something you could do, too, even if the manufacturer doesn’t? ‘We can tailor warranties to virtually any brief.’

In addition, Car Care Plan provides insurance schemes that complement its core warranty offer. Products such as GAP and MOT are natural bedfellows for warranties, though they can also be provided as standalone products, too.

GAP can cover both retail price insurance and also finance a replacement vehicle to the equivalent value even if prices have increased.

‘It’s a very complementary addition to warranty products,’ said Heavisides.

Another handy add-on to warranties are service plans. These are great, revealed Heavisides, for customer retention. ‘The customer will be returning to you! We offer schemes that cover the basic cost of service, and accept both one-off and instalment payment schemes.’

Then there’s roadside assistance. Car Care Plan offers this… but hang on, isn’t this outside the firm’s area of speciality? Indeed it is – that’s why it has partnerships with several affinity groups, rather than dealing with it all in-house.

The perfect arrangement that keeps its focus without missing out on marketing opportunities.

Another complementary side product warrants the cars while they’re in your possession and at the mercy of passers-by. Yup; damage to your forecourt stock? A depressing reality, but Car Care Plan can mitigate against both weather and vandalism with tailored wholesale floorplan insurance schemes for your dealership.

Car Care Plan will always consider other new products that could prove beneficial to dealers, mind – but will always retain its focus. ‘We’ve looked at insurance and assistance schemes in the past – but only offer the ones that will really help make money,’ explained Heavisides.

‘Our concern is spreading our management focus too thin. We’d rather concentrate on optimising the products we’ve become known for, rather than diluting our efforts on unnecessary diversions.’ Besides, the Car Care Plan team has enough to deal with in its current guise; don’t forget, said Heavisides, that international presence…

The firm allows car dealers to benefit from its huge experience with a series of tailored training schemes, too. These include product training, used vehicle management, even FSA compliance training for dealers who don’t have it but would quite like it. Again, reported Heavisides, anecdotal evidence is that dealers really benefit a lot from these.

Overall, he concluded, warranties are there for a reason: to protect customers if something goes wrong with the car. It’s important dealers don’t forget this. Dealing efficiently with these issues, thus minimising the pain and impact on car dealer brand image, is where Car Care Plan really excels, said Heavisides. Who then revealed a bulging folder of testimonials to back this up…

Warranty packages can be overlooked but they can also make healthy returns for your business, even if the cars side itself is struggling. Perhaps they’re what you need to warrant future consistent turnover? [CD]

For more information call Car Care Plan on 0844 573 7591 or visit carcareplan.co.uk

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auctions

New MG6 available to order on eBay HOPTON Garage MG has listed the new MG6 on auction website eBay – months before it even goes on sale here in the UK! In a bold marketing move, the garage listed the new model on the auction website to create interest in the car before it arrives in the showroom.

The listing states: ‘Pre-orders and refundable deposits are now being taken with delivery expected for December 2010/ January 2011 depending on spec and colour ordered.’

Richard Hilton, dealer principal for Hopton Garage MG in Stafford, spoke to Car Dealer about the publicity move.

‘It raises the public profile of both the dealership and MG ahead of sales commencing, and with pressure to sell when the car arrives, advanced publicity is important,’ he told us.

He also said that, in his experience, the public don’t realise that MG is a current manufacturer.

‘The public aren’t aware that MG makes new cars, at least outside of enthusiast groups,’ he explained. ‘Awareness is higher in the Midlands, with Longbridge being here there is more media coverage, but elsewhere the profile needs to be raised.’

The MG6 is listed on eBay at £14,995 including VAT – and that’s simply a guess

Marshall’s show support for BEN MARSHALL Motor Group has become the first car dealer to sign up for the Dealers Backing BEN pledge.

It will now donate £1 from every car it sells through auction to the motor industry charity.

This is a real boost to the fledgling campaign, which BEN estimates could raise £500,000 each year from the UK’s largest car retail groups.

Marshall chief executive, Daksh Gupta, said: ‘Dealers Backing BEN is a fantastic initiative which will make it easier for dealer groups like us to donate to BEN. I hope the retail sector will all join in to increase the proportion of funds being donated to BEN by our part of this great industry of ours.

‘I am sure my colleagues in other groups will be quick to sign up as well.’ Not least, added Gupta, because of the scheme’s tax and VATefficiency, plus ease of operation.

Nigel Williams, BEN’s head of national development, confirmed: ‘We are already in negotiations with a number of dealers about participation.

‘We are really grateful to Marshall for the speed with which they have reacted to this initiative.’

Henstock Auction stations If you have to ask it’s too much

Hopton Garage’s eBay listing from the dealer principal as to what it will cost.

‘Obviously we can’t sell the car, and the price is speculation, but I expect that if the MG6 is to compete with the likes of the Ford Focus, Vauxhall Astra and Skoda Octavia, then it will have to be priced around that mark, even if it is for the basic spec model,’ he said.

The MG6 is due to go on sale at the end of the year, and will be the first all-new MG to be built at the MG Birmingham plant in 15 years.

John Slavin

Customers help shape new SMA website SMA Group has launched its new website after a total rewrite following customer feedback and advice.

This, says SMA Group MD Bob Anderson, gives it ‘a much more user friendly experience’. He added: ‘We are still the only major auction company in the UK to allow all viewers access to our vehicle search and stock lists online.

Our one-click approach means that vital information is never more than one click from the home page.’

Feeding the site is SMA’s information management system, which gives realtime information to vendors. The LiveBid online auction system has also been integrated.

Simpler branding, one-click auction calendar and links direct to stock lists for each sale or supplier are further improvements.

Simon Wells was responsible for the new website. He said: ‘More satisfied visitors to the site will lead to more buyers at our auctions leading to higher residual values for our vendors.’

N

o matter how long you have been in and around the motor trade, and while you may think you have seen it all, every so often something comes along that just makes you go ‘wow’.

Earlier this month I had the great privilege to conclude the sale of a Bugatti Veyron, on behalf of Lex Autolease, from the Rostrum of Number One auction hall in Blackbushe. The sale took around five minutes, as early bidders fell by the wayside and just two tenacious buyers battled it out. The hammer came down at £625,000 and a ripple of applause rang out, quickly drowned out as the Bugatti’s engine fired and it ‘The hammer was driven out of the hall. came down at The sale smashed £625,000 and a the record for a modern production car at auction ripple of applause and was over three times rang out, quickly the previous highest value drowned out as achieved by BCA on one vehicle – a Rolls-Royce the engine fired.’

Phantom that sold for £205,000 at Nottingham in 2007.

No offence to Rolls-Royce, of course, but the Bugatti is a different beast altogether. This 2006 Veyron EB 16.4 would have cost around £1.1m when new – and I am sure Glass’s Guide and CAP will have taken note of the relatively low depreciation rate of just 43 per cent over four years!

The Veyron is powered by an eight-litre petrol engine, fed by four turbo-chargers that develop 987bhp. It can reach an alleged 253.5 mph and is the quickest accelerating and decelerating road car in the world. It uses special Michelin PAX run flat tyres, designed to accommodate the Veyron’s top speed, which reportedly cost £17,000 per set. The tyres can only be removed from the rims in France, a service which apparently costs £47,000.

