Your Ford Centre Group has revealed plans for a new Dundee car dealership after expanding its portfolio in the city previously served by former brand franchisee Arnold Clark.
Dundee Ford Centre is scheduled for a summer 2023 opening on a redeveloped 10.5acre site in Baird Avenue, Dundee – formerly the home of a Tesco Distribution facility.
The creation of the new dealership to serve Your Ford Centre Group’s new franchise was described to AM as “a natural expansion for the family-owned group”, which already
represents Ford in Cupar, Kirkcaldy, Dalkeith and Peebles.
Group managing director David Short said: “We are delighted to be Ford’s preferred operator for the area and very much look forward to becoming part of Dundee life.”
The new Dundee Ford dealership will offer the full Ford car range, as well as a display of over 100 used cars and commercial vehicles, a six-bay workshop and MOT facility.
Short said it was anticipated that the new business will create up to 25 jobs.
He added: “The site is in a prime location with great visibility, and we believe that when completed it will deliver a facility, we can be proud of. “It’s an ideal location and there will be generous space to allow a comprehensive display of new and used cars for the people of Dundee and the surrounding area. “We expect to commence works on site in early 2023, with completion scheduled for the summer.”
Used car retailers were urged to be aware of the “risks around affordability” as motorists seek out older, more affordable cars to mitigate against the continued rise in values.
The latest market analysis from online automotive marketing platform eBay Motors showed that the average advertised price of used cars rose 2% to £17,610 in November with hard-to-source vehicles aged under two years driving the increase with a 3% uplift to £35,425.
But as a slowing down of stock turn was attributed to “seasonal trends” eBay Motors marketing director Lucy Tugby suggested that retailers need to be aware of a recessionary mindset which is starting to change buyers’ behaviour.
“Despite turbulence in the wider economy, with rising inflation, energy costs and the prospect of a looming recession, the used car market remained remarkably stable in
November,” Tugby said. We believe the easing of consumer demand has more to do with seasonal trends than the impact of the cost-of-living crisis as days to sell remained stable.
“However, dealers should be aware of risks around affordability, as our data shows that consumers are increasingly looking at older vehicles to offset the rising cost of cars and reduced disposable income.”
Auto Trader reported that the average value of a used car advertised for sale on its platform reached £17,801 last month, which was down on the previous month in a trend said to be “in-line with seasonal trends” and up 4.7% year-on-year.
Year-on-year comparisons of eBay Motors’ data showed that prices across Motors.co.uk dipped just 1% on November 2021, which was 16% up on 2020, when the average was £15,165.
Month-on-month, car retailers’ days to sell increased by just one day to 39 days during November, compared to 37 days in the previous November.
Car supermarkets sold vehicles in an average of 29 days, compared to 32 days in the franchised sector and 48 days among independents.
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Please note the RAV support desk will be closed all day on Monday 26/12, Tuesday 27/12 and Monday 02/01/2023. If you experience technical issues during these times our Out Of Hours Operations Centre will be able to provide technical support. Their contact number is 0300 300 1498. The RAV support team will be available for business as usual on Wednesday 28/12, Thursday 29/12 and Friday 30/12 between 08.00 and 17.00. The Direct Debit runs will be processed as normal on 23/12, 30/12 and the 06/01/23.
The Finance and Leasing Association (FLA) has called for reform of the Consumer Credit Act to be “comprehensive” as consultation on the plans opened on December 9.
FLA director general Stephen Haddrill called for sweeping change as the government invited comment on plans which it hopes will facilitate innovation in the credit sector and increase accessibility of credit products.
Today’s consultation launch said that reform would present an opportunity for the government to bolster existing consumer protections to ensure customers remain adequately protected in a modern and increasingly digital economy.
Haddrill suggested wide-reaching change was long overdue, stating: “The Consumer Credit Act was written back in the 1970s, and subsequent updates have merely nibbled the edge of what needed to be changed.
“We therefore welcome today’s announcement as the first stage of what must be comprehensive reform. For too long, consumers and lenders have had to deal with archaic language, complicated processes and rigid structure.
“We need a modern regime that protects consumers, facilitates innovation and is futureproofed to grow and adapt with the industry.
“The Government recognise the important role that credit plays in the economy, so we look forward to working with them to improve the regulation that underpins billions of transactions each year in the UK.”
The UK Government announced its intention to reform the CCA in June this year.
At the time HM Treasury set out an intention to move much of the existing legislation to sit within rules to be made and enforced by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
The shift comes as the FCA sharpens-up the finance sector’s focus with the launch of its new Consumer Duty at a time when the costof-living crisis is likely to see a growing volume of people turn to finance to fund large purchases, including cars.
Read the full article at AM Online
The SMTA in conjunction with the IMI continues to provide availability of online learning and examination for MOT Testers for DVSA's 2022/23 training year.
Some of the areas you will need to study for Groups A and B include:
y Brake Test Procedures.
y MOT Test Procedures.
y Managing your MOT account/continuing professional development (CPD).
y MOT Inspection Manual.
1. Do at least 3 hours of MOT tester training each year and 16 hours in 5 years.
2. Keep a record of your training.
3. Book and take your assessment.
4. Check your assessment provider has uploaded your assessment results.
If you pass the assessment, you’ll get a certificate. You’ll find this in the ‘Annual assessment certificates’ section of your MOT testing service profile. Contact your assessment provider if your results have not been recorded correctly.
