Car Dealer Magazine: Issue 40 by Blackball Media

Issue 40 | July 2011 | CarDealerMag.co.uk | Â£3.50

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af v peu geot io PLUS BM n W 1M

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& Audi us for a RS3 driven profit cl inic

Join Car Dealer Club by visiting CarDealerClub.com Members get free legal advice worth £199 for a £25 annual subscription

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 Dave Sneese, Dean Smith, 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.

IGNITION.

you may have guessed, Welcome. As electric cars have been the

subject of much debate this month in the Car Dealer office. We’ve tested two of the first to arrive and have to say one impressed us a lot, the other... not so much. The thing with electric cars is the public really doesn’t quite ‘get’ them. Yet. Everyone I took for a spin in the Leaf, for example, wanted to know what happened if you ran out of electric. Er, you stop. And the next question was usually about where the engine was. Er, there isn’t one. But it’s questions like these which prove the car-buying public really don’t know what EVs are all about. That’s why I feel one of our duo could actually cause more harm than good. The thing is, car buyers need to be convinced that electric vehicles are a viable alternative. They may just – and I mean just – be able to accept the limitations in range, but when they’re shelling out upwards of £30k (and remember you can get a very nice Audi for that sort of money) they want some niceties to go with it. Not hire car spec… It’s all very well jumping in early with new technology, but if you’re going to do it you need to do it right. Unfortunately I think one of our pairing has got it rather badly wrong… That being said, despite being an EV-sceptic, I thoroughly enjoyed driving them. There’s something very special about them. And when I plugged one of them in to the socket in my garage for the first time I really did pause for a second and think this is a seminal moment in my motoring life. I liken the first week of EV life to when I first got a mobile phone. I remember very clearly making my first phone call and thinking: ‘I’m talking to my mum... and I’m OUTSIDE! This is so cool.’ And it was the same with the electric cars: ‘I’m driving a car on the road... and there’s NO ENGINE! This is so cool.’

I just wonder how quickly that novelty will wear off when you need to visit your gran but can’t because she lives ‘out of range’… PETROL POWER Don’t worry, it’s not all planet-hugging eco cars in this issue, we’ve also got some serious oil field drainers too. I was whisked off to Scotland to try the staggeringly good BMW 1M Coupe. It’s quite possibly the best M car to come out of Munich for years. I want one. Batch, meanwhile, was dispatched to Austria to sample its bitter rival, the Audi RS3. They match each other bhp for bhp and Nm for Nm and by all accounts it’s every bit as impressive as the Beemer. We’ve already booked in the 1M for our Road Test of Year and are pleading with Audi to let us have an RS3 too so we can pitch them head to head. We’ve got our fingers crossed they’ll let us. WORKSHOPS Hopefully by now you’ll have realised that this month you’ve got a Brucie Bonus in the shape of a 34-page special booklet all about improving your workshop’s bottom line. When car sales are tough the servicing department is called upon to boost profits and we thought it was about time we highlighted the great work these guys do. The special booklet is packed with news, hints and tips on improving your workshop’s profits and we hope it comes in handy. It’s certainly been a tough job putting both that and this magazine together in the same week…

James Baggott, Editor

ISSN No: 1759-5444

Company No. 6473855 VAT No. 933 8428 05

Car Dealer is published by Blackball Media Ltd (Company No 6473855) and printed by Warners. All rights reserved. Conditions of sale and supply include the fact Car Dealer shall not, without our consent, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise disposed of in a mutilated way or in any unauthorised cover by way of trade or affixed to or as any part of a publication or advertising, literary or pictorial matter whatsoever. Car Dealer is fully protected by copyright and nothing may be printed wholly or in part without permission.

WORKSHOP SPECIAL.

IT’S FREE!

HAVE YOU FOUND YOUR SPECIAL BOOKLET INCLUDED in THIS ISSUE? CarDealerMag.co.uk | 03

To be on this team only the fittest need apply How, you might ask? The WMS Group are launching a new initiative to recognise the ‘best of the best’ in UK used car dealerships with the Safe&Sound programme. Based on our ‘YES’ used car warranty product, we are focusing on customer satisfaction and retention providing a product that takes away the fears, confusion and complexities currently out there for consumers wishing to safeguard their cars against unforeseen mechanical and electrical failures. Simply, we say YES to warranty holders when they buy a car from our approved dealership network - and include wear and tear claims as standard.* We will also continue to pay all authorised claims within twenty four hours. To be a part of this new generation of dealership network and learn more about it, please call Eric Stone on 07789 682502.

Thame House, Thame Road, Haddenham, Bucks, HP17 8HU

Call us to be part of it:

0800 197 0321

sales@safeandsound.co.uk www.safeandsound.co.uk *Ultimate warranty applies to vehicles up to 6 years and 60,000 miles at the time of purchase that have not exceeded 85,000 miles at the time of claim. The policy does not cover negligence i.e. insufficient oil or water, overheating or failure to ensure that minimum damage is incurred by taking preventative measures. A support product is available for vehicles that have exceeded 6 years and 60,000 miles at the time of vehicle purchase.

Join Car Dealer Club by visiting CarDealerClub.com Members get free legal advice worth £199 for a £25 annual subscription

INSIDE.

COVER STORY

Electric dreams or motoring nightmare? We try EVs out

ISSUE 40 I July 2011

dashboard

34 58

Manual

BMW 1M Coupe

911 for 2011

We do a three-for-one deal

ManuAl Audi RS3

‘‘

It’s more important than ever to focus on good practice.

FEATURE

Motoring’s quiet disasters

Peugeot defends iOn

Profit Clinic: Come and join us

SMMT: Don’t worry

BMW 1M CSL not ruled out

Great Wall survey response

Around the World

My First Sale

New Column: Used Car Expert

Helpdesk: Ask Lucy

Auto Trader accounts attacked

Finance

Big Mike

forecourt

Join us for a Profit Clinic

Feedback

BMW 1M Coupe

Audi RS3

Chevrolet Aveo

Ford Mondeo

Peugeot 308

features The EV Life

Motoring’s quiet disasters

Focus on: VCARS

Focus on: GRS

911 for 2011 update

Recruitment & Training

DATA FILE

a month in A picture...

Another month, another ridiculous shot of Batch doing something stupid on a car launch. This time it was with Peugeot in Wales where hacks were given the chance to ‘mountain board’. Don’t ask us why, perhaps it made sense to the French firm. But here’s Batch, in uniform tweed, boarding a mountain. Don’t ask why it was carried out at what looks like a traveller’s camp...

Data File

Right Click

Auctions

Net Gains

SMMT Sales Figures

Suppliers Guide with Alex Goy

Trader Directory with James Litton 78 Jobs

Sub-Prime Time

82 CarDealerMag.co.uk | 05

WHEN A VEHICLE BREAKS DOWN, DOES YOUR BUSINESS LOOK UP?

Bad news? Not always. Especially if your customers have a quality warranty. Research shows that customers who are happy with a warranty are more likely to return for repairs, servicing and new purchases. Last year, Car Care Plan spent more than ÂŁ50 million on parts and labour. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s business that you could be getting a healthy share of. Why not check us out. Or look us up. Call 0844 573 7591 or visit www.carcareplan.co.uk to discover more opportunities for you.

Car Care Plan Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

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

Dealers get Google wrong Link: bit.ly/GoogleToAutoTrader I agree pay-per-click is an effective method of promotion, try asking a publication or broadcast station to show your ad without paying, saying you’ll just give them a small payment every time someone responds, well, you can imagine the reaction! The problem with Google Adwords is that it is so expensive. The fastest growing method of viewing the net is via a mobile device and pay-per-click via mobile marketing is even more effective, even more targeted and a fraction of the cost of Adwords. Paul Seymour, via CarDealerMag.co.uk The Google model has always been predicated on creating competition to drive up the price. If dealers are not aware of this then they need to consider strongly the capabilities of their Adwords agency (assuming they use one). It is not hard to find out what people are searching for in your area and from that it’s very inexpensive but effective, to focus on the long tail rather than the traditional short one. For me, a greater concern (in terms of cost and effectiveness) is where franchised dealers are competing with the main brand’s PPC activities, which tends to drive the price even higher. Stewart Niblock, via CarDealerMag.co.uk

twitter comments

Peugeot iOn costs £33k. What does Twitter think? That can’t be correct? 33 THOUSAND POUNDS STERLING?? Via @MotorAssessor Admittedly it’s not like for like tech wise, but city car to city car, that’s more than the base Aston Martin Cygnet! Via @PawnSacrifice Far too expensive for something that is rudimentarily flawed to the general public. As you say needs to be £10-15k Via @jonbradbury #HyundaiPiccadilly From Superbowl ads to major sponsorships, Hyundai seems to be focusing ad dollars on high-

TescoCars gets 500k hits

Link: bit.ly/Tesco500 A couple weeks on from the announcement it would be interesting to gauge market sentiment after ‘the uproar from dealers and car manufacturers’. As Sir Trevor Chinn says:

vis big-impact stuff.

Via @VALETster

#TwitterSalesDuel Congratulations to both Grantham and York for being good sports and it proves that we are in the best industry... Via @MarshallMotorGp #YesHeIs James - is @CarDealerDog worth following? I’m assuming he doesn’t tweet himself? Cool pic though... Via @helensaxon ‘We have a unique opportunity thanks to the very loyal 16m customers of the brand.’ Tesco know what their customers want before they do through data intelligence. Are dealers willing to become better at building customer loyalty? Tina de Souza, via CarDealerMag.co.uk

MY CONFESSION

Dad, that girl is Eeeeee Eeeeee! Just recently, my wife was ill, so I had to stay home to look after my four-year-old son. The boss was fine with this, as long as I could pop in to do my handover in the afternoon. So, 3pm came, and I was waiting for my clients to arrive. My boy needed to go to the toilet, I couldn’t leave my desk in case the punters came in, so, I just pointed him in the direction of the loo and sent him on his way. As he walked off, my couple came in and I cracked on and thought no more of it. Five minutes later,

I saw him go back to the play area, he gave me a thumbs-up and a smile – sorted. I did the handover, all went well and I was feeling like a multi-tasking-new-age dad. That was easy! I went to the sales office to hand in the file, only to hear two technicians shouting ‘my clothes have been peed on!’ (The changing room for the workshop was next to the toilet). My heart sank as I instantly knew what had happened. You see, my kid has a habit of weeing on clothes rather than in a toilet... I quickly

handed the sales file to the boss and made a hasty exit. But if that wasn’t bad enough, he clocked the receptionist, looking quite hot in her blue dress. She gave him a little wave goodbye, and his response still haunts me. ‘Dad, that girl is Eeeeee Eeeeee’. You see, he can’t whistle, so that’s his builders mating call. I promise you his womanising has nothing to do with me. I just wish I’d stayed at home watching Sky Sports... DH, Hants

“To People Who Want More Valeting, Workshop, Showroom Or Smart-Repair Space…...But Think They Can’t Afford It”

f you would like to increase your capacity for carrying out smart-repair work, valeting, or servicing but have put it off due to cost, a firm in Warwickshire has just

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DASHBOARD.

Londoners are more likely to buy petrol cars than diesel bit.ly/petroldiesel

‘If it was damaging to the brand, we would not have done it’ P

on electric vehicles. ‘We had cars on the market in the UK and France before Nissan, and we couldn’t have done that without a collaboration.’ The iOn is essentially the same car as the Mitsubishi I-MIEV and Citroen C-Zero. But, while the Mitsubishi has placed a £28,990 list price – before the government’s £5k grant – on it, Peugeot is asking £4k more for its version at £33,115. We wanted to know how that could be justified. ‘We believe it isn’t more expensive,’ said Nicolson. ‘We include all of the servicing and maintenance in the price of our vehicle. It is just different commercial strategies. If we’re not going to sell it for the list price, that list price becomes largely irrelevant.’ Customers who want to buy an iOn are steered towards a contract scheme, rather than being allowed to buy the car for list price. Customers pay £415 per month for four years/40,000 miles. ‘That is the only conversation we want to have with the customer – the monthly rental, and the comparable cost of ownership,’ says Nicolson. The EV Life, p42

ion Servicing EVERY Peugeot dealer will be able to service the electric iOn – but they won’t have fast charging points. At the moment, only specialist dealers are able to service the £33k fully-electric car, but one of Peugeot’s product managers exclusively told Car Dealer Magazine that this would change. ‘Because there are so many technological parallels between the iOn and our hybrid vehicles, by the end of this year, or possibly by the beginning of next year, every dealer will be able to service the iOn as well as diesel hybrids,’

warranty wonders

Finest minds are taking our industry forward

Peugeot get the right of reply after their iOn fares badly in Car Dealer test drive eugeot has defended its EV partnership with Mitsubishi and says it had to jump into electric vehicles early. This month Car Dealer has tested the Nissan Leaf against the Peugeot iOn. We felt the difference between the two was so stark that Peugeot needed a right of reply. In our test the iOn lagged so far behind the Leaf we felt it could honestly be damaging to the brand which Peugeot has worked so hard to improve. With excellent cars like the RCZ, 308, 5008 and recent 508, is a poor EV really what dealers need? ‘If we felt it was damaging to the brand we wouldn’t do it,’ explained product manager Alan Nicolson. ‘What you must remember is that the introduction of new technology is very, very expensive and when our lords and masters sat down in Paris many years ago and made the decision that the electric vehicle market was going to take off, we wanted to be in there at the beginning. ‘Let’s face it, the volumes are not huge – in fact we’ll do about 400 cars this year – and the investment to do small volumes is huge, so it is far better to go in with a third party. We have an excellent relationship with Mitsubishi – we’ve already built an SUV with them and build cars for them in Russia – and it seemed sensible to go in with them

Heavisides

said Alan Nicolson, Peugeot product planning manager. However, while this spells good news for Peugeot’s dealer network, no dealerships will be getting fast charging points – like rival firm Nissan has installed for its Leaf owners. Unlike Nissan, the French firm does not think the installation of convenient fast-charging points for customers is important. ‘We would go so far as to say that if customers need to use a fastcharging point, electric cars aren’t right for them,’ added Nicolson.

ime to test your knowledge of motoring history. Guess when the first hybrid car was produced. 2000? Wrong century. 1990? Miles out. 1960? Not even half way there. No, it was 1899. Incredible, isn’t it? More than 110 years ago a petrol-electric hybrid was bought by a paying customer. For a bonus point, guess who made it. Daimler-Benz? Close, but not right. Rolls-Royce? Not even formed in 1899. No, it was designed and built by Ferdinand Porsche (and delivered to an Englishman), so the prospect of a KERS-equipped 911 is nothing new although I suspect the technology’s probably moved on a bit since their last attempt. It’s no surprise that we’re seeing more and more hybrids on the roads. The concept’s clearly nothing new but it’s a sound stepping stone between oil-powered and full plug-in vehicles. More importantly it starts to get millions of drivers worldwide used to the notion of driving under new propulsion – hybrids and even plug-in electric vehicles are just the first step in a journey and not a final destination. It will take years of development to get us to where we need to be, but don’t lose sight of how long it’s taken to get petrol and diesel engines to the levels of refinement they now achieve. As petrol-heads, we probably all need to rewire our expectations of what a car is and how it delivers. The prospect of a vehicle that serves up its performance with a minimal environmental impact and which can be refuelled through a three-pin plug might still be an odd concept, but it’s not as much of a shift as the horseless carriage was for those who, until that point, had only ever travelled by pony and trap. The way in which our cars are powered will change – that’s a given – but those changes won’t happen overnight; it’s taken us over a century to perfect the petrol engine and longer to revamp the hybrid. Herr Porsche had some immense foresight in 1899. The great comfort today is that the finest minds in the industry are taking his ideas forward.

‘Hybrids and plug-in electric vehicles are the first step and not a final destination’

Who is Tim Heavisides?

Heavisides is CEO of Car Care Plan, the UK’s leading provider of motor warranty and GAP products. CarDealerMag.co.uk | 09

DASHBOARD.

‘‘

As car sales begin to recover it’s more important than ever to focus on good business practice and search out new ways to make more money. 10 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

Buy Profit Clinic tickets for just £39 on our website: CarDealerMag.co.uk

Profit Clinic

Join us for a very special event Top business experts will speak at our exclusive event being held on December 7 at the stunning Heritage Motor Museum. Here’s how you can get tickets

here’s talk that by the end of the year the troubles in the automotive industry will be easing and we’ll all be able to look forward to the good times ahead. But as car sales begin to recover it’s more important than ever to focus on good business practice and search out new opportunities to make more money. Running a car dealership is a complicated business and it’s very easy to become focused on the here and now rather than the future. But for your business to expand you need to search for the opportunities that may be going untapped in your showroom. No one likes to be preached to, especially when it comes to running your own business, but there’s nothing wrong with sitting back and taking on board some fresh new ideas that could make a real difference to your business’s bottom line. That’s what the Car Dealer Profit Clinic is all about. Being hosted at the stunning Heritage Motor Museum at Gaydon in Warwickshire on December 7 we’ve assembled an incredible panel of business minds from all areas of the motor retailing industry to chat about their ideas to help make your business better. Topping the event will be headline sponsor Motoring.co.uk’s Chris Green who’ll be explaining how quality lead generation can secure you the best deals. Green is co-founder of new car sales portal Motoring.co.uk which has some very clever ways of getting you sales lead gold. He’ll be revealing his tips for the trade at our special event. But there are also many other brilliant speakers from all areas of the industry lined up to tell you how you can increase your chances of surfing the recovery’s wave of enthusiasm. These include Google’s automotive expert Alex Rose who’ll speak about how dealers can use search to improve their business and increase the chances of snaring buyers. The event will be held on December 7 at the Heritage Motor Museum and includes entry to view the incredible collection of cars. Delegates will arrive for a 9am start with the morning taken up by two sessions for speeches. This will be followed by a buffet lunch and then delegates

THE SPEAKERS Chris Green Who? Motoring.co.uk director Topic: Green, along with Terry Hogan, set up the new car sales portal Motoring.co.uk in 2008. With experience at every level of sales and marketing within automotive retail offline and online, Green will explain how he can help you generate qualified sales leads along with actually being able to measure your ROI. Alex Rose Who? Google industry manager for dealers Topic: Rose works in the Google Autos team in the firm’s UK office. He’ll be giving simple but effective strategies that will help dealers not only enhance their reputation online, but also generate incremental business across new, used and aftersales. Ian Meachin Who? Winns sales manager Topic: Meachin has 10 years experience in the automotive industry. He’ll be speaking about accident management and the opportunities that lie within it. He’ll reveal how turning disaster for a customer into a pleasant experience can do wonders for your business. Vijay Punj Who? Armour Automotive director Topic: Armour Automotive is a leading supplier of audio and visual solutions for in-car entertainment market. At our event Punj will

are free to chat to the speakers and view the car collection. Tickets to the event are £39 and include one year’s FREE membership to Car Dealer Club. Car Dealer Club members get access to free legal advice, a magazine subscription plus a host of exclusive discounts. To take advantage of this special offer you can simply send a cheque for £39 made payable to Blackball Media to 2a Church Road, Gosport,

share the incredible profit proposition model for its next generation of iO music streaming and hands-free solutions to demonstrate how car dealers can work with aftermarket partners to make more money. Gary Hodgkiss Who? Fourmative managing director Topic: Hodgkiss has been providing professional advice and training for more than 20 years. He’ll be talking about why he thinks the sales culture at many dealerships is damaging customer relations, annoying customers and losing profit. He’ll tell you how to fix it with a will, a way and the know-how. Bob Feltham Who? Contact Advantage consultant Topic: Feltham will show you how to reduce your stock, increase your stock turn and enhance your profits – all while using less cash. He will reveal where dealers are losing money on stock, how to stop it and how to revolutionise the way you manage the business. Chris Mason Who? Motor Codes managing director Topic: Empowering the consumer is central to government thinking across all industries. Mason will focus on how garages can maintain credibility in marketing and instill confidence in motorists, at the same time as engaging with satisfied customers to help boost business.

