Car Dealer Magazine: Issue 36

NEW FOCUS

Nissan MD on vital city car P38 Most important car of 2011? P36

Fr

ee

le ga la dv

4

De AL CA ice e r fo r rm C em L be U rs B P3

NEW MICRA

LExuS

Issue 36 | March 2011 | CarDealerMag.co.uk | £3.50

ENTERTAIN yOu Four DeaLers, TWo Cars, anD no aLan parTrIDGe In sIGhT P42

anaLYsis Is TesCo aBouT To sTarT seLLInG useD Cars?

P6

PLUS

piLe ’em high

DAY IN THe LIFe OF CAr SUPerMArKeT MOTOrPOINT P56

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BLACKBALL MEDIA 2A CHURCH ROAD GOSPORT, HANTS PO12 2LB T: (023) 9252 2434 W: CarDealerMag.co.uk EDITORIAL DIRECTOR James Baggott james@blackballmedia.co.uk Twitter: @CarDealerEd STAFF WRITER James Batchelor james.batchelor@blackballmedia.co.uk Twitter: @JRRBatchelor ADVERTISING MANAGER Duncan Chappell duncan@blackballmedia.co.uk Twitter: @CarDealerAds ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE Jade Simmonds jade@blackballmedia.co.uk Twitter: @CarDealerJade

Contributors

IgNITION.

we look a bit smug WELCOmE. SORRY below. We’re not smug. It

the industry we all love. We’ve improved the Suppliers Guide, which features motor trade suppliers who can was cold on the car park roof help you, and we’ve improved the Trader Directory which when we were taking the pictures for our cover story on a lists dealers looking to buy part exchanges. If you’re a dark Sunday evening in January. But to be honest we are supplier or trader that wants to be included in either, the details are on the bottom of the respective pages. feeling a little pleased with ourselves.

As you have probably noticed by now, this issue of Car exCLuSiVeS Dealer is a bit different to last month’s. It has had a bit YOU will also notice we’ve bagged a few exclusive stories of a facelift to make your favourite motor trade monthly this month – and a huge story that Tesco could be mag even better. planning to enter the used car market. We’re the only Three months in the making, we like to think the publication that has the inside line on this story and will redesign is more of (warning: weird marketing speak be following the news carefully as it develops. coming up) an evolution not revolution. We’ve tried to I hope you like the new-look magazine. We’ve tried to build on the bits that you loved, improve other parts and make it easier to read and even more enjoyable. I’d love add some new features to keep you entertained. to hear your thoughts on it, both good and bad, as it will Our road tests, for example, are now even more detailed. Renamed ‘The Manual’ they’re designed to give help us shape future issues. You can get in touch using any of the details on the left – Twitter, email or by phone! you all the important information you need to sell that car in a five-minute read.

We’ve also added a new section at the back of the magazine called ‘Data File’. This is packed with comment, analysis, as well as facts and figures about James Baggott, Editor

Graeme Windell for the new look, Dean Smith for the cracking Lexus pictures, Mike Askew, Mike Jones, Big Mike, Alex Goy and James Litton

Thanks to...

Chris Jervis, Linda Baggott, Simon Evans, Tim Naylor, Tim Smith, Martin Hill, Tim Heavisides, Richard Hoggart and Don Brough,

Subscriptions £24.99 per year (UK) £39 (EU) £49 (rest of the world) You can pay by credit or debit card on our website – visit bit. ly/dealerclub – or send us a cheque to the address above made payable to ‘Blackball Media Ltd’.

Subscriptions include membership to Car Dealer Club. Members get free legal advice worth £199 a year as well as access to a host of discounts from key motor trader suppliers.

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INSIDE. Issue 36 I march 2011

DASHBOArD

42

COVER STORy

We visit four special Lexus dealers to mark maker’s 20th birthday

mICRA mACHINE

Nissan’s new city car

SHARP SHOOTER Ford boss on new Focus

61

PLACE yOuR BIDS

remarketing special

‘‘

This worries me and I’m sure it will worry a lot of dealers too.

Tesco to sell cars?

06

56

06

Focus RS diesel mooted

09

Feedback

10

Lexus boss’ hopes

12

Hot Nissans incoming?

13

Volvo keeping it simple

16

Quick... on the draw

19

NEW Around The World

21

Peter Vardy Interview

22

Hendy’s success

25

NEW Flashback

26

NEW My First Sale

28

Finance

30

Big Mike

33

Helpdesk with Car Dealer Club

34

plus NEW my Confessions

38 36

Tesco to sell cars?

mOTORINg ALONg

Day in the life of Motorpoint

FOreCOUrT Ford Focus

36

Nissan Micra

38

VW Passat

41

plus interview with Ford boss nigel sharp plus interview with nissan chief paul Willcox

FeATUreS Lexus at 20

42

Car Dealer Power

51

911 for 2011

55

Day In The Life Of Motorpoint

56

Remarketing Showcase

61

DATA FILe

A mONTH IN PICTuRES...

This month we’ve been mostly hanging out in cold car parks for the Lexus cover shoot, eating food at the Ace Cafe, cleaning Mercs (well asking others to do it for us), and tweeting. Quite a lot.

Right Click

71

Auctions

72

Shares

73

SMMT Sales Figures

75

Suppliers Guide with Alex goy

76

Trader Directory with James Litton 78 Recruitment

80

Sub Prime Time with Don Brough 82 CarDealerMag.co.uk | 05

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DASHBOARD.

Is Tesco planning to sell used cars?

It’s been mooted for years, but now Car Dealer has learned Tesco plans to launch an online used car sales site this year. James Baggott reports

S

upermarket giant Tesco is planning an imminent assault on the used car market in the UK. A source has told Car Dealer that the conglomerate plans to sell hundreds of thousands of used cars a year – aged between one and four years old – via a website similar in style to Autoquake.

We understand the supermarket will stock mostly ex-Motability cars – the prime stock of many franchised dealers – and will tie in its insurance and finance products to maximise returns.

But the really worrying bit is how Tesco plans to market its car sales arm. Car Dealer’s source told us the supermarket will leverage its ‘trust’ among its customer base to set it apart from the dealer network and will be ‘aggressive’ in its pricing.

‘The sole aim of this will be for Tesco to up-sell its finance and insurance products to buyers of these used cars,’ said our source. ‘It’s likely they’ll make very little on each sale but instead use it to make lots of revenue from their financial arm.

‘Tesco will look to mark itself apart from the negative view it thinks its customers have of dealers by offering what it thinks will be a better car buying experience. What will worry franchised dealers the most is that Tesco has a very strong brand name and if successful it could mean supply of used cars will dry up and prices increase.’

Our source believes the offering is in the final stages of planning with website developers and marketing agencies close to completing the launch. The likely web address will be TescoCars.com – registered to the same web hosting firm that holds the company’s Tesco.com domain.

The supermarket recently launched into the tyre market with Tesco-tyres.com – a tie up with Blackcircles.com – which promises to offer the ‘best priced’ rubber around. Couple that launch with the information we’ve received and it seems the likes of Kwik Fit, Unipart or Halfords. highly likely that the firm is gearing up to enter What remains unclear at the moment is the car market. whether the supermarket will offer physical Tesco would need to arrange a similar deal for locations for customers to browse or whether servicing – but that could easily be facilitated by it will all be carried out online. The Autoquake

model – which would be the closest in terms of similarity – has a centre where customers can view the cars they’ve seen online in the metal. It’s likely, especially with used cars, that Tesco would need to do the same.

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Tesco teams up with Black Circles to sell tyres online bit.ly/tescotyres

g

NISSAN

Our

Buyers like reassurance

‘‘

Car supermarkets have been around for a while now and offer a pile ’em high, sell ’em cheap approach to retailing which appeals to consumers who buy purely on price. But there are still many more buyers who appreciate the expertise and reassurance that can only be given at a franchised dealer.

Paul Willcox, Nissan GB managing director

This worries me and I’m sure it will worry dealers too.

HYUNDAI

Relationships are vital Research has shown that new car customers do not limit their criteria to price alone. They often have a part exchange, they know they will need the car serviced within the warranty guidelines, are spending a lot of money and are more comfortable with a ‘relationship’ than simply a computer terminal.

Tony Whitehorn, Hyundai UK MD

Mazda

Dealers do the job already

Tesco’s entry into the used car market will send shockwaves through the industry, adding unwelcome competition for dealers and manufacturers as they already face what looks set to be a tough 2011.

We asked car sales portal Motoring.co.uk’s director

Chris Green what he thought this would mean to dealers. He said: ‘We work with franchised dealers up and down the country and I know this will be something that will seriously concern them.

‘From the cars that are advertised on Motoring.co.uk we know the importance of the nearly new used car market to dealers and that’s exactly the sector that Tesco appears to want to take a large slice of.

‘Tesco is likely to market this in a way that will target dealers and that won’t be good news. This worries me and I’m sure it worries dealers.’

It’s not just dealers that are concerned – car manufacturers have their doubts about the move too. The good news, though, was that those we spoke to still thought customers would value the work its franchised network does.

When we contacted Tesco for a response to our story, a spokesman said: ‘Tesco does not comment on rumour or speculation.’

What do you think? Get in touch and tell us. Our details are on page 10

The bricks-and-mortar retail concept has endured for a hundred years and through that time has evolved and matured into a unique structure. Any move by supermarkets towards online car sales would compete against already very sophisticated sales processes.

Jeremy Thomson, Mazda Motors UK MD

MOtorpoint

It’s a step too far for them It’s one thing selling electrical items online, but quite another selling cars.

Cars are highly emotive, and if they get it wrong, the potential to damage their brand is enormous.

One only needs to look at what happened with Virgin a few years ago.

David Shelton, Motorpoint MD CarDealerMag.co.uk | 07

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DASHBOARD.

electric Ford Focus to take just three hours to charge bit.ly/ElectricFocus

Will next Focus RS have diesel engine? eXCLUSIVe

Car Dealer learns Ford is considering derv unit for its performance hatch

The new Focus ST, top, and below the hugely successful Focus rS exchanged because their owners couldn’t afford the running costs.

‘A diesel engine that offered similar performance to the petrol unit is just what the RS needs,’ one dealer told us. ‘The diesel engines are now really drivable and other brands have done well with performance versions, like Skoda and the vRS. I think a diesel is a great idea and would sell very well.’

Nigel Sharp, Ford of Britain MD, said: ‘The last RS did very well. We were delighted with it. Especially the RS500 – that sold out in days. We had to allocate them to dealers. We are very excited by the prospect of another RS.’ New Ford Focus, p37

Ford boss: Things won’t be as bad as predictions FORD of Britain boss Nigel Sharp predicts the UK market will grow more than official SMMT figures estimate in 2011.

Speaking exclusively to Car Dealer at the launch of the new Focus, he said he expects new car registrations to exceed the 1.93m the SMMT expects.

‘I’m cautiously optimistic,’ he told us.

‘The SMMT is quoting a predicted market of 1.93m but I would suggest that it could be bigger than that. There is positive news around. Last year, despite everything that’s happening in the economy and all the doom and gloom in newspaper articles, the car market grew by 1.8 per cent.

‘And within that you had scrappage go from about 280,000 units to 120,000 last year so in reality there was a much bigger growth.’ But it was another green shoot of

neT gains

Capturing customer details online is vital

i

t

he next Ford Focus RS is highly likely to have a potent diesel engine as well as a petrol unit, Car Dealer can reveal. At the launch of the new Focus in Spain, Ford of Britain sales director John Wellsman told us he believed a diesel option would ‘double sales’ of the car in the UK. ‘A diesel version would work very well in the RS,’ Wellsman said. ‘Running costs were expensive on the outgoing RS – especially fuel – a diesel would change that.

‘The RS would have to be three-door in my opinion – it needs to look different to the range. The prospect of the RS gives us a lot to look forward to.’

Although no official announcement has been made on the forthcoming RS, this news will excite the brand’s 550 dealers.

The last one was a huge success, especially the special edition 500 which had five times the number of orders that Ford of Britain had cars for.

‘We had to allocate cars and disappoint potential owners,’ said Wellsman. ‘But that shows the demand for RS models.’

However, many RS owners have chopped in their cars early after experiencing huge bills. At one dealership we visited recently two 59-plate customer cars were for sale on the used forecourt. Both had been

Martin Hill

recovery that’s really got Sharp excited – the commercial vehicle sector picking up.

Sharp explained: ‘It’s always a tell-tale sign of what’s happening in terms of demand when the medium commercial sector, the Transit-sized vehicles, starts going up. Signs of a recovery are always seen in the commercial market first and we’ve seen that happen at the end of 2010 – and it’s continued going like a train.’

The Ford chief also revealed January had been well ahead of expectations. Ford has enjoyed retail sales that were better than it had imagined, and while fleet sales have remained flat, commercial vehicles are flying out of showrooms. ‘I think they’ll be strengthening in the car market this year,’ he added.

Nigel Sharp interview, p36

f I was to ask about an organisation’s ‘marketing mix’, some may think I was referring to a kitchen appliance, instead of the alternative methods available to a business to promote their wares (such as print, web, TV, radio, social media).

While it is advisable to consider all options on their merits and to mix them according to the marketing objectives of your business, I would strongly recommend that all of them have one eventual aim – driving customers to your website. Your site address should feature on everything that you send out to customers, both existing and potential – business cards, letters, invoices, compliment slips – everything.

When the customer arrives, some of the best sites will then give the visitor a chance to learn about the dealer, as well as read about other buyers’ experiences or maybe provide independent reviews of the vehicle itself.

I have seen some dealers use tools such as video and introductions to their staff very effectively, whereas others will use customer testimonials or independent reviews to supplement the images and information on the cars.

It is the introduction to what can be termed as ‘online customer relationship management’. I’m taking it as a given that your business has the ability to capture, contact, track and evaluate your customer leads effectively via some form of CRM system, but one of the most common issues here is the roll-out to sales staff and actually getting them to use it effectively. The classic mistake here is to describe this system as an ‘online diary system’ or similar – it should be so much more than that.

It is always worth revisiting the marketing objectives of your business regularly and assessing whether your chosen CRM system is assisting you in achieving these.

If it is, great. If not, then I would suggest providing feedback to your system supplier so they can consider including functionality that will benefit your business.

After all, the aim of these systems is to gain a more holistic view of the customer – YOUR customer...

‘It is worth revisiting the marketing objectives of your business regularly.’

Who is Martin Hill?

martin is commercial director at Codeweavers.

Learn more about how he can help you at Codeweavers.net or call 0800 021 0888.

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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 @CarDealered

No surprise at sneaky rises price rises ‘slipped in’

Link: bit.ly/risesslippedin THIS doesn’t come as much of a surprise. The only surprise was that it wasn’t more. stephen Wright, via cardealermag.co.uk

Toyota fuel system recall

Link: bit.ly/Toyotafuelrecall I’M not surprised by the news. This is one of 1000s of defects that leave all plants on a daily basis. In order to speed up production, management often order processes or steps to be deleted. paul gunn, via cardealermag.co.uk

mg wants new dealers

Link: bit.ly/mgdealers FANTASTIC brand… I have room for an MG on my drive! paul, via cardealermag.co.uk

ford md’s predictions

Link: bit.ly/fordpredictions IT’S good to see the boss of Ford being so optimistic. There is still a strong appetite among consumers to buy vehicles. However, the government needs to do its bit as well by getting a grip on fuel prices and delivering on its promises for a fuel duty stabiliser in the forthcoming budget. Give and take is the basis of most healthy relationships Mr Osborne. stephen Wright, via cardealermag.co.uk

should dealers use social media?

Link: bit.ly/dealerssocialmedia I ALREADY use Facebook and Twitter – it really

W

TWITTer COMMeNTS

Talking ideas for hard to write Lexus headlines…

Lex go for a little drive? Via @John_slavin have you tried anything with the word score, as it’s 20 years? Via @craigthomas1 Got it! alongside a picture of the car doing a donut, you have the headline ‘Lex-us go for a spin’ Groan… Via @Barriecrampton and it’s a shame you can’t do the headline in an alan partridge voice! Via @Barriecrampton

Talking cars that changed their maker’s fortunes Fabia? skoda can’t have done much more

is free advertising. I use it to keep customers informed of new cars bought, arriving in, simple tips to help customers with maintenance, fuel saving etc. The click-through is amazing from both media. If I didn’t check the analytics I would not have believed the amount of click-throughs to my website. Great video article. umesh samani, via cardealermag.co.uk THIS is a superb feature, guys. James Litton talked complete sense about how to go about social networking and what can be achieved

before that came out. Via @dannyroyston Bentley Continental I would of thought.

Via @richsanderscars mini comes to mind! Via @specialistcars1 I would guess Cayenne, Gallardo?

Via @Will_mcmanus

from it, and his comments were largely backed up by the bods you interviewed at the end of the video. I agree with Tim Smith at GForces that less-established businesses should still have a focus on SEO as well as social media. It would be great to see more and more car dealers embracing Twitter and Facebook, nurturing them in the medium-to-long term, rather than hoping they can make a quick buck from them. This article will do the world of good in motivating dealers – great stuff. oliver, via cardealermag.co.uk

MY CONFeSSION

There’s a call for you. It’s mr Hugh Jarce When I was a mercedes Benz salesman, I had a problem with a rather lazy metal seg shoe-wearing colleague.

I first noticed a problem with him when one of my customers had come in to sign up for a car on my day off. By rights the deal should have been mine as I had done all the work, the underwrite, test drive and carried out numerous quotes for finance. all I had to do was show the sales manager my prospect sheet and the deal was mine.

But I could not find the sheet. a bit of detective work revealed that another salesman had pinched both my customer and the

sheet meaning I had no claim on the deal. my suspicions lied at the feet of the seg-wearing colleague. so, for my revenge, I set about making a prospect sheet for a fictitious customer whose firm wanted to buy 10 s Classes with a combined value of £500k.

I made directions to the firm’s factory, 12 months of contacts and telephone calls and weathered the sheet to make it look well used to make the deal look real. I even managed to get the other salesmen in on the plan as they had also been on the wrong end of this salesman’s tricks. sure enough, this salesman broke into by

desk again and got the sheet. he did this by sitting at my desk appearing to stamp brochures, while picking the lock.

With the sheet stolen, he left for the afternoon and followed the fake directions to the firm 120 miles away to get the deposit cheque.

I can only imagine his surprise when the secretary of the firm told him that hugh Jarce was not the name of their mD, and they knew nothing about an order for any cars... or when he found the note on his desk saying ‘rearrange these words to complete a well known saying: F*** with don’t me’ when he got back.

Bc, preston

Got a story as good as this one? We want to hear it. every one printed gets free membership to Car Dealer Club worth £24.99. email yours to james@blackballmedia.co.uk

U c

G te

*S

0

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Why not go 24-7 in 2011?

51% of visits to dealer websites occur outside working hours

A staggering 51% of visits to dealer websites occur outside 9-5 working hours, with peak activity between 7pm and 10pm*.

Using GForces 24-7 Live Chat, Peter Vardy Group wakes up to an average of 15 qualified enquiries every morning and so could you. Enjoy a fruitful 2011 and capture your missed opportunities with GForces 24-7 Live Chat.

GForces works with more of the country’s Top 200 auto dealers than any other rival and has the experience, talent and technological experience to turn your websites into a key sales and lead generating tool.

* Study of 50 Top 200 dealer groups in month of September 2010

0845 658 9290 CarDealerIss36.indd 11

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DASHBOARD.

Winn Assist New Lexus will be accidenT managemenT

Working with the right firm protects your profits

aimed at ‘rising stars’ eXCLUSIVe

t

here’s a very important question you need to ask yourself when you’re reviewing your partners and suppliers – exactly what are they? A supplier, or a partner?

Let us explain – a partner is a firm that will work with you diligently, help you by offering advice and develop a strategy to become and intrinsic part of your business.

Here at Winns we look to only become a partner and never just a supplier. We are very aware that as well as being the people that make your accident management scheme work we are also here to help you protect your profits.

Everybody at Winns understands that over the next year there will be a worrying trend by the insurance companies to push harder for non-original equipment parts to be fitted to repaired vehicles in all possible cases to save money.

But where will that leave your parts department’s projected profitability? The promotion of manufacturer parts for the repair of vehicles is a core value of our service and the supply of those parts to other repair shops could assist helping you protect your profits. We know how important that is to your dealership and make sure it’s a core part of your accident management scheme.

By being able to secure the repairs for all your customers via direct and in-direct methods and therefore protecting your parts sales you are building future sales rather than losing sales. We also look to work with you to develop sub schemes across all areas of your vehicle sales business ensuring that all possible opportunities to maximise your protection of your parts sales is achieved – and your profits!

This approach will open trading channels that currently may not be being explored and will allow you to continue the manufacturer’s approach in regard to the fitting of parts.

To explore the potential opportunities that may already exist within your business for the protection of your parts sales contact Ian Meachin at Winn Assist Automotive on 07525 986 954.

‘We look to only become a partner and never just a supplier.’

What is Winn assist?

Winn assist automotive provides branded full accident management for your customers and a host of other services. Call 0845 217 2542.

Manufacturer’s MD tells Car Dealer of her hopes for new hybrid C-segment CT 200h

L

exus UK managing director Belinda Poole has revealed the firm’s strategy for 2011. An emphasis on making its retailers profitable and maximising sales of the soon-to-be-launched CT 200h are top of the agenda.

‘We’ve a two-pronged strategy,’ Poole exclusively told Car Dealer. ‘The first is the launch of the CT 200h which is expected to drive up overall volumes. It is the car that is hoped will bring us growth by entering a new market, and by attracting conquest customers.

‘We call them the rising stars – the young, dynamic professionals who will hopefully be attracted to the brand and who we can teach what the Lexus brand is all about. The second prong is making sure our network makes decent levels of profitability.’

Strong sales of the CT 200h – a Volkswagen Golf-sized hybrid – could see

Lexus’ retailers return to a successful period last experienced in 2007 when the firm sold 15,000 cars. That dropped to 7,000 in 2009 and 6,000 in 2010, so there are high hopes for the CT this year, says Poole.

‘The CT will receive a lot of concentration by us for obvious reasons, but we’re not forgetting the IS and RX ranges as they are volume sellers too. Like the CT, we’re going to be looking at getting conquest customers for the IS and RX as well. But the CT will also pull in other customers who would not have originally considered buying one.

‘I have spoken to some of our dealers who have said that customers who traditionally buy our larger models have shown interest in the CT as a possible second car. We aim to sell 4,000 units of CT 200h this year, and 6,000 in 2012. We have no doubt that the CT 200h will bring volume growth to Lexus and to our retailers.’

Poole added that the challenge will be introducing and explaining the benefits of the hybrid technology in the CT 200h to those ‘rising stars’. It’s hoped new brand ambassador Kylie Minogue will help too!

Lap of Luxury, p42

Heron Volkswagen sold to the Gilder Group HERON Volkswagen has been sold to Gilder Group for an undisclosed sum.

Heron, which represented Volkswagen cars, commercial vehicles and also TPS, has been established in Newark for more than 20 years. The group’s sale was the result of the directors of the business wanting to retire from the industry, explained ASE’s Dealermatch spokesman.

Garry Scotting, CEO of Gilder Group, said: ‘The acquisition of The Heron Group is very exciting as it will kick start our return to the growth strategy that has been on hold for the last two years. With a current turnover of £14m it will put the group’s turnover at more than £200m and the 50 new staff will put us over 500 employees.’

