Car Dealer Magazine: Issue 111

BIG MIKE: THE DOUBLE DEAL THAT REALLY TOOK THE BISCUIT

Issue 111 | June 2017 | CarDealerMag.co.uk | £3.50

THE FULL

MONTE

OUR DREAM DRIVE TO MONACO IN THE HONDA THAT’S DELIGHTING THE DEALER NETWORK

DON’T COCK UP! ?

NEW TO SELLING CARS THE 10 MISTAKES YOU E CAN’T AFFORD TO MAK

FIRST DRIVE

NEW HYBRID COUNTRYMAN ELECTRIFIES THE MINI RANGE

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IGNITION.

EDITORIAL HEAD OF NEWS AND FEATURES Rebecca Chaplin

rebecca@blackballmedia.co.uk Twitter: @believebecca

HEAD OF DESIGN Graeme Windell

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PRODUCTION EDITOR Dave Brown

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NEWS EDITOR Jack Evans

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STAFF WRITER Darren Cassey

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EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Simon Davis simon@blackballmedia.co.uk Twitter: @SimonDavisNZ

ADVERTISING SALES MANAGER Jon Hickey

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ACCOUNT MANAGER Michelle Searle

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MANAGING DIRECTOR BLACKBALL MEDIA Andy Entwistle andy@blackballmedia.co.uk Twitter: @CarDealerAndy Contributors

Felicity Bestwick, John Bowman, Jess Ernerth, Jack Healy, Jon Reay, Tristan Shale-Hester

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I write this, there’s a WELCOME. AS mild feeling of panic in the air at Car Dealer Towers. The reason? Thousands of dealers are relying on us to put on the motor trade show of the year. However, by the time you’re reading this, CDX17 will probably already be taking place.

It’s been a year in the making, but we’re now at the stage where all we can do is cross our fingers and hope that everything goes according to plan.

In case you’re flicking through the pages of this edition of the mag for more info, that’s why there isn’t any build-up or coverage of the event.

Our print schedule tells us that Issue 111 will be arriving with our subscribers pretty much on the exact day of the event – Tuesday, May 23.

So, either you haven’t managed to make it to Silverstone, in which case you can head to our website to find out what you’re missing... or you have joined us – in which case, you need to stop reading and take a look around the huge exhibition halls!

If it’s Wednesday, May 24 though, you’re safe and can continue to read. There’s certainly plenty to enjoy.

So, what have we got for you? Well, you’ll have spotted on the cover that we have been on an incredible road trip from glamorous Woking to passable Monaco. The poor chaps who had to endure the journey in the stunning Honda NSX were Darren Cassey and Jon Reay, and you can read all about their adventures from page 52.

There have been plenty of cars on test this month and you can find out all about the new Seat Ibiza, Mini Countryman, Toyota Yaris and 4 Series Convertible.

One rather special road test is the Honda Clarity Fuel Cell Vehicle – and it’s another reason for Honda dealers to get excited! That said, it’s a car that won’t be on sale for a good

few years, but we’ve tried it out for the first time.

We’ve got some new cars on the long-term fleet this month too, which is always worth getting excited about!

The new arrivals are the Citroen C3 and a Seat Ateca. You can find out all about the handover of the C3 at the back of this magazine, with more details and a full report on the Ateca to come next month.

Boss-man James has been pondering exactly what he would do if he were to set up a car dealership – probably inspired by our new ‘So You Wannabe A Car Dealer?’ feature. As expected, he doesn’t follow traditional routes.

He’s also been trying out a very special new Nissan, which you can read about on page nine.

There’s a great tale from Big Mike on page 39. Find out about the deal that robbed him of his lunch and then made him head to the pub on the way home from work!

If you were lucky, you might have been visited by Jon and me this month as we tried to spell the alphabet using car dealership names. It’s not a story for this edition but I wanted to end with it. We thought it was incredible that so many people we met thought it was a really clever idea.

For the record, we didn’t! We knew it was stupid, and no doubt many of you will agree. Hopefully when you read it next month it will make you laugh rather than merely sigh and turn the page…

For now, though, I hope you enjoy the issue and if you made it to Silverstone that you’re enjoying CDX!

Rebecca Chaplin Head of News and Features

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49

INSIDE. ISSUE 111 I JUNE 2017

Dashboard

06 Final farewell to Sir Arnold Clark 08 Vertu and Cambria results 18 Around the UK 20 So You Wanna Be A Car Dealer? 24 Peugeot’s online sales success 26 Vauxhall slammed over firegate 27 Rebecca Chaplin 29 Around the World 32 Finance 34 Big Mike 39 Feedback

BMW has freshened up its 4 Series Convertible – but can the facelift help it keep ahead of the competition?

64

Offering paint and interior protection can boost your bottom line

24

22

‘‘

How Skoda’s digital showroom makes life easy for buyers

Maximise your profit opportunities by making the most of your PX vehicles.

Part two of our great new series... and a look at 10 mistakes you should avoid

79

Simon Henstock

Forecourt

40 Honda Clarity FCV 42 Mini Cooper S E Countryman ALL4 44 Toyota Yaris Hybrid 50 Seat Ibiza

Feature A Legend in the Making

Data File

Car Dealer Club The Statistics Market Insight Taking Stock Auctions

Key Notes with Traka

09

Suppliers Guide Long-termers James Baggott A special Nissan Navara pick-up for those with an adventurous streak

52 70 72 75 77 79 83 84 87 90

OUR EVENTS...

As voted for by dealers, Car Dealer Power is unique. Have your say on the manufacturers and suppliers you work with online at bit.ly/CDP-2017.

The Car Dealer Used Car Awards, sponsored by Black Horse, celebrate the used car industry.

This year’s event will take place on November 27, 2017.

The UK’s biggest and best automotive trade expo features the Live Stage, breakout sessions, workshops and much more. We’ll have full coverage of the May 23 event in the next issue.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 05

FEEDBACK. Your comments via email to dave@blackballmedia.co.uk

Our website at CarDealerMag.co.uk

This work could have A DEALER and I were having a chat down the block today and he got a phone call from an irate customer – a car he sold about six weeks ago now has a head gasket failure. I gave him some advice (repair or replacement, CRA 2015) and told him the best way to resolve it amicably without it escalating.

He sold the car with a third party warranty and they have refused to fix the car on the basis of part service history... surprise, surprise. Obviously he was keen to see the car and inspect it before carrying out the work but the customer has now sent him the bill having authorised the work at her garage a few days ago.

They are trying to recoup the full amount of the repair – around £1,500. This includes a head gasket replacement, cambelt, diagnostics etc etc. The car was sold for around £1,500, not to mention had done around 100k and was over 10 years old, and he and I are certain the repairs could have been carried out more costeffectively... if he were liable that is.

My feeling is: l It seems unreasonable behaviour to have the car repaired elsewhere and then call to expect the full amount to be paid. l There’s no evidence, besides the invoice for the work, that there was a fault or that it was present at the time of sale. It’s possible the car had a minor fault and the customer’s garage extorted them for financial gain. l The worst case, if it were to go to court, is that he would be made to pay what he would have paid for the repair so he should get a quote from his garage just in case. Thought it was an interesting one to put out there for opinions.

Mojo121 They can’t have it repaired elsewhere and send the bill. Tell the dealer to see them in court. It’s clear cut. s and b Snap. I had the same thing recently with a turbo claim. Told him to go legal which he did and so

Picture of the month Those slightly manic grins are the smiles of two members of the Car Dealer team (Jon and Rebecca) who decided to compile a special ‘A-Z’ list of dealers. In other words, they set themselves the challenge of visiting 26 businesses over the course of a week for a forthcoming feature in the magazine. Did their good moods last? Did they manage to find dealerships beginning with Q and X? All will be revealed in Issue 112, the July issue of Car Dealer, with you in mid-June. did I. Never heard from him again. Also I can sleep at night because I used the car myself regularly and I know that it was mint. If your friend knew the head gasket was likely to go, he should pay it in my opinion. If it was a proper car, fight it. Ultimately just be honest. grant8064 Same here. £1,300 Beetle sold and two months and 2,000 miles later I get a call saying it’s broken down. It’s at the garage. I said, ‘no probs, what’s the mileage now?’ The customer didn’t know so I called the garage. I spoke to them, and they explained it had a clogged oil strainer or something and that it had starved the engine and was going to be about a £1,000 job. ‘What’s the mileage?’ I asked politely. ‘I’ll let you know tomorrow,’ he said.

I heard nothing for four days and then the customer texted me the £1,100 invoice and asked for a resolution as she’s out of pocket after having the car repaired!

Mat C We’ve been relatively lucky with comebacks until tonight. A car sold four months ago has now done over 2,000 miles and the customer wants us to pay for three shock absorbers as a main dealer has told him they have been gone ‘a long time’.

Luckily we had the car serviced and checked out before sale so we know everything was spot-on.

Some customers are ridiculous.

DHill @Mat C, What was the outcome? betginge I stood firm and offered her £250 goodwill and after the third time she wrote to me demanding the whole amount, she reduced it to £600. I stood firm again and basically said my final offer was £250 and she had seven days to accept it.

She emailed me six weeks later saying she’d been away for three weeks and has decided not to take me to court (shock!) and that she’ll accept my £250. I’m undecided what to do, I clearly gave her three opportunities to take my goodwill and told her on several occasions that she was not going to win by taking me to court. I guess I can refuse to give the £250 now as six weeks have passed and she’s had the car now for over five months.

Mat C Send her a cheque in six weeks... Seriously though, in your position, I’d pay her if only to give you the feeling of being on higher moral ground. Although if it were me, it would make me a little sad...

CGF

How do you prove a car was compliant when it was sold?

I’VE taken in a Jag S Type 4.0 V8. It’s a generally decent car with good bit of history, low mileage, low owners etc. It sailed through an MOT last week. The only fault was a coolant radiator leak (which I’ve just replaced) and the central locking being intermittent from the fob.