Hants, PO12 2LB or sign up online by clicking the Car Dealer Profit Clinic button on the homepage of CarDealerMag.co.uk where you can pay by credit or debit card. Existing Car Dealer Club members are eligible for free tickets. To take advantage of this offer simply email james@blackballmedia.co.uk stating your membership number. Tickets are strictly limited and are on a first come, first served basis. CarDealerMag.co.uk | 11

DASHBOARD.

Dealer group Lookers receives indicative offer bit.ly/lookersoffer

Winn Assist ‘We’re in for the long accident management

Exceed expectations with added value that’s built in

ow much added value can one customer take? At what point does it appear that the original item/service they were being sold must have been quite insignificant as they appear to need all these ‘added-value’ lines to make it a full purchase? Where do your sales staff stop adding value and start confusing the customer as to what is ‘needed’ and what is ‘added value’? Clarification of these instances can often lead to a clarified sales approach where suddenly built-in value far exceeds the customer’s expectations and the additional value purchases become just that. Should you give everything away to start with? No, but should you look at the inherent value of starting off with a product that looks to complete the consumer’s expectation? Our services are quite often looked at as added value to be sold as an added extra. Where our partners are offering the service as part of the original offering and it is sold as an ‘expectation’ to the customer, a greater understanding and appreciation is achieved. This basis of selling an afterthe-event product takes away the negative conversation around accident management whereas if introduced as an afterthought, it suggests to the customer that there is every chance they will have an accident. On the other hand, if it’s part of the original product, it is viewed as you looking after the customer no matter what the eventuality in their vehicle’s life ie servicing, parts, accidents, etc. Customer care is becoming a differentiator between suppliers. The skill sets of the sales people that interact with your customers are a priority. We take the time to ensure that they understand the value points but more importantly that accident management is not a summer sizzler or spring special, it sits as a core product for the vehicle-purchasing customer, increasing the initial inherent value of your product. To understand the details and increased revenue opportunities of this scheme speak to Ian Meachin, Key Accounts Manager at Winn Solicitors, on 07525 986 854.

‘Where do your sales staff stop adding value and start confusing the customer?’

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. 12 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

haul so let’s trigger pent-up demand’

on’t feel bad, things are going to be all right – at least that’s the message from the SMMT’s Paul Everitt. Speaking to Car Dealer Magazine, Everitt said car sales would rebound, but warned it could take a while yet. ‘I think the truth is that we are in for a long haul here,’ said the SMMT chief executive. ‘We’re not going to suddenly see a big bounce and the hundreds of thousands of units we’ve lost during the recession suddenly rebound. ‘Everybody has to steel themselves to the fact that the economic circumstances mean that growth will be slow and will take a while. It’s going to be two or three years perhaps before we start to get back to levels we might be more familiar with.’ Everitt said that next year the new car market would top two million units but added that this would be a slow process – not the dramatic bounceback many have been predicting. ‘If we get to 2.1m next year I’ll be out having a party,’ he joked. ‘I don’t want to be negative about it, but we need to be realistic. The economic circumstances that we face in the UK are difficult because of the whole thrust of what the government is doing to reduce debt and rebalance the economy. ‘At the same time, inflation is higher than we would like, we’ve had a VAT increase and no one is really seeing an increase in their salary to compensate, so the cost of living is squeezing and that is not going to go away.’

Buying a new car gives motorists a way to fix their outgoings However, Everitt does believe that there is some pent-up demand in the new car market – and it’s up to dealers and manufacturers to trigger that. He argues that buying a new car shouldn’t be seen as having to find a £10k or £15k lump by buyers but rather as a way of fixing their outgoings. ‘My gut sense is that there is some stored-up demand out there and it’s about what triggers that back into the marketplace,’ he explained. ‘One of the areas we are looking at is that people are alarmed about buying a new car because it’s a lot of expense – these are big-ticket items – but actually most people don’t buy outright, they buy in a variety of ways. ‘You get a lot more certainty in what your monthly costs will be when you buy a new car. ‘I’m not sure we have articulated that to our customers. Those running a fiveyear-old car could see the numbers start to make sense – they are not unattractive. ‘The upfront cost is relatively low, most come with some sort of service package, most will be more fuel-efficient so as a package there is an argument to be made.’ He added it was up to the car industry to get these important messages across to trigger buyers into coming back to the market.

Mondeo man: He’s moving on up and here to stay FORD have revealed they’re proud of a certain nineties stereotype – and it’s a name that’s here to stay. ‘Mondeo Man is a name we’re really proud to be associated with,’ said Kevin Griffin, Ford’s fleet operations director. ‘It’s a phrase used by everyone.’ The phrase was coined in the midnineties as a stereotypical voter Tony Blair and New Labour wanted to win over, and typified a man who was in his mid-30s, voted Conservative, and polished his car every weekend. ‘We have been asked why we didn’t change the name of the new

Mondeo in 2007 to something less cliched. But we view Mondeo Man as nothing but a good thing for our brand.’ Despite being a symbol of the 20th century, Griffin added that Mondeo Man is here to stay: ‘Mondeo Man is still key because he’s moving upmarket. That’s good news for us as with more refinement, better engines and more equipment, the new Mondeo demonstrates the level of luxury enjoyed by the Mondeo Man of today.’ Manual, p40

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See videos of the BMW 1M in action by logging on to bit.ly/1mvideos

BMW 1M CSL a possibility Product manager refuses to rule out a CSL version of 1M

MW has not ruled out a CSL version of its new 1 Series M Coupe, one of the maker’s product managers has said. The German firm has just launched the 1M but with two thirds of the 450 UK allocation already sold, it’s likely buyers will want more – and a CSL version could be the answer. The phenomenal success of the 1M has taken BMW somewhat by surprise. The production run was planned while the global recession was still casting a shadow of doubt over the car industry so bosses decided to be cautious with the allocation. But dealers sold 300 1M models prior to its official launch and it looks likely the entire batch could find homes in a matter of weeks. That success has led the maker to look at other avenues, such as CSL, convertible and hatchback versions. ‘There is scope for a CSL version,’ BMW product manager James Morrison told us. ‘This car has certainly generated a buzz. When we planned for

this car we were cautious, but now there’s some hype surrounding the 1M so there’s clearly going to be some people looking at what we can do next. ‘M is the pinnacle of engineering so if there’s a CSL proposition or something really different that we could consider then we would. If there’s something special and unique we can do with it then absolutely we would. ‘However, losing weight from cars is really expensive and the 1M fits very well at the moment at £40k. Whether it’d work as well at £60k just

because it’s a bit quicker and lighter then I don’t know.’ WHY NOT M1? Morrison also revealed that the new car wasn’t given the M1 name because it wasn’t seen as the right fit for a car of this type and he hinted that it had been reserved for something special in the future. ‘The M1 was a unique car,’ he explained. ‘It was one of our first M cars and it was what we call a supercar class vehicle. Naturally this car would have been called M1, based on M3 and M5, but it was felt it wasn’t the right name for this type of car. If the M1 name had been taken up by this then it really messes up our naming convention. You never know, the M1 could be revived – there’s always hope that there could be another supercar class BMW.’ BMW 1M Manual, p34

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 17

DASHBOARD.

Hoggart

point of sale

Be prepared... and choose your partners with care

hoosing business partners has become an increasingly important decision in recent times. As our business infrastructure gets more complex, we have found the need to bring in outside organisations, as suppliers and partners in critical areas of the business, has increased. At a time where business failures are still increasing, ensuring we are diligent about who we work with is near the forefront of our thinking. Only half of businesses survive the first three years, so we need to ensure that should a business partner fail, particularly an outsource partner, it doesn’t affect our day-to-day operations. With that in mind, it is wise to remember that the best long-term proposition doesn’t necessarily come from the best presentation or what seems the sharpest price. In our view there is a need to balance these important attributes with the boring ones such as stability and foundation. We are very much on the side of new businesses, having supported several over the years through our Unity channel. However, if we are expected to back business partners that want to work with the industry, it is right that they should back themselves and ensure they have adequate resources to provide the service with confidence and a guarantee of continuity. We certainly can’t afford to make mistakes with critical services that are no longer just the usual utilities but now extend to data provision, systems integration and particularly hosted software solutions. Recent experience of ours meant we couldn’t risk our own systems-hosting with a company that had almost no assets despite them being significantly cheaper than our eventual choice. What matters is the effect it has on a business if a supplier fails. If that is minimal then the risk is perhaps not really a factor. However, if the effect is business interruption or perhaps in a specialist area that has complexities involved, such as our hosting question, then genuine risk assessment must be applied. As we say at DSG, ‘be prepared’.

‘We are very much on the side of new businesses, having supported several.’

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. 18 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

Toyota installs huge bank of solar panels at UK factory bit.ly/solartoyota

You had some great ideas for Great Wall... we’ll pass them all on Among the issues raised were pricing, servicing and good supply of parts

f you were to launch a new car franchise from scratch, what would be the most important things to consider? That’s the question Chinese maker Great Wall posed to Car Dealer readers in our recent special feature on the brand’s entry into the UK market. Boss Paul Hegarty wanted to know what dealers felt were the most important things to consider in a number of different areas. He asked what dealers felt their manufacturer should offer to help you sell more cars; what three things would help you do your job better in terms of aftersales; what three things are most important to provide for your customers when it comes to sales, and what you think a dealer should be offering customers when it comes to aftersales. We received a mailbag full of answers. Most people appeared to think that a warranty and service plan was of paramount importance, with one survey respondent asking for a ‘no-quibble, easy warranty claims procedure’ and another saying ‘a long aftersales warranty is needed, particularly on an unknown product’. Another called for a survey plan to ‘protect future running costs’. A clear pricing strategy was another of your key concerns – with one dealer even going so far as saying that ‘a sensible

pricing strategy in relation to the perceived quality of the cars’ was necessary, and continued with the opinion that Great Wall should begin with ‘fantastic value from the off, get the cars out there, get the reputation established, then push up prices if you need to’. Other desires included the provision of accurate info on supply and delivery dates; good demonstrator availability, the ability to talk to Great Wall managers ‘who can make decisions there and then’ and an excellent and open relationship between the manufacturer and dealers. Servicing was another area that provoked a lot of debate. Many of you called for ‘great service and aftercare’ and an excellent supply of parts. One dealer would like to see ‘repairs when the customer needs them, not necessarily when the dealer does, so perhaps Sunday servicing and evening collections’ as well as ‘honesty and straightforward, plain English agreements about what, when, how and the costs’. We will be passing on all the survey results to Paul Hegarty, managing director of Great Wall, and he’s promised to take on board the recommendations so many of you delivered.

A higher profile for Ford in Southampton SOUTH Coast motor group Hendy is set to open a brand new Ford dealership in Southampton. The move is part of Hendy Group’s long-term investment plans for the region. The family-owned company will open Hendy Ford at West Quay offering customers new and used cars, servicing and repairs. Hendy Group, which celebrated its centenary as a Ford dealer last year, has relocated its Shirley Road operation to the new dealership.

‘We are delighted to announce this move to higher-profile facilities next door to our successful Honda dealership,’ said Hendy Group MD Paul Hendy. ‘These plans have been on the drawing board for some time so we are delighted to be finally making that move.’ The former Shirley Road site closes on May 31 to make way for residential development and all staff will either move to the new West Quay centre or one of the other outlets in Hampshire.

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Around the world Dealer news from somewhere other than here

Marshall Motor Group beats Vertu in Twitter sales duel bit.ly/marshallwin

FLORIDA

ONE south Florida branch of the US’ largest dealership chain, AutoNation, has reported that May sales dropped by 15 per cent. Since the Japan earthquake and tsunami, all south Florida dealerships that sell Japanese cars have felt the effects of falling sales. Sales of Toyotas in the US fell by 33 per cent in May, with declines of 23 per cent and 9.1 per cent respectively in the sales of Honda and Nissan cars.

UAE

COLORADO

POLICE are investigating claims that a used-car dealer specialising in Dodges is forging customers’ signatures. Customers are claiming their signatures have appeared on finance loans they have never taken out. Investigations revealed a web of ‘immoral’ conduct from disgruntled former employees. Insurance companies have now issued advice on how to avoid customers’ signatures being forged.

MILAN

A MILANESE car dealer’s ‘American lifestyle’ is set to change. The dealer has been selling Chrysler cars and motorhomes from his three showrooms for the last ten years, but Fiat, which owns Chrysler, is pulling the American brand out of continental Europe and changing all Chrysler dealerships into Lancia showrooms.

VIETNAM

DEALERS in the United Arab Emirates are expected to have a busy time this year and new car sales are predicted to return to pre-2008 levels. The Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry predicts sales will reach 352,913 this year – close to the 2008 level of 355,117 cars. Forecasts for the UAE new car market are also positive – by 2014 car ownership is expected to increase to 57 per cent of the population.

A NEW rule which requires car importers to show authorisation documents provided by foreign manufacturers could see some dealers go out of business. Under the new rule, car importers are required to submit documents to show that foreign car makers have authorised dealers to sell cars in the country. But one Vietnamese dealer has said that dealers will never get the papers and as a result some will go bust.

Two’s company. Three’s a crowd. Thousands can’t be wrong. Go to www.mfldirect.co.uk for the widest selection of low mileage, three year old cars currently being snapped up by thousands of dealers.

PART OF

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 21

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my first sale

Len Apps

Advertising

Hyundai at the circus

Lifestyle Ford salesman has always had an eye for a sale

HYUNDAI has pulled off a major coup by snapping up an advertising space in London’s Piccadilly Circus. The 116sq ft space – held by Sanyo since 1978 – has been snaffled by Hyundai for an undisclosed sum. The billboard is estimated to be seen by more than 56m a year and will go live on June 24 with a simple Hyundai banner advert. This will be updated to a high-resolution LED screen in October. Hyundai UK MD Tony Whitehorn said: ‘We are delighted to have achieved such a prestigious space. It is a rare opportunity for our brand to become part of the London landscape.’

he first car I ever sold was an Austin A60. It was back in 1968 and I sold it brand new. I was a junior starter and was supposed to be a trainee salesman, but I was really there to do all of the crappy jobs for the sales manager. In those days, in the showroom there was a little desk hidden by a screen with a window in it, and the salesmen used to congregate around there, and on this particular day I was there too. ORDERS Every Monday morning the dustbin lorry would come along to collect all of the garage’s rubbish, and I was standing there at the window and noticed this big tall guy get out of the lorry PEUGEOT has revealed that it will need to and walk into the showroom. adjust its sales estimates for the 508 after All the salesmen looked at him and thought recent high demand for the new car. he wouldn’t have two ha’pennies to scrape Despite being on sale to the public for only weeks, the 508 has already attracted together. Having come from a background where more than 1,700 orders. ‘Our initial sales this customer came from, I went and spoke to estimate was 6,000 for this year,’ said a him because I thought that he wouldn’t be here Car_dealer_mag_142X190_Autoguard:Layout 1 24/3/11 09:46 Page 1 spokesman. ‘But we will have to adjust this.’ if he didn’t want to buy anything – my colleagues

New 508 off to a flyer

Len Apps sold his first car to a binman who had just won the pools – much to his colleagues’ dismay

didn’t seem to grasp this. So, I started chatting to him and it turned out he had won the pools. He hadn’t won enough to buy his council house, but it was enough to buy a brand new car, and because he came every Monday to empty the bins he had grown a hankering for an Austin A60. I did the deal, and he drove away a happy customer. As in a lot of cases, pre-judging a customer can be costly.

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Kia’s Simon Hetherington takes up dealer role bit.ly/kiadealerrole

How to sell an extra car Our Used Car Expert on finding one more sale

ow many cars have you sold, on average, each month, this year? If you don’t know, go to the back of the class. As you’re still reading Car Dealer, we’ll assume that whatever the number, it’s paying the bills and keeping you in business. So if you

sell an extra car a month, that’s all extra cash for your back pocket /tax man. Our data shows that to sell an extra car, on average, each month, you will need an extra 100 or so suitable car buyers to visit your website. How hard can that really be? I mean, selling cars is what you do. But hang on, you’ve got the ads in Auto Trader already. You’re in the local paper and their websites already links to yours. Your website is

The problem is not how to sell more cars, but how to get rid of the pink one...

on your number plates… what else is there? We all know you can spend a fortune on extra ads and listings in other places – but have you noticed how very few of them are keen to guarantee enquiries? No, you need something creative – something cheap, but powerful. You could hire a big blimp and float it above the garage with your website address on it. Or offer to strip naked and run through the city centre for charity – but tattoo your website somewhere prominent first? I am sure a few of your competitors would chip in to see that. But the trouble with these brilliant (cough) ideas is that they’re not sustainable. Once you’ve run through town once, we’ve seen more than we needed. It won’t be long before the blimp is just ignored as part of the area’s backdrop. Perhaps, rather than ‘re-invent the wheel’, you should just do what bigger dealer groups have been doing for some time. What’s that? Contact me and I’ll let you in on the secret...

Who is Matt Tumbridge?

Publisher of UsedCarExpert.co.uk. You can contact him directly on mt@usedcarexpert.com or on 07974 778 554 (outside pub hours).

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16/3/11 13:22:30

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Join Car Dealer Club by visiting CarDealerClub.com 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

We sold a car to a customer two years ago. They have since decided to trade the car on to another dealer who initially agreed to pay them £5,000. However, when they did a vehicle check, they discovered the vehicle at some stage had been a category D write-off and withdrew the offer. The customer came back to us. We discovered the vehicle had not been recorded as a category D at the time of our sale but that the marker had been added after. The insurance company which wrote the car off says it is not responsible and the trader we bought the car from is no longer in business. I have agreed to pay the customer what the dealer offered him and will move the car on in the trade at a loss. But do I have any comeback on anyone? AF, Taunton Category D is an economic write-off and if the vehicle is repaired properly it should not affect the use of the car – indeed, it appears your customer drove the car for two years without being aware of it. If you were not aware of the issue then clearly you could not have disclosed it under the requirements of the consumer protection regulations. It could therefore be argued that you fulfilled all your legal responsibilities to your customer and have gone beyond what was necessary in paying them. However there will no doubt be some benefit to your reputation in doing so. In terms of whether you can pursue anyone else, the obvious point of call would be against the

Should we pay for this? Q. We sold an Alfa 156 with 140,000 on the clock for £2,000 five months ago. We advised the buyer of a variator problem and paid to fix it. Now they have come back to us with a bigend failure and want us to pay. They have done more than 10,000 miles since they bought it. RT, Bucks A. The Sale of Goods Act does not set strict limits on action – if a fault appears in the first six months after a sale the onus is on the dealer to prove the fault was not present at the time of sale. The Act is not blind to the age, mileage and condition of the car. This was an older vehicle with high mileage. I don’t think you should pay.

ADVICE

Was this car mis-sold? Q. One of our salesmen sold a Ford C-Max as an end-of-run vehicle at a discounted price. The vehicle was registered in December, however, there have been some problems with the car and the customer has now discovered that the vehicle was manufactured in 2008. They are now saying they were mis-sold the vehicle and want their money back. What is the resolution? MB, Widnes A. You have a duty to give the customer all the information you have related to the vehicle at the time of sale which might affect their buying decisions. Hence if a vehicle is discounted you need to note all the details as to why on the sales invoice. If the discounting not only took into account the vehicle being end-of-line but also that the vehicle’s time being stored and

dealer selling you the vehicle, especially if they knew of the history. In-trade deals afford little protection but a vehicle must be ‘as described’. However as they are a limited company no longer in business it will be almost impossible to recover anything there. Neither is the insurer liable and while the

you could produce a receipt to that effect then you would be on solid legal ground. Without it, the natural bias of the court is in favour of the consumer. However, if the customer has had six months use of the car they will not be entitled to recover what they paid for it. In any case such as this the prime aim of any dealership should be to retain the customer so if they are unhappy with the car see if you can get them to agree to accept a replacement.

vehicle registers do what they can to keep their records up-to-date, they are only as good as their information providers. Hence any information should be taken as business intelligence rather than strictly as a fact. So I am afraid the answer is you will probably have to take a loss on this one.