In other words, if you have to ask, it’s too expensive. As Top Gear’s James May famously said when testing the car to its top speed: ‘The tyres will only last for about fifteen minutes, but it’s okay because the fuel runs out in twelve…’

While I may have had the pleasure of bringing the hammer down, the real work had been done by my colleagues at BCA. The Bugatti was the centrepiece of a 400 car and motorbike auction. The actual sale was a triumph of planning. Every vehicle was digitally imaged and catalogued with every detail available on BCA’s newly launched website.

The Veyron was the star but the sale sold every vehicle for a turnover of £7m on a Saturday! Now that’s the kind of result to make any auctioneer go ‘wow!’

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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Y

EXTINCTION IS NOT AN OPTION!

We may never know the reason for the disappearance of the Brontosaurus Rex, but we do know a few dinosaurs who have contributed to their own demise. Ignore the profit opportunities and we ignore the vital elements for continued growth.

I spend the majority of my time visiting dealerships throughout the UK and it’s the only way to get a feel for the demands and changes of the business. It’s no surprise that the style and shape of dealerships is so diverse with a common denominator found in the most successful ones – Leadership, dedicated to provide up to date systems and sales methods with a range of added value products and services designed to increases customer confidence, generate more profit and retain the customer for future service and repair work. It is a failing and a dis-service to simply move the metal and leave the customer unprotected and more likely to go elsewhere for their next purchase – lost forever. I am never surprised but increasingly frustrated when dealers (and there are many) will not grasp the simple principle that other successful dealers have adopted for years.

Since January I have met with many dealers who have told me their reasons for doing it “their way” including several who agreed that they could make more profit and retain customers but just couldn’t be bothered – I am expecting to see some flats on their sites the next time I’m in the area. The following are things I have heard in the last few months: “I’ve worked in so many dealerships and I’ve never used a computer, and when I leave here next month I’ll be exactly the same”; “I believe that car dealers should only sell cars and I stuck with that principle right up until I went out of business”; “The problem with all of these products is the customer may come back with a problem” (ever heard of turning a problem into an opportunity, it’s called customer service) and “I know that you are right and I could increase my profit and retain customers but we’re all a bit long in the tooth here and my salesmen just won’t sell it” (tail and dog come to mind).

Happily, we have a team of dedicated regional managers who work with our dealers to help train and encourage their salesmen to build our products into their sales process and given the opportunity we can demonstrate increased penetration and profit across the board. If you won’t sell it we will even do it for you so it’s win win. We offer a range of flexible customer friendly products delivered via an online management system called WMS Showroom designed to ensure that you do not miss an opportunity. You could of course just ignore the opportunity and just open three days a week when it will be a bit quieter.

If you would like to discuss the profit opportunities available from WMS Group, please contact me, Eric Stone, on 07789 682502 or email sales@wmsgroupuk.com

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right click

...in association with GForces

Live Chat could bag you leads Can you afford not to communicate with potential customers in any way you can? asks GForces’ Tim Smith

A

mazingly, less than 10 per cent of dealer websites feature the most effective forms of customer conversion tools, such as live Chat.

Websites that offer visitors the chance to converse in real-time are proven to convert up to four times as many leads. However, according to a new survey from web marketing experts GForces, only 16 of the Top 200 UK dealer websites offered visitors this form of interactive communication.

It’s important to talk with potential customers immediately these days. Any delay or unanswered questions about a car, part, accessory or service booking will lead to people clicking away from your site faster than you might think. People who engage with a business through live Chat are 4.1 times more likely to convert than visitors who don’t. This is thanks largely to the speed with which they can have their questions answered. Given the challenges facing auto retailers, can anyone really afford not to be communicating with potential customers in every way possible?

As well as boosting lead conversion, live Chat also lets dealers keep track of stock enquiries and see how well it is serving visitors. live support allows you to assist people in completing sales by walking them through the process, which will hopefully stop them clicking off your site before buying. You can also search for and view transcripts, see your own chat history and those of repeat visitors.

Despite these obvious benefits, simply adding live Chat on your site isn’t enough. There also needs to be a qualified individual on hand to deal with the enquiries as they come in as a recent MIT survey published ‘the odds of qualifying a lead in five minutes versus 30 minutes dropped 21 times, and the odds of contracting a lead if called in five minutes versus 30 minutes drop 100 times.’

One dealer doing just this is Peter Vardy in Glasgow. When they added live Chat to their site they also hired new staff to deal with the online questions generated by the feature.

Just as well, as the leads generated practically

‘People who engage with a business through Live Chat are 4.1 times more likely to convert than visitors who don’t.’ doubled within a month of integrating the feature.

Internet sales manager at Peter Vardy Euan Cameron said: ‘I can safely say that I cannot imagine our business without live Chat now.

It allows us to interact immediately with a customer and instigate an information exchange straight away.

‘It can often take days to obtain the same amount of information and rapport with the customer using email, during which time the car being discussed may well have been sold. This is a facility I now consider integral to our overall online strategy.’

Additionally, loads of Vans in Surrey utilise live

chat effectively by maximising the presence icons have on the site. Using such features as a live chat drop down and flash animation on the used car listings page has increased their interaction with customers exceptionally.

Sales executive and van sales supervisor Robert lee at loads of Vans said: ‘Contact at Once is an essential part of our sales process because it allows us to provide valuable information to customers during the initial stages of the sales process.

‘At loads of Vans we recognise that it’s not always convenient for customers to speak to our sales team, so this tool allows us to liaise with customers in a way which is cheap, easy and fast for them.’

Any edge in service you have over your competitors can make the difference in whether you gain or lose a sale. In this world of automated touch-tone systems, having a human being available to help a customer any time of day or night will give your dealership an advantage over the competition.

Social Media

Confused about where to begin?

GForces understand there are many articles, strategies and concepts being thrown about how to leverage these new technologies. Let us help you cut through the noise and figure out what will work for your business.

0845 658 9290

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interview

New franchise makes shopping for stock a simple task Joining the online revolution is no longer optional: it is vital. With the used car market set to boom TradeMyMotor.co.uk may just have the solution you need

L

ast month we introduced you to TradeMyMotor.co.uk – a clever new opportunity for canny car dealers. Here we talk to director Kevin Davies about the prospect in more detail and find out how it can make your business more profitable.

Why is Trade My Motor the franchise opportunity that the trade has been waiting for?

The online car purchasing market is growing at an exponential rate. The new generation of car sellers dubbed the ‘millennial generation’ in a survey carried out for Microsoft, will be turned on only by receiving and sharing information by the web, and ultimately selling their vehicles online.

Some 52 per cent of those surveyed admitted that although they would visit a dealership they would rather use automated services first.

With 19 per cent of the UK population (11.4m) shopping online the phenomenon is set to continue.

Trade My Motor offers car dealers across the UK the ability to benefit from a fully SEO optimised website, a national advertising campaign, a bespoke trade valuation algorithm and a host of CRM tools. In addition; due to the volume of vehicles, excellent disposal routes are in place to ensure a healthy ROI. With used car stock becoming increasingly difficult to source, we represent a cost-effective business solution that is designed to augment an existing dealership and give the dealer access to used car stock at trade prices.

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Why the franchise model?

Franchising is the perfect model for any business that needs to achieve rapid growth, Kevin Davies and and in our case national coverage, within a short the Trade My Motor time frame. website In order to compete with We Buy Any Car, the current market leader, national coverage combined with a national marketing campaign is key. In addition we want to create a community of TMM dealers which ensures the business is led at a local level to guarantee the best service and a greater potential to increase profits. local knowledge in any business can be the deciding factor.