VW Passat, p41

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exclusive: nissan’s five-point plan for its dealer network bit.ly/5pointplan

Is Don the oldest salesman in the UK? IS this the oldest salesman in the UK? Don Burgess certainly thinks he is. He works at Brayley Honda Group in Hertfordshire where he’s been selling for more than 12 years – and he’s just celebrated his 75th birthday!

And he’s good too – he usually sells a car every day! So what’s his secret?

‘You have got two ears and one mouth and you learn much more by listening, not talking,’ explains the wise sales executive.

‘Lots of people these days do not talk to others so I get customers talking and it brings a smile to their faces. I plan on doing this forever. Many people my age can’t even get about so as long as I can do it I will.’

Are any of your staff older?

Tell us. Our details are on p3

Buyers’ interest in eco-cars rockets five-fold BuYers’ interest in buying eco-friendly cars as their next purchase has risen five-fold, says Glass’s Guide.

The firm has revealed the number of people considering buying a plug-in hybrid or battery electric car as their next vehicle purchase has risen from nine per cent to 53 per cent, representing a five-fold increase since July 2010.

Lifestyle takes over Brighton Renault site LIFESTYLE Europe has announced its acquisition of a new dealership, formerly Tates Renault of Brighton.

The firm has big plans with the dealership, including the running of Ford service and parts franchises at the site. The acquisition brings the number of dealerships run by Lifestyle Europe to a nice round 20.

Managing director of Lifestyle Europe, Peter Isted, said: ‘We are taking over the operation with immediate effect and we will be bringing our proactive and attentive approach to sales and servicing on this Lifestyle Renault site.

‘There is much we can bring to Brighton and we at Lifestyle Europe are really looking forward to getting on with business.’

Nissan reveals Nismo sports brand hasn’t been ruled out eXCLUSIVe

Nissan boss says hot models could wear legendary badge

N

issan could launch a sports sub brand using the Nismo name in the UK, Car Dealer can exclusively reveal.

NISMO – short for Nissan Motorsport – is the marque’s performance division and the firm’s UK MD thinks the manufacturer could capitilise on it by branding hot models with the name in the UK. Paul Willcox, Nissan UK managing director, told Car Dealer: ‘One thing Nissan does have that some other brands don’t is an absolute performance heritage. We wouldn’t need to manufacture a brand for performance models as we already have one – NISMO. Nissan Motorsport is a brand we could use.

‘It’s been long established

and has roots in motorsport in Japan.

NISMO is very successful there, so we could perhaps use it, but at the moment we don’t see the need.’

Nissan has used the NISMO brand in other markets. Americans got a NISMO 370Z which had improved performance and madder looks than a standard model. The model was never sold in the UK, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t demand.

‘There are two markets in the world that this kind of car would suit and that’s

Nissan dabbled with a Nismo concept with this 350z

the UK and Germany,’ added Willcox. ‘The UK is number one market for these cars.’

A NISMO Juke would be cool though, surely? ‘It would be,’ agreed Willcox. ‘But there’s a risk you dilute the value of the brand if you pinned it to everything.

‘I’m not saying we wouldn’t use NISMO but it has to be with the right product. At the moment we have no plans, but it hasn’t been ruled out completely.’

Nissan Mirca, p38

rUMOUr MILL A round-up of the car rumours doing the rounds on the WWW

New VW Beetle spied Car has snaps of the next generation Volkswagen Beetle. Gone is the ‘three semi-circles’ look of the old car, and in comes a design that is far more muscular and butch.

Car believes it’ll be based on the mkV and mkVI Golf and will share the model’s petrol and diesel engines, including a 1.2-litre TsI petrol and the 2.0-litre petrol from the GTI. spring is the expected launch and, oh… it won’t have a flower vase on the dash. shame. bit.ly/ButchBeetle

Will Smart be a four-door?

The smart ForTwo looks like it will get an extra set of doors, says auto express. The magazine has an exclusive photo of a 1:4 scale clay model which is believed to showcase the look of the next ForTwo but has two back doors. The mag also thinks it will be called the ForTwo+2 and the design will include smart’s unique Tridion safety cell. bit.ly/ForTwoTwo

New halo Alfa at Geneva?

GeneVa is likely to see a new alfa halo car, says evo. It says alfa has partnered with Dallara to build a new sub-£35k sports car, which will be dubbed 4C GTa. The car will feature a carbon fibre cockpit and will be powered by the firm’s 250bhp, 1.8-litre turbocharged engine. bit.ly/Alfa4C CarDealerMag.co.uk | 13

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WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW WHAT IS IN IT FOR YOU? WWW.TYPEMEIN.CO.UK

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DASHBOARD.

Hoggart

poinT of saLe

Why the CCD could be a blessing in disguise

Customers ‘less likely’ to buy cars in coming months bit.ly/painfultimes

Key to our success is keeping it simple eXCLUSIVe Volvo director asks if customers even know the S80 exists

F

ebruary 1 saw the official birth of the Consumer Credit Directive, all the way from Brussels to all dealers near you.

There is no doubt that the responsibilities that come with the CCD represent a further burden to an industry that seems to already have more than its fair share. However, I believe if we handle it with care then it can help increase the credibility of point of sale finance.

Realistically we need to learn the lessons from the last big shift in administrative demands that came with the regulation of general insurance in 2005. Back then we didn’t know that by stumbling through the paperwork with less conviction than required was going to lead to the kind of witch hunt that the claims management firms have prosecuted. I doubt that there is any dealer or broker that avoided the biblical letters decrying our evil nature and demanding return of the innocent customer’s soul.

While focusing on the potential consequences of failing to follow the directive might seem negative, it will help ensure we get it right, and that means going beyond the basics of following a lender’s guidelines.

We need to concentrate on the basics to begin with.

The most important and obvious element that the dealer can influence is to make sure the sign-up process is done professionally. By ensuring the customer is given all the required information and more importantly given the opportunity to understand it and question it, helps to remove future protestations from chancer’s who might claim coercion and confusion reigned when they were staring at the paperwork.

DSG Finance can help here. Our approach is to create video presentations that provide a step-by-step guide to the sign-up process for all of our supporting lenders, thus ensuring our dealers know how to exercise their responsibilities without error. This is just one example of how we will embrace the CCD on your behalf. For more information take a look at the dedicated section on our website. We should be proud of how much we help the consumer, and not let claims manager’s pretend that it’s only them that care.

‘We should be proud of how much we help the consumer.’

Who is richard Hoggart?

richard is managing director of DsG Financial services.

For more information on what his firm can do for you call 0844 880 0660 or visit dsgfs.com.

9 9

Volvo director tells Car Dealer how he plans to improve business for dealers in a tough 2011

k

eeping things simple is key for Volvo in 2011, says the firm’s network and business development director. Speaking exclusively to Car Dealer, Kevin Meeks said that Volvo has adopted a simple, three-point plan for this year.

‘It goes like this,’ explained Meeks. ‘One per cent dealer return on sales, two per cent market share, and three: Giving customers the right impression of the brand. That’s what our managing director, Peter Rask, set out when he came here two years ago.

‘We are well over one per cent return on sales (dealers in November 2010 were at 1.7 per cent), we’re improving our market share and are almost at two per cent (it’s currently at 1.8 per cent), and we are making small, gradual changes to make our customers perceive us as not boring.’

Making customers aware of Volvo’s large product range is also a challenge and will become a focus of the company, said Meeks.

‘We’ve got a lot of models to communicate

to customers. For me it is about leading the customer through a journey when they come into the showroom, and as to whether or not the customer buys a V60 or a V50, I don’t mind so long as they buy the car that is right for them.

‘What does concern me is our dealers giving customers a retail experience, with the customer going away with what they want. We are lucky in having a broad product range, but the challenge is making the customer see it.

‘I would bet that the majority of the general public would not know that we build a BMW 5 series-rivalling S80. My question to our network is: Do customers know the S80 exists?’

Meeks did have advice for the dealer network though, such as penetrating their local areas. ‘We will do our bit of making sure we play to each model’s strengths, and by building a great showroom,’ said Meeks.

‘But it is down to them to show off the cars at fairs and shopping malls.’

Volvo dealer celebrates its most successful year A HUDDERSFIELD-based dealership is celebrating news that 2010 was its most successful year ever.

Harratts Volvo Huddersfield smashed all previous records, boosting overall sales of new and used by 50 per cent. Sales of used cars more than doubled 2009’s figures increasing by 116 per cent, while new car sales increased by 15 per cent – a figure that has placed the group among some of the

best in the country in terms of volume.

David Mills, general manager at Harratts Huddersfield Volvo, said: ‘We are delighted to post such positive sales figures, smashing previous records and consolidating our place as one of the most successful dealerships in the area.

I would like to thank all the staff at the dealership as we look forward to another record-breaking year in 2011.’

16 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

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know any budding car designers?

Get your kids to be arty and they could win £150 towards a Halfords bike!

t

o celebrate our fresh new look we are launching a special competition – a drawing challenge! But before you get too excited and reach for your crayons, this competition isn’t for you – it’s for your kids.

We know most of you take Car Dealer home to read, so when you’ve finished checking out the articles, road tests and interviews, hand this page over to your son or daughter and get them drawing.

We want to know what your children think cars of the future will look like. Will they fly? Will they have tiny wheels to help fuel consumption?

Will they be powered by rubbish like the DeLorean in Back to the Future? Or will they have massive engines and drive at the speed of sound?

Entrants can use any materials to produce the picture, all we ask is that you stick to A4 paper.

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On the back write the artist’s name, age, address and a few notes about what makes the car special.

There are two categories – children aged up to seven, and seven to 14 – with prizes for winners of both. Entries should be sent to Cars of the Future, Car Dealer, 2a Church Road, Gosport, Hants, PO12 2LB by no later than March 31. If you get your entry to us by February 25 there’s a chance we might even include it in the next issue of Car Dealer – so you better get cracking!

We’ve teamed up with Halfords to offer the winner in each category a bike up to the value of £150. That’s enough to get a cracking bicycle from the Halfords range, and you can even top up the value yourself, if you want to splash out further.

HOW TO ENTER 1. Draw your picture of what you think cars will look like in the future 2. Write your name, age, address and notes about what makes your car special on the back in pencil 3. Tell us where your mum/dad works 4. Send your entry to Cars of the Future, Car Dealer, 2a Church Road, Gosport, Hants, PO12 2LB by March 31.

Unfortunately we can’t return any of the entries, so if you prefer to send in a scanned digital image of the picture via email, send to james@blackballmedia.co.uk with the subject Cars of the Future.

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Around the world

Dealer news from somewhere age lookingother for Vauxhall car in great than conditihere on and

man tries to sell rental car to dealer bit.ly/rentalmental

mIDDLE EAST

Car makers across the Gulf states have reported a surge in sales in 2010 – a rise that shows consumer confidence is returning. General motors middle east saw a jump of 26 per cent in the fourth quarter – the highest since 2006. abu Dhabi is now ranked among the top five markets for rolls-royce in the world, while renault is one of the fastest growing brands in the region.

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OP ENING soon garage looking uSA for a neW first ever No Chevrolet dealer has been forced pra cticYork’s al Nis san te. Any col our , butthe Founded in 1919, meyer Chevrolet has endured motostclose.hav e lowthe ‘invasion mileagofe,foreign full carser oil crisis of 1973 and makers’, vice hisbut torthe y current and not older economic environment killed the business. than an ‘08 plate. from wwsales w.mplummeted fldirect.c o.u$34m k in 2008 to $4m in 2010, resulting in the dealership defaulting on loan repayments.

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CarDealerMag.co.uk | 21

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INTERVIEW.

Peter Vardy He’s got one of the biggest names in the industry to live up to, but Peter Vardy isn’t fazed, he tells James Batchelor

M

y dad tried to put me off being a car dealer,’ says Peter Vardy, the 31-year old son of Sir Peter Vardy, and CEO of Peter Vardy Ltd. ‘He tried to put me, my older brother and younger sister off from joining the family business so that we didn’t feel obliged to come into it,’ he says.

‘When I was 16 and I left school, dad said that he didn’t have a job for me so I had to do my A-levels.

When I’d done my A-levels, he said there was still no job and I had to go to university for three years. When I’d finished there he said that he wanted someone with an honours degree, so I got an honours degree and he eventually made me a salesman.’

That moment was the beginning of a career that has led to Vardy beginning his own company which now has seven dealerships to its name and has been in the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For three times in a row.

It all began in 2006 when Vardy’s father stepped down as chairman of Reg Vardy plc and sold the business to Pendragon for £506m. May of that year saw Vardy set up Peter Vardy Ltd, and by June he had opened his first dealership in Perth.

Impressive, you would have to admit. But that was always the idea, according to Vardy jnr. ‘I had a five year plan – most of which we have completed – and we’ve done some great things and some things that, perhaps, were not so good. It was always my mission to get the best workforce I could find, make sure they enjoy themselves and then we would have a good business. We are not trying to be the largest motor group, we’re quite happy to be slightly smaller and to punch above our weight.’

Enjoying themselves is a bit of an understatement. Putting the Sunday Times accolade aside, Vardy has built a motor business that was always going to be different for its employees.

‘One thing that has always stuck in my mind was making sure that your leadership philosophy is the same as your company’s – it’s called optimal flow; not trying to be somebody at work you’re not at home,’ says Vardy. ‘Some of this was borrowed from the Vardy values we had as a bigger group – it’s about making good-natured, family-orientated values that your employees want to aspire to.’

But being a businessman, the size and growth of his business must be the main driving force of Vardy’s business, surely? ‘No, that does not interest

me one iota,’ Vardy replies. What does interest him is seeing his business doing things of value; one example of that is his business supporting Edinburgh’s Royal Hospital for Sick Children.

‘We do reviews of all of our senior managers regularly, and one guy said he hadn’t had the performance he would have liked. I replied that doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you supported Edinburgh’s sick kids with £20k, and that you actually went out the day before Christmas Eve and made sure that 50 families in your retail area had a Christmas present and a meal. You tell me which of those you will talk about when you’re 65 and in the pub – it won’t be the 105 per cent plan.’

That Christmas project was just one of many that the Peter Vardy Charity Fund undertakes. Every year the company donates 10 per cent of its annual profits to charities and organisations, allowing its dealerships to put something back into their local communities. Talking to Vardy, you quickly get the sense that he is an organised man with a sharp mind and even sharper plans for the future.

‘I’ve done my first five year plan, now I’m working on my second one,’ Vardy says quite casually. ‘By 2015 it is my aim to make our group a virtual motor company. Rather than get caught up in social media which has been done, this plan is in line with the way consumers are changing and how they will be buying in 2015.

‘Tesco, for instance, is doing some very clever things at the moment in integrating their stores with an online platform. We are of a similar philosophy in that you cannot keep on opening new stores or dealerships until you are doing it in correlation with where the consumer is going.

That is why we’re introducing three divisions to our business – the franchise network, an online business (going live in 2012), and a car supermarket (opening in 2013).

‘This will balance us with what the consumer is doing; it is a concierge service, if you will,’ Vardy adds.

Isn’t that going to be a challenge? ‘Well, yes, it will be,’ says Vardy. ‘But I suppose it’s the same as having three divisions like Reg Vardy had. As long as you have a plan, you research it and you have the right guys to do it, you will be fine.’

Explaining full-on business plans like that would make any normal person feel quite

‘‘

By 2015 it is my aim to make our group a virtual motor company.

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Vardy’s customer panel helps improve service bit.ly/vardy1

exhausted. But not Vardy. ‘Our house was on the same forecourt as the first dealership, and living in an environment that was so close to work was intense. My dad worked many long hours and days, but it was exciting – it’s actually the same kind of excitement I get now,’ he says.

One of the advantages of working for his father was that he had the opportunity to experience a multitude of different jobs. When Vardy was 14 years old, for instance, his father put him to work at a petrol station. Aware that he wasn’t being paid much, young Vardy hatched a plan to make some extra dosh and decided to sell oil too.

‘Whenever I had to fill someone’s car with petrol, I would refill their oil too and then cheekily say to the customer, “Oh, but you want the rest of the bottle, don’t you?” Looking back, the reason why my dad told me to do it was that it meant I would talk to lots of different types of people to help me in a sales environment,’ he recalls.

The love of selling is at the heart of Peter Vardy jnr. He might be a car lover and get interested by ‘a facelifted Corsa right up to a top of the range BMW’, and he might say that he ‘tries the latest cars to experience them for the customer, but really I do it for myself’, but it is the game of selling that motivates him.

‘Some really great

Peter Vardy is proud to have built a car dealer business with ‘family values that employees aspire to’

people taught me how to sell when I was working for my dad,’ he says. ‘They showed me the process of selling, closing questions, and building a relationship with the customer. It’s a game of chess, and that is the really energising bit for me.’

So Vardy would easily remember the first car he sold then? ‘Of course, it was a Mazda 323,’ he blurts out almost before the question is posed.

‘The problem was that when I sold it, I was so pleased with the deal I leant back in my chair and it snapped right in front of the customer.’

However, that is not the astonishing part of the story. The fact that Vardy was just 15 years old at the time makes it even more remarkable.

The thing is, he has a whole armoury of stories like that. Another tale that he looks back fondly on was an incident in the late 80s when a customer was going to arrive at the dealership in a helicopter. ‘It meant my brother running out into the garden with a pot of paint and painting a big H on the grass,’ Vardy laughs. ‘Actually, I remember now it wasn’t even our garden; ours wasn’t big enough so he had to paint it on the council’s land!’

Although not the same company as the 1923-established Reg Vardy, having the same name over the door must bring with it a sense of family responsibility? ‘No, I don’t think so,’ replies Vardy.

‘Though, having said that, I did feel a terrible sense of responsibility the night before opening my first dealership in Perth to the point where I couldn’t sleep.

‘The little voice in my head kept saying all night “What on Earth are you doing? You’re the third generation Vardy, what happens if you can’t do it?”. That spurred me on the next day to hug every single customer who walked through the door!

‘However, running a family business is different these days,’ adds Vardy. ‘There are more regulations, industry standards and margins to take into account. My dad would say that there is much more complexity to it, but that is the way business changes, isn’t it?’

But the big question is, would Vardy like to see his children move into the business of selling cars? ‘Well, would I like to have children? Yes, but I haven’t had time to do so! But on the question of would I push them into the family business? No, not at all… I wouldn’t let them.’ Like father, like son then... [CD] CarDealerMag.co.uk | 23

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In pictures: hendy’s centenary celebrations bit.ly/hendypics

Firm helps Hendy turn calls into sales Douglas Stafford works its magic at south coast firm

WarranTY Wonders

The ups and downs of motoring expenses

H

t

urning enquiries into sales is the Holy Grail for car dealers.

We all know not every phone call turns into a car leaving your forecourt, but there are things you can do to increase the chances.

South coast dealer group Hendy has recently employed the services of mystery shopping and training experts Douglas Stafford who have helped its salesmen successfully arrange sales appointments with likely purchasers.

Customers who had made recent enquiries about cars but hadn’t yet made a purchase, as well as previous buyers likely to be looking for a newer car were targeted.

Staff were given telephone training to learn the best ways to encourage customers to make an appointment, and how to re-open negotiations about the purchase of a vehicle. Following the seminar, 31 appointments were made – 19 of which were kept by customers and EIGHT cars were sold as a result. In one case a customer came in and bought a car the same day.

Group sales development manager at Hendy Group Mark Busby said: ‘The course provided an excellent refresher for some of our staff and was an induction for others into prospecting and following up enquiries and it equipped them with skills

Heavisides

Hendy Honda, above, and the firm’s Mark Busby they can use forever.

‘We have a good relationship with Douglas Stafford, who we use for mystery shopping, and we trust them to offer us services that are of benefit to our business and I am sure this course would be of great use to other dealer groups.’

Chad Robbins, account manager at Douglas Stafford, added: ‘Since the ending of the government’s scrappage scheme there is a real need to create reasons for previous customers to re-visit the showrooms. Our training course helps sales executives to create the right support environment so customers get the very most from every given sales opportunity.

‘We welcomed the opportunity to work closely with Hendy Group by providing support to their sales teams to help them make contact with previous and current customers and to arrange showroom appointments.’

Find out more at douglasstafford.co.uk

Name badges can make the world of difference RESEARCH has found that staff who wear very rare to go into a quality establishment a name badge in a dealership can raise these days and find staff are not wearing customer satisfaction by 12 per cent. name badges. The benefits are proven.’

The study, carried out by Shopper Royal Warrant holders Badgemaster Anonymous, found that businesses who provide the name badges for customerintroduced name badges for all staff facing staff in most of the UK’s leading saw customer satisfaction ratings rise in brands including Harrods, Selfridges, Boots, comparison to those that didn’t require Premier Inn, Best Western, Virgin, Lloyds staff to wear badges.

Banking Group and Easyjet.

It was also found They are ideal for smaller and that customers actually independent operations, says wanted staff to wear Bancroft, adding: ‘We can badges, saying it was manufacture custom-made easier to spot them when bespoke name badges, in line uniforms were not worn. with a company’s corporate John Bancroft, identity.’ managing director of For more call 01623 723112 Badges can improve Badgemaster, said: ‘It is or visit badgemaster.co.uk customer satisfaction

istory has a funny habit of repeating itself. A hundred years ago, the car was seen as something of a curio that was the preserve of the wealthy. Aside from the fact that it was a technological revelation, the cost of motoring was so frighteningly expensive only the rich could afford to propel themselves in horseless carriages. A new car cost the equivalent of 15 years’ wages putting it far beyond the reaches of the working man and that was without the cost of employing a driver.

Fortunately, Henry Ford was about to revolutionise vehicle production in Detroit with mass production techniques and the world never looked back.

Mr Ford bought motoring to the masses and slashed the cost to such a huge extent that prices dropped by two-thirds in just 10 years.

Motoring has been getting progressively more available ever since, especially over the past 30 years, but I can’t help thinking that things could come full circle if we’re not careful.

Buying a car today might be more affordable than ever but with the increase in VAT, petrol pushing £6 a gallon and the motorist seen as a soft-touch for swelling the Treasury’s coffers we could be on our way to making driving a rich man’s game once again. Alternative energy vehicles will be a welcome relief but it will need another ‘Fordism’ to bring production costs down to palatable levels without government help.

The UK has the highest motoring taxation in the UK (more than £35bn in 2009) but judging by the state of the roads in northern England at the moment not much of that sees its way back into maintenance.

Taxing customers out of their cars and into public transport might have environmental benefits but there’s a risk that what goes around comes around and that’s something the Treasury just can’t afford as it will result in lost revenue.

I hope we see the introduction of a fuel price stabiliser in the Budget. Our industry brings so much benefit to the UK economy that we can’t afford for the public not to afford to drive.

‘A car cost the equivalent of 15 years’ wages – beyond the reaches of working men.’

Who is Tim Heavisides?

heavisides is Ceo of Car Care plan, the uk’s leading provider of motor warranty and Gap products.

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DASHBOARD.

FLaShBACk

Hendy Ford Cosham: 1958 A look back in time at how the showrooms of yesteryear looked

B

uilt in 1956, Hendy Ford Cosham is rich in history. It’s been selling Fords to the people of Portsmouth for 55 years and is still there today doing what it’s always done best. The showroom has experienced many changes in the industry, and has witnessed the growth of the Hendy Group with a Kia dealership attached to one side of the showroom, and Hendy Honda across the road.