He wants his deposit back Q. We have a vehicle on order from a manufacturer which was supposed to be delivered in June but which they now say they cannot get to us until December. The customer is having a few problems with his own vehicle and has told us that he wants to either withdraw from the contract with us returning his deposit, us to pay to fix his car or provide him with a courtesy car to use. Obviously we would like to keep the sale but the latter two are not options. Are we required to release him from his obligations and must we return his deposit? He is

threatening court action if we do not do so. MM, Didsbury A. A deposit often seals a deal and is forfeit but it depends on whether you promised a delivery date. If you promised to deliver in June then you should be prepared to return the deposit if you cannot fulfil the contract. If no delivery date was promised then returning the deposit may not be obligatory. However, six months late is a substantial delay and returning the deposit would be considered good practice. The court may support him if you refuse.

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 CarDealerClub.com 26 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

Your advert said this car had air con but it hasn’t. I want you to pay for it to be retro fitted. What are you going to do about it?

My head gasket has gone on the car you sold me after just a year – I want my money back. What are you going to do about it?

The car you sold me has been clocked. I want compensation for the money I’ve spent on insurance and my money back. What are you going to do about it?

You sold me this car and I’ve found out it’s had an accident repaired. It’s not worth as much as you said it was. What are you going to do about it?

The clutch has gone on my new car. I’ve only had it eight months. You should pay for the repairs. What are you going to do about it?

PROBLEMS?

Let us help you solve them. Car Dealer Club members get free legal advice worth £199, access to exclusive discounts and a copy of this excellent magazine every month for an annual subscription of just £25 CAR DEALER CLUB SUBSCRIPTION FORM Your Name: ......................................................................................................................................................................... Company Name: ......................................................................................................................................................................... Position: ......................................................................................................................................................................... Telephone Number ......................................................................................................................................................................... Email Address ........................................................................................................................................................................ Address ........................................................................................................................................................................ ......................................................................................................................................................................... ......................................................................................................................................................................... ......................................................................................................................................................................... ......................................................................................................................................................................... .........................................................................................................................................................................

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Harratts spending £3m on new showroom and HQ bit.ly/harratts3m

Scam warning Conmen target dealers’ Auto Trader accounts

ealers are being warned after a number of garages have said their Auto Trader websites have been ‘hacked’. Several dealers have been in touch with us with tales of woe after their accounts with the online classified website were compromised. One said the prices on their adverts were changed and the telephone number altered so customers were directed to the fraudsters instead. The problems seem to extend to dealers’ own websites which are run on Auto Trader’s servers. One independent dealer told us: ‘We have had our website hacked and 13 cars added at ridiculously low prices. The car pics had text over them saying “please email after 5pm” and gave the scammer’s email address. We had lots of calls and after the first one I checked the internet. Then I spotted what had happenend.’ The dealer asked if we had heard of any more problems and unfortunately we have – our inbox has recently been inundated1 with similar issues. Northridge Adverts+.pdf 31/03/2011 09:30

GOOGLE

Another dealer told us: ‘It seems like Auto Trader may have been compromised again, or this is the knock-on effect of the other hack. ‘Someone hacked our website and changed the prices of some of the cars to very cheap. There was a link for the customer to follow to enter bank details to pay for the car then a promise of delivery. Obviously the car doesn’t turn up.’ This dealer told us he’d been advised to log in to his account and change the passwords and said others with accounts and websites hosted by Auto Trader should do the same. We contacted Auto Trader and asked if it knew whether its dealers’ websites had been hacked, but that question wasn’t answered directly. However, Helena Fearon, customer security and compliance director at Trader Media Group, said: ‘Auto Trader takes customer security extremely seriously and we are committed to ensuring we offer our dealers the best information and software available to counter the threat of phishing attacks. ‘We regularly update the safety and security information on our website and urge all our dealers to download “Trusteer Rapport” to ensure they are protected against phishing attacks.’

‘Don’t turn Google into the next Auto Trader’ A MOTOR trade advertising specialist has warned dealers: You’re turning Google into the next Auto Trader. Chris Green, of Motoring.co.uk, said dealers were pulling thousands of pounds from the UK’s leading car classified website and instead spending it on Google Adwords. However, because dealers are all bidding for the same search terms they are pushing up prices – only making Google richer. ‘When we started out with Motoring we knew the search term “Used Ford Focus” was 12 pence per click – it’s now at £1.20 per click,’ explained Green. ‘Dealers are all bidding for the same short Adwords and that’s only pushing up the prices. If they are going to spend money on Google then they need to be clever with how they do it. ‘There’s no point everyone bidding for the same terms. They need to be targeted and more specific – and that way they’ll be cheaper too.’ Green says dealers should bid for search terms that are more specific to them – longer terms that reference their locality and cars work best, he advises.

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CarDealerMag.co.uk | 29

FINANCE. Popularity

Mixed month for dealers FORECOURT finance is the most popular way to buy a new car, according to new figures from the FLA. In the last 12 months, more than 54 per cent of consumers chose finance from their car dealer. This is 1.6 percentage points up on February’s figure. The finance sales figures for March – the latest figures – are better than expected, despite volumes being five per cent down compared with March 2010, says the trade body. Paul Harrison, head of motor finance, said: ‘It was a mixed month for dealers – the proportion of cars sold and the value of loans rose once again, although the actual number of vehicles sold on finance fell.’

WINNER

Accolade for Chester group A CHESTER-based motor finance group has been crowned as Britain’s most responsible lender. The Funding Corporation was revealed as the overall winner of the accolade at the Credit Today Awards, beating major High Street names such as Barclays Bank and the Cooperative Bank to the title. The prestigious title of Responsible Lender of the Year is one of the most keenly fought-over honours at the UK credit industry’s annual awards ceremony. Bringing the accolade back to Chester for 2011 was a major achievement said the firm’s managing director, David Challinor. ‘Every aspect of our work was put under the microscope,’ he said.

Why MOT changes could be bad news for used car buyers

Mechanical faults could be passed down the line to an unlucky purchaser

roposed changes to the current MOT testing schedule could affect people who buy from the small ads, a national used car retailer has predicted. ACF Car Finance says private car buyers would stand a greater chance of inheriting costly mechanical faults which until now have been remedied by the car’s previous owner. This, the firm believes, will be the consequence of delaying a car’s first MOT from year three to year four, and afterwards testing it only every two

years instead of annually. Any mechanical faults or safety issues will be remedied at this stage – but buyers of cars from private sellers could find themselves landed with unexpected repair bills. Such a prospect has been overlooked by MPs who are currently debating possible MOT changes, believes Mark Jones, divisional manager of operations and logistics at ACF Car Finance. ‘Issues identified at the MOT are the

‘‘

responsibility of the car’s owner – but if no recent test has highlighted these and the car is sold, the problem is passed down the line,’ said Jones. ‘People who buy privately often do so because they believe they can save on showroom prices – but under this new regime, such a decision could exact a severe financial penalty. ‘We are lobbying for a drastic rethink of these proposals – but if they do go ahead, people should know that buying a car from the small ads could be a big mistake.’

The cost of a repair could be substantially higher than it would have been.

New finance deal could see BMW drivers buy every two years BMW Financial Services has announced a new addition to its finance products – the 50:50 package. The package combines ‘affordability and flexibility in one easy-to-manage contract’ says the firm. The 50:50 package is as simple as it

sounds. Customers pay 50 per cent of the car’s value up front, then nothing for two years, following which they can choose from three options: Pay the remaining 50 per cent to take full ownership of the car, part-exchange the car for a new one, or hand the car

back without further commitment. Joe Pattinson, sales and marketing manager at BMW Financial Services, said: ‘If a customer chooses to partexchange the car at the end of the agreement they could end up driving a brand new car every two years.’

Valuing Service – Valuing You! First Response Finance is the first choice for the UK’s small to medium sized dealer market. 30 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

..in association with

DEAL FINDER

Latest finance deals on compact MPVs Meriva LAUNCHED in 2003, Vauxhall’s Meriva became an instant success in the UK as it was relatively cheap to buy and its angular bodystyle afforded plenty of space. Last year it was replaced by this – the allnew Meriva. With Rolls-Royce style suicide doors and more space than ever, but with similar prices to the old car, the new Meriva aims to be another success for the Griffin badge. And the latest finance offer is appealing too. A three-year, zero per cent deal is available on the 1.4-litre Meriva Excite. Vauxhall dealers put down £1,535,

meaning customers have to put down a deposit of £4,931, followed by 36 monthly payments of £299. That means the final amount payable by the customer for the mini-MPV is £15,695.

with a 9.60 pence per mile charge if that is exceeded. An optional final payment of £7,365 is necessary for the customer to secure the car.

Scenic THE pair of cars mentioned above are the main rivals gunning to steal Renault’s crown of king of the compact MPV sector. While it is arguable whether they will ever manage to do that, there is no doubt that the French manufacturer reigns supreme in this sector at the moment. In recent years, the Scenic might have lost some of its design flair but it’s lost none of its cleverness. Renault know this too, which could explain its hefty prices. But with a reasonable finance deal on offer, it’s not all that bad.

time is money

Retaining your customers

C-Max THE Ford C-Max became a favourite with the British public because it did everything the Focus did, but in a more practical package. In 2010 it was superseded by the new C-Max and, taking a leaf out of Renault’s book, came in normal five-seat and ‘grand’ seven-seat variants. Ford is currently running a finance promotion on the C-Max in Zetec trim, with the 1.6-litre Duratec petrol engine. An initial deposit of £3,875.24 is required from the customer, followed by 24 monthly payments of £269 at 4.9 per cent APR. Mileage is fixed at 9,000 per annum

Such

The Dynamique TomTom 1.6-litre, fiveseater Scenic is now available on a zero per cent APR deal. That means 36 monthly payments of £503.19 with no deposit to be paid by the customer either.

hen was the last time a finance representative stepped through your door? How long were they there for? How did the conversation go? Did they talk about you or talk about themselves? Was the call to benefit them or to benefit you? All too often, people are interested in one thing – how something will benefit themselves – and that statement in itself will go a long way towards helping you answer the above questions. If you had not guessed from reading my articles so far this year, my team and I very much believe in customer retention. We also believe in doing things for the right reasons and try to eradicate any selfish behaviour from our actions, which I will go on to explain. Looking back to the past, our dealer calls could seem quite narrow-minded as unintentionally we would approach the visit from a ‘what’s in it for us’ mentality. How things can change when you have your eyes opened... Today our calls are very different as we see the dealer’s longevity as our primary focus. We understand that without them it could prove very hard to maintain our existence. That is why we have been helping many of our dealers attract business this year and customer retention has been one of the strategies employed. We can offer assistance and are willing to roll up our sleeves in an attempt to secure our dealers the return business that many desire but don’t know how to achieve. We were in the same position when we began helping dealers nationwide with customer retention, but it’s a learning process and until you explore you will never find the numerous avenues that exist to secure that profitable repeat customer.

‘We are willing to roll up our sleeves to secure our dealers return business.’

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 Web: www.frfl.co.uk CarDealerMag.co.uk | 31

big mike.

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

Technology can be a car dealer’s worst enemy

aybe I’m just going a bit doolally in my old age, but it seems that I’ve completely turned my back on conventional wisdom. Like a three-year old, it seems that if somebody tells me I should do something, I actually go out of my way not to do it, or at the very least do the complete opposite. For example, if you take the advice doled out freely by consumer car magazines (and beware if you do, as I know for a fact that many staffers on car mags have never actually parted with their hard-earned to buy such a thing as a car) you’d sink all of your money into a Japanese sewing machine with minimal depreciation, but would spend three times the difference having it inspected by professional Toms, Dicks and Harrys to make sure it hadn’t been scraped by a shopping trolley earlier in its life. Any trader worth his salt knows different. His own car is invariably one of the following – a) something completely bonkers and lairy that you wouldn’t be able to insure if you didn’t have a trade policy; b) massively luxurious, rough around the gills and utterly unsaleable, but jolly nice to smoke around in; or c) whatever’s in stock that the tax has yet to expire on. Such publications will also dispense invaluable wisdom that they frequently recycle from articles published decades earlier. Look at any used car buyer’s guide and you’ll find, for example, advice to not call an ad if there’s only a mobile number in it as it could be a fly-by-night… Or, of course, it could be somebody with 1,500 free minutes a month and no need for a landline, or someone who’s sick to death of telemarketing The kind of calls to his or her home phone number from Blackberry Big canvassing agencies. Mike prefers Then there’s the age-old one – never buy a car to own without seeing it in the metal first. Anybody daft enough to hand over the cash before they’ve seen, touched or driven the vehicle they’re about to buy deserves everything they get in my book, but to actually bid and agree a price before you collect has become the norm these days. If you buy in an online auction and the vendor’s description turns out to be inaccurate, you can still walk away guiltfree. But if the car is as described, then in effect you’ve done your haggling by proxy, making the whole sales process cleaner and less awkward. ‘Never agree to buy a car over the phone.’ That’s another one. I’m sure the vast majority of Car Dealer

Big

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

readers would agree with me in saying that if they didn’t do that, then they’d never have any stock at all to punt around. Most of the metal at my end of the trade (sub-£5k, some lovely, some horrid but you take the rough with the smooth as it’s part of the job) comes to the likes of me via an underwriter, often from main dealers on first refusal before it gets thrown to the wolves at auction. You then do the maths on each car you get – sell as is, refurb and sell, punt out via the ‘PX to clear’ bit at the bottom of your ad, or chuck back into the auction where it belongs. Defying conventional wisdom and taking risks is how you net a bargain, but even a dyed-in-the-wool trader like me sometimes takes an absolute flier, and that’s where technology is our worst enemy. Recently, I have acquired a personal communication device named after a popular fruit of the forest; a kind of hybrid thing that’s half telephone, half laptop. It gives you

‘Some publications dispense wisdom recycled from articles published decades earlier.’ all the speed and efficiency of the dial-up internet you used to have at home, coupled to the ability to take it anywhere and watch its little egg timer try to load a web page. I was having dinner with Mrs M the other day at one of the West Midlands’ finest Beefeaters, when she popped out for her inter-course cigarette (I normally prefer the one just afterwards, if you get my drift). By the time she returned I’d logged onto eBay and inadvertently bought a superrare Japanese luxo-barge that fired in me a bizarre kind of nostalgia for my main dealer days. So I’m now £225 lighter in the pocket and the proud owner of a Nissan Maxima. I refer you to clause b), paragraph three. Conventional wisdom defied, I’d bought the thing unseen, via a mobile number and over the phone all at once. Quite an achievement. Maybe next time I’ll try doing that with proper money… Incidentally, whilst referring to my earlier comment, the editorial team at Car Dealer certainly don’t fit the car mag staffer mould. I’ve owned as many cars as I’ve had hot dinners and editor Baggott is such a skilled wheeler dealer he managed to almost double his money on a dog of a Volvo. If ever the mag goes tits-up, he’s getting a job on my lot.

Who is Big Mike?

Well, that would be telling. What we do know is he’s had 30 years in the car trade and picked up some seriously funny tales along the way. CarDealerMag.co.uk | 33

forecourt.

James Morrison BMW UK’s head of small cars talks to James Baggott about the firm’s new M car that’s already nearly sold out What sort of buyer will you be targeting with the 1M? The car was conceived to be the youngest and most affordable M car. The target buyer will either be in a high-end 1 Series like a 135 or in a Porsche Cayman. Some buyers may even be trading up from a 370Z. Some people who are driving a 3 Series, particularly older M3 customers who couldn’t stretch to an E92, will be attracted to it too. This car plugs that gap. You’re only bringing 450 to the UK. Is there a danger you’ll run out soon? Well, we’ve sold two thirds of our allocation already. That’s 300 cars. It was announced in December, so most of the 300 are people who have never seen the car in the flesh, never driven it, and had only really read early road tests of a disguised early car. So a lot of people bought it simply on the looks but knowing it would be great to drive. I think it’ll sell out within a very short window. We’ve got a small production window for UK cars – March to December – so it’s now forward selling production. Sales have slowed after the initial burst of enthusiasm but now with the press coverage starting it won’t be long before the rest are snapped up. Why wasn’t it called the M1? Well, M1 was a very unique car. It was one of our first M cars and it was what we call a supercar class. By that we mean a strict two-seater and it’s really a totally different class of car to this. Naturally this car would have been called M1, based on M3 and M5, but it was felt it wasn’t the right name for this type of car which is a small coupe-class vehicle. That’s why it is named along the same principles as Z roadster, X5 M etc. There was a lot of discussion about the name generally, but we find it naturally gets called M Coupe or 1M. Does that mean the M1 name is being reserved for something else? I don’t know of any plans for it to be, but as I said, it’s for a highend supercar class so if there was a supercar successor it’s that name we’d want to give it. And if it had been taken up by this then it really messes up the naming convention. You never know, it could be revived. There’s always hope that there could be another supercar class BMW. This could have been one of the best-selling M cars ever. 34 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

‘‘

Why has it been restricted to just 450 sales? We wanted to underline exclusivity and show that this car is something quite special. We planned on these volumes two years ago. We were looking forward, trying to guess what the market was going to be like. That was coming out of a recession so it was hard to predict what was going to happen. With any high-end performance supercar you’ve got to plan sensibly. It’s always better to have too few cars and some real excitement than too many. With this car there is some real excitement and we think it’ll go down in history as being truly unique and iconic. Other markets are equally restricted – the States will get 6-800 and other markets like France will get less.

We think it’ll go down in history as being truly unique and iconic

What about a convertible? Again there are high-level discussions but we don’t really see much opportunity for that car. For this size of car as a convertible we might lose a bit too much purity. The M3 convertible does very well but it’s a bigger car. There’s nothing planned for a hatch version either at the moment. Is there still a healthy market for cars like this? I’d say the sales figures say there

is. As you know, the car can do nearly 30mpg so it’s not a gas guzzler. CO2 is 224g/km so it’s below the high end tax band. You could argue it’s got supercar performance without the taxation. We’ve seen a big swing towards low CO2 diesels primarily driven by company car buyers, but there are a lot of retail customers out there who aren’t paying benefit in kind so don’t have this CO2 financial pressure. Could you ever see the M badge on the back of a diesel car? Never say never. I don’t think M or BMW are willing to get hooked up in what’s happened in the past. They’ll always look to the best solution for the best performance and everyday usability. Diesels have come on such a long way. 1 Series sales alone are about 65-70 per cent diesels so it’s a really important market. Our 123d has very few competitors as there aren’t many manufacturers producing high-performance diesels. How should dealers push this car? Well it’s been hard for dealers as we haven’t been able to give them a launch car. That’s because we couldn’t get enough production to facilitate that so unfortunately for the dealers it’s selling it to customers who have absolute confidence in M cars. There are supporting online configurators and the group test press reviews will be critical. Dealers can draw down demonstrators from us but they are limited. The car will be at a number of events like Goodwood, but by then there’s a good chance the car will be sold out.

themanual Faults

ExCLUSIVE

The 1M is incredible and a car we’d love to own, but it needs to sound more aggressive. The steering wheel is just a bit too fat.

We can’t understand why, but BMW are only bringing 450 to the UK. It does mean buyers are likely to be snapping up a future classic though.

LOOKS

BMW has worked hard to make this look like a proper M car – and they’ve pulled it off superbly.

BMW 1M

James Baggott takes the wheel of one of the most exciting M-badged sports cars to date and doesn’t want to let go What is it? The closest buyers will get to a reborn E30 M3. This is the pumped-up, low-production-run M car that many fans have been waiting for. With just 450 coming to the UK, exclusivity is guaranteed and tempted buyers need to be quick – BMW say they have already found homes for 300 with most signing on the dotted line before they’d even seen the car in the metal. Allocation is so tight dealers won’t even get a demonstrator.