As a bolt-on, you have lower overheads and operational costs causing reduced cost of sales and a higher profit margin. Ability to negotiate and secure industry-beating disposal deals due to volume was also a deciding factor in adopting the franchise route.

Could someone set up a standalone business and replicate the TMM model?

The simple answer is yes!

The deciding factor would be the allotted budget.

The creation of a bespoke online valuation tool requires multi-discipline knowledge and experience and an in-depth understanding of the motor industry.

Trade My Motor has been developed over 12 months and is the culmination of years of experience within the online and motor trade arena. Can it be done?

Yes! Can it be done at a local level and achieve success? No! Not without a huge budget and extensive operational support. When you consider a TMM franchise can be secured from as little as £12,500 plus VAT, why would you?

What are the initial set-up and running costs?

Trade My Motor engaged the services of a professional territory creation company. As such each of the 239 territories is equally weighted and can be purchased for as little as £12,500 plus VAT, dependent upon location and package chosen.

In addition, there is a monthly management fee of £1,000 plus VAT and a 10 per cent commission of net profit per vehicle. These costs have been carefully calculated to ensure both the franchisor and franchisee achieve a healthy margin.

Where do you see the company in the next 12-18 months?

Our planned franchise/territory roll out is in 120 locations within the next 12 months. This will enable us to have television advertising, national press ads and subsequently national brand awareness. We are currently the UK’s number two and we aim to take the market share within 18 months.

This will be dependent upon a number of factors. Firstly, our continued commitment to providing excellent service, both in terms of our vehicle valuations, and customer satisfaction.

Secondly, the scheduled 120 locations will

give us a degree of national coverage which ultimately means we will be able to service our customers better and secure even more lucrative disposal deals.

Our brand will be synonymous with selling cars online and the place to go to achieve a fair market price for your car. We already invest heavily in promoting and growing the TMM brand and we aim to continue our efforts through 2011 and beyond.

How are you promoting the idea of a franchise for those who are not familiar with it?

Franchising is the perfect business model, as it allows you to benefit from the experience, trading history and brand awareness of the franchisor.

Ultimately, reducing the risk of starting a business from scratch. Every business has an element of risk; however, franchising allows you to reduce the impact of any potential risks as you are part of a larger group.

We promote our franchise offering as becoming part of a community of motor traders; it is this ethos that infers sharing and strong relationships.

Do you think there are benefits of being part of a large network such as TMM? As a part of the larger TMM community and a network of dealers you benefit from a national marketing campaign, stock with an excellent retail margin, superb disposal routes, and interdealer experience and advice. In addition; each and every time a customer brings a car down for an evaluation you have the option to ‘sell up’.

In a nutshell you get national awareness and increased marketing activity for your existing business. For each TMM customer that attends your branch, you are also advertising your dealership and its unique offerings.

What do you say to car dealers who simply don’t ‘get’ online trading tools?

The online market is proven to be growing in popularity and use, couple that with the continued rapid decline of the once mighty motoring section that still clings on to the back pages in most local newspapers and the fact that large print publications are being muscled out or replaced completely by their internet equivalent.

It is now that motor traders must react and secure their market position. Every business must react to current market conditions to remain profitable and as such the local business, trading at a local level will need to utilise online tools or go the same way as the horse and cart.

Is the used car market going to become yet more important when VAT rises next year?

The rise in VAT results in new car prices increasing; this adds £400 to the cost of a standard £15,000 car. This may well result in a boom in used car sales. This will no doubt mean that the sourcing of quality used stock will be more important than ever and demand may well outstrip supply.

It is now that car dealers need to react to this potential threat and be pro-active in their approach. The TMM franchisee opportunity is the perfect route to managing this change in market conditions. The greater the demand for used cars, the greater the increase in online purchasing activity. [CD]

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911for2011

clawiitng

BacK

we’ve found a gem among the scrapheap dodgers available in the sub-£1,000 price bracket, and it’s all thanks to a very generous dealer. JaMes BaGGott reports

t

hings are looking up. Our 911 for 2011 challenge has taken a brilliant turn for the better with this, our latest purchase. No we’re not talking about the Metro – that’s soon to be crushed – it’s the Fiesta that’s our pot of gold. If you’ve been following our charity challenge you’ll know we’re attempting to turn a big fat £0 into a Porsche 911 by 2011. Because our sales experience is minimal we haven’t yet specified which part of 2011, but then we don’t really like deadlines. To be honest, it’s a surprise we get a magazine out every month…

Anyway, last month we told you how we’d sold the Audi A3, kindly donated by M25 Audi, for £790.03p on eBay as spares or repairs and followed that up with £250 for the l-reg Golf we were given by Motorpoint’s Auction4Cars.com.

That left us with a grand to invest in something ourselves. And that’s where the hard work began. It’s all very well making a profit on two cars you’ve been given – that’s not exactly hard – but when you’ve got to buy

a car yourself to turn into a profit, things get a lot tougher. As you guys know very well. Now we’re not pretending to be in any way, shape or form experts in this arena so we’ve decided to use a tried and tested journalist’s tactic instead: Beg, borrow, plead and promise our contacts to help us out.

I’ve often found this can produce wonderful results.

Fortunately we struck it very lucky with one of the first emails we sent out pleading for help. Peter Isted, managing director of lifestyle Europe and henceforth known as a saint, runs a group of dealers based in the south east. He took pity on us and said in no uncertain terms he would be delighted to help out. ‘We’ll find you a car – no problem,’ he declared.

And find us a car he did. Peter tasked the group’s used car controller, Richard Walker, with finding us a motor we could sell for a maximum return, but after a week’s searching Richard was struggling to find something suitable.

A Citroen Berlingo Multispace was the first option, but this fell through.

But then, a week later, I got an email about the car you see here. This is without doubt and absolute peach or ‘gold bricks’ as our friend and

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Pictures: Matt Richardson

mentor James Litton of the Internet Car Lot described it.

It’s an 02-reg, 46,000 mile, 1.25-litre Ford Fiesta. It’s got a full Ford service history – the last stamp was in April – it’s got a year’s MOT and six month’s tax. Inside it’s pretty much immaculate and despite a few scratches on the outside it’s a stunner.

After some negotiation with Richard and Peter, we managed to agree a price. Including the six month’s tax we paid just £985.25 for the car.

Lifestyle Europe have obviously done us a whopping favour there. The trade price on it is around £1,400 and they even had it up for sale on their forecourt for £2,995! So once again we’ve pulled a stroke. A real corking deal that could double our money if we pull it off.

FOR SALE While I swanned off on a two-week holiday, commercial manager Duncan was left to pick up the car from Lifestyle Europe and get the car up for sale. Considering he’s a former salesman I didn’t think this would be too much trouble.

Dunc decided to list the car on Auto Trader and penned a pretty decent description and uploaded some nice pics – the only thing I wasn’t sure about was the price. He’d set it at £2,595! That put the Fiesta at the top of the price bracket alongside the others on the website and although it’s nice, it needs to be pretty special to attract interest at that price.

I remember talking to a canny used car dealer once who said he never failed to sell his cars on Auto Trader as he used one simple tactic. When pricing the car he’d look for similar ones on the site and then priced his car £100 lower. This generated loads of calls, he told me, so much so he’d rarely have to discount the car when they came to look at it – ‘it’s the cheapest one on the site already,’ he’d tell punters, and they knew that as that’s why they’d come to him.