Basically, it’s going to be advertised with faults listed and in generally good condition otherwise. Problem I’ve got is it’s a little older, and a little cheaper, than the stuff I usually

sell, plus it’s a 17-year-old Jag and they’re not exactly renowned for their reliability.

So my question is, I can prove at this moment in time, during any inspection, that it’s fit for purpose, of satisfactory quality and as described, but if in a month’s time the gearbox gives up or a head gasket blows, how do I prove that when I sold the car, it was all three of the above? How do you guys prove that when a car leaves you, it’s compliant?

Dutchy

Ask a mechanic to do a PDI report on it. All our cars have a PDI report included.

Tom Yep, as Tom says, get it PDI’d. I have a 140-point PDI pad from Lawgistics that my master tech uses for every car, which is checked off, signed and stamped. The customer gets a copy which he also signs, and a copy goes in your file.

Mikey

More and more of our readers are joining the debate – and it couldn’t be easier 06 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

On Twitter: Follow @CarDealerMag

Forum: CarDealerMagazine.co.uk/forum

been done cheaper!

Tweets of the month Top tweet Brussels raises the Brexit bill. If a second hand car dealer raised the price like this I’d walk out of the showroom. Get marching Mrs May. @DavidWooding

Chapman from everyone at Hendy Ford in Winchester on the purchase of your all-new #FordFocus. Enjoy! @hendygroup

Diesel cars produce just 11 per cent of London NOx, depending on congestion. @SMMT

Did you know we are an award-winning Motability dealer? Find out more on our website: macklinmotors.co.uk/motability/ @MacklinMotors

Nissan’s premium brand Infiniti – global sales up 12 per cent in April. @YahooFinance Massive #congratulations to Richard

We have welcomed on board a new aftersales/ service manager – Peter Durnan. Peter has vast experience in this area. @NearyNewMotors

FEEDBACK

Joe Public no longer cares about oily bits!

SO I’m cleaning cars and always have either Classic FM or Talksport on the radio. I’m not a football fan but the chat is welcome.

I hear the adverts for new cars and the latest one for Vauxhall (could be any car) doesn’t even mention the car... just the connectivity with phones and the internet. What has become of the actual car?

I’ve always thought today’s customer treats their car more like a washing machine, when the correct analogy should be a mobile phone... they change the oil in the phone just as often too. Has Joe Public become so ignorant of cars that the oily bits don’t even warrant a mention? tradex These sorts of ads are aimed at people that are happy to use cars but have no interest in how they work. These same people are happy to use TVs, mobiles, washing machines etc but have no idea how they work. What matters

is their comfort and their suitability for their social media interactions.

I have mentioned before that many of you guys are car nuts, and it is hard for you to comprehend that many people buy a car because they ‘need’ it, not because it’s exciting or fun. In much the same way as they ‘need’ a fridge or a lawn mower. We have a generation of owners who are as interested in maintaining their car, other than repairs, as they are in maintaining their Hoover. The term I’m looking for is ‘sympathetic ownership’.

Growing up in the 60s and 70s, cars tended to need servicing/maintenance just to keep going. You ‘had’ to have your car serviced before you went on holiday. Cars overheated in the summer, and would fail to start on cold mornings. Owners used to have to regularly check oil, coolant etc. All that’s gone. Is it a good thing, though? metcars

Well said, James – how failsafe is the tech in modern cars?

JUST a very brief line to say ‘well said’ to James, having read his column about advanced auto tech in the May issue of Car Dealer.

Automatic headlights get me – they aren’t quite as good as a human at anticipating.

For example, a driver can see some of the light visible when an oncoming car is

approaching the brow of a hill, but the auto headlight sensor only reacts when it is direct beam.

And you’re right. 1, How lazy are we getting? and 2, How failsafe is this tech, in reality?

David Leggett, Director Automotive Services, just auto

#EscapeTheCity in your city. This week we’re in Edinburgh with the New #Volvo XC60. @VolvoCarUK

You learn all the time in this game – knowledge is priceless NEW boy here, I’m making the first moves to get back into the motor trade. I’ve done it with bikes and cars many years ago but no doubt much has changed, such as consumer rights and finance, so I hope to pick your brains and get up-to-date.

I have a small pitch lined up in the south-west but I’m not committed to it yet. I intend to start with 15-20 motors that will retail from around £2k-£6k, buying from the block. Other than ‘don’t do it’ what advice would you give ?

Johno If you have the confidence to get back into it from the word go by taking on a unit then fair play, but maybe approach things a bit more gently as a lot has changed.

Advertising is a big killer. If you want the best chance of selling metal, Auto Trader is the one but it’s very expensive to throw 20 cars on. If you can master Facebook and advertise on its platforms then do it.

It’s the future and will bring in customers at a fraction of the cost of AT. Consumer rights and finance is a little odd at the minute. Choose your finance company well. Some are acting unfairly to dealers and just rejecting cars at the first sign of trouble, while others will work with you and genuinely care about their dealer relationships.

Self-admin warranties – they are the future, don’t waste your time with conventional warranty firms.

I am about to open a second site for sub-prime customers: similar stock numbers and price bracket as you. In this game you learn all the time. Knowledge is priceless. betginge

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DASHBOARD. AUTO TRADER

Prius was April’s fastest selling car

ACCORDING to Auto Trader statistics, the 2014 automatic Toyota Prius was the fastest-selling used car in April, taking an average of 14 days to sell.

Another car from the Japanese marque also made the top 10 list. The 2012 petrol automatic Toyota Yaris was sixth with an average turnover time of 19 days.

This is not the first time Toyota has dominated the national list – in February 2014, the Prius and Yaris were in first and second place respectively.

Coming second on April’s national list was the 2016 diesel manual Mercedes-Benz GLA-Class, which took an average of 15 days to sell, followed by the 2016 petrol automatic Ford Mondeo at 16 days.

In terms of regional lists, the Blue Oval was the most successful manufacturer, with the fastest-selling cars in seven regions.

Auto Trader retailer and consumer products director, Karolina Edwards-Smajda, said: ‘2017 has been a strong year so far for Toyota. Both the Prius and the Yaris have excellent reputations.’

SKODA

Octavia landmark for factory team SKODA’S employees at the company’s plant in Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic, have produced the 1.5-millionth third-generation Octavia. The upgraded new version of the bestseller has continued the model range’s success story since the beginning of February.

It has redesigned front and rear sections as well as state-of-the-art solutions in terms of driver assistance systems, infotainment and connectivity.

08 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

Hundreds gather to say final farewell to Sir Arnold Clark ‘He will always be with us through the business he built up from nothing’

by JOHN BOWMAN john@blackballmedia.co.uk

H

undreds of family, friends and employees of motoring tycoon Sir Arnold Clark gathered for his funeral at Glasgow Cathedral.

More than 500 people attended the service, including leading Scottish businessmen Sir Tom Hunter, Sir Tom Farmer and Boyd Tunnock. Former first minister Jack McConnell and Glasgow Provost Sadie Docherty were also in attendance to pay their respects to the ‘proud son of Glasgow’, who died on April 10 aged 89.

Many mourners wore Arnold Clark company ties, and buses were put on to bring staff from around the country to the funeral.

The Rev Laurence Whitley led the service, which he said ‘closes a chapter and an era in a life he made his own’.

The minister added: ‘The road of his life was a long one and we look back with pride. That driving force is still.’

Sir Arnold’s coffin was adorned with red roses and yellow daffodils, and was carried inside by family members. His sons John and Adam gave a eulogy, describing how their father started his business in 1965 by using his RAF demob money to buy a Morris Ten Four for £70, which he restored and sold on for a profit.

He soon opened the first Arnold Clark showroom in Glasgow’s Park Road, going on to establish hire car schemes, repair centres, franchises and a car finance and insurance business over the following decades.

Sir Arnold, who was recognised as one of the most successful car dealers in the UK, was knighted in 2004 for services to the motor industry.

In 2015, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Car Dealer Used Car Awards, and last year became Britain’s first billionaire car dealer, according to the Sunday Times Rich List.

John said: ‘The iconic black and yellow rear window sticker has become part of the Scottish cultural landscape. If you put all the cars he serviced end to end, they would stretch from Inverness to Paris – and

sometimes driving the A9 it looks like somebody is trying to do exactly that.’

Adam said his father enjoyed boats almost as much as cars and was at ‘his most relaxed’ at the helm of a yacht and when he was with his beloved wife, Lady Philomena Clark.

He added: ‘He knew all his employees by name and if you worked for Arnold Clark, you were one of the family.

‘He would make time to find out how his staff were and what was important to them, and in return he got the absolute best out of everyone.

‘On behalf of our family, we would like to thank all customers and his loyal staff, both past and present.

‘All Dad’s children were honoured and privileged to have him as a father, and it’s safe to say that he will always be with us through the business that he built up from nothing.’

Motors.co.uk launches Car Reviews to help consumers choose their next vehicle. bit.ly/Reviews-111

A Navara with a cool name and lots of stylish extras too Buyers with a sense of adventure will be impressed by special pick-up

by JAMES BAGGOTT @CarDealerEd

N

issan Navara buyers with an adventurous streak will be well catered for by the firm’s new special-edition pick-up.

The new Navara Trek-1° has been named after the geographical location of the Navarre desert in northern Spain – located at -1° longitude.

Not only does it boast a cool name, but there’s a host of stylish extras too. Thrown in on the special edition are black rollbars with LED spot lamps clamped on, unique 18-inch alloy wheels and a load bed divider with cover – all designed to aid owners in their cross-country adventures.

The cover is a particularly practical addition offering added security so valuable loads can be hidden from view.

Beneath it is a load bed divider and liner, which will keep items secure, and it is fitted to a restraint system which allows it to slide forwards and backwards for ease of access.

The Navara – which made its UK debut recently – already holds the enviable title of International Pick-up of the Year and is designed to appeal to business users as well as those with an active lifestyle who need the additional carrying capacity a pick-up can offer.

