Manage your life

The new and used car market has changed dramatically recently. Mary chats to Mark Henson, Sales Manager at T C Harrison Ford, Stamford about it all

TC HARRISON on Wharf Road has had a presence in Stamford selling Ford cars for over 30 years and is now the only main franchised car dealership left in the town. It is part of a family run business celebrating its 90th year, started by Thomas ‘Cuth’ Harrison in She eld in who uickly established a link with ord which still e ists today ow there are seven car and commercial branches; along with a long standing a liation with ark enson oined the company in as an accounts assistant in Peterborough. He soon oined the sales team as he has a friendly personality which suited the sales en ironment e worked his way up to a usiness anager and eight years ago took over as Sales Manager at Stamford. He has been revelling in the ongoing success ever since. ut times ha e changed dramatically since ark s tenure here started and he has had to adapt and use all of his years e perience to ensure the dealership continues to ourish ‘We have 30 years of history here with a very loyal customer base and that has really helped us recently ark e plains

Online car sales have now become a big part of the market t s ery easy to sit on your laptop at home and browse cars, picking the one you want and getting it deli ered on the back of a lorry; ne er ha ing seen it So are the days of places like T C Harrison numbered? e can defi nitely compete price wise with the online sales says ark ut more importantly we can o er what online sales can t the personal e perience of being able to talk to someone face to face and gi e the consumer the level of customer service you

M ANAGE YOURLIF E would e pect from a successful family run business. Sometimes it has been proven that paying a few hundred pounds more initially can save you thousands in the long run. We have long established relationships with most of our customers so we will help them if things go wrong; which they can do. We only sell cars where we know its history ost of the ones we sell here we initially sold new and ha e taken back as part e change f you buy from a main Ford dealer, which we obviously are, you get competitive prices and the Ford dealership back up e know most of our customers well and it s a tight knit friendly environment. We pride ourselves on our customer service and because of this people keep coming back ou only ha e to look at our trust pilot reviews.’ ew car sales are a huge part or were of

their business and this often involves finance which arrison are able to o er PCP (Personal Contract Purchase) deals are popular with the ma ority of new cars being bought this way giving the customer the ability to change their car more regularly.

Service and maintenance are vital for your car; we all need a well maintained, reliable ehicle arrison o er ser icing from £99 on all makes and models so the myth that main dealerships are very e pensi e is ust that a myth arrison also o er competiti e ser ice plans where you pay a low monthly figure so the cost of your annual service is covered. Pop into the branch to find out more

But, we all know times have changed dramatically when it comes to the car market, new and used. And Mark and his team have had to move dramatically with the times. Pre-Covid, if I wanted a standard brand new Ford Fiesta, Mark could probably have got me one within a week from their large compound in Peterborough which was full of new cars. Well, not any more.

At the moment Mark has two brand new

‘But more importantly we can offer what online sales can’t, the personal experience of being able to talk to someone face to face and give the consumer the level of customer service you would expect from a successful family run business.'

cars in his showroom. But these are for display purposes only, not available to be sold until the replacement display cars arrive. The waiting list for a new Ford is between six and nine months. And that is good in the current market with other well known brands having waiting lists of well over a year. Why?

First of all, Covid. Many dealerships struggled through the pandemic. Mark had to think on his feet Some of the sales sta were furloughed as car dealerships had to close their doors in March 2020 and production at factories worldwide stopped. And then there was the problem with supply from a Japanese factory that made semi-conductors for all new cars; worldwide. This has held up production of all new cars. And then, thanks to Mr Putin, there was a further knock on e ect to supply chain logistics.

So new Ford car production has almost ground to a halt but there are signs that this is starting to ease and Mark is now taking reservations for new cars, but of course there’s still a bit of a wait. his has all had a knock on e ect; not ust for ord and not ust for the his is a global phenomenon and the prices for second hand cars have sky-rocketed which is down to supply and demand. There are fewer cars on the second hand market as the rental companies have lost their normal supply from the manufacturers. T C Harrison in Stamford are now, rather than only selling cars under fi e years old with the rest going to auction, selling cars up to nine or 10 years old; still with warranties though and that excellent customer service.

Throughout this situation T C Harrison ha e communicated with their sta and ensured that they returned to work as quickly as possible after the lockdown rules were rela ed ne of the benefits of working for a well-established, family run business,’ says Mark.

So what is Mark’s advice? ‘We are contacting our customers who we know will want to change their car within the next 12 months. We are getting them to think ahead and place an order as, at the moment, new car prices haven’t risen dramatically - yet. And supply of new cars is not going to change rapidly. But used car prices have, so our customers will be getting a much better price for their part exchange. It’s all down to supply and demand.’

Ford’s best seller always used to be a Fiesta. Not any longer. Now it is a Puma mild hybrid which is a cross o er S irting with the electric car market; but that’s got to be another article.

www.tch.co.uk 01780 758050