So that’s what I plan to do now. After only receiving one call – not counting the one from the company that promises it’s got ‘buyers waiting’ – in three weeks, the car is obviously over-priced. So just before this issue went to press we relisted it on the site with a new lower price and this time we’ve used the set of pictures taken by our snapper to make it look even nicer.

‘I’d suggest putting it up for £2,250ono and taking £2,100 for it. People will bid you £2,000 but remember ono does not mean big money off,’ said The Internet Car Lot’s Litton.

‘You could try Piston Heads, there are a lot of private ads on there and young users that the car might suit. Otherwise stick with Auto Trader or put a sign in it and park it in your local Tesco on a Saturday.’

I like the way Litton thinks – that last one is a stroke of genius. Or possibly one of the oldest tricks in the book – but remember I’m new to this game! >

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911for2011

‘My Columbo powers of observation deduced the mirror had been attacked by some acne-covered yob stain.’

PROBLEMS UNFORTUNATElY it hasn’t been all plain sailing with the Fiesta. Walking to work the day after the England v Germany World Cup ‘game’ – hard to call it that after the drubbing we took – my already crappy mood took a turn towards manic depression.

As I walked past the Fiesta, which we’d parked outside the office for the weekend, I spotted the wing mirror hanging off. It was obvious it had taken the brunt of some inbred, cap wearing monkey boy’s wrath and wasn’t the fault of a passing car because it was dangling a good 30cms from its housing.

Couple that with the fact I found the mirror glass 20 metres the wrong way down a one-way street and my Columbo powers of observation deduced the mirror had been attacked by some acne-covered yob stain.

While I vented my disgust in a blog on our website, Dunc coolly went about trying to find a new bit of glass and fixing the mirror back on. Fortunately the housing popped back in easily, but the wires have been stretched on the adjuster.

The glass was pretty easy to source too – eBay came up trumps with a replacement found for £6 including postage. The only problem here was getting the right size because our Fiesta sits right on the cusp of a model change.

Still, it’ll soon be fixed and we’re going to park it somewhere a little more secure until we’ve flogged it.

I’m pretty sure with the new price and rewritten advert we can get the Fiesta shifted for a tidy profit.

We’re already thinking about what to buy next. We can’t decide whether to keep investing the cash into just one car or buy several – our thinking is there’s more profit in several cheaper cars than one more expensive one, but we could be wrong. Any help or advice appreciated: Get in touch with us via Twitter (@CarDealerEd or @CarDealerMag) or use the Contact Us page on CarDealerMag.co.uk.

TAXING WE’RE also acutely aware that these sales – although all for charity and not for profit – may have a tax implication. We plan to ask some motor trade accountants for some help and advice on this front.

If there is a tax liability due we’ll pay it out of the money raised from selling the Porsche then hand the remainder to BEN – but hopefully, with some decent advice, we won’t have to give a slice of the charity’s cash to Osbourne. We’ll let you know what the experts say when we get a chance to quiz them about it.

If you’d like to keep up-to-date with our challenge in between issues simply type – bit.ly/911for2011 – into a web browser and you’ll be automatically redirected to the section on our website where all the posts are.

Whenever there’s a development we always post a blog there first. Until next month... [CD]

CASH Incoming Audi A3 VW Golf

£790.03 £250

Outgoing eBay fee eBay fee Ford Fiesta Auto Trader

-£36 (paid by us) -£36 (paid by us) -£985.25 -£40

Total

£14.78+

Thanks to… Car Components (023 9250 1511) for their help with pictures for this issue; Lifestyle Europe; HPI; Motorpoint; and M25 Audi. If you can help our quest, please get in touch. We need all the help we can get...

72 | CarDealerMag.co.uk CarDealerIss29.indd 72

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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

CarDealerIss29.indd 73

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Trader directory

F

inding the right cars at the right prices isn’t always easy difficult. On top of that, selling cars that you don’t necessarily want to put on the forecourt can be tough

Alfa Romeo Sturgess Alfa Romeo Scott Allen 0116 275 8800 scottallen@ sturgesscars.co.uk Buying used Alfa Romeos up to five years old Benfield Alfa Romeo Dax Pearce dax.pearce@Benfield motorgroup.com Alfa stock wanted up to 40,000 miles. Call for immediate bid. 07501 257220 or 0191 211 2200

Aston Martin Mangoletsi (Holdings) Limited Fraser info@mangoletsi.com 01565 722899 HWM Aston Martin Paul Spires paul.spires@hwm.co.uk 01932 240611 07850 326755

Audi Wimbledon Carriage Company Limited John Crisp 07885 211872 Walton & Epsom Audi Mark Loughnane 01932 220404 07739 519306

BMW Williams Rochdale Craig Fenlon 01706 717700 07808 092110 Vines Group Dominic McConnon Buying used BMWs up to 5 years old 07776 246905 dominic.mcconnon@ vinesguildford.bmw-net. co.uk

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

Citroen Marlborough

too. Our Trader Directory aims to alleviate these problems. Instead of thumbing through endless pages in price guides looking for the right trader, you can consult the Trader Direc-

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

Hyundai

Daihatsu

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

Woodford Motor Co Ltd Stephen Barnard 0208 504 0017 Proven Daihatsu Keith Pattison 01428 652554 07771 547406

Ferrari HR Owen Ferrari Nick Carey nick.carey@hrowen.co.uk 07824 362229 Monza – Ferrari Andrew Ludlow ferraribuyer@ntlworld. com 07889 305 053 Maranello Ferrari John Dutton 07817 019 456

Fiat Glyn Hopkin Ltd Glyn Hopkin 07730 711889 Sturgess Fiat Ian Callis 0116 254 1717 icallis@sturgess cars.co.uk Buying used Fiats up to five years olds

Ford

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

Jaguar Sturgess Jaguar Chris Allen chrisallen@sturgess jaguar.co.uk 0116 282 6868 Buying Used Jaguars up to five years old Charles Hurst Jaguar Stewart Begg 0208 938 1300 07534 927 821

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

Kia Lee Gilmour Tower Hill Garage 01923 263700 07768 367085 Chapelhouse Kia Andy / Neil 01925 570800 07891 531129 07825 311 297

Lexus

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

Lexus Twickenham Dave Cooper / Steve Gurr 07831 704134 07921 408983

Lifestyle Ford Richard Walker 07748 177889

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

Honda Brayley Honda Mark Corr 07812 342 635 Thames Honda Group Jerome Chandiram 0208 845 3551 Holdcroft Honda Luke Regan / Chris Thursfield 07971 543884 07813 737 921

Land Rover

Beadles Land Rover Greg Wilcox g.wilcox@beadles-landrover.co.uk 07740 717209

Lotus Dick Lovett 07808 940777

tory, either in the magazine or online, and find them right away. If you’d like to be included you can submit your details in the Directory find out how at the bottom of this page.