The Trek-1° is available in two colours – newto-Navara Pearlescent White and Black Metallic – and is powered by the 190bhp version of the 2.3-litre twin-turbo diesel engine mated to either

a six-speed manual or seven-speed automatic transmission. All versions offer four-wheel drive as standard. It is based on the top-specification Tekna double cab and promises exclusivity with just 1,500 being sold across Europe.

That Tekna underlying spec means the Navara Trek-1° benefits from the Nissan Connect infotainment system with satellite navigation and DAB digital radio, 360° Around View Monitor, rear parking sensors and LED headlights.

There’s even leather, heated front seats, a powered sunroof, tow bar, differential lock and full-sized spare wheel.

The Nissan Navara Trek-1° will go on sale in the UK in the summer with prices announced soon.

The Nissan Navara Trek-1° will go on sale in the UK in the summer

ASE FIGURES

Record-breaking March was great for dealer profits CAR dealers across the UK had a hugely successful March, according to profitability specialists ASE, with the average business making a profit of more than £114,000.

This made March a record-breaking month, and it was the first time profits have tipped over £100,000 per site for a month.

Mike Jones, ASE chairman, said: ‘The performance does not come as a surprise given the record level of registrations, particularly as in the first quarter this was not purely driven by large levels of dealer selfregistrations.

‘The genuine retail market was strong, with demand for both new and used cars being healthy. Dealer new car sales have exceeded the prior year in every month of 2017 so far, reducing the levels of pre-registration required to hit targets.’

Used car sales were strong, said ASE, also exceeding the prior year and with margins standing up well. Return on investment remained above 80 per cent with the industry processing excess stock efficiently.

Aftersales performance has continued to grow, but, worryingly, this has been on the back of internal and warranty sales and at the expense of retail work.

TRACKER

Thieves show they aren’t that fussy!

A WHOPPING 32 per cent of stolen vehicles recovered by Tracker in 2016 were valued at less than £5,000.

The age, mileage and even brand of a vehicle doesn’t appear to matter to vehicle thieves as much as motorists may think, which should serve as a stark warning to the average car owner, advises the stolen vehicle recovery experts. The average value of cars stolen and recovered

by Tracker in 2016 was just over £16,000.

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DASHBOARD.

Air quality plan is launched – without diesel scrappage Ministers were forced to act after challenge from environmental lawyers

T

he government has released a new air quality plan – but the expected diesel scrappage scheme doesn’t feature.

Ministers were ordered to draw up the new clean air plan following a legal challenge by environmental lawyers ClientEarth, with the High Court ruling that existing government proposals to meet EU-mandated pollution limits were not sufficient.

The Environment Department lost a last-minute High Court bid to delay revealing the draft plans to reduce illegal levels of nitrogen dioxide until after the election.

The document released in early May sets out the principles which local authorities should follow when setting up clean air zones in England, but any decision as to whether a

scrappage scheme will or won’t be implemented in the government’s plan to improve air quality in cities has yet to be made.

The government has already set a plan to reduce the number of polluting cars on the road, with the ultimate goal being that ‘all new cars and vans should be zero-emission by 2040, and for nearly every car and

van to be zero-emission by 2050’. Local authorities are already responsible for improving air quality in their area, but they are now expected to develop new – and quick – ways to reduce emissions.

The government is consulting on a range of measures that could be taken to mitigate the impact of action to improve air quality. In line with the timetable directed by the courts, ministers are seeking views on these proposals in advance of preparing a final plan by July 31.

All final decisions will therefore be taken by the next government.

The consultation outlines that a diesel scrappage scheme could still be introduced, but that ‘such measures would need to provide value for money to the taxpayer and target support where it is most needed’.

MERCEDES-BENZ

Sprinters being rebuilt for police MORE than 100 new Mercedes-Benz Sprinters have been bought to be converted into protected personnel carriers for police forces across the country.

Specialist vehicle converter MacNeillie, based in Walsall, will take apart and rebuild the long-bodied, high-roof Sprinters to create secure and durable public-order vehicles.

Mercedes-Benz Vans managing director Steve Bridge and West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson visited the firm as part of the project which involves more than 30 police forces and agencies who have bought the vans for an unspecified figure.

The West Midlands force has bought 64 of them under a national framework agreement it is running.

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DASHBOARD.

Auction firm joins the EV revolution Training sessions held to educate the motor trade on all aspects of selling electric vehicles

S

horeham Vehicle Auctions and the Energy Saving Trust have launched a series of innovative electric vehicle training sessions to educate the motor trade on all aspects of selling electric cars, including identifying the motorists more likely to benefit from a zero-emission vehicle.

Shoreham and the Energy Saving Trust have taken the unprecedented step of investing time and resources in understanding the technology that will benefit sales teams at the independent dealerships across Hampshire, Surrey and Sussex that are currently within Shoreham’s growing buyer base.

With the Energy Saving Trust, Shoreham’s sessions are empowering sales teams at independent dealerships, giving them the confidence and knowledge to sell electric vehicles to the right market.

Ultimately, Shoreham’s sessions are helping to strengthen the residual values of EVs, empowering dealerships to act as EV experts to trade and private buyers.

Fleets have historically been sceptical about investing in EVs due to fears that residual

values will sharply decline when defleeted. In addition to anxiety over range and the perceived degradation of the battery, this has led to a slow uptake of electric vehicles on UK roads.

The used market is at the epicentre of electric vehicle take-up. If it continues to grow in strength, fleets will select an increasing number of EVs on contract-hire agreements, safe in the knowledge that there will be used buyers ready to purchase an EV at the end of a three-year contract.

The sessions will allow end users to feel more

confident on a range of questions typically associated with electric cars, such as charge-point compatibility; how the buyer will use the vehicle; and associated running costs, subsidiaries and grants for the vehicles and charging technology.

Alex Wright, managing director at Shoreham, said: ‘With approximately 90 per cent of drivers travelling under 80 miles per day, we have identified a large proportion of potential EV owners where the technology is perfect for their daily driving patterns.’

Alongside independent dealers, auctioneers and buyers at Shoreham will benefit significantly from increased knowledge of electric vehicles.

Wright added: ‘The dealerships that we’ve already worked with are hungry for as much information as possible on EVs. The ongoing demonisation of diesel is only fuelling consumer interest and intrigue in EV technology – our sessions will give sales teams the answers to the questions they are expected to be asked.

‘The longevity and performance of batteries is no longer an issue. In fact, the Energy Saving Trust predicts they’ll outlast the car itself.’

More auction news, p79

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DASHBOARD.

System overload ‘stopping dealer staff doing their jobs’ Dragon2000 says people can get bogged down rekeying information

A

recent survey carried out

by CAP HPI, focusing on technology used by motor dealers, revealed that more than one in 10 dealership staff are logging into more than 11 systems daily – with a massive 93 per cent saying they spend more than two hours a day in front of a screen using dealership systems.

The survey also found that 36 per cent of respondents felt they did not have sufficient training in the use of these different systems, used by many dealers to meet a range of business needs such as CRM, email marketing, websites, lead management and vehicle health checks.

According to Dragon2000, what invariably happens is that staff end up not having the time to do the jobs

they were actually employed to do, because they become bogged down with maintaining separate systems and re-keying information.

Mark Kelland, above, commercial manager at Dragon2000, told Car Dealer: ‘Dealers are at risk of lost and inaccurate information from duplicate entry across multiple systems, leading to potential errors.

‘With new data-protection regulations being forced upon businesses next year, having customer data spread across multiple systems will cause another headache for dealers. They will need to ensure that they are following the rules within multiple systems. It would be far easier for them to manage all the data and compliance in one place.

‘There is also the financial impact of multiple systems. Dealers with several systems will also be receiving multiple invoices each month from those system providers, and possibly initial up-front set-up costs (and hardware costs too in some cases).

‘It makes sense for dealers to look for one supplier who understands the motor trade inside out and can take care of their requirements.’

HONDA

Manufacturer’s great reevoos!

HONDA has received a resounding seal of approval from its customers via the user-generated content collection platform Reevoo.

An impressive 97 per cent of customers on the site would recommend the Honda dealership they visited.

Reevoo collects honest and independent reviews that represent real-life customer experiences – for Honda, it is the sales experience they are reviewing. Honda dealerships scored exceptionally well, with many receiving 100 per cent customer recommendations.

Phil Webb, head of cars at Honda UK, said: ‘We’re thrilled that our dealers’ commitment has been reflected with these positive scores.

‘It is testament to the hard work they put in to provide excellent customer satisfaction at all times.’

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CarDealerMag.co.uk | 15 08/05/2017 15:04

DASHBOARD.

Lookers profits rise across the board for first quarter Trading update reports ‘pleasing start’ to 2017 in line with expectations

L

ookers has reported healthy profit rises in new and used car sales as well as aftersales. Its trading update for the first quarter of 2017, released ahead of a Capital Markets Day event for investors and analysts, showed gross profit on new cars rising by 17 per cent between January 1 and March 31 this year – a nine per cent like-for-like increase compared with the first quarter of 2016.

The group also saw gross profit on used cars go up by 23 per cent in the first three months of 2017, which was a 17 per cent like-for-like rise.

Meanwhile, aftersales gross profit went up by 18 per cent in this year’s first quarter (nine per cent like-forlike). Turnover was up by 17 per cent (eight per cent like-for-like).

The company said that it was performing in line with management expectations, stating: ‘Some of the increase in the new car market is likely to be a result of the increase in vehicle excise duty from 1 April 2017, which will have had the effect of potentially bringing forward sales from April to March and this appears to be confirmed by the April new

car registrations. However, it is not possible to estimate the impact of this on volumes until we have seen the full impact during the second quarter.’

It added: ‘The group has made a pleasing start to the year with a positive result for the first quarter.

We have a strong balance sheet.

‘We also have substantial headroom in our bank facilities, which provides financial security as well as significant additional funding capacity to help develop the business through further strategic acquisitions.