‘I can remember the Cosham dealership well as I would go there during the summer breaks in the early 1960s for work experience,’ said Hendy Group’s deputy chairman Norman Hendy.

‘It was built in 1956 and it was very advanced, for it was a modern, boxy design with large windows and had parts and service departments

inside the showroom – revolutionary back then. Apart from different flooring and cars, Timewarp: Hendy the showroom has Ford back in 1958 hardly changed.

‘What has changed, however, is the method of selling a car. There was no discounting like there is today and the customer paid the screen price. But, even though I was part of the family, during my work experience at the Cosham dealership, I was never trusted to work on the sales side. I had a stint in the parts

department, but it was the works reception I worked in for most of the time and that was it!’

This picture shows what selling a Ford was like back then with popular models such as the Prefect, Anglia 100E, and the Consul all on show.

Back then Hendy traded as Gordon Motors.

New Ford Focus, p37

Is your dealership steeped in history? We’d love to see your old pictures and include them on this page. Contact us on 023 9252 2434 to find out how

EMPTY PROPERTY RATES.....

Benfield Wins 5-Star Used Car Expert Award

A very expensive business

3m used car buyers visit UsedCarExpert.co.uk every year.

The Used Car Expert Dealer Awards are a clear and simple way to help those buyers tell quality dealers from dodgy dealers.

Is your dealership eligible for an award?

Find out at www.UsedCarExpert.co.uk/dealer

Mark King accepts the award for Benfield

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DASHBOARD.

My FIRST SaLE

Daksh gupta

Marshall Group’s chief exec learnt a very important lesson early on

w

hen I was studying for my degree at Oxford Brookes University in 1990, I was your typical student and needed money. So I got myself a job at the local Toyota specialist cleaning cars at the weekend.

This went on for a while until eventually the owner said to me that the garage was getting a little bit too busy and he could do with an extra pair of hands asking me if I’d like to start helping sell cars. I had never sold anything in my life – let alone cars – but the owner assured me that he would show me the ropes. All I had to do was be nice to the customers and he said I’d be fine.

A few Saturdays later I was hanging around the showroom twiddling my thumbs staring at the tasty black, 1990 Toyota Supra 3.0-litre Turbo we had on the forecourt. It was up for sale for £29,995. While I was staring I spotted a customer pull up on a bike, wearing a scruffy T-shirt and

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shorts, and he started to look around the Supra.

The senior sales executive told me to go and talk to him, thinking he was a tyre-kicker but told me it would be good ‘learning curve’. I started chatting to this guy, not really knowing what I was doing, and he explained he’d just written-off his Supra Turbo a few weeks ago and had just received an insurance pay out!

He said he wanted a new one and was interested in the Supra we had. Off I ran to get the keys for him to take a test drive. After a blast around the local roads we came back and he said he’d have it there and then – he even paid the full asking price! I made £25 on the car which, for a student, was fantastic.

Looking back, I had just chatted to him without any preconceptions which must have helped. I have never found selling cars difficult because I don’t think of it as selling – I just try and be nice to a customer and that is an ethos I have taken with me all my career.

Daksh Gupta hasn’t always been top of the tree

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28 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

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CarDealerIss36.indd 29

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FINANCE. Rates

Interest rates about to rise?

INTEREST rates will increase at least three times this year according to the National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR).

It’s news that dealers will be all too keen to note as it will have a direct impact on the UK car industry. The institute believes that spending cuts predicted in February’s budget will push up interest rates to 1.25 per cent by the end of the year, and inflation will rise from 2.8 per cent to 3.8 per cent. A rise in unemployment from 7.9 per cent to 8.7 per cent is also expected.

The NIESR is calling for the government to reconsider the planned job cuts, saying that alternative expenditures could be slashed preventing the rate rises.

SMS

Finance text messages ACF Car Finance has teamed up with Txtlocal to introduce a nationwide SMS messaging strategy to target customers to close potential deals.

Lorna Rossi of ACF Car Finance said: ‘Using the SMS service to encourage customers to contact us has not only saved us time and money, but it has improved functionality.

‘A simple text message sent to anybody who has enquired about our service shows that we care about getting them the right deal.’

The partnership will see SMS messages sent to customers to close those deals and improve relationships.

Mazda updates its status with exclusive Facebook deal

Customers who ‘check in’ at dealers get access to special offer on an MX-5

M

azda is embracing the ecommerce opportunities available through the power of social media.

The firm is offering a 20 per cent discount on all Mazda MX-5s and the chance to win an MX-5 Miyako special edition for five months through Facebook Deals, part of Facebook Places.

The deal can be found at five dealerships around the UK between January 31 and March 7. The participating dealers are – Machargs in Glasgow, Romford Mazda in Essex, RRG Mazda in Manchester, MKG3000 Mazda in Twickenham, and Vospers Mazda in

Exeter. Mazda has also made the deal tempting by offering special finance packages. It’s available in conjunction with zero per cent finance with 50 per cent deposit along with a £500 deposit contribution when financed on PCP at 5.9 per cent APR. To be eligible for the 20 per cent discount, the customer checks-in on Facebook at one of the five Mazda dealerships via the smartphone Facebook App, ‘claims the deal’ and presents their voucher, via their mobile phone, to the salesperson.

The same check-in process applies for the competition, but then the customer must enter their details into the data pod in the dealership.

The five competition winners will be drawn at random at the end of the competition period.

Claire Andrews, marketing director for Mazda UK, said: ‘Social media has

always been about communicating to as wide a range of people as you want, but until now has not given any commercial benefits to consumers.

‘Facebook Deals recognises the consumer’s appetite for a deal and brings a real financial benefit to social media use. Just by being one of Facebook’s 26m UK users you are suddenly entitled to some fantastic offers and 20 per cent off Mazda’s iconic sports car, a deal you cannot get anywhere else.

‘This demonstrates the power and future for retailing and social media, bringing greater benefit and functionality to Facebook and a great deal for those with a Facebook account.’

Car Dealer has been investigating whether dealers should be using social media. Type bit.ly/DealerSocialMedia into your web browser to watch our special documentary.

Finance figures show market is slowly returning to normal NOVEMBER saw dealers providing finance for more than 50,000 used cars and the market returning to ‘normal’ says the FLA. Latest figures from the FLA reveal that while sales of new cars fell in

November, the proportion of new cars bought using dealer finance over the past 12 months rose to 51.5 per cent.

Paul Harrison, head of motor finance, said: ‘What our latest figures show is that the car market, following

the previous government’s scrappage scheme, is returning to business as usual. While the new car market has seen a fall in the last quarter, finance sold in showrooms now accounts for more than half of private car sales.’

Valuing Service – Valuing You! ervice – Valuing You!

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30 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

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!

..in association with

DEAL FINDER Latest finance deals on city cars HYUNDAI I10 HYUNDAI’S i10 has been a winner for the marque for good reasons. It’s cheap, reliable, sturdily built, has strong residuals, and comes with a cracking warranty.

And it is now part of Hyundai’s latest finance campaign ‘I wish, I dream, I want’ which also includes the i10’s i20 and i30 siblings.

The 1.2-litre Classic model is the i10 that is available on finance at the moment, which means the customer has to put down a deposit of £449.10, followed by 35 monthly payments of £165 at 7.9 per cent APR. If the customer goes over the agreed

mileage, a charge of 6p is levied.

A final payment of £2,710 secures the car for the customer, meaning the total amount payable is £9,099.10.

Model: Hyundai i10 Classic 1.2-litre

35 monthly payments of £229 with a final payment of £394 required. That means the total amount payable by the customer is just £8,639.

Model: Suzuki Alto Sz4 1.0-litre

TOYOTA AYGO THE Toyota Aygo has always been the sensible member of the Citroen C1/Peugeot 107/Toyota Aygo triplet – but not any more!

Toyota has just loaded the car with tasty equipment such as 14-inch alloy wheels, sat-nav with Bluetooth and USB connectivity, leather steering wheel and gear knob and, just to make sure you look good, rear privacy glass. It’s badged Aygo Go! and is available on finance too.

Although it is rather expensive. A deposit of £1,151.06 is needed, then this is followed by 35 monthly payments of £159 at 6.9 per cent APR. If the agreed mileage

Time is moneY

Repeat business is vital

w

SUzUKI ALTO SUZUKI has really stepped up to the mark with its small city cars. It all started with the excellent little Swift in 2004 which has only just been replaced, but it’s the Alto that is the firm’s contender in the city car class.

The model has just been given an attractive finance deal to make the car even more appealing to students, citydwellers, and those just looking for small car motoring.

The SZ4 is the range-topper and comes packed with kit, and it is available with a low 6.3 per cent APR deal too.

A £230 deposit is all that is required, then

Such

of 30,000 is broken, 7p per mile is charged.

This means that the final price for the Aygo Go! is an alarming £10,137.86.

Model: Toyota Aygo Go! 1.0-litre VVT-i

henever I visit a car dealer I never cease to be amazed by the amount of learning that I take on board, and it was no different on a recent visit.

During the conversation we asked the owner of one particular dealership what his priority was and the response was ‘my priority is to sell more cars, is that not the same for every car dealer in the country?’ Yes, is the answer, but what are you going to do to make sure that happens?

Last April my wife took on a small business in the hair and beauty industry which, considering the current climate, was a risky move! During the little time we get to speak together about business I frequently ask her about the salon’s customer base. Currently they use a traditional appointment diary to book customers in for treatments, collate their telephone numbers etc. The main problem with this book is that it is very hard to be able to abstract useful information easily such as mobile telephone numbers, email addresses.

But most importantly when the customer last visited, how often they came or if in fact the customer came at all.

Existing customers are more important now than ever before, and you cannot just assume they are going to walk back on to your pitch when they want a new car. With the vastly improved access a customer now has to different suppliers we all need to take it up a gear to secure repeat business.

Having something in place to show you a customer’s buying pattern and by keeping good regular contact with them will go a long way to achieving your businesses objective.

Do something different to the dealer above – do something about it!

‘Existing customers are more important now than ever before.’

Who is Jonathan such?

such is regional sales manager for First response Finance. You can contact him on 07917 781608 or email jons@frfl.co.uk

Tel: 0844 8730819 Tel: 0844 8730819 Web: www.frfl.co.ukWeb: www.frfl.co.uk CarDealerMag.co.uk | 31

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advert1.pdf

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big mike.

All Big Mike’s columns are on our website. Enjoy here bit.ly/bigmike

Meet Igor the Screamer – the boomerang punter

N

ow I’m not normally one to moan, but this month I’ve had it up to my eyes and ears thanks to a Screamer by the name of Igor…

A screamer, if you’ve never encountered one (and I very much doubt you haven’t if you work in the motor trade) is a customer who buys a perfectly good car off you, bought and sold in good faith, then comes back to haunt you a few days later, complaining about the most innocuous of facts.

What’s more, the cheaper the car, the louder they scream – for some reason those who only have enough money to buy an old banger are the ones who expect a car to be perfect. People who spend good money are often very reasonable about faults, providing you do what you can to help them out.

But last month, I encountered my worst ever screamer.

The bloke in question was Igor, a foreign national who had recently arrived in the UK (I only mention this as it made our communication that bit more difficult) and came to Big Mike’s to get his hands on a cheap family runabout.

The car in question was a half decent Peugeot 406 Automatic – nothing special, but the usual type of soundas-a-pound trade-in that had been with the same previous keeper for quite a few years before they chopped it in for something a bit newer.

The price for this fine automobile, thanks to Igor’s rather brutal haggling, was a mere £795 – £200 less than I was going to punt it out for, but more than its stand-in value and I also needed the space for something more valuable, so reluctantly I let it go.

Even now, I’m not quite sure why. I had a bad feeling at the time, so it came almost as no surprise to me when, two days later, Igor phoned up and grunted that the radiator was leaking. Perhaps I’m a bit too soft, but I hate for any of my customers to think the less of me because I sell them a faulty car, even at that price, so on the basis that word-of-mouth is the best form of advertising, especially for a small independent like me, rather than tell him to proceed in a manner akin to the very start of the human reproduction cycle, I tried to make amends.

Besides, my friend Radiator Joe (the clue is in his name) is always good for a cheap rad, and for £20 I could get my hands on a guaranteed used replacement. With this in mind, I suggested that Igor bring the car back in and I’d get my boy, Jason, to put the replacement

Big

mike Our man on the inside spills the beans on the car business...

radiator in free of charge. Quite reasonable, or so I thought.

But no. Igor wasn’t happy with this. He didn’t want to make the 30-mile journey to my forecourt, and instead asked if I could send the radiator to him and he’d get his brothers to help fit it. So, with goodwill still my main intention, I sent Jason off in my trusty but rusty Discovery to drop off the radiator at the chap’s home.

A couple of hours later, Jason returned looking a little harassed. He’s a nice lad, but a bit too scrawny to handle himself well in a fight, so when he’d turned up at the bloke’s house to find Igor’s ‘brothers’ all inspecting the radiator and grunting at each other in an alien tongue, he was worried he’d never get out alive.

Luckily, he did, and as far as I was concerned that was

‘Rather than tell him to proceed in a manner akin to the very start of the human reproduction cycle, I tried to make amends...’ it. But Igor had other ideas. After they’d fitted the new radiator, he drove the car for a week or so only to find it had dropped all its coolant, overheated and this time warped the head gasket. The car was pretty much a goner.

Its failure, I have no doubt, was due to the ‘brothers’ fitting the new radiator incorrectly – perhaps not tightening a hose clip properly or something as trivial as that. But I’ll never know. What I do know, though, is that I’m over £800 out of pocket. On my lunch hour the other day I popped over to the post office to put some paper foldies in my business account and returned to find Jason pinned up against my Portakabin by two Mafioso-looking thugs, one of whom was repeatedly bopping him over the head with a Peugeot 406 radiator hose.

I’m no wimp – Big Mike, after all, is no name for a sissy – but on this occasion I decided to take my punishment on the chin for selling a car to someone when it just didn’t feel right in the first place. And if anyone’s looking for a previously very tidy X-Plate Peugeot 406 for spares or repairs, do let me know…

Who is Big Mike?

Well, that would be telling. What we do know is he’s had more than 30 years in the car trade and picked up some seriously funny tales along the way.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 33

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CarDealer.Club Free legal advice worth £199 Discounts from key industry suppliers And a subscription to Car Dealer

ALL FOR JuST £25 A yEAR WHAT IS CAR DEALER CLuB? It is Car Dealer magazine’s unique offering that gives motor traders of all sizes access to some brilliant benefits. The biggest one of all is access to the country’s top motor trade lawyers, 24 hours a day, for free legal advice connected with your business. someone wants to return a troublesome car? head gasket gone on a used car you sold? If you want to know where you stand and how to deal with it, our lawyers can help.

The service usually costs £199 per year, but we’ve managed to arrange an exclusive offer. When you take out a subscription to Car Dealer magazine for the special price of £24.99 you’ll be covered!

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dealers. When you join you’ll be given a club membership number and details of how to get access to these unique offers. so far we’ve added some corkers – and are negotiating with many more suppliers all the time.

I gET CAR DEALER mAgAZINE, Am I A mEmBER? no. This special offer only applies to new subscribers so if you haven’t renewed your subscription then you need to do so online to gain access to this very special offer.

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HELPDESk.

Join Car Dealer Club by visiting bit.ly/dealerclub Members get free legal advice worth £199 for a £25 annual subscription

Ask Lucy Car Dealer Club lawyer Lucy Bonham Carter answers dealers’ legal questions. Join for £25 a year to get advice like this when you need it

Q

Can you outline the issues regarding clutch replacements under the Sale of Goods Act? We have a customer we sold a car to less than six months ago which is still under manufacturer’s warranty. Within a month she burned out the first clutch so we replaced it. Then three months later she burned out another. We have checked the vehicle over and there is no other apparent fault causing this.

It seems she probably drives around resting her foot on the pedal. aJ, devizes

a

Clutch failures are a particular problem for dealers as we all know that a determined driver can burn one out on a single journey. Furthermore every driver who ever burned one out had seemingly driven their previous car for at least 400,000 miles without it ever needing a clutch change.

I think if a clutch fails on a new car the manufacturer would be inclined to fix it not under warranty but on a goodwill basis (with no admission of liability). If the clutch then failed again before its time they would be likely to put it down to driver fault and the court would be likely to support them. On any vehicle within manufacturer warranty then provided the mileage is not very high I would also expect the manufacturer would probably fix on a goodwill basis but the above rule would apply for a second

FrAUD

can we claim back cash from dodgy salesman?

Q. We are a small dealership who employed a salesman who came to us with good references from a large franchise. he was paid largely on commission and gradually built up our profit centres and all looked fine. however, a number of financial discrepancies started to come to light which have culminated in him leaving the company. We now estimate these run to several thousand pounds which is a loss we can ill afford. he still works in the industry and we know where he is. What do we do? pm, heckmondwiket A. It depends whether you want revenge or your money back. potentially this is a criminal case if it involved deliberate deception to gain a financial advantage. The chances are he is

repeating his antics with the new boss in which case you could inform them. however the irony is that while he is in work you are far more likely to recover your money. You could thus try and negotiate repayment with a threat of action in the civil courts if he does not repay you. If you win in court you can seek an attachment of earnings – or even a charge on his house.

failure. For second-hand cars out of manufacturer warranty it is possible to make a case that the fault was pre-existing and that the repair should be undertaken under the Sale of Goods Act. Much will depend on how soon the failure happens after the sale. I don’t think the normal six-month ‘presumption’ would be certain to apply and

faced with a resilient defendant, commoditised services such as Mr Clutch might prove both a cheaper and quicker option than seeking a repair from the dealer.

Really, it’s a case of taking each claim on its merits. Car Dealer Club members can contact me for advice on individual cases.

Porsche and expensive Q. We are a Porsche specialist and bought in to resell what we thought was a clean 911 from a private customer. It came with a relatively low mileage of 26k and a full service history. The mileage appeared to be consistent with both the service and the MOT records.

After owning the car for nine months and doing 7,500 miles in the car the customer noticed a slight knocking noise when the engine was cold. The car was returned to us and we stripped the engine revealing scoring on three cylinders.

On further inspection the ECU was examined and while the dash computer was showing 33k miles the ECU showed 50k. The fix is either a full rebuild

by us or a new or reconditioned engine but then as the customer indicates he will not have the car he thought he had. What shall we do?

Bd, London A. Clearly this was present in the car before you bought it and in circumstances where all the paperwork checks out you will not be prosecuted for selling a clocked vehicle. The resolution is going to be costly however you deal with it. The car you sold was not what the customer thought they were buying or ‘as described’ as the Sale of Goods Act would have it. You could refund the customer, less a figure for the 7,500 miles they

have done or find a replacement.

The alternative is to persuade them to accept the rebuild or the new engine, but the mileage would have to be reset to the higher value. It may be that they might agree with a cash adjustment.

My recommendation is that you go the ‘replace or refund with allowance’ route and then sell the vehicle on as quickly as you can with the proper mileage once you have undertaken the work. I appreciate that this is going to be costly but there is little you can do to avoid a loss in circumstances such as these. Your compensation is that your reputation will remain intact and you’ll hopefully retain your original customer.

Who is lucy Bonham carter?

she is a leading commercial lawyer specialising in automotive. she heads the legal team at autoLaw, a multi-disciplinary insurance and legal practice which specialises in providing legal assistance on motor trade-related legal issues and she provides advice to Car Dealer Club members. To get advice like this (worth £199) join Car Dealer Club for just £25 per year. sign up at bit.ly/dealerclub CarDealerMag.co.uk | 35

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forecourt.

Nigel Sharp

Ford of Britain’s managing director talks exclusively to Car Dealer about his hopes for the new Ford Focus How important is the new Focus to dealers?

Well, it revolutionised Ford in 1998 when dealers were having a bit of a tough time. It was such a hit not just in Britain but across Europe that it changed our fortunes. It changed people’s perceptions of the medium family car and has been number one best seller in the UK until it was overtaken by the Fiesta. It is hugely important.

In terms of buyers, will it be existing owners or conquests for this car?

It’ll be a bit of both. The usual pattern is you’d get somewhere between 60-70 per cent loyalty in terms of retail. But we’re going to be changing the profile of who we’re selling to. We think we’ve been a little over-reliant on short-term cycle sales, vehicles that change ownership within a year.

That’s about 25 per cent of the UK car market. We won’t be pre-registering cars as much now either.

If you’re over reliant on that market your residual values suffer. We want to get our residual values up to best in class.

How do you plan to do that?

It’s one our biggest challenges. Supply will play an important role. Right now we are short on everything from Kuga through to Mondeo, Galaxy to S-MAX. We can’t make any more than we are already. We hope we’ve got the bet right for Focus supply. To match Focus to demand we’re continuing with the old one – called Focus Sport – alongside it through to around September.

What model will be the volume seller?

Typically the Zetec range is the one most buyers choose. Because the car has such terrific technology we expect to attract more customers from above so we hope they’ll be a strengthening for the Titanium and Titanium X. We’ve packed up a lot of the new technologies into bunches too so they’re affordable.

What about engine wise which will dealers be selling the most of?

It’s an interesting one but probably more diesel than petrol. It’s a reaction to whenever fuel prices rise. But diesels are becoming much more expensive to manufacturer to meet Euro Five regulations which adds a premium to them. The low mileage customer is much better off buying the petrol models and they’re getting much more efficient.

‘‘

There’s a lot of interesting technology on this new car, will it be a struggle to get all this across to customers?

The tech has huge implications for us and for dealers. Over the last 20 years salesman have been selling price or a deal, but shame on us.

We ought to be selling product. But you need to do one or the other. That’s why we’re going to invest in a huge retraining program. That’ll also result in new recruitment. Some dealers are already there but some are a long way away from where they need to be.

We have been selling price or a deal. Shame on us. We ought to be selling product.

What about numbers – what are you expecting to sell?

Last year we sold 76,000 Focus and we’d hope to do better, but there’s also a factor to throw in and that’s the new car is sleeker and has a little less trunk room so people who want a bit more room will consider the five-door C-MAX. We’ve never really sold

that retail as it was a bit too boxy but the new car is different. The user chooser fleets and retail will see some cannibalisation of Focus. Overall we’ll attract new customers but how much of that will be new Focus and how much will be C-MAX, well the jury’s out on that one.

What about the electric Focus, what are your thoughts on that?

Well, that’s coming to Europe in small volumes to start with. But it is a limited market. Some customers, like energy companies, will want to take it on as well as Londoners. But the guideline is it’ll have a 160km range and that’s quite limiting. Charging is three hours, which is relatively quick, but people will see the car as used for urban and these people will have on-street parking so where will they plug it in?

There are a few challenges for the whole electric market, but we need to ensure we’re moving at the same speed as the whole industry in terms of technology. We’re not rushing it and it’ll be limited volumes. Transit Connect will be first, it’ll be a pilot and small volumes and we’ll learn from that.

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ThEmANuAL INTERIOR

LOOKS

new dash reduces interior space, but driving position is far superior to outgoing model

as a new ‘global’ car, the looks have been designed to appeal to all markets. This has led to some panning them as a tad boring

ENGINE

popular diesel units have been updated while new eCoboost engine is a gem

Ford Focus

Is the new Focus as good as its best-selling predecessor?