Murray Motor Company Graeme Robertson 0131 200 8888 07765 252745

Maserati Meridien Modena Warren Butt 02380 283404 07860 530703

North City Autos (Chingford) Ed Tyrrell Interested in low mileage FSH vehicles 020 8524 8855 07736 610285

Nissan

Mazda

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

Lifestyle Mazda Mark Spowage 01293 845045 07974 770020

W R Davies Neil Swan 07739 625958

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

Mitchell Mazda Brian Blanchard 07826 817850

Mercedes-Benz Hughes of Aylesbury Tony Oblein 01296 319600 07785 781623 Tony Purslow Ltd Simon Sneath 07810 771 161 Mercedes Benz of York Darren Hewitt-Craft dhc@rybrookmercedes. co.uk 01904 694000 07701 001491

Mini Vines Group Dominic McConnon Buying used MINIs up to 5 years old 07776 246905 dominic.mcconnon@ vinesguildford.bmw-net. co.uk Sytner Mini Matthew Jones 07870 688793 Specialist Cars Stevenage – Mini Jason Ayriss jason.ayriss@specialistcars.co.uk 01438 760303 07918 680445

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

Porsche Paragon Mark Sumpter 01825 830424 07778 968911

Renault Sunwin Renault Preston Sean Dean 01772 329900 07790 253827 Renault Retail Group Ian Millichip 07718 967026

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

SEAT Hobin Group Ltd – Seat Alex Cullen 07950 566427 Kings Seat Mike Read 07789 956937

Skoda Mitchell Skoda Richard Macklin / Ross Thompson 07500 539791

Mitsubishi

Smart

Livery Dole Mitsubishi Nigel Clegg 07836 516945

Smart of Exeter Darren Webber 07940 756063

Subaru Cheam Subaru Richard James 07836 549553 Sparshatts Subaru Louis Jones louis.jones@sparshattsgroup.co.uk 01489 785111 07775 508255

Suzuki Glyn Morgans Ltd Glyn Morgans 07836 240059

Toyota Currie Motors Toyota Dave Cooper / Steve Gurr 07831 704134 07921 408983 Toyota World Stuart Smith 07966 172397

Vauxhall Monorep - Vauxhall Andrew Ringer 020 8836 3031

C

M

Y

Volkswagen Ridgeway Newbury Andy Jones 07917 635534

CM

MY

CY

Volvo

CMY

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

K

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 Manor Hill Cars Danny Jay The best buyer in the UK for low mileage hatchbacks 01707 642 007 07931 317 007 danny@manorhillcars.co.uk

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

74 | CarDealerMag.co.uk CarDealerIss29.indd 74

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AutoquakeFullPage-final.pdf 1 02/07/2010 10:36:28

Be part of London’s internet car buying revolution.

C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

www.bit.ly/London-Automotive-Jobs

CMY

K

General Manager | Workshop Manager | Sales Manager | Inspector Technician | Quality Control Inspector Pre-Delivery Inspector | Parts/Administrator | Sales Consultant

CarDealerIss29.indd 75

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Recruiting Success in the Automotive Industry

$BS%FBMFS 1PXFS

Winner 2010 Recruitment

An introduction to selling.... Yourself!

John Gibson Associates – The UK’s leading Automotive Recruitment Consultancy. With a Head Office in York supporting a national network of Regional Offices, each run by experienced Motor Trade Professionals who know the local market inside and out; ensuring we are the only providers of national coverage on a local basis.

Specialists in working confidentially; respecting the identities of all our clients and candidates meaning that there are no embarrassing situations.

Every candidate we put forward is pre-interviewed so that we are certain that not only do we find exceptional candidates for the job but also for the business environment – we take pride in our reputation for expertise and an outstanding professional service.

Every vacancy we handle is a genuine client requirement and every candidate we put forward has been contacted, giving their consent to be considered for a vacancy.

We’ve been established for over 25 years. Our track record speaks for itself; we enjoy an 85% level of repeat business and place more candidates in more jobs than anyone in motor trade recruitment. All this means that John Gibson Associates are the recognised and trusted brand in Automotive Recruitment. And because we are confident that you will be more than satisfied with our client services - all this comes with a six month guarantee.

Y

our CV is your initial way to market yourself and make a vital first impression with any potential employer. When writing your CV there are a few points which you need to remember. A CV is an introduction. It needs to be informative but not longwinded. Many people make the mistake of writing too much on their CV. A potential employer will easily get bored if there is too much to take in – remember, they will be looking through many CV’s, not just yours. Concentrate on your achievements, experiences and you! This is your opportunity to make yourself stand out from the rest of the pack! Be factual with your achievements and experience. Back them up with evidence and relevant examples.

Ensure your employment history is continuous – if there are gaps be prepared to give valid explanations.

Tailor your CV for each position you are applying for – highlighting relevant facts and achievements which show you have the experience, are capable of doing the job and that you will be a valuable addition to the company.

Creating your CV is just the first step. Next, you need to get your CV in front of the people that count – the Decision Makers.

This is where representation by an experienced recruitment consultancy proves to be crucial.

They have the industry contacts.

They are experts at finding the right job for people and are always on hand to help prepare you for the daunting prospect of an interview.

We at JGA have over twenty years experience helping candidates find the role that is right for them and their career progression – whether starting out as Service Advisor or as a Brand Director for a national dealer group.

We can only help you so much... once you walk through that door, the rest is up to you. However, we will try always to arm you with the weapons to put you head and shoulders above the rest!

Contact John Gibson Associates today. Speak to one of our Industry Professionals. We are always on hand to offer assistance and guidance whether you’re looking for a fresh challenge or are trying to find the calibre of staff that will drive your business forward.

JGA cover all positions in the Motor Trade and it’s related industries – below is a selection of the different vacancies currently being handled by our network of Regional Offices – visit www.jgauk.com to see a complete list of genuine client requirements and take the next step towards your future success.

Job ID Job Title 14374 14325 14376 14370 14425 14421 14403 14386 14391 14262 14426

Location

JGA Regional Office

Range Development Mgr West Yorkshire North Yorks/North East Audi Brand Director Yorks & Lincs North Yorks/North East Credit Controller Bristol Bristol/South West Sales Manager Burton on Trent Sheffield & South Yorks Prestige Sales Exec IP Postcode Essex/Norfolk/Suffolk Business Manager Milton Keynes N.London/Beds/Herts Senior Technician Hertfordshire Berks/Bucks/Oxon Transaction Manager Lincoln SW Yorks/Lincs Service Reception Mgr West London Surrey/W.Sussex/SE.London Vevicle Inspector SW England Doreset/Hants/Wilts General Manager (prestige) CR Postcode E.Sussex/Kent/SE.London

Tel: 0845 644 3003

THE LOCAL, REGIONAL, NATIONAL AUTOMOTIVE RECRUITERS

Web: www.jgauk.com Email: info@jgauk.com

CarDealerIss29.indd 76

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We’ll beat any

quote

Car Dealer Magazine has relaunched its recruitment section with one amazing offer!

We always strive to help the trade out whenever we can, so have decided the best way to do that is to give you the most affordable advertising in the motor trade.

As part of that, we promise to beat any recruitment advertising price you’ve been given for motor trade print advertising.

Simply show us a copy of an

invoice or quote and we will beat it – guaranteed!

This offer is open to any car dealership, motor industry supplier or recruitment agency that wants to place recruitment advertising for positions they currently have available.

To find out the details, just give us a call and we’ll explain how you can get an advert in our new section – we’re on (023) 9252 2434.