‘The financial performance of the group in the three-month period builds on what was already a strong comparative in the previous year.’

Established in 1908, Lookers now has a total of 153 franchise dealerships across the UK and Ireland.

JOHN BANKS HONDA

New football kit for under-11s IPSWICH-based John Banks Honda has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the local community by providing new football kits to the U11s football team at Stanway Rovers FC. Already it seems that the new-look tops featuring the Honda logo are giving the team a boost, with parents and rival teams impressed with the professional, smart look the team has been given.

Chris Hepton, director at John Banks, said: ‘John Banks Honda wants to be an integral part of our local community and the sponsorship of Stanway Rovers U11s team is a really nice way of demonstrating this. By providing these smart new tops, we are hopefully helping to give the team the confidence they need to go on and win games.’

www.desperateseller.co.uk | www.facebook.com/desperateseller.co.uk | twitter.com/despseller

16 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

Banned: The BMW ad that fell foul of ASA regulations Marketers not allowed to make speed or acceleration the main message

A

BMW advertisement has been pulled after it was found that it fell foul of watchdog rules on promoting speed.

The BMW 760Li xDrive, pictured, was promoted under the headline ‘Luxury Just Lost Its Manners’, and the advert stated that the car could hit 62mph in just 3.7 seconds.

However, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received a complaint about the ad, which deemed it to be in breach of a ban on using speed to sell cars.

The German manufacturer stated that the headline was an example of

‘advertising puffery’, and that a claim that ‘for some, the climb to the top is quicker’ in the advert referred to its audience climbing to the top of their careers.

Despite BMW’s claims, though, the ASA found that the advert breached rules that state that ‘marketers must not make speed or acceleration the main message of their marketing communications’.

It was also found to go against a rule that prohibits ‘ads that condone or encourage irresponsible driving, and prohibit depictions of driving practices that were likely to condone or encourage a breach of those rules of the Highway Code that were legal requirements’.

As a result, the advert, which appeared in the Telegraph Magazine in January, was banned and mustn’t appear again in its current form, concluded the ASA.

CATERHAM

Latin America partner named CATERHAM has increased its global sales network by appointing respected automotive provider Global X-Sports as its Latin American regional distributor It’s the first time in Caterham’s history there has been a distributor for the whole Latin America region.

With more than 19 years of automotive distribution experience, Global X-Sports will be offering the full Caterham EU range of lightweight sports cars, including the Seven 165, 275 and 355, as well as the range-topping 485, to Latin American customers.

Caterham chief commercial officer David Ridley said: ‘To increase our presence in Latin America is an exciting step.

Following a record 600 sales in 2016, we want to carry the momentum into 2017.’

THE MOST ADVANCED VEHICLE AUCTION SYSTEM. IT’S THE FUTURE.

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CarDealerMag.co.uk | 17 08/05/2017 15:04

DASHBOARD.

Vertu Motors reports a fifth year of growth – and achieves record profits Outlook is encouraging after strong trading during March and April

by DAVE BROWN dave@blackballmedia.co.uk

V

ertu Motors achieved record profitability in the year to February 28.

The business, the fifth largest automotive retailer in the UK, reported adjusted profit before tax of £31.5 million (up 15 per cent on last year’s figure of £27.4 million) and operating profit of £32.1 million (up 18 per cent on last year’s total of £27.2 million).

Profit before tax was up a healthy 14.6 per cent to £29.8 million. Overall, revenue was up to £2.8 billion from £2.4 billion – a 16.5 per cent improvement.

The company – which has 124 sales and aftersales outlets in the UK and operates under such well-known brand names as Bristol Street Motors, Farnell and Macklin Motors – said it had a healthy balance sheet of £21 million to fund future growth and in its final results mentioned that it had recently signed a new five-year acquisition banking facility of £40 million, with the potential to add another £30 million.

The record trading performance had been driven, it said, by improvements in the running of recently-acquired businesses, a strong used car performance and growth in Vertu’s servicing operation, which operates with higher margins than car sales.

The company said its outlook was ‘encouraging’ with ‘robust trading’ in March and April signalling good prospects for the year ahead.

Chief executive Robert Forrester said: ‘Since our inception 10 years ago, Vertu has remained focused on consolidating the UK automotive retail

sector to grow a scaled and sustainable dealership business. These results, our fifth consecutive year of growth, evidence our continued delivery of this strategy.

‘Significant acquisitions have been integrated through the year and have enriched the premium mix of the franchise portfolio.

‘Record profit before tax of £29.8 million represented a 14.6 per cent increase for the group, EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation] rose to over £40m for the first time and cash conversion was excellent.

‘Our strong balance sheet with net cash of £21 million together with our unutilised debt facilities provide scope for further scaling-up in due course to drive value and further enhance shareholder returns.

‘Trading up to the end of April 2017 has been strong. The full year dividend has been increased by 7.7 per cent.’

Vertu CEO Robert Forrester

Volume brands having ‘a difficult time’ but Cambria’s still making progress CAMBRIA Automobiles plc reported revenues up 11 per cent to £309.1 million in its unaudited interim results published recently.

Both revenue and profits were ahead yearon-year for the six months ending February 28.

Underlying profit before tax was up 21.7 per cent to £5.6 million from £4.6 million in the first half of 2016. Cambria also revealed positive operational cash flows, with a cash position of £17.2 million and net cash of £3.3 million.

New vehicles sales were down 4.6 per cent in the period, while used vehicle sales were 1.2 per cent down. However, this was offset by an increase in average profit per unit.

Mark Lavery, chief executive at Cambria, said: ‘The retail market has shown some softening, and it’s primarily volume brands 18 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

that are having more of a difficult time. I suppose it’s a combination of Brexit, volatility in foreign exchange and the landed cost of product going up. It’s pretty much as predicted by analysts towards the back end of last year.’

It’s been an exceptionally busy period at Cambria, with new businesses added which are currently progressing well. New to the company are Welwyn Garden City Land Rover, Woodford

Jaguar Land Rover and Birmingham Aston Martin. The JLR site in Barnet has gone through a redevelopment which is nearing completion.

Lavery added: ‘I think we’ve got some incredible associates in the organisation and we’ve arguably been through our busiest year ever.’

Cambria has built a portfolio of 31 luxury, premium and volume dealerships, representing 45 franchises and 16 brands, with geographical representation spanning from the north-west to the south-east in Kent.

These businesses are autonomous and trade under local brand names such as County Motor Works, Dees, Doves and Pure Triumph.

Its manufacturer brand portfolio currently includes marques such as Abarth, Alfa Romeo, left, Honda, Jaguar, Jeep and Volvo.

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20 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

BLACKBURN: Revive!, the UK’s largest accredited network of smart repairers, has enhanced its coverage with the addition of a new franchise in Blackburn, serving the East Lancashire area. Owners and directors Liam Loughlin and Tim Osman are running the business which only uses repair technicians accredited by the Institute of the Motor Industry, to carry out quality, cost-effective repairs at a time and place to suit customers. The duo has high ambitions. Osman said: ‘Our aim is to establish Revive! as the number-one vehicle bodywork repairer in the area.’

Big ambitions for new Revive! franchise

NEWCASTLE: Infiniti’s Newcastle centre has been honoured for its customer service. The Vertu Motors dealership was named by the luxury vehicle division of Nissan as one of five top-performing centres in Europe for its dedication and for providing the highest standards and bespoke service to its customers. The team at the showroom at Silverlink Business Park, near Wallsend, Tyne & Wear, led by centre manager Jeff Aynsley, picked up the ‘best customer experience’ award from Infiniti regional director Barry Beeston. Beeston said: ‘To win this award takes a lot of commitment and desire.’

Commitment and desire from Infiniti team

What’s been hitting the headlines on the home front? Here’s a round-up of stories

SUNDERLAND: Town Centre Automobiles has expanded its services to become the only approved Peugeot aftercare sales provider in the city. The new purpose-built facility is at the dealership’s Ferryboat Lane site. Dealer principal Chris Sopp said: ‘This investment highlights our commitment to offering unrivalled service and aftercare for Peugeot drivers in Sunderland, and we look forward to welcoming local residents and businesses to utilise our new service.’

SOUTH SHIELDS: A recruitment drive has resulted in a new addition to the expanding sales team at South Tyneside-based Jennings Ford Direct. Dave Heslop, 59, from South Shields, is the latest recruit to join Jennings Motor Group’s Newcastle Road dealership after being appointed as a sales executive. The time-served panel beater brings with him just under four decades of experience and knowledge of the motor industry. In his new role at the Jennings Ford Direct dealership in South Shields, Dave will be working as part of a tenstrong sales team.

SHEFFIELD: Motorpoint has opened a site in Sheffield – making it the independent vehicle retailer’s 12th car supermarket and expanding the group’s reach across South Yorkshire. It marks the business’s fourth new site within the past 18 months, following last year’s launches in Castleford and Oldbury, as well as the opening of the Birtley branch in November 2015. The 10-acre Sheffield Business Park site will stock up to 500 nearly-new vehicles from more than 30 different manufacturers. Chief executive Mark Carpenter said: ‘I am pleased that we have opened our twelfth site in what has been a busy period for the group.’

Motorpoint expands its reach in South Yorks

Peugeot aftercare now available

Experienced Dave is welcomed aboard

News from around the UK DASHBOARD.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 21

POOLE: Volvo Cars Poole sponsored Christchurch Food Festival for the third time in early May. Once visitors made their way through Christchurch town centre, which played host to street market stalls selling snacks, cakes, cooking utensils, wines and lots more, they found a selection of Volvos at the festival village on picturesque Christchurch Quay. Volvo Cars Poole had the stylish Volvo V40, a limited-edition V60 Polestar, the new V90 estate and the luxurious and family-friendly Volvo XC90 out on display. James Litton, general manager at Volvo Cars Poole, said: ‘We were delighted to be playing our part in sponsoring the Christchurch Food Festival for the third year.’