James Baggott investigates what’s new WHAT IS IT? Quite possibly the most important car launch of 2011. The Focus has topped the best-seller charts for most of the years since its launch in 1998 with 1.4m finding homes in Britain.

This new model combines a fresh look, clever technology and the tried and tested appeal of exciting driving dynamics to steal back the top slot.

The Focus floor pan will go on to underpin at least 10 models around the world and account for two million annual sales.

WHAT’S uNDER THE BONNET? At launch there’ll be a choice of three petrol and four diesel engines. We managed to try the brilliant 1.6-litre ECOboost engine and the upgraded 2.0-litre TDCi Powershift Auto. The former is easily the pick of the two. It produces 150bhp while only emitting 139g/km. Although it sounds like a small unit it’s powerful and great to drive hitting 60mph in 8.4s while still returning 47mpg. Diesels will be

the most popular though and they’re equally impressive.

WHAT’S THE SPEC LIkE? Standard spec has been improved.

There are four to choose from now: Edge, Zetec, Titanium and Titanium X. All get an alarm, air con, DAB, Bluetooth, USB connection and ISOfix.

The clever tech has been split into seven option packs. Driver Assistance Pack (£750) for example offers blind-spot information, low-speed safety system that brakes for you if it detects a crash is likely, lane departure warning, speed limit spotting display, driver alert and auto high beam.

WHAT’S IT LIkE TO DRIVE? Even better than the outgoing model.

The ride is noticeably improved, soaking up bumps the last generation would crash over. Electric steering is decent, the handling sublime and the performance from the ECOboost unit a delight. The driving position is better too – it feels higher up and is

more comfortable, but the downside is space. That dash may look stylish but it reduces leg room.

WHAT DO THE PRESS THINk OF IT? What Car? said it ‘only enhances Ford’s reputation for building brilliantdriving motor cars’ and only said the ride and interior quality was below par. Auto Express believes it ‘leaps from also-ran to class contender,’ while Autocar said it can’t help but feel just a ‘little disappointed’.

WHAT DO WE THINk OF IT? We like it and it’s bound to be a hit with buyers. We were always told the new Focus would be more driver orientated than the outgoing model and that’s rung true. Some existing Focus owners will find the reduced cabin space a hurdle, and you’d be well advised to steer them towards the more suitable C-MAX. But overall the ride, handling and performance of the new model will appeal to the masses.

THe KNOWLeDGe Model: 1.6-litre eCoboost Price: £19,745 (tested), range from £15,995 engine: 1.6-litre, turbo, petrol Power: 150bhp, 240nm Max speed: 130mph 0-60mph: 8.4s MPG (comb’d): 47 emissions: 139g/km residual values (three years): 32 per cent

TArGeT BUYerS: Who is this car aimed at?

The new Focus is a car that appeals to all buyers of all ages. Ford is looking to increase retail sales too.

THe rIVALS: Vauxhall astra, VW Golf, renault megane

KeY SeLLING POINTS: 1. Driving dynamics still a cut above its rivals 2. It can spot speed limit signs and display them on the dash 3. safety aids keep drivers in the right lane and warn of tiredness

DeAL CLINCHer: Not only is it clever and safe but the new Focus is great to drive too CarDealerMag.co.uk | 37

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FORECOuRT.

Paul Willcox

Nissan GB’s boss talks exclusively to Car Dealer about why the Micra will remain a bread and butter seller for his dealers How important is Micra to dealers?

We’ve just launched Juke and now Micra and it’s important to understand the role of both these cars, as they compliment each other. Juke will be predominantly conquest based on the experience of Qashqai – where we had up to 80 per cent levels of conquest, which was incredible – we expect 70 per cent conquest on Juke. But it’s the exact opposite on Micra. It is a great product for our loyal customers.

CUBe CANNeD nIssan has confirmed the Cube has been canned and will no longer be imported once current stock has sold. speaking exclusively to Car Dealer, mD paul Willcox said the unusual model had been canned in europe. The car struggled to find buyers due to its high price and quirky, boxy styling which didn’t appeal to as many buyers as the maker expected.

Wilcox told Car Dealer: ‘The car had excellent press reviews, but sadly the sales didn’t follow. as a marketing exercise it worked well and proved nissan could offer something stylish and different. But it was built in Japan and the exchange rate has meant selling it profitably has been hard.’

In a statement issued to Car Dealer, the maker said: ‘nissan has confirmed that production of Cube for europe has ceased and, once current stocks have been sold, Cube will no longer be offered as part of nissan’s new vehicle range in europe.

‘Cube was always intended to be a niche vehicle in this region, however, the impact of the global recession and specifically the drastic devaluation of the euro vs Yen has, unfortunately, made it impossible to sustain the program.’

The target buyer is a 55-year-old woman. do dealers need to think about how they sell to that person?

Diversity is a good thing in terms of any organisation. Nissan and its dealers are used to selling Micra. At the model’s peak we were selling 40-50,000 models a year, to the same target market as this car, so our network is used to selling to these buyers. The challenge comes when new people come to brand who are more youthful – the challenge is probably the other way around. are the sales volumes planned for the Micra easily achievable?

We have grown. We’ve gone from a three per cent brand three years ago to a four per cent brand.

We’ve just finished on 4.5 per cent share in 2010 – and we anticipate more growth this year around the five per cent mark. Within that we have a very realistic expectation of Micra. The bigger volume will come from Juke – anywhere between 20-25,000 in the year, which will compliment Qashqai, which will sell around 35,000. Then Micra will come under that with between 15-17,000, which we feel is wholly realistic. Manufacturers think that adding up more and more products will lead to more sales, but what we need to understand is where we expect our customer base to come from.

How should dealers market the Micra?

We had a very successful pre-launch and went to a number of garden centres where target buyers were. We think our dealers need to be more proactive at getting cars to where customers are – garden centres are one idea. This year we’ll be running a cooperative programme with the network so dealers can use an events tool kit from us to go out and promote the car. We’ve also dipped our hand in our pocket and given the network a support fund to enable them to promote this car. The cash is available on a one-for-one basis –

‘‘

so if they invest, we invest. This will sustain the launch of Micra as Juke is getting the lion’s share of the budget.

What’s the order book looking like?

It’s just arriving in dealers now and on the first weekend we took 700 orders which was ahead of our expectations. The issue we have as a brand, which is a bit of a luxury, but a double-edged sword too, is that we have a big order bank. We’ve currently got around 20,000 unfulfilled orders. That’s mostly for Juke and Qashqai and means the network is now having to get used to managing that pipeline. On some derivatives it’s going up to five or six months. If dealers manage it properly and are able to communicate why it is happening and not over promise then we’ve found customers don’t cancel. We think customers will wait for cars. We haven’t seen

Dealers need to be more proactive at getting cars to where customers are.

orders fall away as our network is very good at explaining the waiting time as a positive – the cars are in demand and that keeps residual values strong. It hasn’t been done on purpose, we’ve just under-called the demand.

Will you be able to cope with demand for the Micra?

Well, the issue with Micra is it’s not built in the UK. Last year 80 per cent of our volume was built in Sunderland. Micra has longer lead times because of where it is built, but we will have enough Micras to satisfy demand, we’re confident of that.

Will there be any more variants of Micra, like a cc version?

Not in the current plan. At the moment we’re not announcing any further variants of Micra. That’s not to say there won’t be… I’d be surprised if there were other variants. We have a comprehensive range of cars in different roles. Adding complexity to the network, unless it’s controlled, can just add costs and breeds confusion.

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ThEmANuAL MARKET

There are currently 400,000 micras on the road many of whom will upgrade

PRICE

starting at just £9,250, the micra is just £50 more than outgoing model.

MARKET

There are currently 400,000 micras on the road. many of the owners will want to upgrade

Nissan micra Nissan’s new Micra is a key model for dealers.

James Baggott takes it for a spin WHAT IS IT?

WHAT’S THE SPEC LIkE?

It’s one of the most important cars for Nissan dealers, that’s what. The Micra will account for 18,000 Nissan sales this year, behind only the crossovers Juke and Qashqai. The manufacturer believes some 70 per cent of buyers will be existing owners and hopes by sticking to a tried and tested formula – excellent value, easy to drive, and attractive specification – customers will be flowing through dealers’ doors.

In line with the simplicity philosophy, there are three options available to buyers: Visia, Acenta and Tekna.

Nissan believes the best-seller will be the middle-spec Acenta which comes with climate control, trip computer, electric mirrors and radio/CD with Bluetooth. Top-of-the-range Tekna gets a parking system that can tell if a space is ‘easy’ to stop in, as well as panoramic glass roof, auto headlights and lots more.

WHAT DO THE PRESS THINk OF IT?

WHAT’S uNDER THE BONNET?

WHAT’S IT LIkE TO DRIVE?

WHAT DO WE THINk OF IT?

Nissan is keen to keep the Micra range simple, so there’s just one engine available – a 1.2-litre petrol unit, with manual and auto gearbox options, starting at £9,250.

In the summer this will be joined by a supercharged petrol engine that will emit just 95g/km, but there won’t ever be a diesel. The 1.2-litre produces 80bhp, 110Nm of torque and returns 56.5mpg while pumping out 115g/km.

In a word: Easy. And when you consider the target market is 55-yearold, retired women that’s a major bonus. Steering is light, the gearbox soft, and the handling floaty – all ideal for the intended buyer. We did find the 1.2-litre sprightly for its size, but those three cylinders are noisy and unrefined in the higher rev ranges. Materials are a little cheap feeling, but the dash looks upmarket and it’s relatively comfortable.

Well, it’s not our cup of tea, but then we’re not 55-year-old women. This car is aimed at our mums and if you put one of them in the driving seat they’d love it. The controls are light and easy to use, it’s great to drive around town and comfortable too. We found the cabin layout a bit fussy, but the fact it’s cheaper than all its main rivals to buy and the cost of ownership has been dramatically cut will do it a lot of favours. Another sales winner.

The Micra has had mixed reviews from the big consumer mags. What Car? said the Micra’s ride, handling, refinement and cabin quality weren’t ‘up to muster, even at this price’.

Autocar, which tested the model in Thailand where some of them are built, liked the fact it was ‘light, nippy, refined and easy to manoeuvre’ while Auto Express reckons it’s ‘good value for money’.

THe KNOWLeDGe Model: nissan micra Price: £9,250 (Visia), £12,350 (Tekna) engine: 1.2-litre, 3cyl petrol Power: 80bhp, 110nm Max speed: 106mph 0-60mph: 13.7s MPG (comb’d): 56.5 emissions: 115g/km residual values (three years): 39 per cent

TArGeT BUYerS: Who is this car aimed at?

55-year-old women, retired, not well off, likes gardening, reading, travel. savvy when it comes to cash.

THe rIVALS: Toyota Yaris, suzuki swift, hyundai i20

KeY SeLLING POINTS: 1. Better economy and lower Co2 have cut cost of ownership 2. parking system has addressed buyers’ key concern – parking it!

3. Lower insurance group will save average buyer £300

DeAL CLINCHer: It’s cheaper and, in most cases, better equipped than all its main rivals.

Car Dealer Club members get free legal advice worth £199. Sign up at CarDealerMag.co.uk | 39

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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.

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Part of

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FORECOuRT.

ThEmANuAL BUYERS

Company drivers and family buyers are the intended audiences

INTERIOR

The inside is largely the same but with softer plastics and a new clock

DRIVE

The passat is composed on country roads, quiet and refined on motorways, perfect for intended buyers

LOOKS

a new look front and back feature, but the old model’s roof remains

VW PASSAT

Re-designed and updated for its seventh incarnation, the Passat is a key model for Volkswagen. James Batchelor reports WHAT IS IT?

WHAT’S THE SPEC LIkE?

This is the new seventh-generation Passat and yes, you might have noticed, it now wears Volkswagen’s corporate face first shown on the Golf MkVI. But while the front and rear now have ‘the look’, the roof is carried over from the old model.

The new car does have new, more economical and efficient engines, and it is expected 10,000 saloons and 11,000 estates will be shifted in the next year.

The Passat, unsurprisingly, features the common VW trim designations of S, SE and Sport. The £22,035 SE 2.0-litre TDI 138bhp is expected to be the best-selling model and this comes equipped with features like semi-automatic air conditioning, stop/start, battery regeneration, cruise control including fatigue detection system, DAB receiver, dazzling chrome trim, 17-inch alloy wheels and much more.

WHAT’S uNDER THE BONNET? A host of new, more efficient BlueMotion technology engines feature in the Passat including a 1.4litre TSI 120bhp petrol, two versions of the 2.0-litre TDI (138bhp and 168bhp) and a 1.6-litre TDI coming later in the year. Non-BlueMotion units come in the form of a 1.8-litre TSI and 2.0-litre TSI, and all come standard with six-speed transmissions. Six-speed and seven-speed DSG gearboxes are available as options.

WHAT DO THE PRESS THINk OF IT?

THe KNOWLeDGe Model: Volkswagen passat Bluemotion 2.0-litre TDI Price: £23,585 (tested), range from £18,875 engine: 2.0-litre, diesel Power: 138bhp, 320nm Max speed: 131mph 0-60mph: 9.6s MPG (comb’d): 54.3 emissions: 135g/km residual values: 34 per cent

Car Magazine found the Passat to be a fine motor saying there are ‘plenty of reasons to buy it’ and it’s ‘most definitely not as boring as you think’.

Autocar said the Passat was ‘a car of few surprises’ but ‘deservedly close to being the ideal car’. While The Daily Telegraph said the car was not a good enough reason to sell your existing Passat. On average the Passat scores four out of five in road tests.

THe rIVALS:

WHAT’S IT LIkE TO DRIVE?

WHAT DO WE THINk OF IT?

Effortless, if uninspiring. The new Passat is an extremely competent car at everything it aims for with its target buyers, but we think it just lacks a little sparkle. Customers will like the comfortable ride, which is not hard, and the new soundproofing means at motorway speeds it’s almost silent. On the whole the vast majority of buyers will be more than pleased with the new Passat. Just don’t expect them to be excited by it.

The new, seventh-generation Passat is highly competent and is a fine car for families and ideal for company car buyers. The angular face-lift is generally successful but the roof – which is left over from the curvy old model – sits awkwardly alongside the rest of the car. The cabin is just starting to feel its age too, but the car boasts excellent build quality. It’s just a shame the Passat doesn’t have the sparkle to match.

KeY SeLLING POINTS:

TArGeT BUYerS: Who is this car aimed at? Like the old model the new passat wears two hats – one for private buyers and another for company car drivers, though 80 per cent of buyers will be the fleet market.

Ford mondeo, Vauxhall Insignia, BmW 3 series

1. It’s safe – it scored five stars in euronCap tests 2. It’s refined – the side windows have thicker glass to reduce noise 3. The Bluemotion is economical

DeAL CLINCHer: The Passat is priced competitively has strong residuals, while returning low emissions.

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FEATURE.

20

Lexus at

Lap of

luxury Words: James Batchelor & James Baggott Pictures: Dean Smith

Lexus has been in the UK 20 years. To mark its anniversary Car Dealer embarked on a road trip in the oldest and newest LS models to meet some special dealers.

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B

ack in 1990 Nelson Mandela was freed, the average house price in London was just £86,800, John Major was appointed prime minister – and a new car maker came to the UK. Armed with the LS400, a bag full of brochures, a now legendary television advert involving 15 Champagne glasses and a name created

by American image consultants, Lexus set up shop in a small number of Toyota dealerships.

Positioned always in the right-hand side of those showrooms, Lexus had Mercedes-Benz, BMW and

Jaguar in its sights and was here for the long haul.

Fast forward 20 years and the maker’s carved itself a healthy niche. The brand is now seen to provide flawless customer service, it’s won the JD Power customer satisfaction survey 10 years in a row and is recognised for having a model line-up ranging from the soon-to-arrive CT 200h right up to the shocking LFA supercar.

Lexus has made a big impact on the British public, but how has it done it? Through its dealers, that’s how. They’re the ones that have been at the forefront of the brand giving

customers the incredible service the maker’s become renowned for.

To celebrate the arrival of Lexus to Britain two decades ago, Car Dealer embarked on an adventure to visit four noteworthy dealers that have helped Lexus reach its landmark. We started at the smallest in Plymouth and drove to the largest in Leicester. We then traveled from the oldest in Bristol to the newest on London’s Edgware Road. And to make the trip extra special we took the original Lexus LS 400 and the firm’s luxury LS 600h.

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FEATURE.

20

Lexus at

Smallest to largest

Small but perfectly formed – The Lexus Bristol team with Jonathan Stanbury, far left

P

lymouth is the smallest Lexus retailer in the country. Pull up outside the diminutive dealership and opposite sits a marginally larger Toyota showroom, and, perhaps bizarrely, a Harley Davidson dealership bolted on to the side – all of which are owned by the Marsh Group.

‘We’re a small site, but we do well here,’ explained centre manager Jonathan Stanbury.

Even though it is scaled down, the showroom still has the Lexus ‘look’, and manages to display five cars inside. Last year the site shifted 44 new and 85 used vehicles, but Stanbury has high hopes for 2011 with predictions of 80-plus new vehicles and 100-plus used cars.

So does being the smallest Lexus dealer in the UK present any problems? Stanbury brushes the remark off with casual ease. ‘Actually, room wise we’re very lucky,’ he says. ‘We haven’t got an issue with holding and displaying stock, but the issue we do have is one of resources. What you see is what you get – that’s four staff in the showroom and two in the workshop.’

Lexus Plymouth is used to being small. It was originally located in the cramped surroundings of inner city Plymouth before moving to its current location in 2000. Four years later Stanbury

‘‘

took control of the dealership with a wealth of experience.

Even though it is the smallest in the UK, the Plymouth site still has an important role to play in the Lexus portfolio.

‘Logistically we’ve got a large area to cover. We’ve got Cornwall in our area, and we go down as far as Lands End,’ explains Stanbury. Despite this responsibility, Lexus Plymouth is tied at the top spot of Lexus’ customer satisfaction survey, scoring 100 per cent.

Perhaps that’s due to Stanbury knowing all about the type of customer buying from his dealership. That’s why he knows the CT 200h is going to be such a success in the south west, for instance.

‘In this part of the world we anticipate 50 per cent of our new car sales will be the CT 200h. We

I was the youngest at meetings.

They used to ask who had brought their son.

Richard Rhodes was just 27 when he took over as dealer principal at Lexus Leicester

can’t wait for it as a lot of customers have told us they want to downsize and the CT offers this.’

After a group photo of the team, it’s onwards to the largest Lexus dealer – Leicester.

Part of the Sytner Group, it is arguably the jewel in the Lexus portfolio. Sitting on 3.1 acres of land, it has space for eight new cars in the showroom, some 40 used cars outside, as well as a 12-bay workshop. In spite of this, the Lexus ‘look’ is just as impressive as it was 240 miles away in Plymouth.

The dealer principal is Richard Rhodes and he greets us at the welcome desk. He’s been in sales for 18 years, ever since leaving school when he got his first job as a sales administrator. He was promoted to business manager at 25, then became head of this current dealership at just 27.

Young then?

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Corporate image Behind the story

‘Yes,’ Rhodes says casually. ‘At Sytner group meetings I was definitely the youngest. They used to ask who had brought their son!’

Joking aside, Rhodes has an important job to play. In 2010 Lexus Leicester was the brand’s number one volume dealer selling approximately 250 new cars and about the same used.

Thankfully there are excellent facilities to help.

The Leicester site is ‘only’ seven years old, and has a workshop a stone’s throw across the road.

The whole place still looks brand new – and Rhodes explains this is taken very seriously by the maker.

‘It’s very much in-bred in the Lexus ethos,’ he says. ‘Head office will come around once every three months and do a random visit. A 300-point check ranging from ensuring the colour swatches are in the right order to the quality of the loo roll

will be made. It certainly keeps you on your toes.’

The CT 200h is going to be a very important model for Plymouth, but what about for Lexus’ largest showroom? ‘Oh, it’s massive,’ Rhodes says.

‘Lexus has never had a C-segment car before; now we have and that is fantastic. It will attract a new audience as well as appealing to older customers.

This car will bring new life-blood to the brand, and it is also a step-in to the marque – in three years we can get customers into an IS, then a GS and so on.’

So what about the next 20 years – is there a car missing from the range that Rhodes would like to see? ‘An Audi TT rival,’ he declares. ‘I’ve never really understood why we haven’t done one!’

From the smallest to largest, oldest to newest one thing remained a constant on our road trip: The Look. The manufacturer has worked hard on creating a corporate image that means wherever buyers are in the country, if they walk into one of the firm’s dealers they’ll instantly feel at home.

Gone are the days when Lexus was tucked away in the corner of a Toyota dealership.

Now its dealers are the epitome of luxury.

Bang & Olufsen TVs decorate the sumptuous customer waiting areas where they can enjoy free WiFi and Italian coffee on demand.

Every dealer we visited was immaculate.

In fact even the oldest site in Bristol looked like it had just been built and moved into.

But then Lexus works hard on ensuring this corporate identity is maintained. And it’s this attention to detail that has kept the marque at the top of customer satisfaction surveys.

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FEATURE.

20

Lexus at What is it?

It’s luxury, executive transport that the head of Greenpeace would be happy to be seen in. Probably.

The LS600h uses a V8 petrol engine mated with battery power to offer the performance of a V12 but with fuel consumption and emissions to rival the segment’s best diesels.

The looks won’t appeal to everyone, but as super smooth transport it excels especially if you’re lucky enough to sit in the back.

What’s under the bonnet?

Some clever stuff. The 5.0-litre V8 engine produces 389bhp, backed up by an electric motor that adds a further 221bhp.

We say add, but it’s more like assists, as the maximum output for comparison is 439bhp. There’s a decent 520Nm of torque to waft execs along but emissions of just 219g/km and 30.4mpg. A similarly powered BMW 750 emits 266g/km and returns 24mpg.

What’s the spec like?

Incredible. Pretty much anything buyers could possibly want, plus kit they might not want, is included. Our test car had a rear DVD system, 19-speaker surround sound, four zone climate control, heated, massaging seats, parking camera, leather, cruise control, sat nav, and lots more.

And most of that comes as standard.

It’s actually a bit too spec crazy – it took us half an hour to find the electric button to adjust the seatbelt height!

What’s it like to drive?

Silky smooth. The car wafts along in near silence, cocooning the driver and passengers from the outside world. Although it’s more than five metres long it doesn’t feel too big and there’s always bundles of punch in reserve. Handling can best be described as sedate – this has no sporting credentials whatsoever – but this is about cruising in comfort, and it does that very well. Buyers will love the seamless switch between battery and engine too.

What do the press think of it?

Autocar loved the Lexus saying the loudest thing in it was the whir of the fans cooling your behind in the seats but added the price would need to include a chauffeur as the best place to be is in the back.

Auto Express thinks it’s not as stylish as a Mercedes S Class and is a bit expensive but added ‘it is undoubtedly special on the road’. Honest John said that he could do ‘1,000 miles in a single stint’ at the helm of the Lexus.

What do we think of it?

We grew to love it on our cross country Lexus Road Trip. At first the looks put us off, but as the miles piled on, we started to enjoy its comfort and extravagant kit. There’s something quite ironic about watching Alan Partridge in the back seat of a £90k version of his favourite car.