Call Jade on (023) 9252 2434

CarDealer.

www.octanerecruitment.co.uk Fuelling the Industry Be it sales or aftersales, trainee or experienced, permanent or contract, retail or commercial vehicle we have the clients and the know-how to develop you as an individual and put on the right track to your ultimate career goal, Below is a brief description of the roles that we currently have available, however please do send in your CV even if you cannot see a role of interest as we are a very fast-moving organisation and we have an excellent portfolio of clients who could well be requiring your experience and skill sets.

Please send your CV in the first instance to: info@octanerecruitment.co.uk Service Administrator - Bristol - 16k OTE 18k Service Call Centre Executive - Bristol - 16k + bonus Workshop Controller - Bristol - Negotiable Service Call Centre Executive - Crewe - 15k + comm (High earning potential) Parts Advisor - Westbury - 16/17k+ bonus Service Advisor - Birmingham - 20k OTE 30k Service manager - Banbury - 30/35k OTE 50k Technician - Bristol - 17k-22k + bonus Sales Manager - Macclesfield - 30/35k OTE 45/50k Fleet Sales Executive - Wiltshire - 18k OTE 40k+ Costings Clerk - Birmingham 19k OTE21k Branch Manager Parts - Birmingham - 30k + Benefits Service Manager - Macclesfield - 30k OTE 40k Parts Advisor - Salisbury - 16k + bonus Parts Advisor - Watford - Negotiable Service Advisor - Lichfield - 16/17k OTE 21k Sales Executive - Westbury - 12k OTE 40k Business Manager - Swindon - 16k OTE 50k Technician - Salisbury - Negotiable

Octane Recruitment The Triangle Exchange Square Manchester M4 3TR

0161 838 5700

The best moves are those you didnʼt see coming

08450 212123

www.justcarjobs.co.uk CarDealerIss29.indd 77

9/7/10 10:17:38

[classifieds]

Want to advertise here? Find out how affordable it is by calling (023) 9252 2434

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

FBMFS $BS% EXCLUS IVE DEAL!

Car Dealer subscribers’ guide to the best offers from suppliers

FEATURING

BCA | Gforces | WMS | Winn Solicitors | Bluecycle | Autotrade-mail Progress DMS | Viper Image Media | Dealer Auction | Compucars UK Car Exchange Webzation | Zype | Any Text | TomTom | SaveMoneyOnCars.co.uk |

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

All new subscribers to Car Dealer are sent a copy of our special Car Dealer Exclusive booklet free of charge

HAVE YOU SUBSCRIBED? If you like CarDealer.and want to keep receiving it you need to subscribe. Just because you’re getting it now doesn’t mean you always will UNLESS you’ve signed up...

£17.24

PER YEAR!

REGISTER YOUR SUBSCRIPTION NOW: CarDealerMagazine.co.uk/subscribe.htm

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78 | CarDealerMag.co.uk CarDealerIss29.indd 78

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[suppliers guide]

4

iF YOu’RE LOOkiNG FOR A MOTOR TRAdE SuPPLiER YOu cAN FiNd ThE dETAiLS OF SELEcTEd cOMPANiES hERE AucTiONS Auction4Cars W: auction4cars.com

FEATuREd ENTRY...

BCA T: 0845 600 6644 W: british-car-auctions.co.uk

Dealer-auction.com W: dealer-auction.com T: 0844 3350174 E: info@dealer-auction.com

Dealer Auction W: dealer-auction.com T: 0844 3350174 E: info@dealer-auction.com info: The Uk’s fastest growing online trade auction.

Franchised dealers can offer physical trade cars to over 1500 registered trade buyers nationwide.No monthly subscriptions, No Buying fees and No Sale No Fee makes us the most profitable option for franchised dealers wanting to maximise their dealerships trade car profit.

AucTiON cAR BuYiNG SERVicE AuctionCarBuyer.co.uk T: 07768 338585 W: auctioncarbuyer.co.uk E: joe@auctioncarbuyer. co.uk

cALL REcORdiNG VoiceSafe T: 0845 421 5050 W: voicesafe.co.uk E: enquiries@c-a-solutions. co.uk

FiNANcE Bridford T: 0844 815 8888 W: Bridford.co.uk E: sales@bridford.co.uk Black Horse Motor Finance T: 02921 386 338 W: Blackhorse.co.uk E: michael.mcpartlin@ blackhorse.co.uk info: Black Horse is the market leader for point of sale motor finance in the UK and has been supporting the industry for more than half a century. To find out what Black Horse can do for you contact us today.

Car Finance Company T: 0800 023 2440 W: thecarfinance company.co.uk E: Via website Clements Car Credit T: 08444 142100 F: 08444 142200

W: aawarranty.co.uk E: paul.hanna@ aawarranty.co.uk info: AA Warranty offers peace of mind to customers, with comprehensive cover for mechanical and electrical breakdown lasting up to three years. Full training is given to ensure you add value to your profile and profits. A range of Products are available, including mechanical breakdown, GAP, tyre, Key and MOT insurance. We provide telemarketing, data services and dealer finance.

dEALER AucTiON is the latest firm to be included in our not-tobe-missed guide. it’s the most affordable way to get your company in front of thousands of car dealers every month.

Simply call the number above to find out how your company’s details could be included in next month’s issue!

W: clementscarcredit.com E: tony@clementscar credit.com info: Motor finance broker for car dealers, prime and sub-prime.

First Response T: 0115 946 6370 W: frfl.co.uk E: Via website

kEY TRAckiNG Keytracker T: 0121 559 9000 W: keytracker.com/cd E: sales@keytracker.co.uk

OiLS Mobil 1 W: mobil1.com E: Via website

ONLiNE AdVERTiSiNG Compucars T: 0845 667 6000 W: compucars.co.uk E: Via website Motors.co.uk T: 0845 265 5502 W: Motors.co.uk E: sales@motors.co.uk Really Good Domains T: 0161 482 7650 W: reallygooddomains.com E: sales@reallygood domains.com Skupenet T: 020 8610 6103 W: skupenet.com E: info@skupenet.com

Online Trading Autotrade-mail.com T: 0870 2000 848 W: autotrade-mail.com E: sales@autotrademail.com info: The UK’s leading online real time used-car trading network. The fastest place to buy and sell trade prime stock.

The most active site of its type. Over 4,000 dealers subscribe. The professionals choice. Run by dealers for dealers. The original and the best. Call for your FREE two week trial.

PROVENANcE chEckS HPI T: 01722 435444 W: hpi.co.uk Apply at CarDealerMag.co.uk and register in the fold down corner tab

SOFTWARE Dragon 2000 T: 0845 838 2000 W: Dragon2000.co.uk E: sales@dragon2000.co.uk WinWin World T: 020 7538 6688 W: winwinworld.co.uk E: callmenow@winwin world.co.uk

TEXT SERVicES Any Text T: 0845 638 1421 W: anytext.co.uk E: info@anytext.co.uk info: Established 1994, AnyText specialises in text SMS

services. Keep your customers informed by text from your PC. Send full vehicle details, including pictures.

MOT reminders, service follow ups. Customer satisfaction surveys. Free account set-up. No minimum billing or monthly charges. Full, free support. Just buy bundles of texts as needed.

TRAdE BOdiES Motor Industry Code of Practice W: motorindustry codes.co.uk

WEB dESiGN

TRAiNiNG Rapport Training T: 07793 612401 W: rapporttraining.co.uk E: rapporttraining @fsmail.net info: Specialising in car finance and insurance sales training for managers, owners and sales executives.