Dealer’s taste of success at food festival

WEDNESBURY: The newly-opened and largest car superstore in the West Midlands, The Trade Centre UK, has announced a second recruitment drive to expand its team beyond 200 staff in order to meet demand from car buyers in the region. Since opening on Good Friday, the 1,500-car outlet has proved exceedingly popular and following this initial success, the business is increasing the size of the team, with 30 full-time vacancies available across all customer-facing roles, from car sales to collections. The business also operates three car supermarkets in South Wales.

Second recruitment drive under way

SUTTON COLDFIELD: Porsche Centre Sutton Coldfield is pleased to announce they will be sponsoring this year’s Sutton Community Games taking place at the Wyndley Leisure Centre on July 8 and 9. Buddy, the Sutton Games mascot, joined games founder Dennis Kennedy and Porsche Sutton Coldfield centre principal Jodi MacDonald recently to celebrate the new agreement. MacDonald said: ‘The Sutton Games has quickly established itself as one of the most popular events in Sutton Coldfield and we’re delighted to be able to play a role in helping Dennis and his fantastic team continue to make it happen.’

Porsche Centre backs community games

LONDON: HR Owen took over Mayfair for ‘Supercar Sunday’, with owners and enthusiasts descending on Rolls-Royce Motor Cars London in Berkeley Square to celebrate the group’s most exciting models. The event saw more than 100 of the finest supercars in the world head to Rolls-Royce’s flagship showroom from across HR Owen’s high-end brand network, courtesy of HR Owen VIP Services. A social media campaign on Instagram and Twitter saw hundreds of supercar spotters and fans head to Mayfair to get a glimpse of the remarkable models on display and share their experiences online.

Supercars turn heads at special event

EAST ANGLIA: A Honda dealer has raised more than £10,000 for a children’s cancer charity by running the London Marathon. Paul Barkshire, the director of Lings, which has showrooms in Harleston and Lowestoft, endured a pulled muscle and blisters to complete last month’s race in five hours and 55 minutes, raising a total of £10,769 for Children with Cancer UK. Barkshire, 54, said: ‘I’m so proud to have been chosen to represent this amazing charity. The work they do is crucial to families across the UK and I hope my small contribution can play a role in providing support for those who need it.’

Marathon effort raises more than £10,000

DASHBOARD. GARDX

Alistair Jeff takes consultancy role

GARDX International has announced that Alistair Jeff, former CitNOW director, will be joining the company as a consultant for its new digital merchandising platform.

The product, ‘AD-Vantage 360 SpinCar,’ has proven to be a huge success with dealer groups who are implementing the exciting new medium.

By teaming up with Jeff, GardX have gained his expert knowledge and experience to further develop and expand their digital operation. With 27 years in the automotive market, Jeff has a rare depth of automotive experience across a broad spectrum of the market.

Having spent his early career within dealerships, he then moved into the digital arena and from 2000 he worked with agencies and OEMs. Three years ago Jeff left AutoTrader in order to help build the personalvideo business for CitNOW where he was a director until leaving late in 2016 to pursue consultancy opportunities.

Victor Coutin, GardX managing director, said: ‘We are confident that Alistair will bring a strong competitive edge to our digital portfolio.’

STUDY

Average labour rate over £230/hr THE maximum cost of an hour’s work for a garage mechanic now stands at more than £230, according to a nationwide study published by automotive service and repair start-up Motoreasy.

Overall, the UK average labour rate – combining main dealers, independent workshops and fast-fit outlets – is £67 an hour.

22 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

First digital showroom is an ‘important step’ for Skoda

Product hosts can present the cars in detail, and carry out configurations too

by REBECCA CHAPLIN @believebecca

S

koda UK has launched its first online showroom.

Customers can access the Skoda Live Tour on their computer, tablet or smartphone – and gain the showroom experience at a time and place that suits them.

Skoda Live Tour instantly connects the customer to a Skoda product host by an online video link, who takes them into the Live Tour showroom and introduces the Skoda models.

‘Customers are seeking convenience and excellent service when looking to make a car purchase, and with more and more people doing their research online ahead of going to the showroom, the Skoda Live Tour brings the retail experience to a digital world that is easily accessible’, says Jonathan Harris, Skoda’s new retail concepts manager.

‘Our Skoda product hosts in the Live Tour essentially become our customer’s eyes and ears and use a series of static and hand-held cameras to give the retailer experience through an online platform.’

Harris added: ‘This is an important step for the brand and the future of automotive retail and how we interact with customers. Once we have opened up dialogue with the customers

online, we then encourage them to visit a Skoda retailer and test-drive our models for real.’

Skoda Live Tour utilises Whisbi’s cloud-based conversational technology to bring the real retailer experience online. Through the use of live video streaming, the customer is instantly connected to the Live Tour and a product host who uses a mix of smartphone camera and static cameras to showcase the cars.

The consultant can present the exterior and interior of the vehicle, demonstrate ‘Simply Clever’ features, explain details such as the infotainment-system menu, and answer specific questions. If the potential buyer is interested in the boot, the product host can take them to the rear by mobile camera and

demonstrate the loading space live.

During the conversation in the Live Tour, the product host can assist the customer in the online configuration of their desired vehicle and the search for a local Skoda retailer. The Skoda product host can also request an appointment for a test drive in person at the customer’s retailer of choice.

The customer can input text via a chat window, for example, to confirm their name, address or email address.

The new Skoda Kodiaq and recently facelifted Octavia are ready for live presentation in the first online showroom, giving users an exciting preview of the brand’s first large SUV. The Skoda product host can present the Kodiaq or Octavia to customers in detail, and can carry out the configuration with them directly.

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CarDealerMag.co.uk | 23

DASHBOARD.

Part 2: 10 common mistakes In a great new series exclusive to Car Dealer Magazine, Dan Read looks at what it takes to become a successful car dealer. This month he focuses on avoiding the pitfalls and pratfalls that can trip up even the cleverest among us...

E

veryone makes mistakes, but who says you have to learn the hard way? With the right advice, you can save yourself some hassle and get your new dealership up to speed more quickly. That’s why, this month, we’ve asked our experts what they’d do differently if they did it all over again. Of course, there’s no definitive rulebook, and, as any old-timer will tell you, you never stop learning in this game. But by following these tips, you’ll at least have a headstart. Think of them as shortcuts for the rookie trader, courtesy of those who made the mistakes so you don’t have to…

1

Not knowing your product

‘Sometimes it’s better to take the deal while it’s there, rather than trying to squeeze every penny from each sale.’

How to avoid it: Stick to what you know and what you’re known for. In my case it was Land Rovers, but in my first year I was mainly focusing on regular cars. That year was OK, but nothing special. In the second year we refocused to Land Rover and WOW, old customers flooded back in, and we picked up new service customers too. It all just fell into shape.

We now stock 90 per cent Land Rover and 10 per cent sports cars (who doesn’t want toys?) and it’s the perfect combination for us.

Tim Wann, Shrivenham Garage

2

Getting greedy

How to avoid it: Sometimes it’s better to take the deal while it’s there, rather than trying to squeeze every penny from each sale. Otherwise you might be looking at the car on the forecourt for another three months.

Set yourself a turnover policy – a 30-day stocking plan is a good idea. And if a car really isn’t selling, be prepared to make a loss and move on to one that will. Having said all that, you should never feel guilty about making a profit!

Tony Gordon, Crosby Park Nissan

3

Going unprotected…

How to avoid it: Really study the Consumer Rights Act and other legislation – things change all the time so keep up to speed. Understand your legal obligations and when things go wrong – which they will – learn from them and move on.

Don’t buy vehicles that you don’t know much about – some cars and particular engines are

24 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

TONY GORDON, CROSBY PARK NISSAN

unreliable and can bite you. And, of course, make sure you have a set of trade plates and a trade insurance policy.

Liam Grant, Yes Motor Finance

4

Relying on charm

How to avoid it: For the new dealers there’s a great opportunity to lift the motor trade to a new level. So listen to your customers. What do they want? The old-school sales charm is dead and buried – these days people want information, and lots of it. They want recommendations, and reassurance that the person they’re buying from knows what they’re doing. Remember, in the Age of the Internet, customers have never had so much information to hand.

Tim Wann, Shrivenham Garage

5

Choosing the wrong plot

How to avoid it: Think hard about your location. Don’t just take a plot because it’s available. For example, having a site

beside a main road might be more expensive, but it can save you a fortune in advertising costs – especially if it’s right by some traffic lights, so people can look at your stock while they wait! And while it’s hard on a beginner’s budget, try to find a site with some room to grow into – no matter how much space you have, you’ll soon fill it.

Graham Dudley, Crosby Park Nissan

6

Thinking you’re a lone ranger

How to avoid it: It’s easy to see other car dealers as a threat, but actually we can all help each other. So talk to people, especially at auctions where traders come together. Mingle and make contacts.

You might end up buying and selling to each other – especially if someone specialises in something you’ve taken in part-exchange.

Build up your network of contacts – you’ll need a good mechanic, a dent man, a paint man and a valet guy. At least until you

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

and how to avoid them ‘Treat customers fairly. Reputation is everything. And try to get positive feedback as soon as possible.’

RORY ANDERSON, RSCARSALES.COM

grow enough to have your own workshop…

Tony Gordon, Crosby Park Nissan

7

Being left behind

How to avoid it: The industry is evolving all the time; customers’ views change frequently and the methods of buying have changed a lot – a couple of pictures and an advert in Auto Trader are not enough any more.

YouTube videos, 24-hour chat, online finance… these are important considerations, and it will keep evolving as customers continue to embrace new technologies.

Tim Wann, Shrivenham Garage

8

Simple impatience…

How to avoid it: It’s not all about today, so keep a clear vision on where you want to be in a few years from now. Do the right thing by people and your business will grow, even when it feels like everything is going against you. Treat customers fairly. Reputation is everything. And try to get positive feedback as

soon as possible – reviews have made a massive difference to my business. I only wish I had pushed for them sooner.