What impressed us most was the hybrid set-up. Okay it might not be that economical on motorways but in town it makes perfect sense.

Lexus LS600h the knowledge Model: Lexus LS600h Price: £89,265 Engine: 5.0-litre V8, electric motor Power: 439bhp, 520Nm Max speed: 155mph 0-60mph: 6.3s MPG: 30.4 Emissions: 219g/km Residual values (three years): 27 per cent

target buyers:

Eco friendly executives that don’t want customers thinking they’re driving a bunny killing limo. Oh and David Cameron.

Maybe.

the rivals:

BMW 730d, Mercedes S350 BlueEFFICIENCY, Audi A8 4.2 TDI

selling points:

1. 19-Speaker sound system makes DVDs sound like you’re in a cinema 2. Rear legroom would make a Rolls-Royce look cramped 3. Pre-crash protection system provides unparalleled levels of safety

deal clincher:

It has performance to match a V12 but emissions and economy of a diesel. Cash back!

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Now versus then What is it?

The car that launched Lexus in the UK. Launched in 1990, the LS400 was Japan’s first entry into the ‘upper-luxury’ car market. The LS400 was the only derivative of the car and aimed to provide ‘style without gimmicks in a user friendly hi-tech vehicle’. This example is the original motor show car that launched the brand to the masses, and it’s still running perfectly.

What’s under the bonnet?

There was no hybrid power back in 1990, instead Lexus had to make do with a silky quad cam 4.0-litre V8. The ethos was the same – a relaxed and luxurious drive – and to prove just how smooth the engine was the maker stacked Champagne glasses on the bonnet and revved the engine in a stunt.

None fell off. That lump produces 241bhp and 350Nm of torque while returning just 19.6mpg.

What’s the spec like?

For 1990, pretty impressive and it needed to be to justify its £34,250 price tag.

Standard specification included ABS, climate control, electrically adjustable seats with two memory settings, electrically adjustable steering wheel and mirrors, seven speaker sound system with cassette player and a six-disc multi changer in the boot. And to top it all off there was walnut trim.

What’s it like to drive?

Unsurprisingly relaxed.

That lazy V8 has plenty of power and it’s still swift by today’s standards – hitting 60mph in 8.3s. But at cruising motorway speeds it excels, wafting you along in comfort. Just like its younger sibling, it doesn’t like to be hurried and wallows a little in bends, but it’s the relative simplicity of the drive compared to the LS600h that really impresses. Just remember brakes in 1990 were a little different to today’s!

Well, considering it made an appearance 20 years ago, even Lexus can’t find the original road tests of the LS400.

However, after some digging we did learn Jeremy Clarkson was particularly taken with the Lexus, asking at the time whether it was ‘the best car in the world’. Top Gear even tested that smooth engine by placing a 50p on its side on the bonnet and revving the engine. Like those Champagne glasses, it didn’t move.

What do we think of it?

It’s amazing how similar the two Lexus feel, even after 20 years of development.

The dealers we visited all had stories of owners that still have the original LS and love it and it’s clear to see why. It doesn’t look dated; the design has stood the test of time very well, and it’s wonderfully relaxing to drive. That big V8 may not be the most economical but it does the job of smooth transportation perfectly and that’s exactly what an LS is all about.

Lexus LS400

the knowledge Model: Lexus LS400 Price: £34,250 Engine: 4.0-litre V8 Power: 241bhp, 350Nm Max speed: 155mph 0-60mph: 8.3s MPG: 19.6 Emissions: Not tested at the time Value now: £2,000

What do the press think of it?

target buyers:

Buyers were looking at rivals from German manufacturers but wanted to be seen as driving something different. The LS400 was perfect.

the rivals:

BMW 7-Series, Mercedes S-Class, Jaguar XJ

selling points:

1. Ability to not smash Champagne glasses when balanced on bonnet 2. No thick book of optional extras – the specification was great as standard 3. Super smooth V8 makes cruising a delight

deal clincher:

Car was created to be the best luxury vehicle in the world… and in a lot of respects succeeded.

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FEATURE.

20

Lexus at

Oldest to newest F

rom one Sytner site to another – this time it’s Bristol, the oldest Lexus outlet in the UK. Built in October 1999 it has been waving customers on their way in their brand new cars ever since.

It was the first purpose-built Lexus showroom in the UK to be separated from Toyota, and it represented the Japanese firm’s attempts to make Lexus appear more than just a posh Toyota.

Although, on first impressions, you would not know the dealership is 12 years old. It has all the style and looks of the marque’s more modern dealerships.

Current boss Gary Knott has been at the helm since May 2004. We asked him whether there are many advantages to being the oldest dealership in the Lexus network.

‘No, not really,’ Knott says. ‘I suppose the one advantage we can offer to customers is that the staff turnover is very low. Therefore when they come into the showroom, they are greeted by the same members of staff they saw when they were last here.’

Lexus Bristol is a good example of how the brand changed over the years. ‘When this site was originally built about eight used cars would have been sold a month. Now we sell 20 a month, and we have capacity for six new cars in the showroom.’

What was the turning point for Lexus in the UK, we ask Knott? ‘The IS 200 of 1999 played a huge part because it was the car that put the brand on the map. It was the volume seller that brought in the customers. When I joined in 2004, the IS 200 was in run-out but it was still very popular.’

Lexus Bristol has experiened the history of the brand, so we were keen to know Knott’s views on what the future holds for the marque.

‘Hybrid is the future – the future for Lexus and for all the other brands. But I don’t think customers know an awful lot about the technology. We get many people coming into the showroom asking where they plug it in!

Hybrid technology hasn’t been fully explained to consumers, but that’s our job when they walk through the door.’

Being the oldest dealership, Bristol must be doing something right. Knott reveals that he has a wealth of loyal customers who have become ‘advocates of the business’ over the years. That’s partly due to an initiative called ‘Saturday Wash Club’ where customers can come in, have a coffee

and a Danish pastry while their car is washed for them free of charge.

LONDON BOUND

‘‘

On the outside, under the towering corporate gold and shiny glass frontage, 25 used cars can be displayed. And the cost for Lexus’ newest palace? £8.5m to you, sir.

But even though this is the latest Lexus site, in essence it looks little different from the other three dealers we have been to; there’s still the same meticulous attention to detail, a Lexus Lounge, and toilets that look as though they’ve come from a show home.

The showroom impresses customers too. ‘We moved from a shared site with Toyota,’ says Phil Rees, Lexus Edgware Road’s

Customers don’t want to be seen to be buying a Toyota. They have bought into Lexus.

Talking of coffee, we grab the chance to have a cup of the hot stuff before heading to Edgware Road, London – Lexus’ newest site. It’s just the environment that is suitable for the firm’s hybrid range. Indeed, as we pull up in our LS duo, we notice hybrids make up the majority of Edgware Road’s used stock.

It’s by far the most impressive inside and out. It is a two-storey building with upstairs and downstairs showrooms allowing 12 cars to be displayed, as well as two ‘VIP rooms’.

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Gary Knott is in charge at the firm’s oldest site in Bristol

Phil Rees, LexusCare consultant at the firm’s latest dealership on Edgware Road, London

CT 200h Behind the story

LexusCare consultant. ‘Since doing that it has been fantastic. We do now get less footfall – as at the old site the majority of customers were interested in Toyota – but now it is a much more pleasant atmosphere, and we can concentrate on giving the Lexus customer experience.’

But does this brand separation matter to Lexus customers in London? Rees believes so: ‘Certainly it matters to customers – a lot of them don’t want to be seen to be buying a Toyota because they have bought into the Lexus brand,’ he says.

Last year, Lexus Edgware Road sold an impressive 180 new and 296 used cars. But this year, like all the dealers we spoke to, they have far higher aspirations. And with the congestion charge zone just a few miles away, it’s likely the CT200 h will play an important part in achieving their ambitious targets.

Two decades ago, a new name joined the executive establishment. It started out with one car in Toyota showrooms but, over time, it carved itself a niche with a unique, loyal band of customers in toe. It set out to deliver unparalleled levels of customer service – a feat that other car manufacturers still cannot match.

But how has it done this? Through its dealers, that’s how. We’ve been to the brand’s diminutive dealer in Plymouth, seen the size and space of Lexus Leicester, heard the history at Bristol, and been amazed by the grandeur of Edgware Road.

And one thing remained a constant at every one of those sites – their passion for a brand that’s got many bright years ahead of it. [CD] Has your dealership got a story to tell? Get in touch with us by calling (023) 9252 2434.

As soon as we mentioned it, every one of the dealers’ faces lit up like a five-year-old on Christmas Day. It’s safe to say the CT 200h is the most important car for the Lexus retail network – and don’t they know it.

Going head to head with the likes of the Golf and Audi A3, the hybrid will bring the volumes that Lexus dealers deserve and crave.

The four retailers we visited are all predicting their sales figures will double this year on the back of the launch. It’s a car as important, if not more important, to the marque as the IS200 was when that arrived back in 1999.

‘There’s no doubt we’ve had it a bit tough,’ one salesman told me while we shot pictures.

‘But the CT200h is going to change all that. It’s the turning point we’ve been waiting for.’

James Baggott editor

Car Dealer Club members get free legal advice worth £199. Sign up at CarDealerMag.co.uk | 49

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FEATuRE.

Win tickets to Goodwood with Car Dealer Power i

f you love fast cars and want the chance to get behind the wheel, then Car Dealer can help! This month, as a thank you for filling out the Car Dealer Power survey, we’re giving away five pairs of tickets to the Goodwood Moving Motor Show.

Five random respondents who fill in our Car Dealer Power survey over the next few weeks will be handed the tickets – all you need to do to get your hands on them is fill out the survey at CarDealerPower.com or on the following pages and post them back to us.

The Moving Motor Show is a preview day to the Goodwood Festival of Speed and gives motoring enthusiasts the chance to get up close and personal with some of the

coolest cars around.

A huge number of manufacturers will be displaying their cars at the event and many offer showgoers the chance to get behind the wheel themselves! The show is held on June 30.

So what’s Car Dealer Power all about? Well, it’s your chance to tell the manufacturer you represent what you really think of them without fear of reprisals. We’re hunting for the best car maker as judged by their dealers. Last year Nissan retailers voted the Japanese firm number one, but will it retain the title in 2011?

And don’t think just because you’re an independent you’re left out! Part two is for ALL dealers. This rates the suppliers you do business with on a daily basis and aims to name the

very best in their respective fields.

The Car Dealer Power awards are the only ones voted for by those that matter most – you! Suppliers up and down the country are desperate to win the gongs, but can only do it if you fill in the survey.

To ensure you can give your feedback honestly the survey is anonymous. We won’t ask for any details other than your mobile number – and that’s only so we can let you know if you’ve won a prize.

So if you want to enter the ticket competition make sure you give us your mobile number!

Surveys need to be back with us

by May 28, but if you want to enter the prize draw for the Moving Motor Show tickets you need to fill in your survey by March 4.

Awards night

EMPOWERING DEALERS paGInG all suppliers and car manufacturers… This year we’ll be hosting a special Car Dealer power awards night to celebrate your success. a special dinner and awards ceremony will be held 170 metres above the ground on the viewing deck of the spinnaker Tower in portsmouth!

With views that stretch 26 miles in each direction, the contenders for gongs in each of the Car Dealer power categories will enjoy a sumptuous dinner and find out who’s won what. no-one invited to the event will be going home empty handed – as only award winners and those with highly commended places will be offered tickets. The awards will be held on July 13 and details of how tickets can be purchased will be released nearer the time. But for now, if you think you’ve got a good chance of winning, make sure you put July 13 in your diary!

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FEATuRE.

The easiest way to fill in the survey is online a CarDealerPower.com

ERS EMPOWERING DEAL

Car DeaLer power is 100 per CenT ConFIDenTIaL. anything you say in this survey will neVer be passed on to anyone else and will remain securely with Car Dealer magazine. however, if you want to be entered into the prize draw we need your mobile phone number – this is

so we can call you and find out where to send the prize!

If you represent more than one manufacturer you can fill in this survey again online by visiting CarDealerPower.com, photocopy these pages or email james@blackballmedia.co.uk for a

copy. all requests will be treated confidentially. any comments you wish to make will be most welcome. These may be used in the magazine but will be attributed anonymously.

Thanks for your help!

Your mobile number (needed to be entered into prize draw)…………………........

PART ONE

 excellent  Faultless Comments:

1. Which car manufacturer do you represent? (If it’s more than one, please fill in the survey again)  abarth  alfa romeo  aston martin  audi  Bentley  BmW  Cadillac  Chevrolet  Chrysler  Citroen  Corvette  Daihatsu  Dodge  Fiat  Ford  honda  hyundai  Infiniti  Jaguar  Jeep  kia  Land rover  Lexus  Lotus  mazda  mercedes-Benz  mG  mini  mitsubishi  nissan  perodua  peugeot  porsche  proton  renault  saab  seat  skoda  smart  ssangyong  subaru  suzuki  Toyota  Vauxhall  Volkswagen  Volvo  other (please name) 2. How would you rate your manufacturer with regards to its finance offers?  poor  average  Good

3. How do you rate the warranty your manufacturer offers? Does it cover everything it needs to and is it easy to administer?  poor  average  Good  excellent  Faultless Comments:

4. How would you rate your car manufacturer on its aftersales support?  poor  average  Good  excellent  Faultless Comments:

5. How do you rate your car manufacturer’s marketing overall? Consider the support it offers you for advertising, the offers it comes up with and the marketing schemes it has developed.  poor  average  Good  excellent  Faultless Comments:

6. How do you rate your car manufacturer’s brand awareness?  poor  average  Good  excellent  Faultless Comments:

7. How accessible is your manufacturer?

Can you get hold of the right people at head office? Do they listen to what you have to say?  poor  average  Good  excellent  Faultless Comments:

8. How good is your manufacturer with regards to the internet? Consider the support it gives your online offering, how leads are fed down to you and the quality of its website.  poor  average  Good  excellent  Faultless Comments:

9. How do you rate the supply of new cars from your manufacturer?  poor  average  Good  excellent  Faultless Comments:

10. How well does it manage used cars?

Consider how it manages stock and its used car scheme.  poor  average  Good  excellent  Faultless Comments:

11. How do you rate your manufacturer’s forward planning?  poor  average  Good  excellent  Faultless Comments:

12. How do you rate the requirements your manufacturer imposes on you?  poor  average  Good  excellent  Faultless Comments:

13. What do you think of the bonus structure put in place by your car manufacturer?  poor  average  Good  excellent  Faultless Comments:

14. Finally, how do you rate the return on investment from your manufacturer?  poor  average  Good  excellent  Faultless Comments:

15. Which car – from any manufacturer – do you think deserves the title of the Car Dealer Power Car of the Year?

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Please send completed surveys to: Car Dealer Power, PO BOX 227, Gosport, PO12 9DE part Two - The SUPPLIERS

This section is about finding the best suppliers to do business with. The winners will not be decided solely by the most popular, but by how good they are at providing you with a service. We’ll be naming a winner for each category and two highly commended places which will be announced at the Car Dealer Power Awards ceremony on July 13. For each category, first tell us who you use, then how you rate their service and finally add any comments you have.

1. Warranties  1. WMS  2. Warranty Wise  3. Auto Protect  4. Car Care Plan  5. RAC Warranty  6. AA Warranty  7. Mapfre Abraxas  8. Other (please name): How do you rate the service?  Poor  Average  Good  Excellent  Faultless Comments: 2. Digital Specialists (design, software)  1. Autotorq  2. GForces  3. Spidersnet  4. Codeweavers  5. Viper Image Media  6. UK Websites  7. Webzation  8. DSG Financial Services  9. Manheim Retail Marketing  10. Other (please name): How do you rate the service?  Poor  Average  Good  Excellent  Faultless Comments: 3. Online Advertising  1. Auto Trader  2. eBay Motors  3. Motoring.co.uk  4. Motors.co.uk  5. Netcars.co.uk  6. Carpages.co.uk  7. Pistonheads  8. Makeandmodel.co.uk  9. Buyyourcar.co.uk  10. Reallygooddomains.com (stable of sites)  11. Compucars.co.uk  12. Carmony.co.uk  13. Other (please name): How do you rate the service?  Poor  Average  Good  Excellent  Faultless Comments: 4. Finance  1. Black Horse  2. Carlyle  3. DSG  4. Santander  5. First Response  6. Barclays  7. Alphera  8. Other (please name): How do you rate the service?  Poor

 Average  Good  Excellent  Faultless Comments: 5. Lubricants  1. Castrol  2. Mobil 1  3. Total  4. Chevron Havoline  5. Comma  6. Other (please name): How do you rate the service?  Poor  Average  Good  Excellent  Faultless Comments: 6. Recruitment  1. JGA  2. Steele & Dixon  3. Perfect Placement  4. REP  5. Motor Industry Recruitment  6. Top Car Recruitment  7. Square Peg Recruitment  8. Connect HR  9. Other (please name): How do you rate the service?  Poor  Average  Good  Excellent  Faultless Comments: 7. Provenance checks  1. HPI  2. Experian  3. AA Car Data Check  4. Mycarcheck.com  5. CarTextCheck.co.uk  6. Other (please name): How do you rate the service?  Poor  Average  Good  Excellent  Faultless Comments: 8. Used Car valuations  1. Glass’s Guide  2. CAP  3. Experian  4. Auto Trader  5. What Car?  6. WeBuyAnyCar.com  7. HPI  8. Other (please name): How do you rate the service?  Poor  Average  Good  Excellent  Faultless Comments: 9. Remarketing  1. BCA  2. Manheim Remarketing  3. SMA  4. Auction4cars.com  5. Wilsons  6. FLAG

 7. Autotrade-mail.com  8. Trader-Net.co.uk  9. G3 Remarketing  10. MFLdirect.co.uk  11. Other (please name): How do you rate the service?  Poor  Average  Good  Excellent  Faultless Comments:

10. Lead generation  1. Autotrade-mail.com  2. MFLdirect.co.uk  3. Hook Logic  4. FindsYou.com  5. Motorati  6. Motoring.co.uk  7. AutoTrader.co.uk  8. BuyYourCar.co.uk  10. Other (please name): How do you rate the service?  Poor  Average  Good  Excellent  Faultless Comments: 11. Dealer management and technology  1. Dragon2000  2. WinWin World  3. Gemini Systems  4. Kalamazoo Reynolds  5. Autoview  6. Pinewood  7. Dealer Management Services  8. Manheim Retail Marketing  9. Other (please name): How do you rate the service?  Poor  Average  Good  Excellent  Faultless Comments: 12. Paint protection  1. Supagard  2. Autoglym Lifeshine  3. Diamondbrite  4. Ventureshield  5. 3M Scotchgard  6. Paintshield  7. GardX  8. Smartgard  9. Other (please name): How do you rate the service?  Poor  Average  Good  Excellent  Faultless Comments: 13. Special Achievement Name the one motor trade supplier you feel has achieved something special this year.

Reasons why would be appreciated:

14. Innovation of the Year What product of service has blown you away this year? Reasons why would be appreciated:

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 53

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FEATuRE.

911 FOr 2011

Every cloud has a silver lining...

THE STORy SO FAR...

Bought for... £0 Sold for... £250

Bought for... £0 Sold for... £790.03

Bought for... £985.25 Sold for... £2,150

We took this picture to advertise it with... then found out the roof had broken

t

hings don’t always go smoothly in the motor trade and as our 911 for 2011 campaign continues we’ve certainly discovered that.

First a quick recap of where we are. At the beginning of December we invested £6k of the kitty we’d topped up with the sale of the Mazda MX-5s into a Mercedes CLK240 convertible.

Marshall Motor Group’s chief exec Daksh Gupta sourced us the car from his Mercedes Benz of Bolton site and we picked it up before the snow fell. Santa’s visit got in the way of putting the car up for sale so it didn’t move until the beginning of January when we decided to get the car on Auto Trader.

After a thorough valet we took it for some pictures, but when we went to put the roof down nothing happened. This was not good news.

After some detective work we found the hydraulic fluid level was well below minimum so topped it up – sadly all that achieved was to make our wallet £20 lighter.

Former Merc salesman Dunc was dispatched to pull in a favour at his old stomping ground. After some diagnostic work and two mechanics’ opinions we were no closer to fixing

Not all was well with our CLK’s roof, but it eventually worked out in BEN’s favour the fault – and they’d only probe it further if we started to shell out.

Enter old friend Matt Kendell of MX-5 fixing fame. He took the car away and spotted a bracket had broken. £120 later he’d replaced that – but still it refused to work. Further investigation found a leaking hydraulic pump. They certainly don’t make Mercs like they used to...

There was some good news among all this, though. Kendell’s receptionist’s mum wanted to buy the CLK and a deal was struck for £8,250 dependent on us fixing the roof. That meant every penny spent out was profit slipping through our fingers. This left us in a bit of a conundrum. The last thing we wanted to do was go back to Marshall and moan. They had done us a huge favour by letting us have the car for £6k in the first place, so we decided not to bother them.

But Marshall still heard about the saga on the grapevine (Twitter) and were soon on the phone offering to fix it. By this stage we’d already paid

out for the work – £698.22 in total.

Mercedes Benz of Bolton boss Andy Banks couldn’t be more apologetic when he called.

‘Andy, these things happen and with the 911 for 2011 challenge we knew we’d have to take the rough with the smooth – this is in no way your fault,’ we explained. ‘We didn’t want to bother you with it because that would have just been unfair.’

Banks was having none of it – he insisted on paying for the repairs so BEN wasn’t out of pocket. To be honest, we felt guilty accepting the cash – we know if we’d been doing this in ‘real life’ we would have had to take the hit. But Banks wouldn’t let BEN go without, sending us a cheque by return post, reserving his place – and Marshall’s – in heaven.

In fact, thinking about it, without the problematic roof we’d never have taken the car to Kendell’s and it would never have found its new owner. Every cloud and all that...

Now we just need to find something to spend our cash on next! [CD]

Bought for... £2,000 Sold for... £5,005

All bought for... £500 All sold for... £2,720

Bought for... £6,000 Sold for... £8,250 In the pot... £9,418

‘‘

Banks wouldn’t let BEN go without – sending us a cheque by return post CarDealerMag.co.uk | 55

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FEATuRE.

a day in ThE LIFE OF...

Supermarket

sweet

Car supermarkets are a different breed when it comes to sales. James Batchelor headed to Motorpoint’s freezing cold Burnley site to find out how it works

t

he growth of the car supermarket in recent years has been astronomical.

The pile them high, sell them cheap approach is a very different one to the industry norm, but several big names have made a huge success of it.

One of the market leaders is Motorpoint. First established in 1998, it sold an incredible 44,000 cars to customers last year alone. To experience this very different selling practice, we headed to the firm’s Burnley site, which was celebrating its 10th birthday in January. The Motorpoint story began here with just 10 employees, three Portakabins and a shed to keep the car keys in. So have things changed? Well, you could say that…

Another day dawns at Motorpoint

08:30 Motorpoint Burnley opens.

08:35 I step out of my rather warm car, braving the cold breeze and head over to the entrance. Jon Grace, general manager of Motorpoint Burnley is already at the door waiting for me. ‘I know all about your visit… welcome to a cold Burnley,’ he smirks.