Our realistic and interactive approach to the learning experience helps increase both skills and profitability in these key business areas.

VALuATiONS HPI Valuations T: 0845 300 8939 W: hpi.co.uk Apply at CarDealer Mag.co.uk and register in the fold down corner tab

WARRANTY AA Warranty T: 08707 559 614

Warranty Management Services T: 01844 290536 W: warrantymanagement services.co.uk E: sales@warrantymanage mentservices.co.uk info: Warranty Management Services offer a full range of unique products designed to increase profits. Bespoke programmes to suit your requirements and fit electronically into your sales process. With over 2,000 supporting dealerships throughout the UK, supported by 30 dedicated field managers delivering sales and FSA compliance training.

Autotorq.com T: 020 7384 8501 W: autotorq.com E: enquiries@autotorq.com CDWD T: 0844 880 1630 W: CarDealerWeb Design.co.uk E: info@cardealerweb design.co.uk info: Fed up paying web designers to do a job you can do yourself?

CDWD can help. We’ve collaborated with HPI to offer a unique product.

Codeweavers T: 0870 443 0888 W: codeweavers.net E: enquiries@code weavers.net G-Forces T: 0845 055 9040 W: digitaldealership.co.uk E: info@gforces.co.uk

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 79 CarDealerIss29.indd 79

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used cars

Score a winner by checking before buying

Scrappage sales were almost all additional

Andy Carroll Nine in 10 scrappage sales were additional ones that did not pull forward further sales, reveals a Glass’s report.

The firm has called it ‘one of the most successful ever collaborations between car manufacturers and government’.

Doom-sayers said the scheme would make people who were planning to buy a car later in 2010 choose to buy earlier, instead.

Not so, said Glass’s.

Fewer than 10 per cent of scrappage buyers were planning to buy a car in the next couple of years.

‘The scrappage scheme was a great success as a stimulus for the industry during difficult economic times, generating much-needed showroom traffic and car sales,’ said Glass’s MD Andy Carroll.

HPI used the World Cup to highlight the startling fact one-in-three cars checked have some sort of finance or insurance issue.

The HPI Check experts say this equals millions of cars with outstanding finance, or which have been clocked, stolen, written off or had a registration plate transfer.

To show the scale of the problem, it took famed cars from five nations: Mini from England, BMW 3 Series from Germany, Seat Leon from Spain, Renault Clio from France and Fiat Punto from Italy.

It then compared each, to see which came out ‘top’… in the dreaded list of dodgy dealings!

England: Mini is most likely to have outstanding finance; 16 per cent of Minis checked by HPI are affected, compared to 11 per cent of BMW 3 Series.

Germany: 3 Series is most likely to have had a registration plate change.

40 per cent have done so, compared to 37 per cent of Minis and nine per cent of Puntos.

Spain: Seat Leons top the mileage discrepancy table at 10 per cent. The Mini is second on eight per cent, with the Clio on seven per cent.

France: Renault Clios suffer 23 per cent insurance write-offs, compared to

Mini’s are ‘most likely to have outstanding finance issues’, says HPI nine per cent for the BMW and Mini.

Italy: Fiat Puntos share the mostwritten-off record with the Clio, at 23 per cent.

‘Our World Cup hit rates are a bit of fun,’ said HPI’s Nicola Johnson. ‘But the real message is not to get swayed by the excitement of buying a used

car. Follow your team with your heart, but buy your car with your head.

‘It doesn’t matter which team you’re rooting for in the World Cup, the only way to make sure you don’t score an own goal when it comes to used car buying is to conduct a vehicle history check before purchase.’

The most searched for cars in June on...

Compucars

Motoring.co.uk (new car search)

Motoring.co.uk (bodystyle)

ContractHireAndLeasing.com

1 BMW

3 Series

1 Volkswagen Polo

1 Hatchback

1 Volkswagen Golf

2 Ford

Focus

2 Volkswagen Golf

2 4x4

2 Merc-Benz

C-Class Saloon

3 Volkswagen Golf

3 Ford

Fiesta

3 Supermini

3 Audi

A5

4 Vauxhall

Astra

4 Renault

Clio

4 Convertible

4 Nissan

Qashqai

5 Honda

Civic

5 Audi

A3

5 MPV

5 Range Rover Sport

6 Mercedes

C Class

6 Skoda

Octavia

6 Saloon

6 Jaguar

7 Range Rover

XF

7 Nissan

Pixo

7 Estate

7 Volkswagen Scirocco

5 Series

8 Ford

Focus

8 Coupe

8 Audi TT

Coupe

9 Audi

A4

9 Seat

Leon

9 Green (eco)

9 BMW

5-Series

10 Ford

Fiesta

10 Vauxhall

Corsa

10 BMW

3-Series

8 BMW

sh a fre h to a o r c app nance car fi

Need a new finance provider? hpi finance gateway A fresh approach to car finance

Talk to us today on 0845 301 1811

HPI is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority in respect of insurance mediation activities. Ref 502487. Calls will be charged at local rate and may be recorded and/or monitored. HPI and the HPI logo are registered trademarks of HPI Limited. HPI is a Solera company. E&OE: HPI pursues a policy of continuous product development. The Tree design is a registered trademark of Julius Sämann Ltd., and is used with permission. CD_FG_04.10

80 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

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...in association with HPI

Is this the calm before the storm?

S MMT figures for June show new car registrations were up 10.8 per cent despite the end of the scrappage scheme.

These figures continue to be ahead of SMMT expectations, says the UK car trade body.

It means new car registrations remain up by nearly 20 per cent in the first half of 2010 – which, says the

SMMT, is evidence that the recovery is underway.

‘The new car market continued to perform above expectations in June,’ said SMMT chief Paul Everitt.

‘With fleet sector registrations up 25 per cent compared to this time last year.’

He did warn, however, that volumes were set to slip back in the latter half of 2010.

‘The industry still expects challenging economic conditions and government action will be important in sustaining the momentum of recovery.’

Some 195,226 cars were sold in June 2010, compared to 176,264 in 2009. Figures show the private market was actually down, by just over three per cent, but fleet was up over 25 per cent.

SMMT sales data June / year to date

Figures supplied by SMMT

June Marque

Abarth Alfa Romeo Aston Martin Audi Bentley BMW Cadillac Chevrolet Chrysler Citroen Corvette Daihatsu Daimler Dodge Fiat Ford Honda Hummer Hyundai Infiniti Jaguar Jeep Kia Land Rover Lexus Lotus Mazda Mercedes-Benz MG MINI Mitsubishi Nissan Opel Perodua Peugeot Porsche Proton Renault Saab SEAT Skoda smart Ssangyong Subaru Suzuki Toyota Vauxhall Volkswagen Volvo Other British Other Imports Total

sh a fre h to a o r c app nance car fi

2010

120 741 91 8,931 84 10,679 0 1,117 91 6,840 0 9 0 55 5,326 23,716 6,293 0 4,136 13 1,480 92 4,169 3,068 613 66 4,031 7,028 20 4,925 1,887 10,376 0 67 10,110 813 59 8,843 704 2,325 4,251 791 10 441 1,856 8,532 30,200 16,437 3,514 153 123 195,226

Year to date (YTD)