What’s under the bonnet? A fantastic 3.0-litre, inline, twin turbocharged lump that’s packing some serious punch. BMW has squeezed 335bhp and 450Nm of torque out of the unit, but it’s the flat torque curve from 1,500 to 4,500rpm that makes it such a delight to drive with power available whenever you need it. By deploying its Efficient Dynamics principles, the 1M (never M1) can return 29.4mpg and emits 224g/km ensuring it doesn’t fall into

the highest tax bracket. But it’s the performance most will be interested in – and that’s staggering: 60mph is dispatched in 4.9s and it’ll hit 155mph.

too quiet inside. A good opportunity for sports exhaust upsales perhaps.

What’s the spec like?

Andrew Frankel writing in The Sunday Times said it ‘returns the M badge to the territory of the original M3’ but concluded the Porsche Cayman still has ‘the edge’. Meanwhile, Autoblog said it ‘harked back to great hot M cars of the past’.

Impressive, but then buyers expect that when they’re shelling out £40k on a 1 Series. There’s a bespoke interior and lashings of exterior design details such as 19-inch wheels, dual chrome tail-pipes and bi-xenon headlights. There are only three colour options though: Orange, black or white.

What’s it like to drive?

What do the press think of it?

What do we think of it?

M cars lost their way a little with the bulging X5M and X6M, but purists Awesome. The car is essentially an can once again rejoice that BMW’s M3 chassis with a 1 Series body tuning arm is back to its best. The grafted on top so all the handling 1M is a brilliant car to drive, looks dynamics learnt with the bigger car stunning and would be our choice are transferred. The car is staggeringly over a Porsche Cayman. Our only quick and the engine is extremely complaint would be a steering wheel flexible, pulling hard in pretty much that’s a little too chunky and the lack any gear. The rear-wheel-drive set-up of aural delights that should come is as a sports car should be – full of as standard with an M car. Neither feedback and lairy when required. Our of which would stop us buying one only complaint would be it’s a little though.

the knowledge Model: BMW 1 Series M Coupe Price: £40,020 Engine: 3.0-litre, twin turbo Power: 335bhp, 450Nm Max speed: 155mph 0-60mph: 4.9s MPG: 29.4 Emissions: 224g/km Residual values (three years): TBA

target buyers: BMW will be targeting 135i owners as well as owners of older M3 models.

the rivals: Audi RS3, Porsche Cayman, Mercedes SLK 55.

Key Selling Points: 1. The spiritual successor to the original M3. 2. Incredible performance and driving characteristics. 3. It still manages to return decent economy.

Deal Clincher: With only 450 allocated for sale in the UK, it’s a future classic in the making. CarDealerMag.co.uk | 35

forecourt.

Jeremy Hicks James Batchelor grabs the chance to speak to Audi’s UK boss about the RS brand and its dealer network How important is RS? It’s very important. Originally we only ever had one model at a time and the RS name began with the RS2. That was seen very much as a bespoke, one-off, almost a little bit of a custom-built car. I’d been with the brand for six years when we launched the RS4, and that was very similar to the RS2 in that it was a bit of a one-off and there was only one RS model at a time. Now, though, RS is very much part of our range – so right now we have TT-RS, RS3, RS5 and the RS6 coming to the end of its production life. So, is RS becoming a brand in itself? Well, it always was. We get very careful about not creating other brands for ourselves – what we do is have certain derivatives. For example, quattro is very big for us, and people tend to ask whether quattro is a brand. No, it’s not – it is absolutely a part of our brand. We have a master brand at the top and there’s elements of the brand which we will seek to benefit from as much as we can, and also to push and communicate. RS goes towards making up the whole, and it is very much a part of Vorsprung durch Technik because it hits on our sporting credentials which are really important to us.

‘‘

Is RS profitable for your dealers? The things I focus on in my role are building the brand, delivering product, delivering the best experience to customers, and concentrating on the dealer network – and the network faces two ways. Firstly, it is about delivering a network which is good for customers, but also it has to be profitable. I absolutely believe that one of the key tenets of any success in automotive franchising is having a really hooked-up relationship between the manufacturer and the network. And the biggest demonstration of that is delivering a profitable network. So, is it about RS models being particularly profitable for our dealers? No – it’s about delivering a profitable model for our dealers. I’m not here for this ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ stuff – we’re here for the long term.

Our strategy has been about up-scaling the network over the last 10 years.

36 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

How many dealers have you got and can we expect any more? We have 119, but you cannot expect any more this year! Our strategy has been very much about up-scaling the network over the last 10 years by increasing the size of showrooms. If you go back to 1993, the Audi presence was

very much characterised by an Audi on a brown carpet tucked away in the corner of a VW dealer. If you look now, West London has the capability of showcasing well over 100 cars indoors, and most of our dealers have the space to display 17 cars. We feel we are running at the right level at the moment. What’s the situation with lead times? Everyone in the industry has been experiencing an extension to lead times due to the unfortunate situation in Japan, but we saw this extension begin about this time last year. That was because the market for us came back a lot more strongly and a lot more immediately than we ever expected it to, and that did catch us by surprise. We’ve responded quickly, and we’re now not in a bad situation from my point of view. But we very much took the policy to get what we could built, and the situation centred very much around problems concerning specific specifications, not volumes. Have we reached a peak for the number of models? It was always part of the plan to grow significantly our model range. We have progressively added more models to new sectors and filled in the blanks – and the big blanks are now being filled, such as the Q3 and the SUV market, and the SUV sector is one in which we perform very well.

themanual ENGINE

THE LOOK

The 2.5-litre, five-cylinder unit’s wail is as intoxicating and as good as ever.

The diamond-patterned grille and air intakes are distinctively RS-like. We’re not too sure about the red-tipped wheels though.

HANDLING

Quattro makes for a fine-handling, fast and premium sportback.

Audi RS3

the knowledge

The RS3 is the latest Audi to wear the fabled badge, but can it match its predecessors? James Batchelor finds out What is it? It’s the RS treatment given to an A3, creating not only the car that sits at the top of the A3 range, but also the cheapest RS model currently on sale. That RS treatment means a deeper front apron with larger air intakes, a diamond-patterned grille, side skirts and a rear spoiler. However, don’t be expecting customers to be coming to your doors – 2011’s 500-car allocation has all been sold.

What’s under the bonnet? An awe-inspiring 2.5-litre, fivecylinder turbocharged lump that churns out 335bhp and 450Nm of torque. That torque is available at 1,600rpm allowing stonking midrange performance, and a seven-speed S tronic gearbox helps the RS3’s dash to 60mph take just over four seconds. Audi has worked hard to make the RS3 sound like the original quattro, and they’ve done a good job.

What’s the spec like?

What do the press think of it?

As you’d expect from the best A3. Nineteen-inch ‘five-arm rotor’ alloys come as standard, shielding the RS sports suspension. Inside, owners will have fine nappa leather-covered, RS-embossed sports seats which are heated, though manually adjustable; parking sensors; electronic climate control; DVD-based sat nav; and xenon headlamps with LED day-running lamps.

Car Magazine said that while £40k sounds madness for an ageing hatchback, the RS3 looks good, goes quickly and is a ‘step in the right direction for RS’. Autocar said that it’s a ‘genuinely impressive piece of kit’ but felt ‘if it added a little more driver involvement it would be perfect’. Top Gear said it’s ‘the perfect package’.

What’s it like to drive?

What do we think of it?

There’s no doubt Audi is letting the A3 go out with a bang. One-third of At low speeds, the RS3 is slightly all Audis sold in the UK are A3s – and unexciting. But push on and it’s this halo version is a celebration of devastatingly fast. The quattro system that. It’s probably one of the most is extraordinarily adept on the twisty complete hot hatches around, and stuff, feeling planted and assured. is a fitting car to wear the RS badge. Provoke it, and you feel a chassis that While plush, the interior feels slightly is alive and loves four-wheel drifts. But old but is better than, say, a BMW 1M, it’s the five-cylinder soundtrack that and the red wheels are nasty. Not that thrills the most. At full chat, it whines any of this will matter – as we’ve said, and splutters, enticing you to play. 2011’s allocation is all sold.

Model: Audi RS3 Price: £39,930 Engine: 2.5-litre, petrol turbo Power: 335bhp, 450Nm Max speed: 155mph 0-60mph: 4.6s MPG: 31 Emissions: 212g/km Residual values (three years): 47 per cent

target buyers: Die-hard fast Audi enthusiasts who’ll buy without trying. Hence all RS3s are sold.

the rivals: BMW 1M Coupe, Porsche Cayman R, Mercedes SLK 55

Key Selling Points: 1. Latest addition to RS range is currently the cheapest on sale. 2. Seven-speed S tronic transmission takes 0.02 seconds to change gear. 3. Sounds mighty.

Deal Clincher: Along with RS5 and TT-RS, the RS3 is the latest in a long line of classic RS models. CarDealerMag.co.uk | 37

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forecourt.

themanual ENGINE

Engine and gearbox choice are critical. Manual is decent, auto less so.

interior

The Aveo borrows heavily from the Spark. Sadly, that includes the tiny bike-style dash.

LOOKS

A bold front end and smart rear certainly mean the Aveo will stand out from rivals.

Chevy Aveo

Is Chevrolet’s killer five-year deal and new hatchback a winning combination for dealers? James Baggott finds out What is it?

What’s the spec like?

The replacement for the Kalos and a B segment rival for the likes of Britain’s best-selling car, the Ford Fiesta. Can it compete with that? Probably not, but as a competitor to the likes of the Hyundai i20 and Suzuki Swift it’s got more of a chance. How much of a chance is hard to gauge just yet as prices won’t be announced until July. Expect it to cost less than £10k and come packed with kit.

As usual, pretty packed with extras. There are three trim levels – LS, LT, LTZ – but at the time of our test the exact spec had yet to be decided. However, expect the base model to come with USB input, air con, remote locking and a decent stereo. Bluetooth will be added to the LT and LTZ as well as a likely host of other extras. Chevrolet doesn’t really do options so expect the top-of-the-range model to get pretty much everything.

What’s under the bonnet? A choice of two petrol units and a diesel. There’s a 1.2 and 1.4-litre petrol and a 1.3-litre diesel. We tried the 1.4 in manual and automatic guise. The latter is best avoided, but the manual is far better. With 95bhp and 130Nm of torque the 1.4-litre unit is a little wheezy, hitting 60mph in 12.1s and on to a top speed of 110mph. Emissions are 139g/km and it’ll return 39mpg.

What’s it like to drive? Well, it’s not our cup of tea, but as long as the price is right buyers won’t really care. This car is aimed at older, price-conscious buyers who aren’t hunting for the thrill of driving. They’ll be more attracted to the excellent Five Year Promise care package. That said, it handles pretty well, soaks up the bumps and the steering is well weighted. The engine

does sound strained at anything above a leisurely pace though, and it lacks real grunt.

What do the press think of it?

Autocar liked the car’s bold styling and thought a ‘lack of driver involvement wouldn’t worry owners’, but said a used Fiesta would be a better buy. What Car? believed it was a ‘very credible supermini’ but added it ‘won’t worry the best in class’.

What do we think of it? It’s an average car being pitched into a very competitive sector. A tempting price tag and bundled care package may win it buyers, but with some compelling rivals from Korea and some accomplished rivals from more premium marques it’s unlikely to be the biggest seller. It’s certainly more interesting to look at, but sadly we don’t think that’s quite enough.

the knowledge Model: Chevrolet Aveo Price: Sub £10,000 (est) Engine: 1.4-litre, petrol Power: 95bhp, 130Nm Max speed: 110mph 0-60mph: 12.1s MPG (comb’d): 39 Emissions: 139g/km Residual values: TBA

target buyers: Who is this car aimed at? Older existing Chevrolet owners and buyers who demand value for money.

the rivals: Hyundai i20, Suzuki Swift, Ford Fiesta

Key Selling Points: 1. It’s likely to be (and really needs to be) sub £10k. 2. The spec will be impressive compared to its rivals. 3. It looks more interesting than some Korean rivals.

Deal Clincher: The Five Year Promise is very tempting indeed. CarDealerMag.co.uk | 39

forecourt. the knowledge Model: Ford Mondeo Titanium X, 1.6-litre Duratorq ECO Price: ÂŁ24,295 (tested), range from ÂŁ17,705 Engine: 1.6-litre, diesel Power: 113bhp, 270Nm Max speed: 118mph 0-60mph: 11.7 MPG: 65.6 Emissions: 114/km Residual values (three years): 38 per cent

Ford Mondeo

One-in-six large cars in the UK is a Mondeo. Now Ford has given it a makeover. James Batchelor reports. What is it?

target buyers:

Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s under the bonnet?

the rivals:

As youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d expect from Ford, Mondeo Man has plenty of choice. He can choose from a Duratec 1.6-litre petrol or an ECOboost version, a 2.0-litre Duratec petrol, or a 2.0-litre ECOboost petrol in either 200bhp or 237bhp forms. On the diesel front thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the new 1.6-litre Duratorq ECO, a 2.0-litre in either 138bhp or 161bhp, and a range-topping 197bhp 2.2 TDCI.

As always, families and fleets.

Vauxhall Insignia, Peugeot 508, Toyota Avensis.

Key Selling Points:

1. An up-market feel with premium-looking LED lights. 2. As comfortable as ever. 3. Economical â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the 1.6-litre diesel manages 65.6mpg!

Deal Clincher: The best looking, most frugal Mondeo ever.

$'9(57 QHZ ORRN 35,17 LQGG

40 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s it like to drive?

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a refreshed-looking Mondeo with new engines to make the car as competitive and as desirable as ever.

Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the spec like? Plentiful. The range kicks off with the

The same as the old Mondeo â&#x20AC;&#x201C; which is great news.

What do the press think of it?

1.6-litre petrol Edge at ÂŁ17,705 which has Bluetooth, LED rear lights, air con, and a Quickclear heated windscreen. Step up to Zetec at ÂŁ19,500, and Titanium comes in at ÂŁ21,100. Titanium X follows at ÂŁ23,100, and the range maxes out at ÂŁ26,550 for the Titanium X Sport which boasts leather/alcantara, bodykit, and LED front lights.

Autocar agree with us that the 1.6litre Duratorq ECO diesel is all the engine customers will ever need. Autoblog said: â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Mondeo Man has never had it so good.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;

What do we think of it? Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no denying the Mondeo is great to drive and makes you wonder why its competitors are so far behind. But, above all, the new Mondeo looks stunning. The new look just turns a good car into an excellent one.

themanual

Peugeot 308

the knowledge

Peugeot’s 308 range has had a mid-life update which includes a new micro hybrid system. James Batchelor has driven it. What is it?

more like! Not much. The ambiguous ride remains but it’s the 1.6-litre e-HDI engine that really saves this car. It’s pokey and delightfully torquey.

As we’ve said, an updated 308. A simplified and shorter nose, LED lights and Peugeot’s new-look Lion badging all feature. There’s a new ‘micro hybrid’ system called e-HDi.

What do the press think of it?

What’s under the bonnet? Four petrols – ranging from VTi 89 and 120, through to THP 156 and 200 – and four diesels – from HDi 92, 150 and 163. The new e-HDi system is only available with the HDi 112.

What’s the spec like? There are five specs for the hatch, three for the SW, and four for the CC. Both the hatch and SW have the fleet-specific SR trim. The range kicks

off with the 1.4-litre VTi hatch Access which has air-con and six airbags at £15,245 and rises to £21,645 for the GT THP. SW starts at £16,245 and maxes out at £23,395, while CC prices are £21,295-£25,845. Green Oxygo’s prices are £18,865 to £19,515.

What’s it like to drive? What’s different to the old model

Autocar said that the 308 was ‘a worthy, competent family hatchback’ but ‘flaws remain’.

What do we think of it? There’s no doubt that the new 308 looks vastly better from the front. That 508-esque nose makes the car look a lot more premium. But what lets the 308 down is that it doesn’t stand out in any one area – looks, style, driving, comfort or handling.

Model: Peugeot 308 Active e-HDi Price: £18,565 (tested), range from £15,245 Engine: 1.6-litre, diesel Power: 110bhp, 270Nm Max speed: 118mph 0-60mph: 11.2 MPG: 67.2 Emissions: 118/km Residual values (three years): 33 per cent

target buyers: Like its predecessor, both retail and fleet buyers.

the rivals:

Ford Focus, Vauxhall Astra, Citroen C4.

Key Selling Points: 1. More premium look. 2. Interior has better plastics. 3. Petrols and diesels are cleaner than ever.

Deal Clincher: Better specs and prices cut by £800.

Unlock your potential

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 41

FEATURE.

The

Nissan Leaf

Price: £25,990 (£30,990) Engine: Electric motor Power: 107bhp, 280Nm Max speed: 90mph 0-60mph: 11.9s Range: 109 miles

42 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

life

Pictures: Dean Smith

here are always some who arrive early to the party – especially when it comes to new technology. Manufacturers hope that by diving in first they can steal a march on their rivals and capitalise when the new-fangled idea really takes off. And that’s pretty much what’s happening now with electric cars and the automotive industry. The rush to be at the forefront of EV tech has begun and now consumers can buy relatively affordable, family-sized, emission-free vehicles. Okay, so Tesla launched its Roadster some time ago, but at £90,000 and with only two seats it’s hardly practical.

Instead it’s Nissan and the Peugeot-CitroenMitsubishi alliance that offer buyers electricallypowered alternatives to family cars. Nissan’s Leaf has already won some impressive accolades – it’s the current Car of the Year and added the World Car of the Year gong to its trophy cabinet soon afterwards. With five seats, a range of 109 miles and impressive levels of kit, it’s certainly come out fighting on electric avenue. Most buyers will purchase on a lease at £399 a month, rather than the £25,990 asking price, which is after the government’s £5k grant has been factored in. The iOn is the Peugeot-badged model that

can also be bought in Mitsubishi iMiEV and Citroen C-Zero guises. It’s essentially the same car costing £28,115 after the government’s £5k bung. With a range of 93 miles it can’t go as far as the Nissan and it costs slightly more on lease at £415 a month. To find out what emission-free motoring is really like, Car Dealer lived with both for a week, chatted to the dealers trying to sell the concept and found out why one famous buyer has jumped in with both feet and bought two! Plus we’ve driven the car that could supersede them both – the Chevrolet Volt. Here’s our take on the EV life…

Peugeot ion

Price: £28,115 (£33,115) Engine: Electric motor Power: 64bhp, 180Nm Max speed: 81mph 0-60: 15.7s Range: 93 miles

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 43

FEATURE.

Nissan Leaf

Meet the electric car that’s been thought out properly James Baggott, editor I must admit I’ve been highly critical of electric cars and the start of my week with the Leaf did nothing to solve that. The plan for this test was a simple one: Book in electric cars, live with them for a week and see if they really are viable. And by viable what I mean is try to find an answer to the question ‘is a 100-mile range really practical?’ Well, after being forced to leave the Leaf sat on my drive for the first four days of the week, my answer would be a negative. For each of those days my trip would total more than 100 miles and with no practical recharging points at any of the destinations, the Leaf was forced to languish at home and a fossil fuel-powered equivalent sought instead. It wasn’t until the Friday of our test that I got the chance to get behind the wheel – but it was then that the car finally put a smile on my face. With a long Bank Holiday weekend ahead, I got the chance to use the Leaf as it was intended: Around town. Short hops to the shops and trips out to see friends with the family were all completed in the Leaf and it wasn’t long before I was trying to work out how to get one in my life. The Leaf really is great to drive. The fact it makes no sound and all its 280Nm 44 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

of torque is available instantly means it’s sprightly to drive and it’s extremely comfortable. The thing you need to remember with electric cars is that they’re only suitable for certain types of buyers. Like a Lotus Elise isn’t practical for a family, or a Range Rover for a pensioner, a Leaf just won’t suit everyone. When you stop comparing it to ‘normal’ cars and start accepting it for what it is, you realise that for some it really does make complete sense. Firstly there are the cost benefits. For just £2 of electricity it can travel 109 miles, owners don’t have to pay road tax or the congestion charge and EVs get free parking in increasing parts of the country. But the biggest benefit is to company car drivers – there is no Benefit in Kind taxation on EVs, so whereas a company car driver in a Ford Focus diesel will lose £4k out of their wages, the Leaf driver pays nothing. That’s a £4,000 pay rise! But that doesn’t mean I’m 100 per cent sold. Although a Leaf makes perfect sense for some, it’s still inherently flawed in that it can only do 100 miles before needing an overnight recharge. And £25k – or £399 a month – is a lot to pay for a car that can’t do everything an £8k Kia Picanto can. For the Leaf to really make sense it needs to be half the price and have double the range. If that was the case Nissan wouldn’t be able to make Leafs fast enough.