08:41 Grace leaves me with a coffee to organise his ‘troops’ for their morning meeting. He switches the music (something rather modern) and the television on. Motorpoint’s TV channel bursts into life with an offer on a new Fiesta.

08:59 The salesmen are gathered together in Grace’s office. It’s the type of meeting they have every day. Figures so far this week reveal that the site is averaging 10 sales a day; ‘This should be more,’ says Grace. ‘You and I know that we should be doing 14 or 15.’ The target for the week is 30. Grace finishes the meeting with a progress report of the running challenge they’re doing which includes most of the salesmen – four miles a night in freezing weather. Me, the Southern Softie, is still shivering in the corner.

09:15 I grab the chance to talk to Grace about Motorpoint Burnley. He explains the firm’s USPs – the major one being the welcome the customer is

given. They’re always ‘meeted and greeted’, given a welcome pack, told about how Motorpoint works and then left to wander around without the salesmen interfering. Grace describes how the site looked 10 years ago, and tells me that since 2001 it has shifted a staggering 72,000 cars.

Using my phone’s calculator I work out that means they’ve sold an average of 20 cars a day.

Just one of the cars waiting to be picked up DAY IN THE LIFE OF...

Jon Grace General manager a normal day for me would involve me getting here for 8.30 and preparing for the sales meeting at 9am. I then use the computer system to analyse the customer quotes we’ve got; the morning is just sales orientated. I will then look at the collections scheduled for the day, talk to customers, organise and make sure everything is running as smoothly as possible and make sure we are where we need to be.

09:26 Working hard at his desk by the front door is Kurt Bergin of the sales team. He’s been away for the past two days so he’s chasing leads and ‘generally tidying everything up’. The rest of the day is dealing with the waves of customers.

Bergin has been here for 10 years, not from the beginning but near as damn it. He loves his job.

09:55 I walk through Grace’s office (he is checking sales figures) into the admin area and meet Amanda Scott, the admin manager. It’s a very different environment; homely and warm – perhaps that’s to do with the way Scott is referred to. She’s known as the ‘backbone’ of Motorpoint Burnley. ‘We’re here to help everyone else out,’ and what of that backbone status? ‘It’s flattering… it’s nice to feel wanted!’

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DAY IN THE LIFE OF...

Gary Chapman Sales I’m in at 8.45am for the sales meeting – that’s the first thing of the day, and it gives us a heads up and psyches us up. Then there’s the admin bit – cars that are going out today, cars that have landed the previous day, then going through yesterday’s quotes to get some business. The rest of the day is mostly made up meeting and greeting and the business of selling cars. I started in the trade selling forklift trucks, but always wanted to get into cars – this is a brilliant job.

11:48 Two customers enter and are greeted by a salesman. ‘That’s Liam talking to those customers… he’s a national boxing champion,’ Grace whispers to me.

12:02 I meet Stephen Duxbury and Amanda Everitt who have just bought a Vauxhall Zafira.

They’re with business manager Nicholas Eatough and are more than happy chatting to me. ‘We’ve seen all the adverts and heard great things about Motorpoint,’ says Duxbury. ‘We actually came down to have a look at another car, such is the variety of cars here.’

Batch asks whether the Alfa would suit his Geography teacher attire

10:00 Three customers are waiting to collect their cars. They’re watching the rather mesmerising Motorpoint TV.

12:24 I sit in on a hand-over meeting. Mark Yates, part of the collections team, is handing over a 60-reg Clio 1.2-litre to Patrick and Yvonne Bailey. They bought from Motorpoint because of the ‘price and service’. ‘We rang the local Renault dealer about a similar car, and they never got back to us. So we came to Motorpoint and haven’t regretted the decision at all.’ That won’t please Renault…

10:25 I nip outside to have a look at the cars being collected by customers. More than 20 are being picked up today, ranging from traditional big sellers like a Focus and a couple of Astras, right up to a black Kia Soul with alarming red fabric seats. Stuart MacGregor is polishing them and making them look their best.

10:37 I find Keith Byrne looking over some cars waiting to be collected tomorrow. He explains to me the process from the cars being unloaded from the transporter, documented, cleaned, photographed for the website, and put on the lot. He and his team do this day in day out, ‘in all weathers’ Byrne says with all seriousness. He also explains to me Motorpoint’s ‘silent salesman’ a leaflet that displays all the car’s details that’s stuck to the windscreen. This gives customers the details they need while they’re browsing.

11:42 ‘Four cars sold, James,’ Grace bellows from his office. ‘14 for the whole company.’

12:10 Grace tells me why the customers were with the business manager. ‘We recognise that certain people are good at certain jobs. So the salesman will sell the car, the business manager will sort the business side out, and the collections person will look after the customer when they’re collecting their car.’

Two happy customers sign on the line

12:38 Yates nips out and returns minutes later armed with mats for the Clio. He then takes the two customers out to their Clio. ‘Nice and shiny,’ says Yvonne. ‘It’s for our son, we can’t wait to give it to him,’ she beams.

13:35 Grace calls me into his office and hands me a ham butty and a hot sausage roll. It’s without doubt the fattiest but tastiest sausage roll I’ve ever had. ‘It’s to warm you up,’ Grace says.

Another customer collects their new car

14:22 I find John Curley, workshop manager, overseeing some work being CarDealerMag.co.uk | 57

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FEATuRE.

a day in ThE LIFE OF...

carried out on an Alfa Romeo Spider’s electric roof. He tells me that they are more than equipped to repair any cars that come in, with some going straight out on to the lot, while others go on to Motorpoint’s sister firm Auction4Cars. com. They’ve also taken on servicing. ‘We’re averaging between 60 and 100 full services a month, and it looks as though we’re going to be doing more too, like tyre fitting,’ says Curley. It’s a non-stop task. ‘It’s a five-day job, we need the weekend to recover,’ Curley jokes.

15:02 Andrew Stott is also based in the same workshop, but he’s the stock controller. It’s a job that involves making sure the photos of the cars on the website are up to Motorpoint’s high-standards, checking and documenting the cars that come off the transporter, and printing the silent salesmen. Important jobs that make Motorpoint Burnley run so smoothly.

‘We stroke all cars lovingly, like this’

Motorpoint TV: Better than Jeremy Kyle

16:25 Grace bellows from his office again: ‘11 cars sold today, James.’ And how many has Motorpoint sold nationally? I ask. ‘A nice round 60… so far,’ he adds.

16:37 It’s tea time. I enjoy a nice cup of strong Northern tea, while watching Motorpoint TV.

C

M

17:33 Gary Chapman comes over and asks if I’d like to go on a test drive with a customer.

The customer is very interested in buying a 10reg Ford Fiesta 1.6 diesel Zetec. He’s struggling to decide between the grey and silver one (Motorpoint has both), but selects the silver one for his test drive.

17:39 Chapman brings the car round to the entrance and explains the controls. ‘We’ll go up the road, past the cemetery, along the M66 and back again.’ I sit in the back trying to look like part of the upholstery. The test drive is just the same as Motorpoint’s selling techniques; pleasant, friendly and relaxed. The customer is now very interested.

Y

They’ve got the keys, but what’s the secret?

‘So what does that giant paperclip do?’

18:20 Another cup of tea calls.

DAY IN THE LIFE OF...

18:22 …and a Time Out.

Keith Byrne

18:54 The customer has bought the Fiesta. In total, Motorpoint Burnley has sold 13 cars today – almost on target.

20:00 The salesmen, headed by Burgin, leave with me in tow. The cleaners lock the doors on what has been a day of 13 sales, great company, happy customers – and a cold Southerner. [CD]

CM

MY

CY

CMY

Yard manager

K

I GeT here for 8.30am to oversee the collections that are going out that day. We have two to three deliveries a day and the cars have to be documented and prepped, photographed and inspected. The cars are inspected for damage at four different points – minimising the risk of stock going on to the lot damaged.

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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.

C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

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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auctions

Welcome U

sed cars haven’t seen this sort of demand for years.

Quarter three in 2010 was the first to see sales rise both annually and quarterly since the first quarter of 2006, even though that’s traditionally a slow time for the industry.

That’s great news when you’re standing on your forecourt waving customers farewell in their new car, but not such good news when you’re trying to find high-quality cars that customers want to buy.

And that’s not to mention customers’ attitudes either. With the recent VAT increase to 20 per cent, the slowdown in the economy towards the end of 2010 and government cuts slashing buyers’ cash, punters are even more reluctant to buy new.

However, it’s not all bad news. If you do your research and keep your head focussed on market trends and keep looking out for high-quality cars with decent service history, you can be assured that customers will want to place a handful of crisp £50 notes in your hands.

How do you do this? By hitting the auctions – that’s how!

Auction rooms and their online counterparts across the length and breadth of the UK may be full of dealers like you, but they are the best place to source quality cars at the best prices.

We’ve spoken to some of the best companies in the auction industry about how they can help you. And if anyone knows the used car market like the back of their hand it’s these guys. Here’s what they can do for you…

What’s inside?

BCA

P62

Auction firm enjoys blistering start to the new year

GRS

P64

Remarketing company knows your time is money... and it’s here to help

FLAG

P65

Trade-only sales mean you don’t have to battle Joe Public

HBC

P66

Why you shouldn’t be worried about buying damaged stock

G3 Remarketing

P67

Come in from the cold and enjoy bidding from your PC

Auction4Cars.com

P68

Fee-free auction gives you access to Motorpoint’s stock

Batch

James Batchelor Staff writer

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Blistering start to 2011 W: british-car-auctions.co.uk T: 0844 875 3480

B

CA has nothing but good news at the moment. The auction firm has widely reported that it began the year in a strong position with outstanding levels of trading. The second week of January has been touted as one of the firm’s strongest ever with nearly 14,000 cars, trucks and vans going under the hammer.

But it’s not only in the auction rooms where BCA is doing well – online sales are just as vibrant. That aforementioned week in January saw nearly 3,000 vehicles sold online.

So, what makes BCA unique? It’s the fact that it has been established since 1946 – therefore it’s seen a lot of cars pass underneath its gavels, and helped many a dealer like yourself. BCA also has a full selection of services ranging from bespoke remarketing programmes and valeting and preparation services. We spoke to BCA’s communications director Tony Gannon, about what makes BCA special and his expectations for 2011.

What does BCA think will happen to used car prices this year?

Economic uncertainty means that consumers will be looking for the keenest deals and will expect a ‘lot of car’ for their money. Used car dealers that can offer a wide range of attractive vehicles at a good price will be best placed in 2011.

In light of that, how can they use BCA to improve their returns?

BCA provides the stock exchange that will help dealers keep their forecourts fresh and attractive.

It is the place to sell non-retail part-exchanges and over-age vehicles quickly and for true market value. More and more blue chip dealer groups are adopting all auction policies on non-retail stock because it is a hassle-free and profitable way to manage this area of their business.

The buying opportunities should need no introduction – around 13,000 vehicles available at any one time, from the best selection of corporate

operators and fleet sellers, on sale through a variety of channels including physical auction, Live Online, Bid Now and Buy Now. BCA doesn’t just do auctions, does it – what other services can dealers use?

BCA offers a full package of remarketing services, with some exciting additions planned for 2011.

Seller services include bespoke, fully marketed remarketing programmes for volume sellers, specialist inspection and collection, SMART repairs, a comprehensive valeting and preparation service and a variety of channels to market including the new online Bid Now and Buy Now services.

Some dealers might be worried about buying from auction – tell us why they shouldn’t be?

They should be more worried if they are not using auctions, because it limits their access to the stock they can acquire. With the majority of vehicles from most of the best corporate sellers available exclusively through auction remarketing channels, there has never been a better choice reaching the open market. And it is so easy to buy these days – if you can’t attend in person, you can buy via Live Online in competition with the auction hall, or pay fixed price or bid online via Buy Now and Bid Now. What cars have been holding their prices the best at auction in the past six months?

The luxury end of the market was very strong, with buyers prepared to pay significant six-figure sums for the right car. The success of the 4x4 sector has been well documented and was given another boost by the poor winter weather. Rising fuel prices also meant plenty of demand for more frugal and economical-to-run cars.

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some dealers might be worried about buying online, what are the benefits of buying cars from auction on the internet?

The most immediate benefit is that it brings far more vehicles within easy reach. The majority of BCA’s sales are now available via Live Online, and additional fresh stock is featured daily on Bid Now and Buy Now. That means thousands of vehicles to choose from every day, from the comfort of your office PC or laptop. To improve the quality of data for all buyers, BCA has introduced a new gate appraisal system nationwide, using new hardware and software to deliver swift and comprehensive appraisals to a consistent standard, combined with an accurate grading system and detailed images of every vehicle handled by the company. As a result, online catalogue listings are posted earlier than ever before and contain a greater range of detail.

Buying or bidding is as simple as clicking a mouse.

Payment can be made securely online and delivery can be ordered at the same time.

Auction halls have been buzzing at the start of 2011, reports BCA

do you think internet buying is the growth area?

Our own figures suggest internet buying is going to increase within the remarketing sector because it broadens the buying audience – which is good for sellers – and brings more stock within the reach of buyers, which means more choice and availability.

And the online systems themselves are constantly being improved. All the stock on BCA’s website is integrated, which means that customers should never miss an opportunity.

When do you think the car market will improve?

If you take the long view, the market has already improved in many ways – demand is steadier, there is gentle value growth, and good supply lines of stock. After the falls of 2008 and the recovery of 2009, last year saw the market returning to more seasonal patterns, and we expect that to continue during 2011. and finally, what one tip would you have for dealers in these tough economic times?

Consider every avenue when it comes to sourcing stock. Used cars will be the battleground for dealer profitability so make sure you are well armed and do your reconnaissance!

BCA Bid Now and Buy Now BCa Bid now online auctions run every weekday, with new stock appearing on the website daily. Vehicles can be previewed from mid-afternoon, then bids placed online between 4-6pm. Buyers can either place bids manually or use the ‘proxy bid’ feature where the system will bid up to an agreed maximum.

Buy now online sales offer vehicles at a fixed price, and give BCa sellers a 24/7

shop window with the opportunity to add new stock daily. Vehicles can be purchased immediately, meaning dealers can search for stock even during busy weekend trading periods, generating a new level of wholesale availability in what has been ‘downtime’ for buyers. Buy now delivers the ability to meet and match the needs of a retail customer there and then in the dealership.

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Time is money W: GRS.co.uk T: 01743 281808

A

s a dealer you’ll know how important your time is, and if there was a service that could save you a few hours, if not days, you would grab it with both hands, surely? GRS Remarketing knows this too.

That is why its ethos is making the business of vehicle remarketing as straightforward as possible.

By simply registering on GRS’ website, you get full access to their stock search 24 hours a day.

And when you hit the button to buy, you can be confident that the vehicle you’re purchasing is of high quality. You can also buy over the phone, if you prefer – either way GRS do not charge any fees when they sell a car.

The company only sells to the trade too, and

each car comes with a full guarantee – that means if the vehicle is not up to your standards, GRS will simply exchange it or give you a full refund. Can’t say fairer than that!

GRS is so committed to making the buying process straightforward, that each customer has a personal account manager who guides them through the process and is on hand to help at any stage. And if you want that stock to be on your forecourt quickly, GRS can get your purchases to you within two working days.

GRS is well prepared for dealers for other reasons too. ‘We’re part of the Greenhous Group,’ says Theo Kortland, GRS managing director. ‘It’s

sounds cheesy, but we have retail in our blood.’

And they do. The Greenhous Group began trading in 1912 and holds franchises for Vauxhall, Saab and Chevrolet, among others. It is one of the largest automotive groups in the country, firmly placed in the Sunday Times 100 privately owned UK companies. That means they know how dealerships work because they operate showrooms themselves.

‘The vast majority of our customers buy unseen on our website or over the phone,’ says Kortland.

‘That is because they are confident that what we tell them is true; we promise that when you buy a car from GRS, you are getting a quality car.’

Want access to a huge range of makes and models?

It’s easy.

At grs we sell cars. And because we always have a huge range of different makes and models in stock you’re sure to be able to access the vehicle you want, when you want it.

Welcome to the easy way.

Call 01743 281 808 or visit www.grs.co.uk

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Trade-only sales W: fleetauctiongroup.com T: 01530 833535

J

oe Public. He’s your best friend when in a professional you’re trying to off-load that Hyundai environment that Accent that’s been at the back of your is free from retail forecourt for six months, but he’s your customers,’ says CEO worst enemy when you’re at auction. He’ll drive Andrew Walker. up the price of that car you’ve been after, or worse Since FLAG only he’ll actually buy the damn thing. So wouldn’t it deals with professionals who have pre-registered, be brilliant if you didn’t have to share the same those traders pay on account or by electronic auction room as him? Well, you can at one of Fleet means. That results in no long queues to stand in Auction Group’s sites. to pay for your purchases. It’s also part of the The firm – more commonly known as FLAG firm’s old-fashioned service principles too, – only allow registered traders to purchase from explains Walker. them, meaning that the only time you’ll encounter ‘When you get here you are dealt with in a Mr J Public is when he’s looking at your Accent. proper manner. Because we don’t handle cash in ‘The benefits of being strictly trade-only the premises, there are no glass screens to queue areCar enormous to dealers, for they4/10/10 are bidding12:00 pmup at.

Our auction rooms’ entrances are very much Dealer magazine Page 1

like hotel lobbies.’ Vehicle valeting and facilities are also available, and FLAG operates a 24-7 vehicle collection and delivery service to get stock to your door quickly. Buyers’ premiums are fixed too which means you’ll know how much you can afford to bid on that Hyundai.

But we’ve saved the best bit until last. Cue Walker: ‘We have the best restaurant of any auction house in the UK, so you won’t be going hungry!’

Why not put his claim to the test?

There is someone who still gives you real service Our unique, strictly no cash/trade-only auctions combine high-tech resources and innovative thinking with good old fashioned service principles.

State-of-the-art auction halls, fixed buyer's premiums, 24/7 collection, fleet car sales every Monday and Thursday from the UK’s leading fleets, the list goes on.

Trade professionals like service. At FLAG we are passionate about it.

Brindley Road, Stephenson Industrial Estate, Coalville, Leicestershire LE67 3HG T: 01530 833535 F: 01530 813425 email: info@fleetauctiongroup.com www.fleetauctiongroup.com CarDealerMag.co.uk | 65

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Smashing deals W: hbc.co.uk T: 01268 696444

i

t would be very easy to get frightened by the idea of buying damaged stock, but these vehicles can offer dealers strong returns if bought wisely.

This is where HBC can help. They’re an online vehicle disposal company with 45 years experience in the salvage trade, and deal mostly with written-off cars. They’re an independent company so they understand the needs of you, the independent dealers.

But what makes HBC so unique? We put the question to Steve Hankins, HBC’s managing director. ‘It’s our online sales system,’ Hankins says. ‘The bespoke sales system we have has been in operation for in excess of six years. The majority of our competitors don’t have any form

9227_HBC_1/2 page ad:Layout 1

28/6/10

of online sales; we do, and everything that we sell is on the internet.

‘What also makes us different from our competitors is that our online system advertises vehicles for anything ranging for two to seven days. It has a facility whereby the end time extends by five minutes each time a bid is added after the scheduled closing time.’ It’s all part of HBC’s aim to make buying salvaged stock as flexible as possible for dealers. So, what do you do to get your hands on stock. ‘You register to become a member of the HBC club which costs £27 a year, and that gives you full access to the site and allows you to buy the vehicles you like.

15:12

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‘We stock anything and everything!’ Hankins explains. ‘We deal with anything that has a lot of damage, a little bit of damage, or no damage and cars which may have been stolen and recovered.

But the majority of cars that dealers buy are the ones with minimal damage and vehicles that have been stolen and recovered.’

Once you’ve successfully bid for the vehicle you want, HBC can deliver it for you too. There’s a small charge of £1.50 per mile, but that isn’t much to get the stock you want on to your forecourt fast.

No.1 in the handling and disposing of motor vehicles The handling and disposing of motor vehicle salvage is a constant drain on financial and administrative resources. HBC reduce this by providing an unrivalled service. We are prompt, efficient and fully in accordance with current industry guidelines and environmental legislation. We also require only minimum administration to collect and dispose of your vehicle salvage.

With continued investment and systems development we are able to set the standards that others struggle to achieve. We are the safest hands in salvage.

HBC Vehicle Services, HBC House, Charfleets Road, Canvey Island, Essex SS8 0PQ

www.hbc.co.uk 01268 696444 Fax: 01268 510087 Email: info@hbc.co.uk

BRITISH VEHICLE SALVAGE FEDERATION

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Come in from the cold W: g3remarketing.co.uk T: 0845 190 6363

G

3 Remarketing has already got off on the right foot in 2011. So well in fact that the online vehicle disposal company has reported a better start this year than last.

Head of projects and developments Tom Marley says they are on course for a strong first quarter too. ‘Uncertainty always surrounds the beginning of a year, and even more so this year.

However, results from our online auction are encouraging,’ says Marley.

‘Continued investment in disposal platforms and additional off-site sales have enabled us to bring more stock to the market for our buyers and achieve greater results for our vendors.’

With this in mind, surely G3 would be happy to rest on its laurels? Not a bit of it. The company is keen to tell dealers that instead of braving cold, draughty auction houses and wasting important time out of the office there’s another, even easier, way to buy cars. G3 Remarketing’s online platform allows you to buy one car or 100 cars all in the warm comfort of your office with a cup of tea in one hand.

‘Dealers should use G3 Remarketing for its ease of use,’ says director Matt Dale. ‘From our perspective, we feel that electronic auctions are a much quicker route for purchasers to buy stock.

The ability we have got with G3 is that we have a bespoke platform that has been tailored over the last 18 months to buyers’ needs – it is currently in

its third incarnation.

‘But dealers should really use us because of the service we offer and the quality of stock that we bring to market,’ says Dale. ‘We have a personal account manager for each buyer that uses our services, and that manager contacts the buyer about stock, handles any payments, documents and paperwork, and arranges delivery of the vehicles. It is very much a part of the high-quality, personal service we offer.’

Sounds almost too good to be true, doesn’t it?

How do you get started then? Well, it couldn’t be much simpler. All you have to do is log onto G3’s website – g3remarketing.co.uk – and fill in a simple form to register your details, which arrives at the firm’s admin department.

If you are a non-franchised dealer then your references are checked, and you’re allocated an account, username and password, and that then gives you full access to the website. If you are a franchised dealer you will be set up within an hour.

To buy cars, you find the car that interests you, bid on it and if you are successful that vehicle is usually delivered within 48 hours.

So, what’s the catch? ‘There is none,’ says Dale. ‘All we ask is that the purchases are paid for within 48 hours.’ A standard fee covers the majority of stock G3 sells which is usually £105 per vehicle.

G3 Remarketing began trading in October 2009 at perhaps the worst time to begin a new business. But because of this, they are all too aware of the implications to businesses of staff spending unnecessary hours out of the office. For that very reason, the combination of a straightforward online buying platform, a personal service, quality stock and fast delivery makes buying stock from G3 Remarketing as easy as making a cup of tea.

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Fee-free bargains W: Auction4cars.com T: 0845 413 3133

i

t’s a busy time for Auction4Cars – Motorpoint’s fee-free online auction company. They’ve recently employed their first ever account manager to help dealers whose accounts with the company are currently lying dormant, and it ended 2010 with 10,000 cars sold over the year.