% market share

2009

0.06 0.38 0.05 4.57 0.04 5.47 0.00 0.57 0.05 3.50 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.03 2.73 12.15 3.22 0.00 2.12 0.01 0.76 0.05 2.14 1.57 0.31 0.03 2.06 3.60 0.01 2.52 0.97 5.31 0.00 0.03 5.18 0.42 0.03 4.53 0.36 1.19 2.18 0.41 0.01 0.23 0.95 4.37 15.47 8.42 1.80 0.08 0.06

93 935 113 7,750 85 9,648 22 2,403 204 5,511 2 379 7 179 5,143 29,803 7,024 1 5,265 0 1,516 276 4,945 2,105 637 45 2,845 7,408 31 4,665 1,143 7,149 0 57 9,909 485 114 2,853 587 2,664 3,477 843 111 325 4,086 6,994 20,990 12,561 2,706 70 100 176,264

% market share

0.05 0.53 0.06 4.40 0.05 5.47 0.01 1.36 0.12 3.13 0.00 0.22 0.00 0.10 2.92 16.91 3.98 0.00 2.99 0.00 0.86 0.16 2.81 1.19 0.36 0.03 1.61 4.20 0.02 2.65 0.65 4.06 0.00 0.03 5.62 0.28 0.06 1.62 0.33 1.51 1.97 0.48 0.06 0.18 2.32 3.97 11.91 7.13 1.54 0.04 0.06

2010

%market share

2009

%market share

735 3,836 541 56,490 529 51,305 20 7,947 799 37,888 2 127 2 450 29,872 158,350 34,922 1 38,747 55 8,542 1,128 34,264 22,026 3,593 275 24,873 37,619 181 22,266 6,341 45,523 0 454 59,739 3,330 460 52,726 2,517 17,317 22,720 4,147 174 2,262 11,676 49,327 133,461 96,086 21,758 630 629 1,108,662

0.07 0.35 0.05 5.10 0.05 4.63 0.00 0.72 0.07 3.42 0.00 0.01 0.00 0.04 2.69 14.28 3.15 0.00 3.49 0.00 0.77 0.10 3.09 1.99 0.32 0.02 2.24 3.39 0.02 2.01 0.57 4.11 0.00 0.04 5.39 0.30 0.04 4.76 0.23 1.56 2.05 0.37 0.02 0.20 1.05 4.45 12.04 8.67 1.96 0.06 0.06

612 3,912 623 46,930 417 43,746 64 8,789 1,060 31,299 32 1,402 14 957 22,340 159,090 38,447 42 19,799 0 9,118 1,111 19,064 13,392 3,752 249 20,491 34,545 130 17,422 4,771 31,242 0 270 49,073 2,744 490 23,992 5,104 13,655 14,965 3,876 363 1,590 14,073 47,259 122,013 75,453 14,103 450 620 924,955

0.07 0.42 0.07 5.07 0.05 4.73 0.01 0.95 0.11 3.38 0.00 0.15 0.00 0.10 2.42 17.20 4.16 0.00 2.14 0.00 0.99 0.12 2.06 1.45 0.41 0.03 2.22 3.73 0.01 1.88 0.52 3.38 0.00 0.03 5.31 0.30 0.05 2.59 0.55 1.48 1.62 0.42 0.04 0.17 1.52 5.11 13.19 8.16 1.52 0.05 0.07

% Change

29.03 -20.75 -19.47 15.24 -1.18 10.69 -100.00 -53.52 -55.39 24.12 -100.00 -97.63 -100.00 -69.27 3.56 -20.42 -10.41 -100.00 -21.44 0.00 -2.37 -66.67 -15.69 45.75 -3.77 46.67 41.69 -5.13 -35.48 5.57 65.09 45.14 0.00 17.54 2.03 67.63 -48.25 209.95 19.93 -12.73 22.26 -6.17 -90.99 35.69 -54.58 21.99 43.88 30.86 29.86 118.57 23.00 10.76

% Change

20.10 -1.94 -13.16 20.37 26.86 17.28 -68.75 -9.58 -24.62 21.05 -93.75 -90.94 -85.71 -52.98 33.72 -0.47 -9.17 -97.62 95.70 0.00 -6.32 1.53 79.73 64.47 -4.24 10.44 21.38 8.90 39.23 27.80 32.91 45.71 0.00 68.15 21.73 21.36 -6.12 119.76 -50.69 26.82 51.82 6.99 -52.07 42.26 -17.03 4.38 9.38 27.35 54.28 40.00 1.45 19.86

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tail light

Sub-Prime Time A

s I’m in the process of looking for a new house I thought it would be a good idea to downsize my car to release cash. But three weeks into owning a small, underpowered, used, convertible Mercedes (or the ‘sewing machine’ as I’ve come to call it) I realised that decisions of the heart are more important to me when it comes to the cars I drive; I’d made a big mistake and the buyer’s remorse was huge!

I contacted the Mercedes dealership, explained that it was entirely my fault and asked what they could do for me. I should say that the dealership was great when I bought the car and said that they offer a 30-day exchange deal.

At first it seemed that I might have to choose a car in the dealership’s own stock but then I was told we could explore stock within the franchise. The original idea was to release cash but in order to open up options I offered to buy a brand new Sl. The only car that was of interest took five days to find and was sold before I could agree to buy it. No other options were being offered so I asked to have my original car back.

Cutting a long story short, as my original car was across franchise boundaries it was going to cost me an arm and a leg to get it back. I lost interest in pursuing the matter further as I like to deal with people and companies that offer me solutions not problems and barriers. I sold the Mercedes at a loss and went back to my local Jaguar dealer in Derby and had a new car sourced and agreed within a couple of hours – I’m now a happier and wiser (but poorer) man.

It’s stupid for a group dealership to lose a customer that’s already shown a willingness to purchase a new high-end model, and there were a number of solutions from simply ordering a brand new car to my

‘Large multi-franchised groups will never realise their potential until they strip out the firewalls and use their size, service and sales options to hook and retain customers.’ specification or waiting until an appropriate car came into stock, let alone the huge range of different brand options which were available across the group.

I didn’t suggest these (although this was cutting off my own nose) because I believe service should be offered, not extracted.

It was unclear to me whether it was the local dealership or group policies and procedures that were getting in the way of offering customer oriented solutions – but what was clear to me is that large multi-franchised groups will never realise their full potential until they strip out the firewalls that exist within their businesses, and use their size, service and sales options to hook and retain customers within the group for the long haul.

In the months ahead – when car sales are likely to remain flat – retaining customers and selling aftersales services to them may just be the difference between a good year and a bad year.

is chief executive officer of First Response Finance. For Who is Don Brough? Don more information visit www.frfl.co.uk or call 0115 946 6370

CarDealer.

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Sales Executive Jade Simmonds E: jade@blackballmedia.co.uk T: 023 9252 2434 W: Twitter.com/CarDealerJade

Thanks to...

Chris Jervis, Mike Askew, linda Baggott, Dave Timmis, Terry Hogan, Simon Evans, Tim Naylor, Martin Hill, John Slavin, Dean Smith and Matt Richardson

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0115 946 6370

Many Happy Returns 17% of our business comes from returning customers – and we always encourage people to visit the same dealer for their next vehicle (or point them towards a supporting dealer from our network).

To help your business benefit from our many returning customers, join our dealer network by calling 0115 946 6370 today.

First Response Finance Limited, Chetwynd Business Park, 5 Regan Way, Chilwell, Nottingham NG9 6RZ

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