Second opinion Behind the story The Leaf and the iOn may run on electricity, but that’s where the similarities really end. While the iOn is an old petrol-engined Mitsubishi i from once upon a time, the Leaf was always intended to be a stand-alone electric car. And that really shows, for not only does the exterior give the vehicle an otherworldly feel, the Leaf’s interior is as futuristic as a prop from a 1950s sci-fi flick. So the Leaf makes bongs, whizzes and whoosh noises on start-up, and there’s a screen which tells you how far away the next charging point is and other information you really didn’t think you’d ever need while travelling. Piloting a Leaf – for that’s what you do – is a step-change from driving a combustion-engined car. You no longer care about lift-off oversteer and an unfaithful rearend, you just relax – and smirk at other drivers queued up at petrol stations.

James Batchelor Staff writer

Charging the Leaf is simple. The dash is as space-age as youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d hope in an EV and even the headlights have been shaped to make the car more aerodynamic

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 45

FEATURE.

Peugeot iOn

Did the French firm rush into electric cars? James Batchelor, staff writer Unlike Mr Baggott, as soon as the man with the van dropped off the iOn I jumped into it like a shot, desperate to try it out. This was the first time I had ever driven an electric car, and by spending a week with an EV I really did experience a rollercoaster of emotions. Let’s start at the beginning: The start-up procedure. The iOn has been designed not to concern itself with futuristic features like keyless start and an ultra-modern gearbox, instead using a traditional key, and a rather basic auto gearbox with a stick. The whole arrangement looked and felt like a Vauxhall Cavalier circa 1982, but these ‘normal’ features only made the ‘un-normal’ driving experience seen even more extraordinary. On start-up you’re met with a bong and a little light on the dash that says ‘Ready’. Slot the gearstick into ‘D’, take your foot off the brake, and 46 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

you move seamlessly and silently away. Prod your foot on the throttle hard and you can feel the full force of the iOn’s powertrain – a 64bhp electric motor coupled to an 88-cell, 16kWh lithium ion battery pack, with 180Nm of torque on offer. Doesn’t sound much does it? But what you must remember is that power is available instantly, and with the single-speed gearbox, progress in the city is positively, well, electric. Once I’d stopped messing around, the excitement turned into fretting. The car had been dropped off with a range of 60 miles – but a couple of quick getaways and the air-con blasting had taken its toll on the range – it had plummeted to 46. Turning the air-con off immediately pushed it back up to 58, and some stressful and careful driving meant that by the time I got home I had a range read-out of 65. The term ‘range anxiety’ may sound ridiculous but once you have tried driving an EV with a journey of 25 miles to do and a plummeting range read-

out, nothing focuses the mind more. By the middle of the week, the honeymoon period was over. While I admired the iOn’s simple instrument binnacle and astonishing turning circle, I disliked the roar from the skinny tyres and the daft looks I received. But it’s the interior which really angered me. Apart from a bit of stick-on chrome, the driver is met by an unremitting sea of black plastic which turns to a bluer shade on the door cards. It’s brittle, the steering wheel is horrible to hold, and I just couldn’t shake off the general feeling of being miserable while driving the iOn. Peugeot may argue that the car we had was an early example, so it did without a leather steering wheel and gearknob, and better dashboard plastics, but even with the cars customers will be buying it’s hard to see where their money will be going. Peugeot would answer with the technology, but I’d rather save £3k and buy a Leaf – and I think most EV buyers will do the same.

Second opinion Behind the story After spending some quality time with the Leaf, jumping into the Peugeot comes as a real shock. It’s extremely basic by comparison and it’s hard to see exactly where buyers’ £33,000 is going. I appreciate the R&D costs are high… but will buyers? The Nissan has a futuristic dash with a multitude of read-outs which make the driver feel like they’re in a car of the future – the iOn, though, feels about as plush as a hire car. Build quality is disappointing, the range felt like it dropped far quicker than the Leaf and the looks are hard to love. OK, so it’s pretty nippy, but I honestly think some will question why Peugeot have put their name to it. It’s all very well being in with new technology quickly, but it’s got to be done right. Sadly, I don’t think the iOn pulls it off.

James Baggott editor

Chevrolet Volt

Will this be the electric car that beats them both? The Leaf and iOn may be two of the first electric cars to go on sale, but both are compromised. When customers are spending upwards of £25,000 on a new car, most will want to travel more than 100 miles occasionally – and neither of them can do that without a recharge somewhere along the way. But there will soon be another option – the Chevrolet Volt and its sister car the Vauxhall Ampera. The Volt is powered by batteries, just like these two, but it also has a petrol powerplant which increases its range to more than 300 miles. The Volt always runs on electric power – that petrol unit isn’t attached to the wheels but instead tops up the batteries should it be needed. On battery power alone it can travel 40 miles and owners can simply plug it in when they get home to recharge the batteries – if they do, the petrol will never be used. But on longer journeys when the battery range isn’t sufficient, the 1.4-litre petrol engine

operates the electric drive train. It’s this added benefit which will be extremely attractive to buyers. Car Dealer bagged a very short test drive and can report the Volt is extremely impressive indeed. Torque is instant and, although it doesn’t feel as quick as the Leaf, it is perky. Our test car was running an American set-up so felt rather soft in the corners, but on a simulated town route it coped well with speed bumps and was extremely enjoyable to drive. We asked Chevrolet how the Volt will be sold in the UK, but they have yet to confirm their plans. Due to arrive early in 2012, it’s unknown whether all dealers in the UK will get to retail it. However, we did learn that a specialist salesman will be required in each dealership and technicians will need special training to deal with the high-voltage unit. Our spin in the Volt was only short, but it was still clear that if you’re looking for a real electric car solution, it seems GM may soon have the answer. CarDealerMag.co.uk | 47

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FEATURE.

Mark Goodier

Former Radio 1 DJ is a self-confessed EV nut. Here he tells Car Dealer why

ark Goodier is known to many as a former Radio 1 DJ and these days as a voice on Smooth Radio. Goodier, 49, was the presenter of the UK Top 40 on Radio 1 and a host of Top of the Pops on BBC1. But Goodier has another obsession aside from music – he’s an EV enthusiast, beginning his fascination with the Ford TH!NK in 2000.Goodier became the very first owner of a Leaf in March and he’s so in love with it he’s just bought a second for his wife. What’s the attraction with electric cars? I started living with electric cars 10 years ago and I did that because of the introduction of the congestion charge. Electric cars are exempt from the charge and get free parking. Not paying those charges saved a lot of money. It’s also the environmental aspect I really like. What other EVs have you had? My first electric car was the Ford TH!NK and I had two of them, but after four years Ford scrapped the scheme. They took them away from me and I couldn’t buy them back. But I bought one from Norway, which I’ve still got. For years, I’ve been emailing every new electric car maker who’s started up asking them when their cars will be on the road. As obsessions go, it’s not that much of a bad one is it? We presume it was good news when Nissan announced the Leaf then? Absolutely. I contacted Nissan as soon as I heard about it, emailing them non-stop. They invited me to a prototype driving day and that really made my mind up that I had to have one. But even if I hadn’t driven one beforehand, I still would have bought one because it was clear Nissan were serious about making a good EV.

What was it like being the first Leaf customer? I really did not expect that because the Leaf had to be ordered online so I had no idea where I was in the queue. I later found out I was the first or the second to do so. Getting it was incredibly exciting – imaging getting a new iPhone and times that by 10,000. What’s it like owning a Leaf? It is still exciting because other people are just starting to know what it is. I like the fact that it looks like a normal car but with really nice design touches. Even my 17-year-old son, who is a big petrolhead and who thinks my liking of EVs is weird, says it’s the best car we’ve ever had. What do you think of cars like the iOn? I think the Peugeot looks quite neat but I don’t

think it looks like it’s got the finish or the attention to detail the Leaf has got. If people are spending £20-30k on an EV, they want it to be designed from the ground up. What was the dealer experience like? I have got nothing but great things to say about Glyn Hopkin. Michael and Jamie there were very good at their communications, and made the experience of getting the Leaf a pleasurable one. Could you ever see yourself returning to combustion-engined cars? I have to admit that we have a Volvo XC90 which we have had for about 10 years and we only use that for long trips to Scotland. But, I tell you what, I have been emailing Tesla about their seven-seat EV concept which hopefully has a 300-mile range. It would be fantastic to have one of those!

Meet the EV dealer

Selling electric vehicles isn’t like selling normal cars... Glyn Hopkin’s brand director Stephen Hodson knows a thing or two about Leafs. He’s not only the man in the know at the dealer group when it comes to selling them, but he owns one too. ‘I bought one because I really liked the whole concept of the electric car,’ he says. ‘Once I had driven one and understood how they worked, I just fell for it.’ Along with Mark Goodier, Hodson was one of the first owners in the UK, and Glyn Hopkin has since built itself a reputation as one of the top Leaf showrooms. Across their three sites, they’ve sold around 70 Leafs – and they’ve found there’s a special way of selling them. Hodson says: ‘The first thing that customers ask

is, “won’t it run out of electricity?”. I find myself replying, “that’s possible, but it’s the same as running out of petrol. If you fill it up, you won’t run out”.’ The customers who buy Leafs from Glyn Hopkin fit into two categories, says Hodson. ‘There’s the quiet type who’ve done all the research, worked out how much mileage they do in a day, and know that an electric car is right for them,’ he explains. ‘Then there’s the other type, who are generally interested in a C-segment car, who have heard the hype about the Leaf and are thinking, “what about one of those?” We then have to chat to them to say that perhaps the Leaf is not right for them because of their lifestyle. The key is chatting to the customer and finding out exactly what type of life they lead.’

But of those customers in the first category, there is no archetypal punter. ‘Out of the 70 cars we’ve sold,’ explains Hodson, ‘there’s no one type of customer. There are some who are interested in the technology, for others it is all about the environment, and for some it’s the financial benefits. It’s a real mixed bag – it’s impossible to target one type.’ Of those 70 cars, Glyn Hopkin has not given its customers the ‘hard sell’. ‘There is little for people to compare the Leaf to, so they come into the showroom having done their research. It’s up to us to make sure it is right for them. It does take a long time for customers to fully commit though,’ adds Hodson. ‘Customers can return three or four times just to make sure they’re doing the right thing.’ [CD] CarDealerMag.co.uk | 49

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FEATURE.

Special report

Quiet disasters Revealed: The 10 cars that should have stayed on their designers’ drawing boards

ar makers. Give them their due they normally produce some rather good motors. But occasionally disasters that should have remained in the design studio slip through the net. Here we have compiled a list of some of the greatest automotive failures. We contacted every manufacturer to ask for estimated sales versus actual sales. While we managed to wheedle out of them the actual sales, our ‘what were the estimated sales?’ question was often met with little response. We’re not sure why it’s so difficult for makers to hold their hands up and admit when they got it wrong…

1. Renault Koleos You only have to look over the fence to sister firm Nissan to see that crossovers can be successful – try and order a Qashqai or Juke now and you’ll be looking at a rather long wait. So it’s hard to pinpoint exactly why the Renault Koleos flopped. Renault launched it in 2008 and by 2010 it had been axed, selling just 2,890. The Qashqai, by comparison, sold 9,253 models in March alone.

2. Nissan Cube The Cube has been a cult hit for years with unofficial imports snapped up by style-conscious buyers keen for something unique. So when Nissan decided to bring the latest model to the UK officially in 2009, it was sure it had a hit on its hands. Unfortunately, when it arrived, the maker gave it little publicity, it was expensive and soon became too costly to import from Japan. A thousand were sold which Nissan says was ‘over its estimate’. We don’t believe them.

3. Citroen C6 We all know that large French saloons haven’t been the most popular cars in Britain. Despite this, Citroen launched the C6 in 2006 with phrases like ‘free-thinking’, ‘svelte’, and ‘unmistakable’ in its marketing bumf. From its launch to the end of 2010, Citroen had sold just 889 units – the E60 BMW 5 Series sold 10 times as many in the same period. But Citroen always said it had expectations the C6 would find homes ‘in the hundreds, rather than thousands’.

4. Chrysler Sebring Chrysler had its eye on entering the D-segment back in June 2007 – and thought the Sebring was the answer. It wasn’t. The press pack said it combined ‘striking design with interior craftsmanship’ with ‘great performance’ thrown

in for good measure. The public disagreed and bought only 2,652 of them before it slipped off the price lists in 2009. In the same period, Ford sold 126,368 units of the Mondeo.

5. Subaru Tribeca Like Renault, Subaru believed it needed an SUV in its range. So, in November 2006, we got the Tribeca. It failed to find buyers. A facelift in 2008 did nothing to improve sales, and it bowed out that year with just 750 sold. In contrast, the Volvo XC90 – a car Subaru was competing with – sold 11,897 units in the same three years.

8. Vauxhall Signum More than just a cut-down Vectra, the Signum was intended to offer the executive experience in an otherwise humdrum Vauxhall and arrived in the summer of 2003. But almost five years to the day, Vauxhall called time on the Signum, axing it with just 17,344 sales to its name. This was ‘on target’ according to the firm but industry experts say it was well off what was originally planned.

9. Ford Cougar

The Toyota Urban Cruiser went on sale in May 2009. Designed to meet a ‘growing demand for vehicles that are cut out for life on urban roads’ it didn’t do the job. Sales up to the end of 2010 were 3,017 – less than Toyota was expecting.

Along with the Focus, the Cougar was one of the cars that demonstrated Ford’s ‘new edge’ look in the late 90s. Available with the Mondeo’s 2.0-litre and 2.5-litre petrol engines, the Cougar was loved by the press. Sadly, the public wasn’t convinced – the lack of a prestige badge meant sales totalled 13,958 in four years. In contrast, the BMW 3 Series Coupe sold 44,420 between ’98 and ’02, showing a badge makes all the difference.

7. Chrysler Crossfire

10. Mercedes-Benz R-Class

6. Toyota Urban Cruiser

Launched with great fanfare in 2003, the Crossfire was Chrysler’s sports car for the masses. Based on the first-generation Mercedes SLK, it came in coupe and convertible forms with retro American styling. However, only 4,544 units were sold in five years, and the Crossfire quietly died in 2008. In contrast the SLK sold 4,362 units in 2004 alone.

Billed as a car that combined ‘an SUV, sports saloon, and luxury estate car’ into one package, the Mercedes R-Class arrived in 2005 hoping to carve a niche of its own. It was such a niche that few Brits bought it, and even a makeover in 2010 did little to improve the 3,433 sales clocked up so far. Mercedes says those numbers are ‘in-line with expectations’, but we’re not so sure about that... [CD] CarDealerMag.co.uk | 51

FEATURE.

V for visibility The internet is increasing in importance as a marketing tool for car dealers, and VCARS is well placed to help. James Batchelor reports

etting your stock to be visible to a local audience has always been a doddle – spend a few pounds and your advert would speak to hundreds of people. But, advertising to an area no greater than 40 square miles is no longer enough. These days, you need to go larger. Internet advertising is the way to do it. But you’ve probably discovered that you’re not alone in realising this – thousands of other dealers are doing it too. ‘The business of advertising online is an evolving sector,’ says VCARS’ sales and marketing director Michael Wenn. ‘Three or four years ago, the idea of having a computer in an independent dealership where dealers are looking up their stock online, measuring their leads and looking at their emails on a daily basis was a rarity. ‘Now, with the cost of paper advertising being basically fixed, the effectiveness is limited. Advertising in paper media is more about brand awareness in your local area rather than a consistent generator of leads for new business, that’s not to mention the fact that many forms of paper advertising are decreasing in page number and becoming monthlies instead of weeklies. This can be stretched to radio too – they have their place but they are pricey,’ says Wenn. The internet is becoming vastly more important because dealers can literally control the footfall into their dealership by having a presence online, believes Wenn. ‘Dealers should be treating their websites like virtual shop windows, and making their sites attractive and easy to use. This is because there’s no point in paying for traffic to come to you if you can’t look after it once it’s there. So, dealers’ websites shouldn’t be text-rich and they definitely shouldn’t be showing Porsches and Lamborghinis on the homepage when the dealers’ stock is only made up of Astras and Mondeos.’ However, while the internet can now drive footfall into dealers’ showrooms, it has allowed outside companies to tempt dealers into costly campaigns that just aren’t right for them. ‘Content management companies are now coming in tempting dealers with full-on campaigns which leave a lot to be desired,’ says Wenn. ‘A lot of these companies are blinding 52 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

VCARs uses Twitter, left, to promote its site and even features motoring news dealers with science and then say that they can get dealers high up in search engine rankings and so on.’ While the traditional form of local advertising in newspapers still has its place, the internet can be a more effective tool. Setting up their dealership name, creating their Google Places account, and searching garage indexes are all free tools dealers can use for their local advertising needs. But these tips do come with a warning. ‘The thing I must stress is not to go too mad, as the traffic is not qualified,’ advises Wenn. ‘The average used car dealer with 40 cars cannot give a service to all the people who are looking for cars in the dealer’s local area. For example, a used car dealer in Epping who has got 30 cars on his lot and who has paid for his name to come up under the search term ‘‘used cars for sale in Epping’’ simply cannot cope. Due to him only having 30 cars, there are a million combinations of used cars that he needs to have to service every customer who is looking for a used car in Epping.’ Few dealers can afford to pay for every little bit of traffic that is being directed from specific search terms such as ‘used cars in Epping’. Out-sourcing this can save money in the long run, can focus dealers’ efforts on the important job of selling cars to

‘‘

customers, and can take their advertising from a local to a national level. And with thousands of dealers now exploring internet advertising, how can you get ahead of the competition? This is where VCARS comes in. ‘What we do is specifically target people who are looking for a make and model, and, even more specifically, we’re looking for people who are trying to buy that model,’ says Wenn. ‘For example, when a customer types ‘‘Ford Focus for sale’’ into a search engine, we can tell that person is looking for a make, a model, and that they are trying to buy it. What we then do is put those people in front of the dealer who has Ford Focuses, and that dealer then has the chance of converting that traffic. We can give dealers national coverage and local coverage. We’re talking qualified traffic to the dealers.’ With the VCARS package, dealers get a dedicated home page listing their stock, interactive maps, a contact form so customers can contact dealers out of hours, and there’s the assurance of VCARS’ efficient customer service team. ‘We are also able to give dealers a proof of sale,’ says Wenn. ‘This is beneficial because if a dealer can prove that a lead has come all the way down from their website, into their showroom, spoken

We take care of getting qualified buyers and traffic to dealers’ lumps of metal.