This year the company aims to sell 12,000 models – but in order to do this it needs dealers like you to take advantage of their great services.

So, what does Auction4Cars offer that’s different from its competitors? Neil Prescott, group disposal manager at Motorpoint, has the answer.

‘Auction4Cars provides a highly-effective alternative to the traditional car auction houses,’ he says. ‘This enables the trade to buy

Motorpoint’s much sought after part-exchange vehicles online all day, every day, 24 hours a day.’

It’s highly effective because it’s free to use, register, and even when you’ve bought your ideal car, there are no auction fees either. ‘All of the vehicles are fee-free, saving the trader literally thousands of pounds every year, great news for their margins in these difficult economic times,’ Prescott adds. You’ll also be bidding alongside like-minded people in the trade too, where you will have the pick of both cars and commercial vehicles, with more than 20 different manufacturers listed to narrow down searches.

‘What’s more,’ continues Prescott, ‘unlike traditional auction houses, where auctions are held at specific times on specific days, the

Ben Wall and Anthony Wilson, above, and Neil Prescott, right auctions on Auction4Cars last three days, giving the trade ample opportunity to consider a vehicle before bidding while at the same time giving them time eBay-style to respond to counter bids from fellow traders.’

But, perhaps the best feature of Auction4Cars is that you know the cars are of the highest quality.

Because the company is part of Motorpoint, it’s the only place to buy Motorpoint stock; that means you’ll be purchasing vehicles that have been checked and photographed, meaning you can buy with complete confidence. [CD]

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68 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

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CarDealer.Club Free legal advice worth £199 Discounts from key industry suppliers And a subscription to Car Dealer

ALL FOR JuST £25 A yEAR WHAT IS CAR DEALER CLuB? It is Car Dealer magazine’s unique offering that gives motor traders of all sizes access to some brilliant benefits. The biggest one of all is access to the country’s top motor trade lawyers, 24 hours a day, for free legal advice connected with your business. someone wants to return a troublesome car? head gasket gone on a used car you sold? If you want to know where you stand and how to deal with it, our lawyers can help.

The service usually costs £199 per year, but we’ve managed to arrange an exclusive offer. When you take out a subscription to Car Dealer magazine for the special price of £24.99 you’ll be covered!

There’s no strings attached.

WHAT ELSE WILL I gET? We’ve negotiated some tantalising discounts from motor trade suppliers so you can enjoy being part of a select band of car

dealers. When you join you’ll be given a club membership number and details of how to get access to these unique offers. so far we’ve added some corkers – and are negotiating with many more suppliers all the time.

I gET CAR DEALER mAgAZINE, Am I A mEmBER? no. This special offer only applies to new subscribers so if you haven’t renewed your subscription then you need to do so online to gain access to this very special offer.

HOW DO I SIgN uP? signing up is simple. Just type bit.ly/dealerclub into a web browser and you’ll be taken straight to the page on our website where you can sign up. There you can pay by credit or debit card. alternatively fill in the panel below and send us a cheque for £24.99 made payable to BLaCkBaLL meDIa LTD.

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Datafile CONTENTS.

Right click 71 Auctions 72 Shares 73 The Statistics 74 SMMT sales figures 75

Alex Goy 76 Suppliers guide 77 James Litton 78 Trader directory 79 Sub-Prime Time 82

Advice n Data n Analysis n Facts n Figures n Comment

Suppliers: Oiling the cogs of success We ask suppliers how you should pick who to give your business too Autotrade-mail.com

Connect HR

When choosing a supplier we like to place our business only with companies who truly understand the market and industry in which we operate within, who are established with expertise, share our own brand values, such as speed of response, providing value for money, passion and integrity. Businesses can be made or broken, dependent upon choosing the right supplier.

Ask for contact details of people that have utilised their services recently and pick up the phone to get an accurate picture of ability, experience and value for money. The automotive industry can be extremely specialised in many ways and we would always choose a supplier with automotive experience.

AutoKlean In this present climate the costs from the supplier should reflect the current economic situation, but quality of service should always remain paramount. A company that is big enough to look after your requirements, but still small enough to care and one that puts your needs first and not their bank balance is paramount.

Portfolio display

IB Scott Associates Ltd

When choosing suppliers, it’s really important to establish how you can measure your return, ie ‘if I buy your service, exactly what should I expect to achieve and by when?’ Always work on a trial basis so that you can analyse how well the service has worked for you. For example, at Zype we offer a three-month trial of C It Now, our live video service and work with the dealer to establish how many live or pre-recorded videos they should expect to produce, in which departments and what that means: number or value of sales, percentage increase in uptake of remedial work etc.

Two major factors when choosing a supplier are price and recommendations. If you Google our products and ask other motor dealers, we feel confident that after 30 years of trading, we are still top of our field. There is no greater recommendation for IB Scott Associates than that!

Hugo Fox Be increasingly media savvy. Be considered about where and with whom you advertise your stock.

Look for sites with healthy traffic that promote your trade through low cost advertising. Sites such as hugofox.com will also generate essential additional traffic to you through their other trading sections including jobs and classifieds.

Ensure you are dealing with a reputable supplier that has experience in this industry. Talk to their staff and ask them a list of questions that relate to your requirements. Ask for references and then follow these up.

Zype

Badgemaster You need to choose a supplier that can comply all your brand and corporate image requirements. You

need a fast service with no minimum order and the guaranteed lowest price. We know our name badges are good for business. They are proven by extensive independent research to raise customer satisfaction by 12 per cent.

Manheim Look for a remarketing company that offers a huge selection of vehicles and full support to allow you to buy easily and sell quickly for maximum profit.

Usually this involves a company offering national coverage, a variety of sales channels and a wide range of products and services that support the dealer at every stage of a used vehicle’s lifecycle.

This will include pre-auction preparation services, market intelligence information and services designed not only to allow the dealer to reach the widest consumer audience but also to maintain this business through its aftersales services.

Think Insurance Choosing the right broker can mean the difference between cheap and expensive cover, or even the difference between the paying of a claim and not.

With so much at stake it pays to do your research.

Think Insurance offers free advice and help. Our team offers you years of experience to help you choose the right insurance company. Whether full or part time, Think Insurance beats its competitors’ prices an average of 86 per cent of the time.

New Suppliers Guide, p76

70 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

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e

RIGHT CLICK.

..in association with GForces

Dealers need to embrace ecommerce GForces’ Tim Smith says car buyers want the end-to-end process from motor retailers

L

eading retailers keep certain principals at the core of their business, and chief among these is convenience. If you put any barriers in the way of a consumer making a purchase you are reducing the likelihood of selling to them.

Ecommerce is a technology that is reducing these barriers across other retail sectors with more than 10 per cent of all retail sales now conducted online and its set to grow a further 36 per cent in the next 18 months, according to Internet Retailing.

In the motor retail sector, GForces’ Embracing the Internet survey, carried out in December 2010, recorded only 28 per cent of the Mobil 1 Top200 dealers had an ecommerce platform where customers could purchase manufacturer parts and accessories via the internet.

However, this study highlights only half of the story. Not only are motor retailers failing to fulfil customer demands for parts and accessories online but the recent Cars Online study by CapGemini suggests consumers want much more. Of the 8,000 participants in the Cars Online survey, more than 41 per cent of car buyers also wanted the ability to buy cars online.

This is driven primarily by price considerations

and a desire for a faster, more efficient selling process. Ford Retail, the direct market arm of Ford Motor Company in the UK conducted their own research in July 2010 and found that almost 40 per cent of buyers didn’t even care about a test drive; they just wanted what they saw online with the click of a mouse.

Ford Retail launched an online car shop selling vehicles, but car buyers needed to pick up the phone to complete the deal, so even they stopped short of true ecommerce.

General Motors in the US piloted a new ecommerce venture with eBay in 2009 to sell new and used cars online, in the first month of launch the site received 1.5m views and generated 15,000 leads but it was withdrawn shortly after.

Cars, trucks and auto parts were seen as the largest selling item in the UK on eBay in 2010 and to date 30m people have already downloaded the App allowing customers to browse stock easily, wherever they are.

Carl Scheible, managing director of PayPal UK,

said: ‘Online buying is booming even with the current economic uncertainty because shoppers turn to the internet when they are trying to be thrifty.’

Ecommerce has already taken the retail sector by storm. People are ordering pizzas via their mobile and hiring movies to watch online.

Consumers are adapting to the buying process of right here, right now. Consumers now want fast, easy access to those items that typically would take months to purchase in one click.

Nearly half of CapGemini respondents want the ability to purchase cars online.

The research, the reviews, the insurance quotes and finance quotes are already available online, all that’s left is being able to buy the car...

‘Online buying is booming even with the current economic uncertainty’

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AuCTIONS.

BCa smashes 100k sales online bit.ly/BCA100k

Henstock

aucTion sTaTions

Is it slowdown time for used cars?

w

ith economic commentators throwing their hands in the air as GDP declined by 0.5 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2010, just what might be the effect on the used car market?

To predict where we are going it’s usually helpful to review where we’ve been and 2010 was a difficult but not entirely unsuccessful year for used cars. Looking at the broader picture, average quarterly values in the wholesale market were remarkably stable across 2010, holding around £5,800, although there was a decline from the peak values achieved at the back end of 2009.

Our experience on the floor is that professional buyers are generally pragmatic about their prospects for 2011 – they know the market has strength in depth and that motorists will still be buying used cars this year.

However, at the time of writing in January, very real fears about the UK economy were being raised by some commentators.

The combination of flat growth, rising inflation and unemployment, combined with high commodity costs, low interest rates and currency pressures could lead to ‘stagflation’ according to some.

In many ways, the current economic conditions may stimulate the low-carbon vehicle market, with a move towards more efficient cars delivering greater MPG. If the cost of change is manageable, then switching from a car that might deliver 30mpg to one that achieves nearly twice that figure could be a very appealing prospect.

Sourcing the right stock at a good price and in a timely fashion will be crucial this year. Dealers are best placed to know their customer base and what sort of cars they want to buy. And with the new plate on March 1 likely to stimulate additional volumes of business from fleet, lease and dealer sources, buyers will have even more choice later in the spring.

Of course, at the end of the chain is the consumer, who is incredibly well-informed and will do the sums accordingly. Our experience suggests when it comes to buying used cars, motorists know exactly what they want to buy and hunt for the best price.

Some things never change!

‘When it comes to buying used cars, motorists know exactly what they want.’

Who is simon Henstock?

simon is uk network operations director for BCa. Visit british-car-auctions.co.uk or call 0845 600 6644.

Auction firms record record start to 2011 Dealers’ pent-up demand for quality used cars leads to busy auction halls

L

eading UK auction house firms Manheim and British Car Auctions are both reporting stronger than ever starts to new year trading.

Manheim’s 18 centres have all reported strong starts with attendances both in lane and online being stronger than usual. The firm says that demand has been strong across all sectors, with a 4.5 per cent increase in volume of vehicles going under the hammer compared with the same period in 2010.

A 5.3 per cent increase in overall sale price has also been experienced by Manheim, which says the used car market’s strength is reinforced by the fact that vehicles sold so far this year have achieved an average of 97.8 per cent CAP Clean.

Mike Pilkington, managing director of Manheim Remarketing, said: ‘The strong start to the year clearly shows that demand for used cars and vans remains as robust as ever. The increase in both volumes sold and sale prices is very encouraging as is the high average CAP Clean price achieved.’

Meanwhile BCA has also experienced strong trading, with the second week of January being touted as one of the

Price pressure for LCVs MODEL mix helped average LCV values rise marginally in December from November’s low point, says BCA. Wintry conditions boosted sales of higher value 4x4 models, and changing model mix was largely responsible for the increase. However, volumes of lower value part-exchange vans fell.

Online selling channels grew in importance as buyers struggled to attend sales and BCA saw internet sales volumes increase sharply. Duncan Ward BCA’s general manager for commercial vehicles said: ‘Market conditions were tough at the end of the year, with a combination of poor stock mix and inclement weather resulting in some price pressure across the board.’

strongest ever for the company.

The auction firm sold nearly 14,000 cars, vans and trucks during the week, generating a turnover approaching £70m.

Online sales also performed well with nearly 3,000 vehicles being purchased during that week alone.

BCA’s communications director Tony Gannon said: ‘There is a lot of pent-up demand in the marketplace, much of it due to the difficult pre-Christmas conditions affecting wholesale vehicle movements and reduced retail opportunities.

‘That pressure is now being released and our remarketing centres and online channels are buzzing with professional buyers looking to replenish their stocks.’

BCA also announced a number of new business partnerships with Trust Volkswagen Group, Brindley Garages Group, Cotswold Motor Group and Colbornes.

Auction4Cars appoints dealer account manager WeBsITe auction4Cars.com has appointed Ian higson as its first-ever account manager. higson, 52, will help drive new registrations, but he will be mostly visiting customers whose accounts are currently lying dormant. higson says: ‘I am thrilled to be joining auction4Cars and playing my part in revolutionising the way in which the trade buys its stock.’ neil prescott, group disposals manager at motorpoint said: ‘I am sure his extensive industry knowledge will be a benefit.’

72 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

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SHARES.

..in association with ASE-global.com

Is this the calm before the storm?

ASE’s executive chairman Mike Jones reports on the dealers listed on the stock market

J

anuary has proven to be a quiet month for the listed motor retail stock share prices with limited levels of movement following on from a variety of announcements.

The main announcement within the month was a trading update for Lookers ahead of the full year results announcement in March. The statement was bullish in nature with ‘trading during the quarter ended December 31, 2010, in excess of both budget and the prior year’ with results for the full year ‘to exceed management expectations’.

In addition to strong profit forecasts, Lookers also reported that cash generated through dealership disposals had been used to pay down debt. Given the general stock market concern over motor sector debt levels this news, allied to the positive trading update, could have been expected to provide a boost to the share price.

Indeed, broker Panmure Gordon raised its price target for the share from 70p to 80p on the back of the news. Following a brief rally on the announcement, there has been a retrenching of the share price, with the value falling back below 60p from 64p at the time of the announcement.

Lookers has invested significantly in recent years in emphasising the performance of its

aftersales business using this as a differentiator during comparisons with the remainder of the UK-based listed motor retailers. It will be interesting to view the extent to which this share is viewed as a safe haven in the storm and insulated against the registration volume statistics.

For the remainder of the listed stocks, there has been little news and little price movement. There is a general pervasive nervousness over how trading will map out in 2011 and this has led to very limited price variations as the market adopts a ‘wait and see’ approach. Vehicle sale volumes are universally forecast to be lower in 2011 and we are likely to be faced with a number of months of negative press stories as registrations fail to match the scrappage-assisted numbers during the first five months of 2010.

This could lead to some rocky trading through the first few months, particularly if the sector is trying to plead poverty looking for additional

government support. At current price levels some of the dealer groups look attractively valued with very limited goodwill currently priced in. This could lead to bid speculation or the potential for significant share price gains for those who correctly predict the rally.

Who is Mike Jones? he‘s executive chairman of ase Global. If you want to talk to him about this column call 0161 493 1930

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

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 73

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DATA FILE.

Thestatistics Used Cars n Top 10 Searches n SMMT Sales Data

The most searched-for cars LAst month on..

Compucars.co.uk 1 BMW 3 Series 2 Mercedes C Class 3 Ford Focus 4 VW Golf 5 BMW 5 Series 6 BMW 1 Series 7 Vauxhall Astra 8 Honda Civic 9 Land Rover Range Rover 10 Mercedes E Class

Motoring.co.uk 1 Ford Fiesta 2 Renault Clio 3 Mazda 2 4 Vauxhall Corsa 5 Suzuki SX4 6 Citroen C1 7 Daihatsu Terios 8 Vauxhall Astra 9 Ford Focus 10 Skoda Yeti

ContractHireAndLeasing.com 1 VW Golf 2 Audi A3 3 BMW 3-Series 4 Audi A5 5 Audi A4 6 Mercedes C Class 7 Mercedes E Class 8 BMW 5 Series 9 Nissan Qashqai 10 VW Scirocco

January car sales fall in line with forecasts J

anuary saw new car registrations fall 11.5 per cent, according to the SMMT. Registrations dropped to 128,811 units – but the month was on par with predicted figures.

It represents the seventh consecutive month where registrations have fallen. However, registrations were up eight per cent if cars sold as a result of the scrappage scheme were not included.

Paul Everitt, SMMT chief executive, said: ‘New car registrations fell by 11.5 per cent in January. This is in line with SMMT forecasts and marks the beginning of a challenging year for the UK motor industry.

‘Consumer confidence is low and it is important that the government uses the March Budget to help relieve some of the financial pressure on motorists by freezing fuel duty, while providing stability and certainty on motoring taxes.

Despite the challenging conditions, the demand for low CO2 emitting

Drop of 11.5 per cent is the start of a difficult year for dealers, reports SMMT and highly fuel efficient cars continues to grow.’

Sue Robinson, RMI franchised director, added: ‘Smaller, fuel efficient cars with extended warranty periods and low maintenance costs are likely to be popular. As most consumers have no viable alternative to using cars for most journeys the imperative will be to reduce the impact of fuel increases on drivers.

‘This will, in turn, force consumers to look at vehicles with good fuel economy and also at those that use alternative fuels including

‘‘

electric and hybrid vehicles.’

That would explain the rise in market share of cars with CO2 emissions under 100g/km in January, rising by more than 65 per cent.

Demand for diesel cars also rose and their market share was once again more than 50 per cent in the month.

Alternative-fuelled cars matched their record share of 1.4 per cent of the market.

The Ford Focus topped the January sales table with the Fiesta second. See story above right for more on the top 10.

This marks the beginning of a challenging year for the UK motor industry.

Prediction used car market will be buoyant in 2011 THIS year will see a ‘fairly’ buoyant used car market, according to automotive data providers KeeResources.

The firm predicts the used car market will remain buoyant due to there being more buyers than cars.

However, it says this is dependent on buyers gaining access to necessary funding.

KeeResources’ Denis Keenan said: ‘Clean two to four-year-old de-fleeted cars, with mileages ranging from 20,000 up to 100,000, are commanding good prices at auction with plenty of bids per car. With used car prices likely to achieve almost record values again this year, the used car remarketing landscape is also changing.’

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Ford Focus regains the top spot

THE Ford Focus regained the number one spot in January’s sales tables with more than 7,500 sold – up four places on December’s figures. The Fiesta followed in second while December’s winner, the Vauxhall

Astra, dropped to third. The Griffin-badged hatchback’s younger brother, the Corsa, fell to fourth with 4,363 units sold, with the VW Golf securing fifth place with 4,110 cars registered.

The BMW 3 Series just snatched

SMMT sales data January/year to date

sixth from the Polo with 3,184 registered cars, while the Polo managed 3,010 sales. The Insignia and Peugeot’s 207 sold 2,236 and 2,171 cars respectively, while the Nissan Qashqai rounded off the top 10 with 2,108 cars sold.

Chrysler YTD -52%

SAAB YTD 253%

Figures supplied by SMMT

January 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 Perodua Peugeot Porsche Proton Renault Saab SEAT Skoda smart Ssangyong Subaru Suzuki Toyota Vauxhall Volkswagen Volvo Other British Other Imports Total

2011

78 595 55 8,302 75 8,726 0 939 56 5,126 0 2 0 0 2,488 19,657 3,957 0 3,974 31 856 80 3,100 2,530 469 19 2,189 5,195 2 1,614 760 5,174 31 6,842 360 34 3,867 452 2,400 3,061 203 3 181 1,069 5,557 15,311 11,041 2,116 114 120 128,811

% market share

2010

0.06 0.46 0.04 6.45 0.06 6.77 0.00 0.73 0.04 3.98 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.93 15.26 3.07 0.00 3.09 0.02 0.66 0.06 2.41 1.96 0.36 0.01 1.70 4.03 0.00 1.25 0.59 4.02 0.02 5.31 0.28 0.03 3.00 0.35 1.86 2.38 0.16 0.00 0.14 0.83 4.31 11.89 8.57 1.64 0.09 0.09

68 374 52 7,892 81 5,218 3 1,112 118 4,949 0 22 0 21 3,972 22,128 4,331 0 7,272 12 1,041 170 5,030 2,518 644 26 2,862 4,171 22 2,135 542 5,753 57 8,379 460 67 5,843 128 2,292 2,854 424 13 218 1,061 7,346 16,003 14,967 2,646 97 85 145,479

Year to date (YTD) % market share

2011

%market share

2010

%market share

78 595 55 8,302 75 8,726 0 939 56 5,126 0 2 0 0 2,488 19,657 3,957 0 3,974 31 856 80 3,100 2,530 469 19 2,189 5,195 2 1,614 760 5,174 31 6,842 360 34 3,867 452 2,400 3,061 203 3 181 1,069 5,557 15,311 11,041 2,116 114 120 128,811

0.06 0.46 0.04 6.45 0.06 6.77 0.00 0.73 0.04 3.98 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 1.93 15.26 3.07 0.00 3.09 0.02 0.66 0.06 2.41 1.96 0.36 0.01 1.70 4.03 0.00 1.25 0.59 4.02 0.02 5.31 0.28 0.03 3.00 0.35 1.86 2.38 0.16 0.00 0.14 0.83 4.31 11.89 8.57 1.64 0.09 0.09

68 374 52 7,892 81 5,218 3 1,112 118 4,949 0 22 0 21 3,972 22,128 4,331 0 7,272 12 1,041 170 5,030 2,518 644 26 2,862 4,171 22 2,135 542 5,753 57 8,379 460 67 5,843 128 2,292 2,854 424 13 218 1,061 7,346 16,003 14,967 2,646 97 85 145,479

0.05 0.26 0.04 5.42 0.06 3.59 0.00 0.76 0.08 3.40 0.00 0.02 0.00 0.01 2.73 15.21 2.98 0.00 5.00 0.01 0.72 0.12 3.46 1.73 0.44 0.02 1.97 2.87 0.02 1.47 0.37 3.95 0.04 5.76 0.32 0.05 4.02 0.09 1.58 1.96 0.29 0.01 0.15 0.73 5.05 11.00 10.29 1.82 0.07 0.06

% Change

0.05 0.26 0.04 5.42 0.06 3.59 0.00 0.76 0.08 3.40 0.00 0.02 0.00 0.01 2.73 15.21 2.98 0.00 5.00 0.01 0.72 0.12 3.46 1.73 0.44 0.02 1.97 2.87 0.02 1.47 0.37 3.95 0.04 5.76 0.32 0.05 4.02 0.09 1.58 1.96 0.29 0.01 0.15 0.73 5.05 11.00 10.29 1.82 0.07 0.06

14.71 59.09 5.77 5.20 -7.41 67.23 -100.00 -15.56 -52.54 3.58 0.00 -90.91 0.00 -100.00 -37.36 -11.17 -8.64 0.00 -45.35 158.33 -17.77 -52.94 -38.37 0.48 -27.17 -26.92 -23.52 24.55 -90.91 -24.40 40.22 -10.06 -45.61 -18.34 -21.74 -49.25 -33.82 253.13 4.71 7.25 -52.12 -76.92 -16.97 0.75 -24.35 -4.32 -26.23 -20.03 17.53 41.18 -11.46

% Change

14.71 59.09 5.77 5.20 -7.41 67.23 -100.00 -15.56 -52.54 3.58 0.00 -90.91 0.00 -100.00 -37.36 -11.17 -8.64 0.00 -45.35 158.33 -17.77 -52.94 -38.37 0.48 -27.17 -26.92 -23.52 24.55 -90.91 -24.40 40.22 -10.06 -45.61 -18.34 -21.74 -49.25 -33.82 253.13 4.71 7.25 -52.12 -76.92 -16.97 0.75 -24.35 -4.32 -26.23 -20.03 17.53 41.18 -11.46

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 75

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DATA FILE.