Rory Anderson, rscarsales.com

9

Ignoring little details

How to avoid it: It sounds obvious, but always read the small print. Also, be very careful what you say, because people will hold you to it, and don’t be afraid to put things in writing. Also make sure to list your ads carefully, and consider signing up to Lawgistics – their monthly newsletter is really helpful for keeping up with changes in the law and learning about relevant cases.

Graham Dudley, Crosby Park Nissan

10

Skimping on car prep

How to avoid it: Remember that you’re dealing with people’s lives. If the brakes fail you’re into a whole world of problems. So get everything independently inspected and MOT’d by a trusted supplier, and keep a record of any work carried out. If anything, it’s better to over-prep your cars.

Matthew Clarke, SuperMini UK

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 25

DASHBOARD. INVESTIGATION

BBC uncovers cloning scam A BBC report has unearthed a series of stolen and cloned cars sold on eBay in the Greater Manchester area.

Retired police officer Graham Murray was one of the victims affected by this scam, losing £17,000 when he found out the car he had purchased was stolen and its details had been swapped with the legitimate car.

Murray bought a Mercedes C-Class in Rochdale and reported the incident to police in January. No action was taken and the offenders have still not been found.

Speaking to the BBC, a Greater Manchester Police spokesperson said: ‘When we receive a report of any incident, we assess the immediate threat, harm and risk to the public and allocate officers and resources accordingly. A decision is made on how to respond. We are currently reviewing the decision made in this case.’

Murray also told the BBC that the seller had asked for cash on collection rather than a secure payment, so when he discovered the car was stolen there was little to no chance of him getting his money back. eBay told the BBC that the accounts in question had been closed down but added: ‘Cash on collection is very unusual and we would ask buyers to always pay via the platform when purchasing.’

RAC

Pothole perils – despite dry winter DESPITE mild and dry winter conditions, the RAC’s familiar orange patrols attended 63 per cent more potholerelated breakdowns in the first quarter of 2017 than they did over the same period in 2016. In total, the RAC dealt with more than 6,500 breakdown jobs between January and March 2017 that were likely to be attributable to poor road surfaces – such as broken suspension springs and damaged shock absorbers.

26 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

Website surprise for Peugeot as buyers spend £30k online Customers are confident enough to configure expensive cars using new site

P

eugeot’s online sales platform has surprised the manufacturer with almost half of customers spending £30,000 on a new 3008 through its website.

The platform, called ‘Order Online

by Peugeot’, was introduced in February and lets customers complete the entire car purchase and partexchange process over the internet.

Peugeot UK MD David Peel said: ‘We predicted at the start that we’d be doing one a day. Our experience over the last two months is that we are doing one or two a day on average.

‘What’s surprised us is that almost half of that volume is 3008s with people transacting online vehicles that are £30,000. It’s not people just buying the cheapest 107 online.

People have got the confidence to configure a very expensive car.

‘We’re also seeing, on average, three or four options being added, whereas in the showroom, people tend to buy standard stock.’

As well as shaking things up online, Peugeot hopes to regain ground in the used car market. It plans to do this via a new scheme that brings second-hand cars back into the dealer network.

‘It’s not good practice to sell cars potentially cheaper outside of your network to compete with your network,’ said Peel. ‘Over the past 12 months, we’ve focused on making sure every dealer understands they have to participate in our used car programme.

‘We’re working on introducing a sort of Peugeot direct programme, where we will advertise our used cars directly in the used car

by TRISTAN SHALE-HESTER @tristan_shale market, branded as a quality vehicle, direct from the manufacturer – with a pledge of quality, additional guarantees and warranties.’

With this plan, Peugeot hopes it can have more of an impact on used car values in the market.

Peel added: ‘The key point is that we will control the marketing of a used car and the price of it.

‘We will pour value into the offer, and we will advertise that car in the marketplace potentially £200 or £300 higher than what the market actually dictates. Every one of those cars will only be available to be sold through the network. If you go on Auto Trader and see a Peugeot direct car, it will say ‘‘available from your local dealer’’.

‘A dealer can buy that car from us and supply it to the customer.’

Peugeot’s biggest recent success has

been the new

been the 3008. The upmarket SUV has won glowing reviews from the press and is on its way to becoming something of a sales titan.

Peel says technology will help supply the right kind of models to the right customers in future.

‘When we’re organising production, we typically look back and think about what we’ve sold over the last six months and just order what we’ve sold,’ said Peel. ‘We’ve never had any true science behind what is true customer demand.

‘Today, our online platform records every single car a customer builds.

‘If a customer went on and configured, for instance, a 2008 in pink with green wheels, but then bought one in silver with black wheels because it was less of a wait, we used to assume silver with black wheels was what they wanted. Now, we know they actually wanted pink with green wheels, so moving forward, that’s what we’ll build.’

HR Owen Cheltenham lists rare Aston Martin Vantage GT8 bit.ly/Owen-111

Firefighters extinguish a Vauxhall Zafira which caught light near a level crossing in south-west London in 2015

Vauxhall rapped for ‘reckless’ approach to customer safety Manufacturer accused of ‘morally reprehensible’ behaviour over Firegate

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auxhall showed a ‘reckless disregard for safety’ by not stopping motorists driving Zafira B vehicles it knew were a fire risk, MPs said.

The manufacturer was too slow to begin a full investigation and then acted prematurely in attributing the problem to improper repairs by third parties, according to a damning report by the House of Commons Transport Select Committee.

Some of the fires were serious enough to destroy entire vehicles.

Campaigners claim more than 300 Zafiras have caught fire in recent years, often leaving their occupants with just a few seconds to escape.

Concerns that there was a distinctive pattern of fires were first raised within Vauxhall in 2014, but it did not begin an investigation until August 2015.

The manufacturer said the fires were caused by unauthorised repair of the thermal fuse in the people carrier’s blower resistor, and

by REBECCA CHAPLIN @believebecca

in December 2015 it recalled 226,000 Zafira B vehicles for an inspection.

But Vauxhall was ‘too quick’ to reach this conclusion, according to the committee, which said it did not identify all the issues that could cause a fire in the heating and ventilation system, such as a faulty blower motor.

In February last year the manufacturer became aware of fires in vehicles after they had been recalled, but it was not until the third week of that month that it informed the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), according to the committee.

A second recall was then announced in May 2016.

The MPs’ report stated: ‘Vauxhall’s decision to continue to let people drive affected cars amounts to a reckless disregard for safety.

This is particularly damning given its admission that it should have notified customers earlier.

‘As soon as it became clear that all the causes of the fires affecting the heating and ventilation system had not been found, Vauxhall should have acted.’

It continued: ‘In the absence of any explanation for its tardy response from the witnesses that appeared before us, we can only conclude that commercial considerations and the need to avoid reputational damage were put ahead of safety. This is unacceptable and morally reprehensible.’

Some 59 fires involving previously recalled vehicles were recorded by February 2017.

The committee also found that the DVSA should have taken action more quickly, and commissioned its own independent tests once recalled vehicles began to catch fire.

Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said it was ‘extraordinary’ that Vauxhall did not act more swiftly in identifying and fixing a ‘design fault’ that put lives at risk.

He went on: ‘The lessons in the committee’s report are not just aimed at Vauxhall, but should be taken to heart by all auto companies who we rely on to provide us with safe, roadworthy vehicles.’

VOLVO

Production of new XC60 starts

PRODUCTION of Volvo Cars’ new XC60 mid-size SUV has started at the company’s Torslanda plant in Sweden.

The new car replaces Volvo’s highly successful original XC60, which in the nine years since its launch became the best-selling premium mid-sized SUV in Europe, with nearly a million units sold globally.

The XC60 today represents around 30 per cent of Volvo’s total global sales.

‘This is a proud day for everyone at the plant,’ said Magnus Nilsson, vice president of the Torslanda facility. ‘We have worked hard in recent weeks and months to prepare Torslanda for this latest new Volvo model, and now we are ready to start delivering new XC60s to customers.’

SMMT STATS

Exports drive manufacturing EXPORTS continued to drive British car manufacturing in March, as demand rose 10.6 per cent in the month, according to figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

A total of 170,691 cars were built in the UK in March, up 7.3 per cent, with overseas buyers ordering over 76 per cent of output.

Overseas demand also helped push overall production to a 17-year high in Q1, to 471,695 units.

Mike Hawes, chief executive of the SMMT, said: ‘UK car manufacturing is accelerating thanks to billions of pounds of investment committed over the past few years. Much of our output goes to Europe and it’s vital we maintain free trade between the UK and EU or we risk destroying this success story.’

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 27

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DASHBOARD.

More needs to be done for those struggling with mental well-being I

n the fast-paced world of business, people can become the last thing that you worry about.

Are they hitting targets and meeting the goals set? If the answer is yes, then the question of whether they’re happy is often forgotten.

I’m not talking about a George Osborne-style questionnaire for the nation to decipher whether we’re happy or not, I’m talking about their mental well-being.

It’s a topic that is still seen as taboo, despite increased ramblings in the media about celebrity sufferers, but because you’re admitting to not ‘being OK’ or ‘coping’ people just don’t want to talk about it.

Who really wants to admit that they’re not happy?

Sometimes parts of your work life bleed over into personal, sometimes it can be the other way round. For me, it is very much the former.

I find certain things keep me up at night, and I’m not just talking about excessive coffee drinking or watching too many crime documentaries (although both of those play a large part in my life). It’s being away from work that sends my head spiralling out of control with every ‘should have’ and ‘could have’ moment. Every interaction that I got a bad feeling about becomes the worst exchange of all time – likely resulting in angry words behind my back – while each email is interpreted with hate and disappointment. I know (hope) most of these things aren’t true, but they feel pretty real at the time.

Add in a large dose of feeling sick to your stomach while also not quite not feeling part of your own body every time one of these thoughts cross your mind and that is anxiety, at least for me.