This Scenic is one of three cars we swapped our Citroen for

to a sales executive, and driven out with a car, that is the kind of proof where dealers know where that lead has come from and that then makes a return on investment case. ‘This is a unique feature of VCARS – we have a feature called postcode tracker where dealers can look at all their sales in a quarter, and see that for their £400-500 per quarter spent with us, how many cars they’ve sold, and therefore work out how much money they have made on each car. ‘A lot of other companies won’t do this,’ says Wenn. ‘They’ll say this is the number of phone calls and emails you’ve had, but that doesn’t show

whether that customer has bought a car. ‘I would encourage dealers to push their providers to prove what they are doing for return on investment, and get them to run a campaign for them. ‘We take care of getting qualified buyers and traffic to dealers’ lumps of metal. ‘We won’t advertise a dealer’s name, but what we will do is capture the potential customer who is looking for a Ford Focus and point him to your Ford Focus. ‘From a dealer’s sales per quarter, we will also be able to run a postcode check to find out

what customers are doing when they’re viewing the dealer’s stock. That could be looking at the images and the length of time they’ve been looking at the car, inquired, and printed-off the directions to their showroom. ‘The dealer can then cross-reference this with their sales invoices and account for sales due to this track-record of the lead journey.’ For dealers to learn more about what VCARS can do for them, the firm can provide an online presentation. For more information log onto vcars.co.uk or contact 0845 302 5374 CarDealerMag.co.uk | 53

FEATURE.

Stocking made easy GRS makes filling your forecourt with new stock a doddle. James Batchelor spends a day checking out their operation

estled deep in the leafy Staffordshire countryside is GRS’ Cold Meece site. It’s the operational hub of one of the UK’s leading remarketing firms which has a simple mission in life – making the process of remarketing cars as hassle-free as possible for dealers. I spent a day with the firm to find out more about the ‘easy’ way of remarketing cars. ‘The business’s attitude is summed up in our company strapline – “vehicle remarketing made easy’’,’ says Ian McAdam, GRS’ sales office manager. ‘We want to make the business of remarketing cars as easy as it can be, and passionately believe in getting the process right. That’s from advertising the cars correctly on our website, to offering them for sale in the very best condition possible.’ This attitude is called the ‘GRS standard’. In simple terms, it’s an approach which the firm abides by in preparing their vehicles to a consistently high standard. They also only deal with the motor trade, each vehicle sold comes with a full money-back guarantee, and each customer is given a named personal account manager to help them through the process. All of this is part of the GRS standard whether a dealer buys one car or 100. This attitude to stock management means that when a car does hit McAdam’s screen, it can be put through the GRS standard at the Cold Meece site within 24 hours. From the car coming off the transporter in the morning it can be prepped and made ready for sale online within a day. Even if there’s repair work needed, Cold Meece’s bodyshop facilities will ensure the work is done quickly and effectively and it’s still for sale on the web within the 24-hour timeframe. Although 24 hours to turn an ex-fleet car into a ‘GRS car’ is not a long time, the site has the systems in place to make it fly through the process. 54 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

‘It all starts with the cars being dropped off by the transporters,’ explains Cold Meece’s general manager Steve Beale. ‘We have space for up to 30 trucks – you’ve just missed four,’ he jokes. That’s good news for me as I can observe the next step the delivered cars go through. ‘After coming off the transporter, it’s inspection time,’ says Beale. ‘We use the latest hand-held technology to catalogue and register the cars that have come in – so if there’s any delivery damage, it is recorded and can be acted upon immediately.’ Crucially, though, GRS operates a four-hour inspection timeframe. If a vehicle has not been inspected within four hours, an alert is issued making that car of prime importance.

‘We stick barcodes on to every car,’ says Beale, ‘That lets us keep a record of where the cars are.’ From here the cars get washed, and then get a further inspection in Cold Meece’s three-lane tunnels. It’s an inspection not only for damage that might have been missed on arrival, but also for added equipment the car might have. ‘Here we validate the specs. If a car has an optional boot spoiler, it’ll get picked up, and will go onto the car’s advert. It’s all about being honest and frank with our customers,’ says Beale. At the end of the tunnel, there’s a turn-table for photography. Pictures of the outside and the inside of a car are snapped, and can be uploaded to the website within seconds.

Batch’s attempts to make it look like he knew what he was doing extended to donning a high viz jacket

‘‘

We offer an excellent service which helps make remarketing easy for dealers.

For cars that have reached the GRS standard, it’s the end of the road. They are now ready for sale and await either their customers’ collection, or are delivered to the customers by car transporters. However, for the cars that have missed the benchmark, they are now repaired and brought up to the required standard in the repair shop. It’s quite a remarkable place as it caters for everything – from a Ford Mondeo’s damaged alloy to a new rear bumper being grafted onto the rear of a Fiat 500, GRS’ attention to detail is extraordinary. Their parts room is even more astonishing – instead of shelves and shelves of genuine manufacturer parts, there’s just a few odd doors, bulbs and bumper trims. ‘We only order what we

need,’ explains Beale. ‘Time is money.’ Time may well be money but that in no way affects the standard of work being done here. From primer booths and pre-colour areas, to post-paint and finishing areas, there are specialist workers doing the jobs. Once a GRS car has gone through this process, it is stored in Cold Meece’s 36-acre site. The site’s full capacity is 4,500 vehicles. Today there’s everything from hum-drum Golfs and Transits to more unusual vehicles like BMW 1 Series Coupes and Vaxuhall Corsa VXRs. Importantly, though, GRS knows exactly where each car is. Remember those barcodes? They stay on the car until it leaves the site ensuring accurate and precise

Car Dealer Club members get free legal advice worth £199. Sign up at CarDealerMag.co.uk | 55

FEATURE.

stock location and control. Just 46 miles away is GRS’ head office in Shrewsbury. Where Cold Meece is the operational hub, Collina House is the home of the sales and customer services operation. This is the place where GRS cars get sold, dealers are treated with excellent customer service, and it’s the home of the firm’s personal account managers who work tirelessly with dealers. Collina House is also the place that really embodies the ‘GRS way’, says the firm’s sales director, Danny Hartshorne. ‘We want to offer an excellent service which helps make the process of remarketing easy for the dealer. ‘Time is your most expensive asset, and spending time out of the office buying cars can be wasted. Why not sit in your office with your brew and let one of our team phone you and do it this way and we won’t charge you for the privilege.’ Hartshorne, like many of GRS’ employees, has been with GRS since it began in the mid-1990s, and understands how car dealers work. ‘One of the earliest attitudes GRS set out with was that we are nice people to do business with, and that is something we do here,’ he explains. ‘People have to be able to trust the purchase process – from the vehicle standard to the delivery date we give them. That is why we have to be sure that when we say we’ll do something, we’ll do it – and we do.’ GRS can make this promise because of their high-tech systems in place so they can deliver what they say they will deliver. Collina House is the home of GRS’ bespoke asset management system, whereby information about the cars dealers are interested in buying is stored and acted on when the correct car is available. But, more importantly, it is a system that aims to be as transparent as possible, giving the customer complete confidence. Collina House is the base for the firm’s personal account managers. It is they who will work with dealers during the buying process and who will notify dealers what stock would be suitable for them. GRS is at the forefront of vehicle remarketing, and the firm is confident of a rosy future too. ‘Since GRS began, we have been constantly progressing,’ says Hartshorne. ‘Looking ahead, we will be looking to progress and expand, moving out of our traditional circle of dealers, customers and suppliers over the next two to three years and looking to diversify slightly. It’s exciting as we have a new system coming later this year to keep us at the cutting edge of vehicle remarketing, so dealers and our customers will see a lot of changes for the better in the next 18 months.’ This was just one day in the life of GRS who have been trading like this for the last 16 years. Their relentless dedication to providing a consistent service which meets the very highest of standards is what impresses the most – the future really is here. [CD] 56 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

GRS make repairs to cars on site

I’m sure I parked the test car somewhere...

Turntables make taking pictures easy

The scale of the GRS operation is huge

Batch wasn’t trusted with any power tools

The GRS operation is an extremely slick one

Even extensive paint repairs can be made

Batch is shown the door

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FEATURE.

All change

It soon became clear our Citroen wasn’t going anywhere fast, so we traded it on, reports James Baggott

always knew it to be the case but now, having traded a few, I’ve had a glimpse as to just how hard it must be selling second-hand cars for a living. The stress of dealing with one is bad enough, but for those of you with 10, 20, or more cars in stock the hassle must be enough to make your head explode. As you can probably tell, our attempt to turn £0 into a Porsche 911 in aid of BEN has taken a slightly more stressful turn. When we left you last month we were struggling to find a serious buyer for the Citroen C4 Grand Picasso we’d bought direct from the manufacturer. It was a great car – albeit with a slightly dodgy gearbox – but one that stuck to us like chewing gum in hair. We couldn’t shift the 58-plate beast, no matter how hard we tried, and after two timewasters had, well, wasted our time, we realised she was in need of a service. Not wanting to shell out any more cash I hoped we could pull in a favour with local dealer Michael Nobes who has recently added a Citroen franchise to his extremely successful Hyundai one in Portsmouth. ‘Of course we’ll do the service,’ said Nobes when I rang him up. ‘But that car is very near retail money – have you thought about trading it on?’ What he was saying made a lot of sense. We were asking £10,495 for the 1.6-litre diesel model which was just a monkey shy of what he would ask on his forecourt. If you were a buyer would you go for the one from the private owner with no warranty or the one outside the plate-glass dealership? It’s a no-brainer, so we decided to take Nobes up on his offer of trading it on. ‘I’ll take it off your hands for what you paid for it and you can swap it for some of our part

exchanges,’ said Nobes. ‘Cheaper cars will be easier to sell and you’ll turn them around quicker – come over and we’ll sort it out.’ So that’s exactly what I did. Nobes left me in the capable hands of his right hand man Rob Kemp and we searched his part exchange list for some suitable replacements. The Richmond dealership group has had fantastic success under the scrappage scheme and Nobes has continued with the same offer – effectively a minimum £2k part exchange – to keep the customers coming. And it’s worked. He’s doing so well he’s knocking down his old showroom and is building a stunning duel Hyundai and Citroen gin palace. And there’s another flip side to that marketing offer – lots and lots of part exchanges. The first we decided on was a 2008, 1.0-litre Skoda Fabia in white with just 23k miles. Kemp agreed to add a year’s MOT to it and we settled on £4k. It was up for £7k on the forecourt. ‘Put it up for £5k and get it gone in a week,’ said Kemp. The second we found hiding behind the Hyundai showroom. An 06-plate Renault Scenic

in gold. It had done 50k miles, was in reasonable condition, but needed tax and MOT. We paid £2,800 for it with the hope of getting £3,300 for it on a quick turnaround. And the last one was found sulking under some trees at the ‘poo corner’ end of the yard. A P-reg, 2.3-litre Volvo 940 saloon with auto box, 100k miles and no tax or MOT. We paid £200 for it and prayed we could get it through a test. That left us with £900-odd in the Bank of Nobes, something which we will go back and spend on another cheapie once these three have been shifted.

THREE-FOR-ONE

With the deal done the first port of call was to take the Volvo to our mechanic Matt Kendell for the once over. After driving it the five miles or so to his garage I had a pretty good feeling it was sound, but a phone call from Kendell later that day confirmed it. ‘She’s a minter,’ he said. ‘It needs a bloody good clean, but I found the service history in the glovebox and she’s had a check-up every year – and the cambelt was done just 10,000 miles ago.’

The story so far of our quest to turn £0 into a Porsche 911 iN aid of BEN

Bought for... £0 Sold for... £250 58 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

Bought for... £0 Sold for... £790.03

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

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

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

911 for 2011

This Scenic is one of three cars we swapped our Citroen for

All sounded good, but what about the MOT? ‘Ah, she failed,’ he said, as my heart sank. ‘On wiper blades! I’ve stuck them on and she’s good to go. You owe me £50.’ Nice one. I spent four hours the following Saturday cleaning the battleship up and after some serious elbow grease, a photo shoot and video later, P631 OCL was on eBay. Next to be thrown to the virtual masses was the Fabia. A visit to the Poles and she looked like new so we made another video, took some snaps and added her to flea bay too. And so began a week of fending off ridiculous offers and attempts to part exchange motorbikes and boats for our duo. But among the ramblings of people who shouldn’t be allowed access to the internet was one email from what looked like a serious bidder. ‘Can I come and see it?’ she asked. As most of you will know, when a bidder wants to view

Bought for... £6,000 Sold for... £8,250

Bought for... £8,110 Sold for... £8,000

they’re very serious and there’s a good chance of striking a deal with them there and then. She popped around with her husband, took the Skoda out for a quick spin and then started talking cash. With just a day left of the auction and no bids on the starting price of £3,495 I didn’t want to let this opportunity pass so said I’d end the auction and let them have it for £4,500. They left, but later that evening I got a call offering £4,300. We settled on £4,400 and the Fabia was collected the next day. One down, two to go. The Volvo, meanwhile, was attracting a lot of watchers on eBay but only one bidder – they had entered the starting price of £250 within minutes of the auction going live, but nothing since. The night before it was due to end the price hadn’t moved and I was starting to panic. But as the auction entered its final hour the price began to creep up and finished at £375. Not great, but still

Bought for... £200 Sold for... £375

Bought for... £4,000 Sold for... £4,400

a profit nonetheless. The winning bidder was a trader and he collected the next day. We chatted about cars, and the price the Volvo had gone for, and he said it was the big engines that put people off. ‘It’s a 2.3-litre which means tax is expensive and fuel pricey too,’ he explained. ‘I sold a mint 2.5-litre V6 Mondeo the other day for £300. People can’t afford the fuel.’ He already had someone interested in the Volvo and reckoned he’d trade it on in a week. Thinking about it I should have kept it for Bangers4BEN. You live and learn. So that just leaves us with the Renault. I’m hoping the horror stories everyone I mention the car to are untrue and that we can get it shifted quickly. It’s just passed its MOT with no faults so we’re hoping to get her shifted on eBay for £3,300-ish. Wish me luck. [CD]

Bought for... £2,800 Sold for... £? CarDealerMag.co.uk | 59

The best warranty programme on the market?

Beware, happy customers may follow! I have spent the majority of my working life talking to car dealers of all shapes and sizes, and their aspirations and concerns are always centred on the same few questions. How can I increase my profitability? Where will the new generation of customers come from? Which warranty provider will help my business the most? How do I reduce costs? What can I do to increase workshop absorption? Who will help me to retain more customers for the future? How can I introduce an effective and relevant marketing strategy? There is no one off fix for any of those questions and they all need to be reviewed on a regular basis. That’s why the new and innovative protection programme from WMS called Safe and Sound can provide answers for all of these questions. There is an opportunity for you to become part of a network of specialist dealerships who can offer their customers the highest level of customer care and protection, increase profits and workshop activity, reach millions more customers through high level targeted media and endorsement from a trusted and recognised celebrity. The Safe and Sound programme has been put together as a result of customer and dealer requirements from our research over the years. If we can tick the boxes for the main prerequisites for the discerning car buyer, including safety, value, authenticity and protection then we are half way there. If we can help to attract more customers to your dealership, provide a warranty that covers wear and tear and rescue and recovery, deliver quality dealer development and increase retention, advertise to millions of potential customers via website, Radio and Television with a highly visual endorsement by Sir Stirling Moss then we are already there. We won’t just look after your customers we will even help you to attract more. We have invested a considerable sum in the development of this programme and you can become one of a few Safe and Sound dealers if you are prepared to invest 15 minutes of your time to hear more about this fantastic opportunity.

To be a part of this new generation of dealership network and learn more about it, please call me Eric Stone, on 07789 682502. Left to right - Eric Stone, Safe&Sound Business Development Director with Brand Endorsee Sir Stirling Moss OBE.

sales@safeandsound.co.uk www.safeandsound.co.uk

The WMS Group, Thame House, Thame Road, Haddenham, Bucks, HP17 8HU

Tel: 0800 197 0321

focus on.

Training & Recruitment AGA PerfoRmance

The right results

W: aga-performance.com T: 020 8232 7155

raining, training, training. As a dealer principal, you will know how important it is to get the best results out of your workforce, but how do you go about it? These days, training involves more than sitting down and talking through jobs and processes over a cup of tea – it needs to be much more structured and professional. That’s where AGA Performance can help. This year is their 20th in training and development and they specialise in performance improvement in the motor trade. They work with a wide range of brands such as Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Volvo and Ford and, as such, are the perfect partner for car dealers’ training needs. ‘We offer the full spectrum of training and skills,’ says Kevin Skinner, AGA Performance’s managing director. ‘From manager soft skills and

dealer departmental management (both sales and aftersales), to sales skills and service reception training for frontline staff. We also achieve significant results from one-on-one performance coaching for dealer principals and senior managers.’ In addition to training, AGA Performance is now a fully-approved Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI) assessment centre and one of just a few companies able to offer AMA qualifications. AMA stands for ‘Automotive Manager Accreditation’ and is a programme that assesses a manager’s skills and practices in the workplace and helps them progress to the next step on the ladder. ‘It enables managers who have never had a formal qualification to gain a nationally-recognised accreditation without going down a long and laborious academic process,’ says Skinner. ‘The AMA accreditation is a very practical,

affordable and rewarding process that will give dealer managers the recognition they deserve. In effect, it is the best route to personal development and speeding up career progression in the automotive industry’. Dealers should use AGA Performance because it’s a successful company that gets results, says Skinner. ‘With two decades of experience in the motor industry, we are an established training business and have trained thousands of dealer people. The bottom line is that we have successfully helped them to improve their performance.’ >

Fast Track your Career in Management with Automotive Manager Accreditation (AMA)

You are successfully managing a department in a Dealership, you’re a Senior Manger in a Group or a Dealer Principal, but you don’t have a formal qualification or a Management Certificate that truly recognises your competence. Automotive Manager Accreditation is a practical, efficient and affordable way to achieve the formal recognition you deserve. AMA is not an academic exercise but is based on a real world assessment of your management practices in the workplace. The process will not only deliver a nationally recognised Certificate setting you apart from your peers, but will also identify how you can progress to the next level in your business. In short, AMA is the best route to fast tracking your management career in the Automotive Industry. As an Approved AMA Assessment Centre, AGA Performance is proud to be at the forefront of the AMA initiative. For over 20 years, through assessing, training and coaching, we have helped Automotive Managers improve their performance and advance their careers. Our regional team of IMI Accredited Assessors have first hand automotive industry experience, will speak your language and understand your challenges. To find out more about how AGA Performance can help you achieve your AMA qualification, please call Kevin Skinner on 020 8232 7155 or email kevinskinner@aga-performance.com

www.aga-performance.com CarDealerMag.co.uk | 61

focus on.

Training & Recruitment CV Wow

We’ve got the Wow factor

W: Cvwow.com T: 0800 634 44 77

‘‘

What really makes CV Wow unique is our attitude, our highly professional team and our knowledge of the industry. Our revolutionary service marks us out.