If your results have not been uploaded by the end of the training year, your MOT testing account will be suspended.
To book please email nicola.thomson@smta.co.uk
SMTA member price - £52.00 (plus vat)
Non-member price - £60.00 (plus vat)
(Once payment received you will receive a code and instructions to complete this online)
POST TOWN SUM OF FORECAST TO EXPIRE
SUM OF EXPIRED TYPICAL
SUM OF CHANGE FROM TYPICAL CHANGE FROM TYPICAL [%]
ABERDEEN 17957 16059 1898 11.82%
DUMFRIES 5892 5073 819 16.14%
DUNDEE 9792 8550 1242 14.53%
EDINBURGH 30097 26872 3225 12.00%
FALKIRK 10655 9336 1319 14.13%
GLASGOW 38502 34776 3726 10.71%
HEBRIDES 1041 886 155 17.49%
INVERNESS 10124 8754 1370 15.65%
KILMARNOCK 13518 11661 1857 15.92%
KIRKCALDY 13143 12216 927 7.59%
KIRKWALL 1945 1652 293 17.74%
LERWICK 849 678 171 25.22%
MOTHERWELL 12517 10638 1879 17.66% PAISLEY 11374 9892 1482 14.98%
PERTH 6749 5924 825 13.93%
TWEEDDALE 4366 4039 327 8.10%
TOTAL 188521 167006
Safety recalls are car retailers’ £166m untapped aftersales opportunity
Article courtesy of AM Online
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Article courtesy of AM Online
The 10 used cars tipped to rise in value in 2023
Article courtesy of CarDealer Magazine
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Article courtesy of SMMT
Manufacturers have promised that self-driving cars will soon be ready to launch on the market. But the industry is gradually becoming disillusioned, and schedules are being pushed back. So what's the problem?
‘Next year’, says Elon Musk in a viral YouTube video once again, and also repeats himself again and again in interviews from 2014 to 2021. The self-driving car should finally be here by then, promises the famous tech billionaire and CEO of US electric car manufacturer Tesla. But 2022 is now coming to a close and if you look at our roads, all you can see is people behind the steering wheel still. Except perhaps in Phoenix in the US state of Arizona, where Google’s sister company Waymo has offered a pilot service with driverless taxis for several years now – but in a limited and precisely mapped operational area under very controlled conditions: almost always in good weather and with lots of expensive sensors in every car.
General Motors subsidiary Cruise is also working on a driverless taxi service in San Francisco that unfortunately repeatedly makes the headlines whenever its robot cars stall and block the roads. Added to this is the fact that Ford and Volkswagen have now pulled out of the autonomous mobility startup Argo AI after investing billions in it, which suggests that there is not a great deal of confidence in the technology
In a nutshell: driving is much more complex than previously thought, whereas progress made in artificial intelligence (AI) is slower than expected. ‘After the hype at the start of all this ten years ago, the industry is now experiencing a certain degree of disillusionment,’ says Dr Christian
Müller, Head of the Competence Centre Autonomous Driving at the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI). It is Germany's leading research institution in this field and its partners include technology companies such as Google and Nvidia plus car manufacturers such as Daimler, BMW and Volkswagen. At the DFKI, Müller researches topics such as predicting pedestrian behaviour and how a machine perceives differently to a human.
Dr Christian Müller is head of the Competence Centre Autonomous Driving at the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI). Müller says that the AI approach that the industry is mostly pursuing for autonomous driving, so-called deep learning, is increasingly proving to be a dead end. In this approach, machines analyse large sets of data (e.g. camera images) at lightning speed with the help of neuronal networks and are constantly learning independently, without human intervention. What may sound incredibly promising in theory has its pitfalls in practice, says Müller. “Deep learning AI has an uncanny ability to recognise and classify objects, but can be completely useless if the context changes even slightly’. Rain, fog, snow, darkness, damaged road signs, light reflections, unexpected behaviour of other road users: all these and more factors in countless possible interactions mean that robot cars can come across new situations all the time where they do not know what to do. This is in contrast to the brain of a human driver who intuitively knows whether a green light is real or simply painted
on and can immediately stop, even if they have never seen a kangaroo hop across the road before.
At the same time, Müller tempers expectations that customers will be able to buy a robot car in the near future that can drive or pick them up at any time and from anywhere independently, just like a human chauffeur can do in the current infrastructure. ‘I can only see us developing AI like that, which fulfils the necessary safety regulations, in 15 years’ time at the earliest’, he says. And only if manufacturers take a new approach to development. ‘The limits of deep learning highlight that we should not leave machines to their own devices. Instead, we need trustworthy AIs that not only learn things from data alone, but also with human support’.
Widespread use of Level 4 systems without human drivers, he says, can only happen sooner if we reduce requirements on the AI by adapting our infrastructure. If the robot car no longer has to deal with pedestrians or cyclists, for example, the task would be a lot easier. This could be made possible by barriers separating lanes, pedestrian bridges and tunnels, such as those in Chinese cities. ‘We need to ask ourselves what our cities, villages and roads should look like’, states Müller, adding: ‘These are discussions for the whole of society and they have to date not taken place often enough in the context of autonomous driving’.
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