I’m not saying I’m a broken individual and that I struggle to get through the day, but some people do.

There are plenty of things that can set you off at work when you’re particularly stressed, but as Mental Health Awareness Week took place in May, it got me thinking about how we should be doing more in this industry to support those who are struggling.

While many of you will be one of hundreds working at an organisation, others will be on their own all day unless a customer comes in. Both of these situations can be a recipe for anxiety, stress and depression.

It’s not something we talk about a lot in the motor trade, but around one in 10 adults will suffer from some form of depression. It’s not something I like to

Rebecca

talk about, because you get the concerned looks of people around you who think you’re about to have a breakdown or you’re purely seeking attention, but I’ll admit it helps.

What people ask me immediately most of the time is: ‘Why didn’t you tell me before?’

The team at Ben already do fantastic work to help people suffering from many different mental health issues, but unfortunately it often has to reach a more extreme point before anyone realises that you need this support.

There’s very little that tells you someone is struggling unless they actually tell you, and what can you do unless you know? It’s also a shame that we work in a very maledominated industry and this can make it very difficult for both men and women to talk about things that are potentially becoming huge issues in their lives.

Therefore I have two points. If you’re reading this and

Chaplin ‘Try considering if the THE VIEW FROM BEHIND THE SCENES

people around you are feeling like this.’ thinking you know how I feel – even slightly – then talk to someone so that it doesn’t get worse. I’m lucky, as I have you all to rant to about every gripe and issue in my life. I suspect most of you will also know someone who will just ask why you didn’t mention it earlier and want to help.

And if you’re a business leader, manager or just work in a team, should you be thinking about how to help people more, too? I’m not suggesting we all meet up and talk about our feelings on a regular basis, because something tells me that idea wouldn’t be greeted with much more than sighs in the workplace…

However, some structure to support people whatever their issue may be could not only keep your employees happy but will also have the added bonus of improved workflow, rather than stressed people disappearing both behind computers, in staff rooms or at home behind closed doors.

If you’ve made it this far through my monthly ramble, there’s one more thing that I would ask of you: try considering if the people around you are feeling like this and maybe you’ll spot it so that they don’t have to go through trying to get the words out.

Who is Rebecca Chaplin?

Rebecca is head of news and features at Blackball Media and presents news programmes and features on its online video channel Trade Plates TV. CarDealerMag.co.uk | 29

DASHBOARD.

Farewell to Betty – after 54 years!

Loyal staff member has ‘enjoyed every moment’

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he’s seen it all – new people, changes of ownership, renovations and industry changes – but Betty Williams is calling time on her 54year automotive career at the same Southampton dealership.

Betty, 72, who works for Picador plc, started out at the age of 18 working on the switchboard at the then petrol station in Portsmouth Road, Sholing – now known as Picador Vauxhall.

During her half-century career, Betty has predominantly worked in sales and purchase ledger but has helped out elsewhere when required.

She said: ‘I’ve made lifelong friends, met some fantastic people and truly enjoyed every moment. Working for more than 50 years, you get to see and do a lot but I’ve always been happy to

learn new skills. I’m sad to leave but I know the business is in good hands.’

On her retirement, Graham Jacobs, Picador plc CEO, said: ‘I’ve known Betty all my life.

‘She’s seen me grow up and it’s been a pleasure to work with her.

‘I would like to take this opportunity to thank her for her service at Picador. We all wish her well in her retirement.’

Betty has no plans to slow down with several trips already organised.

A keen Elvis fan, Betty is heading to Memphis and Nashville and has trips across Europe planned.

Picador Vauxhall is part of Picador plc which represents Vauxhall, Renault and Dacia at locations such as Southampton, Chandlers Ford and Winchester.

Pictured saying farewell to Betty are, from left, Picador plc managing director Sir Robert Oakeley, finance director Neal Cruse and CEO Graham Jacobs

www.desperateseller.co.uk | www.facebook.com/desperateseller.co.uk | twitter.com/despseller

30 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

Ask Auto Trader

Do you have a question, or a suggestion for next month’s topic?

I’d love to hear from you: marc.thornborough@autotrader.co.uk

The shifting dealer mind set Very few dealers would argue that today’s market is a tough one. Not only is our industry fast evolving, but broad external factors such as Brexit and changes to VED are resulting in an increasingly complex and competitive environment. Despite these challenging conditions however, many dealers are thriving.

As part of our commitment to providing our customers with the best tools and insight to help them manage these challenges, we undertook an in-depth independent study to look at what connects these successful businesses.

We wanted to see what these very top performers – those that are selling more cars, more quickly and making more profit - are doing that their least successful counterparts aren’t.

What did you find out?

The research found that the biggest difference between the most successful and least successful was a mind-set. In a broad sense, the best performers all shared a ‘pioneering mind-set’; they’re embracing the changes within the market and optimistically view them as an opportunity to evolve. They typically take a more entrepreneurial and flexible approach to their business, open to new views and practises from outside the automotive retail sector. Essentially, the study found the most successful are committed to revolutionising their business to meet the challenges of our ever changing industry.

This contrasts with the more ‘traditional dealer mind-set’ which generally considers change as a bad thing. Our research found that the less successful are falling into this group; those that fail to adapt and often look longingly back to the ‘good old days’ rather than eagerly to the future.

Is that all that separated the two: a mindset?

Before you think that all you need to do to be more successful is to be optimistic and pioneering, I’m afraid our research showed there was a lot more to it than that. The varying mind-sets determine how the dealers approach their respective businesses, resulting in either a virtuous or

vicious circle. With this mind-set, the best performers concentrated on three main areas: focus on the customer, empowering colleagues and embracing digital.

What are the practical steps that I can take?

We’ve developed a whitepaper that explores each of these themes in detail with a specific focus on the steps the best performing dealers have taken to succeed in today’s evolving market. You can download it here: trade.autotrader.co.uk/ successful-retailers However, the way the most successful approach digital compared to their less successful counterparts is a good example of how these different mindsets can impact your business; and the insight you can expect from the whitepaper. We found that the top performers place great importance on digital marketing, recruiting specialists with the right expertise and skills who can analyse data to measure success and inform strategies. Although the majority of retailers told us they were using data to inform their marketing decisions, the less successful were struggling to extract what they needed from it and were more reliant on customer feedback. This limits them to a ‘vicious circle’ which sees them invest/commit less to marketing, and as a result don’t see the benefits or rewards.

Digital adoption arguably provides the greatest ROI – small steps that can produce huge results Of all of the changes a dealer can make, digital adoption arguably provides the greatest ROI – small steps that can produce huge results and provide a complete virtuous circle. As with most

other industries, today’s most successful businesses employ various types of data to guide decision making. Data management is a vital tool that doesn’t replace dealer experience, but enhances it to improve business efficiencies, determine which stock to buy and sell according to local desirability, and to set prices based on the live retail market. In fact, four times as many better performing dealers are reliant on data to set prices and manage their stock. The reason why is simple; it gets results.

Three times as many less successful dealers struggle to find competitively priced cars than their counterparts.

What can I learn from all this?

Well, ultimately, success requires a commitment to change. There is no question that without it dealers will be left behind. Whilst change is rarely easy, and large investment is often not an option, there are steps that all dealers can take. At Auto Trader we talk about the power of marginal gains incremental improvements across your operation that soon mount up to produce real, tangible benefits to your bottom line. However, these are only truly effective if they are part of a wider ambition to adapt your business. Today’s market is a challenging but buoyant one, and many dealers that are yet to embrace digital are surviving. But when the market does change, only the pioneers will succeed.

To read the findings in full, download the whitepaper here: https://trade.autotrader.co.uk/ successful-retailers

For the latest news, views and insight for the automotive retail community, follow @ATInsight on Twitter and LinkedIn CarDealerMag.co.uk | 31

DASHBOARD.

Dealer news from somewhere other than here

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

THE world’s largest Lamborghini dealership has opened in Dubai. With a total floorspace of 1,800 square metres over three floors, the new premises reflect the need for increased space as Lamborghini expands its model line-up and plans to double sales with the launch of its new SUV by 2018. The Dubai showroom is one of 12 Lamborghini sales points in the Middle East and Africa.

AMERICA

AT least five cars were stolen from a Hyundai dealership in the city of Delray Beach, Florida, recently. The thieves cut off power to the building to disable the alarm system, before ransacking the premises taking cash, laptops and keys. They then stole the cars.

‘They hit the lot quick, they created damage and then they were gone,’ said joint owner Jim O’Neill. It was the second break-in at the premises in five months.

SOUTH AFRICA

POLICE have seized 11 vehicles from a rogue dealership in Johannesburg. The cars being offered for sale, including Hyundais and VW Golfs, were believed to have been stolen – even possibly hijacked. Police said local car buyers should make sure that any dealer they deal with has an official second-hand goods certificate at their business premises.

“ Kay looks after calls when our team is busy. The result?

More sales, outstanding service levels.”

Moneypenny client since 2015

Moneypenny will support your existing team by looking after overflow calls, or by providing a fully outsourced switchboard facility.

moneypenny.co.uk 0333 202 1005

OUTSOURCED SWITCHBOARD

32 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

DIGITAL SWITCHBOARD

SPECIALIST TEAMS

INDIA

CHINA

IT’S the world’s largest automotive market – but one in which the PSA Group is struggling to make progress – or even maintain its position.

The number of cars delivered by the French manufacturer of Peugeot, Citroen and DS cars in China and south-east Asia was down by a hefty 46 per cent in the first quarter of 2017.

Chief financial officer Jean-Baptiste de Chatillon told the Bloomberg website: ‘Sales and marketing skills are the main issue’ and added that the company needs to ‘reconstruct relationships with dealers’.

KIA Motors is planning to build a factory in the southern Anantapur district. Construction of the new facility, Kia Motors’ first in India and representing an investment of around £850 million, will start towards the end of the year. Production will begin in the second half of 2019. Han-Woo Park, president of Kia Motors, said: ‘This is our latest step towards becoming a leading global car manufacturer.’