‘‘

t’s a sad truth but as a dealer principal you’ll know that despite your best efforts, you will lose staff. Whether it’s the person who opens the mail or the most efficient sales manager, some of your staff will come and go. When that person does go, you will have to turn your attention to recruitment. It’s tedious, timeconsuming and downright expensive, yes? No. This is where CV Wow can help. Part of the Kudos Group, CV Wow is one of the UK’s leading fixed-price recruitment agencies. ‘We specialise in working alongside extremely large organisations from the retail sector, finance sector and the automotive sector in trying to reduce companies’ recruitment costs by up to 90 per cent,’ says the firm’s national sales manager Jamie Garrett. ‘We don’t work on a placement fee which is the traditional way recruitment agencies work,’ explains Garrett. ‘Traditionally an agency would take a role from a dealership, advertise that across a number of different mediums – but primarily internet job boards – gather together the candidates and pass them on to their client. The agency would charge £4k for this.’ CV Wow does things far more effectively. They look at the kind of advertising campaign an agency would run, and they just charge clients for that advertising campaign. ‘We take a collection of about 40-plus internet job boards – such as Monster and Reed, for example – and then we market those to our clients with prices starting at only £299.’ CV Wow will advertise for 28 days for the client on job boards and on Facebook and Twitter, and then they will manually screen down the response based on criteria they have agreed with the client. The firm will then pass on those quality candidates to the client who will then take the next step in the interview and selection process. What’s the advantage of this? ‘This allows clients to not have any worries over expensive and unnecessary placement fees,’ replies Garrett. ‘We offer the automotive industry three packages – £299, £599, and £649,’ says Garrett. ‘The primary difference between those packages is branding. Job boards very much dictate what we can offer. ‘So, for £299, the advert would be written as if an

agency had written it – ‘our client is looking for this’ – and alongside the company logo, the CV Wow logo would be present. ‘For the more expensive packages, we would remove all CV Wow references. ‘So we would take the client’s company logo and

put it across the top of the advert, we would write the advert as if it was written by the client, and the only reference point with CV Wow would be the account manager’s name for a point of contact.’ CV Wow has only been trading since May 2010 but business has been brisk – so much so that in March of this year, the firm became the first fixedprice recruiter to win the onrec industry award for best newcomer of the year. What makes CV Wow unique is its ability to reduce recruitment costs. ‘We’re currently working with Pendragon and we’re running pilots with Inchcape and JCT600. ‘Pendragon, for example, signed a 12-month exclusive recruitment contract with us because they realised that even though they were saving a lot of money by using us instead of traditional print media, they were still getting strong and quality candidates who they wanted to employ. ‘But what really makes CV Wow unique,’ adds Garrett, ‘is our attitude, our highly professional team, our knowledge of the industry, and our revolutionary recruitment service.’ > CarDealerMag.co.uk | 63

My team need more drive

! m e h t ’ r e e t S ‘ ’s Let Growing People, Developing Business

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focus on.

Training & Recruitment Steer Development

Work from the top down W: Steer2.co.uk T: 01270 610735

s a dealer principal, you’ll know how precious your time is. And in this climate where new car sales are down, you’ll know that getting the best from your team is probably the most important thing you can be spending your time on. The easiest way to do this is to strap your sales executives and managers to a laptop, insert a training CD into the drive, and away they go. Within half an hour you’ll have a better employee, right? No, that’s not the case. Steer Development believes it should start at the top, and on a personal, one-to-one level. ‘If you coach the coach, then you’ll have a hero. If we’ve made a hero of the dealer principal or the leader of a dealership’s team, then everything else will work,’ says Kevin Charlton, Steer Development’s managing director. Simply speaking, the company’s forte is the coaching of individuals in a dealership to make that showroom a more profitable place where customers will be satisfied. ‘We don’t train individuals,’ says Charlton. ‘There’s a difference between coaching and

training. Training is a set of procedures and rules to follow, while coaching is getting the best out of individuals. ‘Fundamentally we involve ourselves in the customer aspect of the motor trade, by coaching dealership staff – from dealer principal to sales manager to sales executive – in overcoming dayto-day customer objections.’ A former car salesman himself, Charlton started the business 10 years ago, and Steer Development is the coaching firm of choice for a number of large, independent PLCs and ‘oneman-band’ dealers. ‘Everyone in our team has been at the ‘‘pointy end’’,’ says Charlton. ‘We have all sold in the motor trade at various levels, so we understand what dealers’ problems are.’ That would explain why 95 per cent of their work is done in the motor trade, but the firm also works in the cosmetics industry and other areas as the general coaching techniques are the same. ‘With the motor trade, we have a suite of classroom courses that we run – everything from basic selling courses to extensive negotiation courses, and we do the same for call centres and aftersales departments,’ explains Charlton. ‘The majority of our time is spent in coaching sessions with individual dealer principals or dealer groups where we work alongside a client to help them improve – essentially help them

sell more cars and parts and develop the people within their teams.’ Typically, a day course at a dealer’s showroom would involve Steer Development spending time with the dealer principal to agree what they are looking for, then they would allocate time with individual members of the dealer principal’s team. The advantages are simple – it’s live and on-site meaning the coaching can be acted upon immediately. ‘For example, if we were teaching a sales executive how to make a better phone call, we would be with them when they pick up the phone and call a customer. This attitude, putting the coaching into practice rather than coaching the theory, is a major part of our success.’ Along with day courses, Steer Development also specialises in classroom coaching courses. They invite delegates from a dealer group to a one- to three-day session written specifically for that dealer group. Charlton says: ‘The motor trade is constantly changing. That’s why we are ideally placed in working with dealers to point them in the right direction so that they can handle the future customer in the best way. ‘We have trained people when they were sales executives and they are now sales managers – I get a tremendous amount of pleasure from seeing that.’ [CD]

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 65

Datafile CONTENTS.

Right click 67 Auctions 69 Net Gains 71 Shares 73 The Statistics 74

SMMT sales figures 75 Suppliers guide 76 Trader directory 78 Jobs 80 Sub-Prime Time 82

Advice n Data n Analysis n Facts n Figures n Comment

Profits are on the up Marshall Motor Group has big plans for the future, chief executive Daksh Gupta tells Car Dealer

arshall Motor Group has published its 2010 results and its boss has revealed his plans for the group. Overall turnover for the year ending December 31, 2010 was £600m – that’s a 28.3 per cent rise on 2009’s £467m figure, while profits increased by a strong 69 per cent to £9.43m. Like-for-like new retail sales rose 11 per cent, while used retail rose five per cent. Parts net profit on a like-for-like basis was up five per cent, and aftersales absorption hit 77.35 per cent. ‘This is a very key metric in our industry,’ said Daksh Gupta, Marshall’s chief executive. ‘As new sales become more challenging, the more you can cover your overheads with aftersales, de-risks your business. So far in 2011 we are running at 80 per cent.’ The performance for 2010 has taken Marshall to 10th in motor groups by size ranking, meaning the family-run business is the second largest private motor retail group. New clients for Marshall leasing included blue-chip companies, while, overall, Marshall group added 28 new businesses to its portfolio taking the number to 67 since 2009. All acquisitions were funded from the group’s own profits, and all have been cash-generative. Gupta has also revealed his two66 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

step plan to make the motor group the premier automotive retail and leasing group. Part one focuses on performance optimisation by delivering outstanding customer satisfaction, demonstrating operational excellence, building strong relationships with partners, and about being a great place to work. Meanwhile, part two concentrates on growth and development. ‘Part of the reason why we took the strategic decision to grow the business was we realised that there’s a massive opportunity in the current climate to acquire businesses at prices which represent value,’ Gupta told Car

Dealer Magazine. ‘A lot of businesses are struggling at the moment, and we felt that if we could apply our business optimisation to those businesses, we would be able to improve them. ‘We are also growing because throughout our 102-year history, we have been traditionally trading in East Anglia. ‘The problem I have is that we have 13 dealerships in Cambridge and 10 in Peterborough. We sell one in three cars in Cambridge, so we’re effectively competing with ourselves. This doesn’t make sense – we need to stop competing with ourselves and push nationally.’

Social media

Car sales battle via the internet DEALER bosses Daksh Gupta and Robert Forrester used social media to organise a car sales duel. The chief executives of Marshall Motor Group and Vertu Motors respectively set the challenge between two of their sites – and the fight came to an exciting climax. Marshall’s Honda site in York went head-to-head with Vertu’s Honda showroom in Grantham with both sales teams egged on by their chief executives on Twitter. Gupta and Forrester posted countless tweets as to which site was in front during the weekendlong battle, which made for very entertaining reading. The fight was fierce with both bosses ‘scoring’ sales and posting their success online. At the end of play on Saturday, Grantham were on 4.5 sales (we think they meant one bike) against York’s three. However, by closing time on Sunday, Marshall emerged victorious with eight sales to Vertu’s 7.5. Gupta said on Twitter: ‘It was eight to Marshall, 7.5 to Vertu but no losers this weekend. ‘Congratulations to both Grantham and York for being good sports and it proves that we are in the best industry. Where else could you have this much fun?’ There’s talk that Seat is entering the fray too. Darren Williams, boss of Hodgson Limited, could pitch his site against Gupta’s and Forrester’s – we’ll keep you posted on that one.

RIGHT CLICK.

..in association with GForces

Digital signage can work wonders Tim Smith explains the benefits of an advertising tool that is cost-effective and extremely versatile

oday we are bombarded with marketing messages: When driving, on the TV and even in public toilets, but despite the sheer scope of today’s advertising, it’s worth remembering that traditional forms of advertising can be tracked back to as early as 4000 BC when Indian rock-art paintings were discovered in ruins. However, it wasn’t until the launch of the internet that advertising spiralled into a whole new realm, offering people the choice of paid, unpaid, social media, interactive banners, video and much more. There is one form of advertising that blurs the boundaries between online and offline with a powerful presence and it is known to increase the time a customer spends in the showroom by 56 per cent, according to Nielsen. Digital signage combines a variety of technologies to replace traditional retail signs. Instead of static print images and billboards, it is composed of electronic signs dispersing content and messages in a very targeted, interactive way. Car dealers need to adapt to new car-buying behaviour and digital signage warrants more attention today than ever before, as we emerge

from the downturn in the global economy. Declining advertising and marketing budgets over the past few years have meant that digital signage hasn’t always been a priority. Only those who have managed their costs effectively have given this emerging media the exposure it deserves. Gone are the days of one-dimensional posters, leaflets or brochures. Digital signage allows you to have the flexibility to show off your offers, not just the manufacturers. Content can also be relevant to different areas of your premises, whether it is the finance or service areas or the showroom. Changes can be made remotely to all signage in one go while maintaining companywide branding. It is a tool that allows you to not only merge your own web content but deliver your own advertisements, video and commercials to your loyal customer base. With manufacturers such as Toyota, Jaguar and BMW already using it, dealers are falling behind the curve once again in using technology to target those customers in the showroom waiting around for sales staff or their car to be serviced.

You can even bring life to these signs by integrating them into stands next to cars, perhaps advertising a test drive of that car and showcasing reviews and finance options. They can also be used to display promotions through your showroom window to target those who may be browsing on your forecourt during times you are closed. This tool demands minimum resources while providing maximum versatility. It eliminates the cost of printing and distributing static adverts. According to Nielsen’s study, more than 75 per cent of car buyers agree that digital signage is an easy way to promote and sell products and more than 65 per cent agree it would influence their decision to buy advertised products in the future. Dealers need to recognise this medium which drives not only incremental revenues and profits but enhances the dealership experience. It is a fantastic promotional tool for new products and services and if dealers aren’t integrating this into their showrooms they are missing out on a marketing tool that’s effective for both their bottom line and their customers.

‘Dealers are falling behind the curve once again in using technology’

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Trailblazing Auction Facilities Our vision has become a reality... See for yourself and visit our new state-of-the-art twin-glazed auction halls at Chelmsford. More changes are coming at our other sites, providing...

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Dashboard provides precise information User-friendly, flexible online tool is the latest element of massive investment under way at Aston Barclay

ston Barclay has developed a new vehicle data system which aims to be the benchmark for the fleet vehicle remarking industry. Christened ‘Dashboard’, the web-based program provides Aston Barclay’s dealer and fleet vehicle vendors with precise information relating to their vehicles. It specifically excels in providing userfriendly performance overviews – a factor Aston Barclay say is imperative in providing disposal managers with complete control over their fleets of vehicles. After an intensive build and development process, Dashboard is set to be rolled out to every vendor using Aston

Silver anniversary STAFF and customers are celebrating a special moment in BCA Blackbushe’s history – the auction site is 25 years old. Officially opened by Prince Michael of Kent on May 20, 1986, BCA Blackbushe has become Europe’s largest vehicle auction centre at more than 60 acres. Blackbushe general manager Darren Betteridge said: ‘Blackbushe is the hub of the used vehicle trade in the south, although customers will travel from further afield to attend our sales. We will celebrate our jubilee in fine style in partnership with some of our biggest sellers.’

Barclay’s centres in Essex, Shropshire and Wiltshire. Tim Hudson (pictured) who took over as Aston Barclay’s managing director last August, said: ‘Information, specifically sale performance, time to sell and information relating to unsold vehicles, is paramount for vendors to maintain an accurate understanding of the current position in relation to their vehicle inventory. ‘Prior to Dashboard, the reporting system we used – which was pretty standard for the industry – was statistically heavy and inflexible. Having questioned our vendors, we were concerned they were not actually making effective use of it. ‘We have developed Dashboard as a userfriendly and flexible online tool. ‘Dashboard will, critically, enable a disposal manager to benchmark what is happening in the market on a sale-by-sale basis and ensure that his vehicle inventory reflects current market trends.’ Hudson added: ‘Our business plan has always been to raise our level of service to a degree never seen before in the industry. Dashboard is a prime example of that goal and it will not stop there. It has been designed to be organic and will grow and further develop.’ Dashboard is the latest element of the multimillion-pound investment programme currently under way at Aston Barclay.

Spring sale showed buyers are still hooked on classics BROOKLANDS’ Historics Spring Sale saw an array of British classics sold with total car sales in excess of £670k. The sale saw an overall sale ratio of 55 per cent for cars and an impressive 92 per cent for automobilia. Perhaps the most eye-catching lot was a yellow 1930 Rolls-Royce Phantom II Three Position Open Tourer. The hammer fell at £25k after a lengthy bidding war. Despite the 11th-hour entry of a 575 Maranello once owned by legendary guitarist Eric Clapton and a line-up of 10 other Ferraris, it was a 1961 250GTE that led the way for the iconic Italian marque, selling via the online auction service i-bidder for £85,500.

Henstock

auction stations

When saving the planet means you’re saving cash

t will come as no surprise to anyone involved in selling cars that with continuing high fuel prices and other economic pressures, motorists are looking very carefully at the running costs of their vehicles. Many manufacturers have seized the initiative in their advertising material and eco-features are regularly front and centre, from stop-start engines to efficient fuel technology. If motorists are now getting more concerned about fuel economy than performance, safety, interior trim levels and the badge on the bonnet, then this in itself represents something of a sea-change in public opinion. It would appear that rising fuel prices have succeeded in making motorists more environmentally friendly where successive transport policies have failed. Of course, anyone buying a new car has a cornucopia of choice when it comes to greener motoring, but how are used car buyers responding? Interest in eco-cars seems to be growing in the used market, but from what is currently a very low base. General demand for low-emission, high-MPG cars is generally high, but because we just don’t see any real volume of hybrid and sub-100 vehicles reaching the used market, it is difficult to tell if there is a true groundswell of demand yet. Used cars in this sector tend to be priced pretty keenly because of the scarcity factor, and this will often outweigh the obvious benefits of reduced motoring costs. Common sense suggests it is likely to remain a niche interest sector in the short term, but if motoring costs continue to rise and the sub-100g/km cars remain tax-friendly, demand could climb. One possible outcome is that eco-technology may be seen as a given, and motorists will come to expect it. This is what happened to safety equipment – once it was a selling point, now everyone expects their cars to be safe. How long will it be before motorists expect every car to give maximum fuel efficiency for minimum cost? Watch this space…

‘Once safety equipment was a selling point, now everyone expects their car to be safe’

Who is Simon Henstock?

Simon is UK network operations director for BCA. Visit british-car-auctions.co.uk or call 0845 600 6644. CarDealerMag.co.uk | 69

NET GAINS.

..in association with Codeweavers

DIY videos? Too risky. It’s quality that counts ...so get the right result by seeking professional help, advises Martin Hill

f a picture is worth a thousand words, I would imagine quality video is worth even more. So this month, I’d like to put a case forward for you to consider the inclusion of high-quality and relevant video content on your website. Video may well feature already on your website. If it does, then hopefully you’ll know how effective it can be. For those of you who have yet to include video, let me try to convince you. Relevant and well-produced video content is being demanded by customers. This is the case across many sectors – not just automotive. But video is more than just something demanded by customers – it allows you to provide customers with an open and honest insight into what makes your business different. Use it well and you can greatly reinforce your online presence, as marketing guru Tobi Elkin recently reported: ‘Creating an online video presence helps businesses facilitate an ongoing dialogue with consumers, lure prospective customers and solidify support among brand loyalists.’ Have you considered a mobile web platform as well as your standard site? The good news is that investing in quality video content makes even more sense. Consumers are accessing increasing amounts of video on multiple platforms, from laptops and home PCs to smartphones and

Codeweavers introduces the first fully interactive

PAYMENT SEARCH

tablets. As these devices continue to penetrate the market, consumers will expect ubiquitous access to video content. Examples might include watching product videos at the point of sale or viewing a portion of a podcast on a PC and resuming the session on a tablet. Some manufacturers and dealers are aware of the potential and are upping their game accordingly. What is the best way to illustrate why people

‘If you don’t make an impression, your audience won’t listen’ should do business with you? On the web there is a necessity to be bold, creative and informative. It doesn’t matter if you’re selling new or used cars, if you don’t make an impression, your audience won’t listen, and if they don’t listen they won’t remember you, let alone why they should care. There is much emphasis today on speed, but your website is not the place to encourage it. In fact you want to do the exact opposite. You want your audience to slow down, relax, listen, and absorb what your video has to say. Bear some things in mind, however. There are still plenty of ‘videos’ on dealer websites that are

really nothing more than a series of still images of vehicles that are zoomed in and out of – it’s neither engaging nor high-quality. Contrast this with the sort of content provided by businesses such as Autos on Show and the difference is clear. Quality scores every time. A final word of warning if you fancy producing the videos yourself. Be careful – even if you buy all the HD broadcast-quality gear, lighting and equipment, you still need to have a PC or Mac capable of editing and processing the files. Then there may be sound, music, editing, script-writing, acting and animation to consider. Just beware – there’s a place for amateurism, and creating video for your business isn’t it.

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.

Now your customers can search for vehicles based on their monthly budget

paymentsearch@codeweavers.net | 0800 021 0888 | www.codeweavers.net

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 71

SHARES.

..in association with ASE-global.com

Short-term outlook tricky, but survivors should do well April was not the best of months... and customers still seem reluctant to part with their cash

‘WE’RE ON THE ACQUISITION TRAIL’

he short-term outlook for listed motor retail stocks looks relatively rocky. The majority of the sector will report poor average dealer financial performance in April as a result of the lack of retail sales and the loss of working days due to the Bank Holiday season. The forecast for the second and third quarter looks little better with the retail customer still reticent to spend money except where their current vehicle no longer functions and the aftereffects of the tsunami resulting in reduced vehicle supply for most brands. This slightly cautious outlook was reflected in Vertu’s results announcement last month as they were the first of the listed stocks to query the trading outlook after a strong first quarter. The stock market appears to be looking through these short-term issues and sees a rosy outlook for a number of the stocks. Bid fever has continued to grab hold of the sector with constant rumours over large deals leading to the continued consolidation of the sector. The prevailing sentiment appears to be that the outlook for the survivors of the current downturn is very rosy. There is also a bit of momentum building that the sector is undervalued, with the majority of the shares trading at a discount to tangible net assets. This has led to significant increases in a number of the listed stocks during the course of the last month. The UK’s largest retailer, Pendragon, has seen a 10 per cent rise in share price with a positive management statement for the first quarter. Again, management placed heavy emphasis on the aftersales and used vehicle performance as they looked to build performance over the year. The Pendragon share price movement through the remainder of the year is likely to contain a balance between trading performance and the market’s assessment as to their likely success in refinancing the business in 2012. Vertu represented the largest mover over the course of the month gaining 20 per cent. A strong set of results (albeit with a note of caution about 2011) with strengthening results from

VERTU Motors is building up a cash pile and management team to lead an ambitious expansion plan this year. The group – led by chief executive Robert Forrester (pictured) – has been courting investors and is ready to pounce on a number of targets. Vertu has made it clear that 2011 will be the year the firm – which runs 87 franchises under the Bristol Street Motors, Macklin Motors and Vertu Motors names – will add significantly to its portfolio. Earlier this month, Forrester revealed Vertu had completed the acquisition of a Mazda franchise in Bristol and, speaking exclusively to Car Dealer, the chief executive said there would be many more to follow. ‘We have significant bank funds available that we have not drawn down and we have stated to shareholders that we will be on the acquisition trail this year,’ said Forrester. ‘We have a strong management team and a strategy for growth this year. We can’t guarantee that any acquisitions will be made

the acquired dealerships should see confidence increasing in the business with continued share growth. Vertu also has a significant acquisition fund which is likely to produce a steady stream of additions to the company during 2011. Lookers has maintained the share price boost provided by the bid interest in the company from Jack Petchey despite the fact that it looks like the bid is likely to fail.

but we are working on a number of them and we are very ambitious. ‘We’re very pleased with the Mazda site in Bristol and on July 1 we will open Nissan Glasgow and Peterhead Hyundai – we’ve enough on our plate at the moment. But we have got the capacity to do more and we will be looking to acquire more sites this year.’ Vertu – currently the UK’s eighth largest motor retailer – holds franchises for Citroen, Ford, Iveco, Honda, Hyundai, Mazda, Peugeot, Renault, Vauxhall, Chevrolet, Fiat, Seat and Alfa Romeo. Mike Jones, executive chairman of ASE and Car Dealer columnist, said: ‘It is certainly the aim of the senior management team to grow the size of the business significantly and this is likely to be through a combination of small acquisitions with the potential for large deals. ‘Vertu has built a very strong senior management team which is ready to further expand the company.’ JAMES BAGGOTT

One investor (Blackrock) has been building on its stakes in both Vertu and Lookers potentially taking a punt on potential business combinations. The other significant news this month came from Caffyns who released strong earnings figures. However, given the thinly traded nature of the stock, this is unlikely to significantly move the share price.