Alex Goy

aLL TorQue

Customer service isn’t rocket science, is it?

i

apologise if this month’s column sounds like it’s been written by that woman with the orange bob that ‘does the shops’ on the Beeb, but I have two important words to say: Customer service.

For some retailers, it is just that: Too hard. Six weeks before Christmas I tried to order some delightful presents online with the sole intention to make ‘the mother’ happy. I had found what I wanted, the price was right, they’d be here within three days and I dutifully tapped in my credit card details on the payment screen.

But did they come? No. Two weeks passed with no parcels on the doorstep, so emails were crafted and sent to the online company. No response. Phone calls followed, and after a whole host of verbally inept operators, I gave up. And I took my business elsewhere to the assuredly good retailer who happens to be Britain’s favourite retailer.

Now, perhaps I was a bit unreasonable. The snow did indeed ruin the country in more ways than one, meaning that Christmas presents did arrive a little later than expected. But did this other retailer I did business with fail? Not a bit of it. They guaranteed delivery, and made good on their promise – parcels for ‘the mother’ were here two days after I had made the order.

And this has got me thinking. Lexus (featured heavily in this issue) may well be held up as the pinnacle of customer service – and deservedly so, don’t get me wrong – but making sure you make your customers happy isn’t too hard.

Just make sure you deliver what you promise to deliver, be polite (even if you hate the customer’s guts), go out of your way to make the customer walk away happy, ensure there’s a courtesy car when the customer has booked one, and give them a hello when they return three months later to buy a new light bulb.

This is in no way a complete list, but if you remember these you should be fine. Follow them and you can live without fear of the orange-haired Mary Portas coming along with a TV camera and crew...

‘Making sure you make your customers are happy isn’t too hard.’

Who is alex goy?

he‘s a motoring journalist with a lot to say. he also produces a brilliant podcast. Check it out by typing bit.ly/alexgoy into a browser

Suppliers Video

Telemarketing

Call Solutions

C It Now

On Target

Intelegent

Auctions

Auctions

Badges

BCA

Manheim remarketing

Badgemaster

Cleaning equipment

Online Trading

Health & Safety

Kärcher UK Ltd

Autotrade-mail.com

Connect Hr & recruitment

Advertise Here

Web Design

These Listings Work

Your company name

GForces

More Sales For You

W: zype.co.uk T: 0118 912 2256 e: donna.barradale@zype.co.uk Info: easy to use, effective video tool for dealers. Turn web browsers into customers with live and personalised video.

W: british-car-auctions.co.uk T: 0844 875 3480 e: liveonline@bca-group.com Info: BCa offers more vehicles and more ways to buy them with physical sales, Live online and Bid now/Buy now.

W: karcher.co.uk T: 01295 752142 e: auto@karcher.co.uk Info: high pressure cleaners, vacuums, parts cleaners, floor cleaners, sweepers and carpet cleaners – for automotive needs.

W: Your website address T: 023 9252 2434 (that’s us!) e: adverts@cardealermag.co.uk Info: You’re reading this and so could thousands of dealers too! a slot like this is £49 per month or £29 per month if booked for the year.

W: ontargettelemarketing.co.uk T: 0844 811 0483 e: sales@ontargettelemarketing.co.uk Info: service & moT follow up specialists. rejuvenation sales calls, launch events, integration with your system or stand alone.

W: manheimremarketing.co.uk T: 0844 856 4545 Info: For further information please call sales support on 0844 856 4545 or visit the website.

W: autotrade-mail.com T: 01243 523000 e: sales@autotrade-mail.com Info: uk’s leading online real time used-car trading network.

The original and the best. Call for your free two-week trial.

W: gforces.co.uk T: 0845 658 9290 e: info@gforces.co.uk Info: multi award winning car dealer website design and digital marketing. Find out why we keep winning awards.

W: intelegent.co.uk T: 0844 811 7273 e: info@intelegent.co.uk Info: Full telephone answering and service booking with full recording of every call. overflow calls or full reception service.

W: badgemaster.co.uk T: 01623 723112 e: customerserivces@ badgemaster.co.uk Info: Call for advice, brochure, samples, fixed price quotation and our no quibble best price guarantee.

W: connect-hr.com T: 0333 700 3030 e: info@connect-hr.com Info: safety management systems, risk assessments, policies, Training and advice from as little as £195 per day.

W: Your website address T: 023 9252 2434 (that’s us!) e: adverts@cardealermag.co.uk Info: The suppliers Guide helps dealers find the companies they need to help them improve their business. make sure you’re here.

FEATuRED LISTINg: Car dEaLEr CLuB Free LeGAL ADVICe WITH eVerY CAr DeALer SUBSCrIPTION CAR DEALER CLUB gives dealers of all sizes access to free legal advice from our motor trade lawyers worth £199.

Members get a copy of Car Dealer Magazine every month as well as access to a host of discounts from motor trade suppliers – all for a paltry £24.99 annual subscription!

This offer is only available to new subscribers, so if you haven’t renewed your subscription then you need to do so to gain access to this very special deal. Signing up is simple. Type bit.ly/dealerclub into a web browser

CarDealer.Club to be taken straight to the page on our website where you can pay by credit or debit card.

Alternatively, you can send us a cheque for £24.99 made payable to Blackball Media Ltd to Car Dealer Club, Blackball Media, 2a Church Road, Gosport, hants, PO12 2LB and we’ll send you details of your Car Dealer Club membership by return post.

To have your details included here call (023) 9252 2434 and ask for Suppliers Guide listings

76 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

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s guide

ub

If you’re looking for a motor trade supplier you can find the details of selected companies here

mini test: VW sharan

Display Products

Cleaning Products

Car dealer says HHHHH

Portfolio Display

Drymotive

Online Advertising

Valeting Services

HugoFox.com

AutoKlean

W: portfolio-display.co.uk T: 0845 8543210 E: sales@portfolio-display.co.uk Info: Automotive display products, pricing units, car-top display, flags and poles, key tags, tax discs, stickers and keyrings.

MEET the new Sharan – Volkswagen’s big MPV for big families. At 6ft 3in wide and almost 16ft long (yes, really), the new Sharan is bigger than the 15-year-old car it replaces.

The interior boasts seven seats and the rear five can fold completely flat into the floor, or be removed altogether.

Prices kick off at £23,470 for the 1.4-litre TSI but the £26,965 140bhp, 2.0-litre TDI is what the majority of customers will choose.

The Sharan is a competent car, if slightly dull to look at, but it is bound to head out of the showrooms with both fleet and private buyers opting for it.

W: hugofox.com T: 01635 291271 E: team@hugofox.com Info: This up-and-coming new kid on the block offers 6 months advertising (unlimited number of vehicles) for £49. Essential.

Price: £23,470, tested Issue 33

W: drymotive.com T: 0845 8540057 E: sales@drymotive.co.uk Info: Suppliers of waterless car cleaning products that are quick and easy to use and produce an amazing quality finish.

W: autoklean.co.uk T: 0845 408 2975 E: dave@autoklean.co.uk Info: Competitive pricing, a service made to your requirement and all chemicals and equipment to carry out the best job.

Insurance

Auctions

Key Tags

Advertise Here

These Listings Work

Think Insurance

HBC

I B Scott

Your company name

More Sales For You

Finance

Advertise Here

Warranties

mini test: Audi RS5

First Response

Your company name

WMS

Car dealer says HHHHH

W: think-ins.co.uk T: 0844 573 2850 E: enquiries@think-ins.co.uk Info: Trade insurance experts. Road risks and/or combined. Instalments.

10% new client discount. Liabilities.

Up to 75% bonus discount.

W: frfl.co.uk T: 0115 946 6370 E: Visit bit.ly/firstresponse Info: We always encourage our returning customers to visit the same dealer for their next car leading to Many Happy Returns!

W: hbc.co.uk T: 01268 696444 E: info@hbc.co.uk Info: The safest hands in salvage, HBC are prompt & efficient and operate in accordance with current industry guidelines.

W: Your website address T: 023 9252 2434 (that’s us!)

E: adverts@cardealermag.co.uk Info: You’re reading this and so could thousands of dealers too! A slot like this is £49 per month or £29 per month if booked for the year.

W: keytags.co.uk T: 0870 2406359 E: sales.ibscott@btconnect.com Info: Plastic key tags that can be used with an ordinary Biro!

Supplied with metal rings or plastic ties.

W: wmsgroupuk.com T: 0844 477 4909 E: sales@wmsgroupuk.com Info: Experience, expertise, leadership and innovation. The nation’s favourite. The dealer’s preferred partner.

W: Your website address T: 023 9252 2434 (that’s us!)

E: adverts@cardealermag.co.uk Info: Making sure you’re in front of dealers when they need your services is vital. And for £29 per month can you afford to miss out?

Warranties

These Listings Work

Advertise Here

Car Care Plan

More Sales For You

Your company name

These Listings Work

Cheap Advertising

DSG Finance

More Sales For You

It Really Works

W: itsabsolutelyfree.co.uk T: 0844 880 0660 E: absolutely@dsgfs.com Info: Give your customers an improved online experience by presenting finance options that they can configure themselves.

W: Your website address T: 023 9252 2434 (that’s us!)

E: adverts@cardealermag.co.uk Info: The Suppliers Guide helps dealers find the companies they need to help them improve their business. Make sure you’re here.

Advertise Here Your company name

W: carcareplan.co.uk T: 0844 573 7591 E: salesinfo@carcareplan.co.uk Info: Choose the market leading supplier of vehicle warranty and GAP insurance – 1m customers every year can’t be wrong!

Getting your company featured here is more affordable than you imagine. Here’s why

W: Your website address T: 023 9252 2434 (that’s us!)

E: adverts@cardealermag.co.uk Info: The Suppliers Guide helps dealers find the companies they need to help them improve their business. Make sure you’re here.

Price: £58,685, tested Issue 33

W: Your website address T: 023 9252 2434 (that’s us!)

E: adverts@cardealermag.co.uk Info: You’re reading this and so could thousands of dealers too! A slot like this is £49 per month or £29 per month if booked for the year.

Cheap Advertising It Really Works

W: Your website address T: 023 9252 2434 (that’s us!)

E: adverts@cardealermag.co.uk Info: Making sure you’re in front of dealers when they need your services is vital. And for £29 per month can you afford to miss out?

Prices for 12-month listings: £29 per month.

Single months are £49 per month

Prices exclude VAT. Adverts are invoiced after it has been included in the magazine. 12-month bookings are payable up front.

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W: Your website address T: 023 9252 2434 (that’s us!)

E: adverts@cardealermag.co.uk Info: The Suppliers Guide helps dealers find the companies they need to help them improve their business. Make sure you’re here.

The Audi RS5 is a car that will surprise you. In the images, it looks like just another A5, but be in no doubt, it’s quick, courtesy of a stupendous engine.

When worked hard, it’ll hit 60mph in 4.6s and is (heavily) electronically limited to 155mph. Which makes the way the RS5 feels on the road all the more disappointing. The steering is distant and the Quattro not all that involving – it’s an exceedingly fast and competent car, but not one that feels it.

Finance

W: Your website address T: 023 9252 2434 (that’s us!)

E: adverts@cardealermag.co.uk Info: You’re reading this and so could thousands of dealers too! A slot like this is £49 per month or £29 per month if booked for the year.

W: Your website address T: 023 9252 2434 (that’s us!)

E: adverts@cardealermag.co.uk Info: You reading this and so could thousands of dealers too! A slot like this is £49 per month or £29 per month if booked for the year.

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DATA FILE.

James Litton Trader TaLes

Being ‘proper’ in the trade is a question of honour

t

here is a positive adjective which you rarely see in any other industry which is very motor-trade specific. ‘Proper’. I do not think I have seen Wayne Rooney described as a ‘proper’ footballer or Snoop Dogg described as a ‘proper’ rapper. I would however describe all the people that I admire and respect in the motor industry as ‘proper’.

Proper in a motor trade context means someone you can trust who acts with honour and integrity, someone who will help you out when you need a favour and most importantly of all, knows how this business works.

Unfortunately, there appears to be a worrying declining trend in the proliferation of these people. The first time I realised there was a change of mentality was when dealers stopped taking cheques from each other. I don’t blame a business for protecting their interests, but what happened to honour among thieves?

It has now affected even more trivial aspects of the trade. How many of you have collected a car from another dealer only for it to be mis-described? I am not talking about an alloy wheel scuff, I am talking six owners not two. The latest evidence in the decline of ‘properness’ is the advent of electronic used car disposal systems.

I wonder how many times I have been used as some kind of fallback position only for a dealer to then try and use my bid to make a profit. I certainly do not have a problem with dealers making a profit, but if a car is not available to buy, do not offer it to me. Use your skill, value the car yourself and good luck. There is also the issue, and I hear about it frequently, ‘they put the car down to me, someone else rang them up and offered them more money and they sold it to them’. This is not good to hear.

There is also a shortage of ‘proper’ customers. I understand Mr Customer that you are not a motor trade professional but when you are telling me about your part exchange on the phone, I would expect you to tell me about the slipping clutch or missing service history as these are very obvious. Problem is I’m only 32, just how cynical will I be at 50?

‘I don’t blame them, but what happened to honour among thieves?’

Traderdire Alfa romeo

Alfa romeo

Aston Martin

Sturgess Alfa romeo

Benfield Alfa romeo

Aston Martin

Aston Martin

Audi

Audi

HWM Aston Martin

Wimbledon Carriage Company Limited

Walton & epsom Audi

John Crisp 07885 211872

mark Loughnane 01932 220404 07739 519306

BMW

BMW

Bentley

Williams rochdale

Vines Group

Harwoods

Bentley

Citroen

Daihatsu

Jack Barclay Bentley

Marlborough

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

stephen Barnard 0208 504 0017

Daihatsu

Ferrari

Ferrari

Proven Daihatsu

Hr Owen Ferrari

scott allen 0116 275 8800 scottallen@ sturgesscars.co.uk n Buying used alfa romeos up to five years old

paul spires paul.spires@hwm.co.uk 01932 240611 07850 326755

Craig Fenlon 01706 717700 07808 092110

Derek Bennett 020 7629 7444 07713 887 88

keith pattison 01428 652554 07771 547406

Dax pearce dax.pearce@Benfield motorgroup.com alfa stock wanted up to 40,000 miles. n Call for immediate bid. 07501 257220 or 0191 211 2200

Dominic mcConnon 07776 246905 dominic.mcconnon@ vinesguildford.bmw-net.co.uk n Buying used BmWs up to five years old

mangoletsi (holdings) Limited Fraser info@mangoletsi.com 01565 722899

simon elkin 01798 877211 07803 088711

Woodford Motor Co Ltd

Monza – Ferrari

nick Carey nick.carey@hrowen.co.uk 07824 362229

andrew Ludlow ferraribuyer@ntlworld.com 07889 305 053

Ferrari

Fiat

Fiat

Maranello Ferrari

Glyn Hopkin Ltd

Sturgess Fiat

John Dutton 07817 019 456

Glyn hopkin 07730 711889

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

Who is James litton?

he runs theinternetcarlot.co.uk. he‘s been in the business for 12 years and always has something to say about the industry he loves.

To have your details included here log on to CarDealerMagazine.co.uk/trader-directory.htm

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rectory

Finding the right cars at the right prices isn’t always that easy. On top of that, selling cars that you don’t necessarily want to put on the forecourt can be tough 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 Directory, 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 easily. Find out how at the bottom of this page.

Ford

Ford

Ford

Honda

Honda

Benfield

Sandicliffe

Lifestyle Ford

Honda

Thames Honda Group

Honda

Hyundai

Hyundai

Jaguar

Jaguar

Holdcroft Honda

Bushey Heath Hyundai

Hatfield Hyundai

Sturgess Jaguar

Charles Hurst Jaguar

Jeep

Kia

Kia

Lexus

Land Rover

John Holland Sales

Tower Hill Garage

Chapelhouse Kia

Lexus Twickenham

Sturgess Land Rover

Land Rover

mini test: Hyundai ix20

Lotus

Maserati

Beadles Land Rover

Car dealer says HHHHH

Murray Motor Company

Meridien Modena

Des Sammon des.sammon@benfield-ford. co.uk 07831 828024

Luke Regan / Chris Thursfield 07971 543884 07813 737 921

John Holland / Mark Holland 07836 690818 07831 824644

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

Chris Hickling chris.hickling@sandicliffe.co.uk 07891 810163 01509 638822

Jon O’Donoghue 0208 420 5100 07976 177 959

Lee Gilmour 01923 263700 07768 367085

Richard Walker 07748 177889

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

Andy / Neil 01925 570800 07891 531129 07825 311 297

The ix20 is good-looking and eminently sensible, offering much to potential owners. Spacious too.

Brayley Honda Mark Corr 07812 342 635

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

Dave Cooper / Steve Gurr 07831 704134 07921 408983

Graeme Robertson 0131 200 8888 07765 252745

Jerome Chandiram 0208 845 3551

Stewart Begg 0208 938 1300 07534 927 821

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

Warren Butt 02380 283404 07860 530703

Price: £11,845, tested Issue 33

Maserati

Mazda

Mini

Mitsubishi

Nissan

HR Owen

Lifestyle Mazda

Vines Group

North City Autos (Chingford)

Nissan

Ed Tyrrell 020 8524 8855 07736 610285 n Interested in low mileage FSH vehicles

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

General

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

Mark Spowage 01293 845045 07974 770020

Dominic McConnon Buying used MINIs up to 5 years old 07776 246905 dominic.mcconnon @vinesguildford.bmw-net.co.uk

Toyota

Volvo

General

General

Currie Motors Toyota

Sturgess Volvo

Sol Cars

Barry Freedman

Dave Cooper / Steve Gurr 07831 704134 07921 408983

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

There’s also a more comprehensive list of traders on the website, updated throughout the month

Tim Hancock 07973722243 timfoxhancock@btopen world.com n Wanting part exchanges of all types up to 4k

01753 543105 07836 338694 barry.freedman@virgin.net n Trade buyer of PX vehicles anything up to £8k

Prices for six month listings: £29.99 On Website Or £39.99 for Magazine & Website.

Payments can be made online via credit or debit card. Or send your cheque made payable to Blackball Media Ltd to Car Dealer, 2a Church Road, Gosport, Hants PO12 2LB. Your details will appear in the next issue.

CarDealerIss36.indd 79

Philip Wight Motor Co

Philip Wight 01923 220000 phil@click4cars.co.uk Sensible buyer of hatch and estates up to £4k please.

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There’s a change on the horizon…

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John Gibson Associates have been established for over 23 years and have a reputation that’s envied through out the industry for providing a recruitment service not only that we’re proud of, but that others strive to achieve.

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CarDealerIss36.indd 80

Tel: 0845 644 3003 THE LOCAL, REGIONAL, NATIONAL AUTOMOTIVE RECRUITERS

Web: www.jgauk.com Email: info@jgauk.com

5/2/11 13:13:46

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08450 212123

www.justcarjobs.co.uk

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DATA FILE.

Why doing as you’ve always done is not always a bad thing

a

lbert Einstein once said that insanity could be defined as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Sometimes, I think you’re insane if you don’t keep doing the same thing over and over again because you definitely won’t get the same results.

I’ve said before that it’s all too easy to fall into bad habits and we don’t step back often enough to check that what we’re doing is still appropriate and adding value.

But I think it’s also true to say that it’s easy to fall out of good habits (which isn’t quite the same) and I’ve seen this happen a lot. Too many good sales people and teams become successful and as a consequence they stop doing the things that made them successful in the first place.

Let me give you two examples.

I’ve seen people lose their success because they stopped making X number of prospecting calls per day when their sales pipeline became choc-a bloc. They turned their attention to servicing those customers already in the pipeline but they hadn’t realised just how long it took to fill. When the pipeline started to run dry through a lack of fresh prospects it took an age to get the success flowing again, and if you’re in a cash flow business this is no joke. It’s obvious but worth noting that as car retention cycles lengthen so will the end-to-end sales pipeline and therefore the number of prospecting calls per day needs to be increased to generate the same level of sales in the medium term.

Doing the same thing doesn’t mean staying in a rut, far from it, as maintaining a ‘freshness’ to your sales technique keeps it fun and interesting for you and

Don

Brough

your sales team. Constantly changing and adapting your sales techniques is a positive habit and as a consequence your customers will be more engaged because they’ll ‘feel’ the energy and enthusiasm from you and your sales team and be attracted by it. Remember that people buy from people, and if your team’s spouting the same tired platitudes day in day out, your customers aren’t going to be engaged.

I’ve also seen teams who achieved success when trying out many new techniques (which keep their energy levels high) but when they became successful they thought it was because of the technique they were using at the time

‘When the pipeline started to run dry through a lack of fresh prospects it took an age to get the success flowing again.’

suB-prime Time not because of the energy created through change. So they stuck with the same supposedly successful techniques, their energy levels dropped and as a consequence their results fell flat. Try Googling ‘sales process’ and pick out a few new (or old) but different sales techniques to role play today and see if your customers respond differently and better, I bet they do. Einstein also said ‘I never think of the future, it comes soon enough’ and if you don’t think clearly about what you should be doing today, the future will arrive much sooner than you’d want.

Who is don Brough?

Don is chief executive officer of First response Finance. For more information visit frfl.co.uk or call 0115 946 6370

Coming next month

if there’s something you think we should be covering get in touch. Our details are on page three

soap sTorY

Batch learns art of valeting

peugeoT 508 Mondeo rival on the road

WarranTies

Protect yourself from rainy days

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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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e bl la I ai HP av y gh nl u O hro t

Free 7 day insurance The key to speeding up sales The HPI Driveaway scheme benefits both you and your customers.

You can offer your customers 7 days’ FREE motor insurance underwritten by Aviva, and you get a covernote within an hour so you can tax the car and complete the sale.

FREE 7 days’ insurance will:

Increase the speed of stock turnover Increase customer satisfaction

Great benefits for your customers:

Help you close the deal

7 Days’ Free Cover

Comprehensive benefits

24 hour claims helpline

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Up to £500 cover for audio equipment

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Personal possessions cover (up to £150)

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Child seat cover (up to £100 per seat)

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Manufacturer fitted options covered as standard

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Make the most of every sale...

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0845 301 1813

hpi driveaway The free 7 day insurance

Driveaway cover from Aviva is underwritten by Aviva Insurance UK Limited. Registered Office: 8 Surrey Street, Norwich NR1 3NG. Registered in England No. 99122. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. For the purpose of the Data Protection Act 1998, the data controller in relation to any personal data you supply is Aviva Insurance UK Limited. For our joint protection calls may be recorded and/or monitored.

Cover not available in N. Ireland. Age restrictions apply. Aviva may decline to quote for the annual policy in some circumstances, meaning that the 7 days’ complimentary cover cannot be given. Only one 7 day free policy is permitted per customer per vehicle registration number. 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. * Dependent on volumes.

CD_DW_0510

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