Who is Mike Jones? He‘s executive chairman of ASE Global. If you want to talk to him about his column call 0161 493 1930 CarDealerMag.co.uk | 73

DATA FILE.

Thestatistics Used Cars n Top 10 Searches n SMMT Sales Data

The most searched-for cars LAst month on..

Netcars.com 1 Ford Focus 2 Volkswagen Golf 3 Audi A3 4 Audi A4 5 BMW 3 Series 6 Vauxhall Astra 7 Vauxhall Corsa 8 Ford Mondeo 9 Ford Fiesta 10 Land Rover Discovery

Motoring.co.uk 1 Ford Focus 2 Volkswagen Golf 3 Audi A3 4 Skoda Yeti 5 Vauxhall Corsa 6 Nissan Leaf 7 Suzuki SX4 8 Citroen DS3 9 Ford Fiesta 10 Toyota Auris

ContractHireAndLeasing.com 1 Mercedes Benz E Class 2 Ford Focus 3 Volkswagen Golf 4 Audi A5 5 Audi A3 6 Ford Fiesta 7 Mercedes Benz C Class 8 Audi A4 9 Vauxhall Astra 10 BMW 3 Series 74 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

Figures show buyers remain cautious M

ay saw new car sales fall by 1.7 per cent, the latest figures from the SMMT, reveal. A total of 150,431 cars were registered during the month – 2,664 units down on May 2010. Registrations over the first five months of 2011 were down just 7.3 per cent to 846,513 units – the 11th successive month registrations have fallen. However, the SMMT says that the 1.7 per cent fall is the smallest decline since registrations started to contract in July 2010. ‘New car registrations for May were down just 1.7 per cent on 2010 levels, with strong performances in the fleet and business sectors,’ said Paul Everitt, SMMT chief executive. ‘Consumers remain cautious, but with significantly improved fuel economy, service plans and more affordable finance, there is great value on offer across the market.’ The SMMT says the market is

Superminis posted their first rise in sales since June 2010

... but although new car sales continue to decline, the latest fall is just 1.7 per cent on track to achieve its full-year forecast of 1.93m units, although the ‘economic setting remains uncertain’. While private demand continues to fall – down 15.3 per cent in May and by 18.9 per cent over the year to date – it is fleet and diesel sales that have performed strongly, growing by more than 10 per cent. Sue Robinson, director of the RMI National Franchised Dealers Association, said: ‘Great performances from the fleet and diesel sectors helped boost the May new car

‘‘

market. However, consumers still have a lack of confidence to buy big-ticket items such as new cars and this is causing some weakness in the retail car market. That said, with significant offers in areas such as service plans and finance, there is considerable incentive for consumers and businesses alike to purchase new vehicles. ‘We anticipate much greater improvement to the market at the back end of the year which we believe will continue into 2012.’

There is considerable incentive for consumers and businesses to purchase new vehicles

The used car stock locator with a Facebook feel to it MANHEIM Retail Services is launching a used car stock locator with elements developed for Facebook. Simply Stock is an off-the-shelf used car stock locator available through three separate online channels: Facebook, dealer websites and mobile websites. It allows dealers to plug a used car stock locator directly into their own Facebook page or website or

dedicated microsite. Customers can also fully interact with the product by posting links and comments about vehicles to their own Facebook profile, using the ‘Like’ function or tweeting about vehicles. John Simpson, managing director of Manheim Retail Services, said: ‘This puts us firmly at the forefront of retail marketing technology.’

Fiesta is still in pole position

THE Ford Fiesta was the UKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bestselling car in May, and also holds the number-one spot in the year-to-date figures. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the third successive month that the Fiesta has topped both sales charts. Ford registered 8,135 units of the supermini, while year-to-date figures

stand at 42,814 units. The Focus finished second with a total of 6,492 units and also holds the number two spot in the year-todate numbers with 35,770 cars. Third was the VW Golf which amassed 5,541 cars, while the Corsa came in fourth with 5,368 cars.

SMMT sales data May/year to date

Fifth was the Astra with just over 5,000 cars registered; the Insignia followed with 4,205; and the BMW 3 Series was close behind with 4,058 cars. The Mini and Qashqai followed with 3,319 and 3,083 units respectively, and the VW Passat rounded off the top 10 with 2,981.

SAAB MAY 88.50%

CHRYSLER MAY -79.67% Figures supplied by SMMT

May 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 Maserati 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

81 1,039 88 9,081 110 9,883 0 807 37 4,953 0 0 0 0 3,104 21,581 2,835 0 4,270 15 1,124 200 3,873 2,401 471 30 31 2,060 6,050 50 4,262 888 7,892 46 7,452 642 44 4,488 377 2,421 4,484 411 0 264 953 4,370 18,839 15,399 2,851 74 100 150,431

% market share

0.05 0.69 0.06 6.04 0.07 6.57 0.00 0.54 0.02 3.29 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.06 14.35 1.88 0.00 2.84 0.01 0.75 0.13 2.57 1.60 0.31 0.02 0.02 1.37 4.02 0.03 2.83 0.59 5.25 0.03 4.95 0.43 0.03 2.98 0.25 1.61 2.98 0.27 0.00 0.18 0.63 2.90 12.52 10.24 1.90 0.05 0.07

Year to date (YTD) 2010

% market share

2011 % Change

92 549 76 8,881 73 8,903 0 1,267 182 5,280 0 7 0 75 4,093 21,300 4,470 0 4,581 12 1,466 111 4,194 2,713 452 51 44 3,256 5,327 32 3,445 489 6,734 53 8,208 480 72 6,812 200 2,575 3,694 536 12 221 1,388 6,276 17,771 13,516 2,969 95 62 153,095

0.06 0.36 0.05 5.80 0.05 5.82 0.00 0.83 0.12 3.45 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.05 2.67 13.91 2.92 0.00 2.99 0.01 0.96 0.07 2.74 1.77 0.30 0.03 0.03 2.13 3.48 0.02 2.25 0.32 4.40 0.03 5.36 0.31 0.05 4.45 0.13 1.68 2.41 0.35 0.01 0.14 0.91 4.10 11.61 8.83 1.94 0.06 0.04

-11.96 89.25 15.79 2.25 50.68 11.01 0.00 -36.31 -79.67 -6.19 0.00 -100.00 0.00 -100.00 -24.16 1.32 -36.58 0.00 -6.79 25.00 -23.33 80.18 -7.65 -11.50 4.20 -41.18 -29.55 -36.73 13.57 56.25 23.72 81.60 17.20 -13.21 -9.21 33.75 -38.89 -34.12 88.50 -5.98 21.39 -23.32 -100.00 19.46 -31.34 -30.37 6.01 13.93 -3.97 -22.11 61.29 -1.74

590 5,500 505 51,220 474 48,187 0 5,641 254 29,724 0 2 0 0 18,385 120,020 22,715 0 26,225 153 5,674 809 22,184 17,377 3,532 200 172 14,101 34,292 79 18,703 5,200 39,908 250 41,796 2,481 255 29,609 3,244 15,428 19,138 2,254 9 1,403 8,928 32,648 103,846 77,885 14,594 483 436 846,513

%market share

0.07 0.65 0.06 6.05 0.06 5.69 0.00 0.67 0.03 3.51 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 2.17 14.18 2.68 0.00 3.10 0.02 0.67 0.10 2.62 2.05 0.42 0.02 0.02 1.67 4.05 0.01 2.21 0.61 4.71 0.03 4.94 0.29 0.03 3.50 0.38 1.82 2.26 0.27 0.00 0.17 1.05 3.86 12.27 9.20 1.72 0.06 0.05

2010

%market share % Change

615 3,095 450 47,559 445 40,626 20 6,830 708 31,048 2 118 2 395 24,546 134,634 28,629 1 34,611 42 7,062 1,036 30,095 18,958 2,980 209 185 20,842 30,591 161 17,341 4,454 35,147 387 49,629 2,517 401 43,883 1,813 14,992 18,469 3,356 164 1,821 9,820 40,795 103,261 79,649 18,244 477 321 913,436

0.07 0.34 0.05 5.21 0.05 4.45 0.00 0.75 0.08 3.40 0.00 0.01 0.00 0.04 2.69 14.74 3.13 0.00 3.79 0.00 0.77 0.11 3.29 2.08 0.33 0.02 0.02 2.28 3.35 0.02 1.90 0.49 3.85 0.04 5.43 0.28 0.04 4.80 0.20 1.64 2.02 0.37 0.02 0.20 1.08 4.47 11.30 8.72 2.00 0.05 0.04

-4.07 77.71 12.22 7.70 6.52 18.61 -100.00 -17.41 -64.12 -4.26 -100.00 -98.31 -100.00 -100.00 -25.10 -10.85 -20.66 -100.00 -24.23 264.29 -19.65 -21.91 -26.29 -8.34 18.52 -4.31 -7.03 -32.34 12.10 -50.93 7.85 16.75 13.55 -35.40 -15.78 -1.43 -36.41 -32.53 78.93 2.91 3.62 -32.84 -94.51 -22.95 -9.08 -19.97 0.57 -2.21 -20.01 1.26 35.83 -7.33

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 75

data file.

Alex Goy

all torque

Brilliant customer service made me feel so welcome

couple of months ago I said I was looking for a Lotus. I’m pleased to say I’ve actually found one – and one of the biggest reasons this particular one is moving in with me is because of the truly brilliant customer service I received. Okay, that’s something of a lie – I do love the car, colour and (in true Lotus fashion) the limited spec. I’ve also wanted one since I was 12, so the chaps at Bell and Colvill didn’t really have to do too much work. Thing is – I’ve bought a few cars from dealers and I’ve not really experienced service quite like it before. First things first – Jamie seemed genuine. Rather than a forced smile and a handshake weaker than wet cake, he seemed genuinely pleased to see me and offered me a cuppa – rather than a ‘wait over there and there’s a machine round the corner’. Which has happened before, and certainly doesn’t put you in the mood for spending money on a car – oh wow, I can sit over there, can I? And drink vile machine tea? I feel so special. Earlier in the week Jamie and I had spoken, so he knew which one I was looking at and had it ready for me. He also told me he’d had a few offers from Germany, but he’d rather it stayed in the country and the new owner had it serviced with them. I applaud his honesty – no thinly-veiled half truths (which I’ve received elsewhere). So we poked and prodded the car, had a good look round and went for a spin. Naturally, Jamie started and showed me just what it can do. Which, it turns out, is quite a bit more than I can normally manage. Still – we swapped over and had a pretty candid chat about Lotus, his job, my job and life itself. He crossed the line from ‘man trying to extract money from me’ to ‘a nice guy with a cool job’. We got back to the dealership, had more of a chat, another cuppa and I left debating the pros and cons of changing from an impractical supermini to a fibreglass coffin. A couple of hours later I paid the nice man a deposit and he uttered the words: ‘Welcome to Lotus’. And you know what? I actually felt welcome.

‘I applaud his honesty – no thinlyveiled half truths – (which I’ve received elsewhere).’

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 76 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

Suppliers Video

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Intelegent

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Kärcher UK Ltd

Autotrade-mail.com

Connect HR & Recruitment

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Web Design

Online Marketing

Autotorq.com

GForces

Webzation

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mini test: Peugeot 508

Display Products

Cleaning Products

Car dealer says HHHHH

Portfolio Display

Drymotive

Online Advertising

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HugoFox.com

AutoKlean

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Aimed squarely at the Volkswagen Passat and Ford Mondeo, the 508 is trying to attract fleet buyers and user choosers with a premium feel, sharp styling and a focus on comfort. This isn’t your usual big, French wacky car – the 508 is actually rather grown-up. Build quality is excellent, refinement on a par with premium brands and the drive entertaining enough to make a trudge up the M1 just about bearable. We’re looking forward to the Hybrid4 model, which combines a 168bhp diesel engine with a 37bhp electric motor. It arrives next year.

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Price: £20,950, tested in Issue 37

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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 Cabinets

Vehicle Remarketing

Automotive CRM

Think Insurance

HBC

Keytracker Ltd

mfldirect.co.uk

Contact Advantage Limited

Finance

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Warranties

mini test: Porsche cayenne

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.

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Finance

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More Sales For You

Netcars.com

W: mfldirect.co.uk T: 0870 6000 288 E: sales@mfldirect.co.uk Info: For the largest selection of low mileage, single owner, dealer maintained vehicles available to the UK trade see mfldirect.co.uk

It’s the most important Cayenne to buyers as it provides all the looks of more powerful models, but is cheaper to run (considerably) and is more politically correct to boot. The new Cayenne looks substantially better than its predecessor. It looks smaller too despite being a tad larger, and the diesel engine makes far more sense than a petrol unit. The diesel costs from £45,256 and has far too many standard features to list.

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data file.

James Litton trader tales

Watch, listen and act to get the best from your team

here is no doubt in my mind that one of the biggest weaknesses affecting the retail motor trade is a lack of training and coaching. Most dealers rely solely on the mandatory training enforced upon them by their respective manufacturers. While this source of knowledge is often useful – particularly in product terms – it does little to develop individuals and encourage personal development. There are some dealers who are over-dependent on the use of external consultants. There are some excellent external trainers available, many of whom add value to a business when employed in the right areas at the right times but to diminish the training and coaching responsibilities of dealer management employees demonstrates a lack of faith in their ability to develop people. To me it starts from the board level down. Directors and dealer principals must work with their managers to achieve budgets. I have seen senior managers who can hardly read a set of financial reports, let alone deduce the impact in a management context. Many senior managers who come from a sales background do not understand the aftersales side of the business and vice versa. It is no sign of weakness to want to improve in these areas. Many department managers are employed due to being very proficient as sales managers, workshop controllers or parts salespeople. However, when it comes to heading up a team of other individuals, they can often enforce the style that saw their own success even though this may not work for other people in the team. Greater consideration has to be given and individual training and processes developed. Good operational employees often know what to do to be successful but they do not understand how or why they are doing it. The best advice I can give anyone who has to manage, train or coach people is watch, listen and act. Clear objectives and individual attention to the training needs of each member of your team will result in better performance and higher workplace morale.

‘Directors and dealer principals must work with their managers to achieve budgets.’

Traderdire Alfa Romeo

Alfa Romeo

Aston Martin

Sturgess Alfa Romeo

Benfield Alfa Romeo

Aston Martin

Audi

HWM Aston Martin

Wimbledon Carriage Company Limited

Walton & Epsom Audi

John Crisp 07885 211872

Mark Loughnane 01932 220404 07739 519306

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

Proven Daihatsu

HR Owen Ferrari Nick Carey

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@hrowen.co.uk 07824 362229

Andrew Ludlow ferraribuyer@ntlworld.com 07889 305 053

Ferrari

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?

James runs theinternetcarlot.co.uk. He's been in the business for 12 years and always has something to say about the industry he loves. 78 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

To have your details included here log on to CarDealerMagazine.co.uk/trader-directory.htm

ectory

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 find out how at the bottom of this page.

Ford

Honda

Benfield

Benfield Alfa Romeo

Lifestyle Ford

Honda

Thames Honda Group

Honda

Hyundai

Jaguar

Holdcroft Honda

Bushey Heath Hyundai

Hatfield Hyundai

Sturgess Jaguar

Charles Hurst Jaguar

Jeep

Kia

Lexus

Land Rover

John Holland Sales

Tower Hill Garage

Chapelhouse Kia

Lexus Twickenham

Sturgess Land Rover

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

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

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

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

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

Land Rover

mini test: lexus ct 200h

Lotus

Maserati

Beadles Land Rover

Car dealer says HHHHH

Murray Motor Company

Meridien Modena

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

An impressive package, but it’s not really enjoyable to drive and, dare we say it, just a little bit too dull.

Graeme Robertson 0131 200 8888 07765 252745

Warren Butt 02380 283404 07860 530703

Price: £23,485, tested Issue 38

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@sturgess cars.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

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

Philip Wight Motor Co

Philip Wight 01923 220000 phil@click4cars.co.uk Sensible buyer of hatch and estates up to £4k please.

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.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 79

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data fiLe.

Why Greenspan was wrong about men’s powers of prediction

s inflation reaches its highest level in two-and-a-half years, there’s significant speculation about when base rates are going to start rising. But inflation is only one input into the Economic Monetary Policy Committee debate on base rates. They must gather data and opinion from a variety of sources when making their decisions. For example, Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the US Federal Reserve, wrote in his book The Age of Turbulence that men tend not to replace their underwear when they sense a period of economic hardship ahead. Greenspan’s reasoning was that sales of such a basic necessity fluctuate the least amongst apparel stock turnover, meaning that even a slight change in sales volumes is a revealing indicator of changing buying attitudes. But Greenspan’s logic is flawed in my opinion. He was wrong to invest men with this seemingly clever ability to see forthcoming economic issues arising and have the foresight to lengthen their underwear retention cycles thus easing the financial burden on their domestic budget. We simply don’t think this way. Let’s be honest, men don’t replace their underwear and like me wait for the underwear fairy to magically replace said items on a regular basis – preferably with them being gift-wrapped at Christmas or birthdays. So it’s the man’s wife or partner who acts as the change agent when it’s clear that new undies are long overdue. In other words, it’s women who are creating the correlative effect to economic downturns that Greenspan hit upon in relation to men’s underwear. Surely as a reader you’re thinking that underwear

Don

Brough sub-prime time

really isn’t that costly for it to be a key driver in terms of buying habits during periods of fiscal ups and downs, and you’d be correct in my opinion. But if you take the view that most women work to their available household spend, then it follows that if they increase spending in one area, the consequence is that they must decrease spending elsewhere, and in my view, this is why men’s underwear spend is being sidelined. So where is the money going? Kline Consumer Products Research have analysed more than 50 years of cosmetics sales data and found that lipstick sales increase during tough times, and that for every one

‘For every one per cent increase in unemployment, women buy in excess of £10m more lippy.’ per cent increase in unemployment, women buy in excess of £10m more lippy. The recent evidence is that the peaks of ladies’ foundation sales also show a direct correlation to economic lows, with the reasoning being that women find it uplifting to buy small-ticket luxury items which give them the perfect pout and flawless skin and, in so doing, feel good about themselves as an antidote to the pervasive bad news that abounds during periods of austerity. Why not? The underwear can wait. So the next time you hear someone spouting forth about when base rates are likely to rise, tell them they’re talking pants and that Alan Greenspan says so.

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 82 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

Road trip

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