Kay, Moneypenny Receptionist.

Around the world

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 33

FINANCE.

Auto Trader launches clever new finance calculator AUTO TRADER has enhanced its trade adverts with the introduction of a finance calculator, helping dealers attract and appeal to a bigger finance audience than ever before. The service, which is free to existing customers until early 2018, gives dealers the option to show a monthly price and finance calculator in their adverts, powered by their own choice of lenders and interest rates.

The new service has been developed to help dealers better compete with specialist finance providers, banks and price comparison sites by offering consumers greater convenience and transparency. It also gives dealers the opportunity to embed discussions on finance earlier in the car-buying process. Potential buyers can choose their ideal deposit, term (in months)

and mileage to establish their preferred finance package and then send their finance inquiry directly to the dealer. It’s designed to be quick, simple and transparent.

The new features were developed in partnership with Codeweavers, a leading technology provider specialising in motor finance quotes and calculations. The launch follows extensive testing, during which 850 customers tried out the service, creating 50,000 adverts with

finance, resulting in 37 million advert views and two million calculator interactions.

Paul Harrison, left, head of motor finance at Auto Trader, said: ‘Finance has become one of our industry’s biggest performance drivers, yet too many dealers are missing out on the opportunity to promote their available offers early in the buying process when consumers are making their key decisions. That’s why we created this new functionality.’

Shaun Harris, sales director at Codeweavers, added: ‘We are delighted to have partnered with Auto Trader and we share their vision of helping dealers improve their finance performance and giving consumers transparent information about finance.’

Does a divorce make car buyers better at haggling?

‘The older you get, the more likely you are to negotiate a discount’

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ivorcees and older people saving than single, co-habiting and are probably the most married people, while generally the successful when it comes to older you get, the more likely you are haggling on used car prices, to negotiate a discount. according to research from iVendi.

The research indicates that as The analysis of 12,500 used car average income increases, the sale transactions by the UK leader in online price of the car increases, yet the motor finance technology gives what is percentage savings obtained through believed to be the most comprehensive haggling decreases. Retirees with picture of ‘the haggler’ ever seen. lowest incomes appear to be haggling It shows that 22 per cent of people the biggest savings. haggle on the used car price overall However, hagglers only tend to want and are most often angling for a saving to haggle on the screen price. The of between £300 and £400. difference in APR on motor finance Overall, hagglers tend to buy more paid by hagglers and non-hagglers is expensive cars than non-hagglers. only marginally different.

Among those buyers who haggle, James Tew, CEO at iVendi, said: Car Dealer Advert Horizontal 2.pdf 2 01/03/2017 13:37:03 divorcees achieve a higher percentage ‘This paints a really fascinating picture C

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about ‘‘the haggler’’ – who they are, what they want and what they are achieving. It is especially interesting that older people appear to be getting the best results.

‘Perhaps they have simply had more practice than younger people at buying cars and, as such, have become better at making deals.

‘The findings about divorcees are more difficult to explain but, again, perhaps the process of divorce has simply made them more confident about negotiating. All of this information has been produced by our recently created data and insight department and we plan to issue more research from this source soon.’

SURVEY

Brokers see alternative prospects A NEW survey of leading UK brokers has revealed an increasing preference for alternative-fuel vehicles.

Asked by Paragon Car Finance what impact recent calls for action on diesel vehicles would have on the market in 2017, 29 per cent of the UK’s top 30 vehicle finance brokers stated they expected a fall in sales. This compared with just 10 per cent who expected sales to increase. Nineteen per cent of respondents also stated they expected to see a decline in sales of petrol engine vehicles, compared with 29 per cent who expected sales to grow.

Sales of electric and hybrid vehicles are expected to increase – 77 per cent of respondents reckon sales of electric vehicles will grow in 2017, and a resounding 81 per cent foresee hybrid vehicles increasing market share.

Over the longer term the results are even more stark. Asked how the market would look in five years’ time, 52 per cent of respondents expect decreased sales of diesel engine vehicles, with a further 29 per cent expecting sales to decrease significantly. Of those surveyed, 52 per cent expect decreased sales of petrol vehicles. Over the same period, 91 per cent of those surveyed expect electric vehicle sales to rise and 62 per cent expect significant growth.

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

What a year it’s been – awards, exhibitions and our first radio ad!

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ometimes it’s great to take time out, sit back and reflect on what has happened over a sixmonth period, a year or an even longer spell.

I really enjoy doing that, and I don’t just think about my job and the company I work for, I also look at my personal circumstances.

Obviously, life can throw some really unpredictable events or major challenges at you, but at times things can be a lot less eventful, and at the end of a year you might even look back and say it’s been a bit of a boring one!

Thinking back over the past 12 months, I’ve had a really enjoyable time at First Response, as it’s been non-stop.

We’ve implemented and developed so much and worked hard to do lots of exciting new things in an ever-changing

‘My department had its first stand at an exhibition – CDX16’ environment. For a creative person like me, this has been brilliant. Hopefully, quite a lot of you will have seen some of these changes that have resulted from the work we have been doing. I hope that you will have benefited from a few of them. Let’s put things into perspective: Twelve months ago, our online dealer portal was nothing more than a place that dealers could log in to and send an application over to us via.

Since then, we’ve had some great developments and we also have a whole host of others in the pipeline.

These have included some great things such as instant acceptances with credit limits. This is obviously something our prime competitors have been doing for a while, but for us and our market this is a great improvement!

We’ve added things like live updates on applications, the

Ben

Garside TIME IS MONEY

ability to upload documents and many other great things.

Our products and tiers have also had a revamp, removing fees completely and spreading our range of APRs from 9.9 per cent up to 54.9 per cent.

All these are based on customers’ profiles and mean we can help more people than ever.

My department had its first stand at an exhibition.

CDX16, organised by the Car Dealer team, was a great success for all involved and I am happy to say we’re at CDX17 too, which might actually have taken place by the time you read this.

We have just produced our first radio advert as well. This is another thing we had never thought about before in my 12 years working for this business.

As a company, there have been some great achievements

Turn over page for more finance stories too. Last year Car Dealer readers voted us the number one lender in the sub-prime category yet again at the Car Dealer Power Awards, which shows all the great work the operational teams have been doing to improve efficiencies and processes. We were also ranked the UK’s ninth best company to work for by the Sunday Times – the second consecutive year we have been in the top 10. These accolades shape our services and make us who we are.

Would I encourage you to engage in a few moments’ reflection? Yes! It’s still early enough in the financial year to think about last year’s performance, so please do consider what you’ve done and plan to move forward.

If you haven’t used us in a while, or if you haven’t had any dealings with us at all, come and have a chat at CDX17 at Silverstone on May 23 – we’re on stand 103. If you’re reading this after the event, call me on the number below.

Who is Ben Garside?

Ben is marketing manager for First Response Finance. Call him on 07817 518739 or email ben.garside@frfl.co.uk

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 35

DEALFINDER.

FINANCE. YOUR ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO . . .

LUXURY SALOONS MERCEDES-BENZ S-CLASS MERCEDES-BENZ dealers can offer the S-Class 350 d in AMG Line trim and with an extended wheelbase for £579 per month on a 36-month contract following a customer deposit of £10,999.

There is also a deposit contribution of £12,142 available to customers if they require it.

After paying the deposit, customers contribute 36 monthly payments of £579 towards the price, which at the end of the three years will have reached £31,843. If they decide to keep the vehicle following the end of the agreement, the customer will need to pay £29,650 – this makes the total paid amount £61,493. The overall contract cost is £12,142 less than the OTR price – exactly the same amount as the retailer contribution. This agreement is based on 10,000 miles per annum, with zero per cent representative APR and zero per cent fixed interest.

PORSCHE PANAMERA COMBINING performance and comfort, the Porsche Panamera is at the sportier end of luxury saloons. Available on a 36-month finance agreement, the Panamera 4 in Executive specification is on offer for £821.41 per month on a 10,000-miles-per-annum limit.

Fitted with four-wheel drive, a six-cylinder engine producing 330bhp and a 0-60mph time of 5.4 seconds, the Panamera 4 Executive is no slouch and has plenty of creature comforts.

Following a deposit of £16,500, the customer pays 35 instalments of £821.41 and by the end of the agreement will have paid £45,249.35. If they choose to hold on to their Panamera, the customer needs to pay the £10 option-to-purchase fee followed by the optional final payment of £42,386.15, making the total amount paid £87,645.50.

This is £9,244.50 above the on-the-road price.

BCA’s new service for part-exchanges will aid profitability ‘Unique stock-management solution for the market’ on offer

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CA Partner Finance is launching a new

by DAVE BROWN service for part-exchange vehicles. It @CarDealerDave will provide dealers with additional working capital and boost cashflow and profitability. customer is still on site. It creates a unique stockThe service is delivered through BCA’s Dealer management solution for the market.

Pro platform, which allows dealers to appraise a ‘The Dealer Pro platform enables dealers to vehicle and be automatically provided with the monitor stock levels, refresh valuations and BCA MarketPrice, a real-time view of the trade decide which vehicles to remarket through BCA.’ price, before applying for funding.

BCA Partner Finance helps dealers secure Malcolm Thompson, managing director of BCA funding to allow them to expand their retail Partner Finance, said: ‘A lot of work has gone into operations. It was the first finance product to making this service as easy as possible for the user. launch that was specifically designed for the UK ‘Now, with a single application, a dealer can remarketing sector. appraise a vehicle, receive the BCA MarketPrice It has grown to support more than 1,300 and secure Car funding for the vehicle while the dealers, who can buy vehicles from physical and Dealer Advert Horizontal 1.pdf 1 01/03/2017 13:36:04 C

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online auctions and have 120 days’ finance to prepare and market the vehicle before payment is due, freeing up capital and improving cash flow.

The expansion of BCA Partner Finance to fund part-exchanges gives dealers flexibility on stocking decisions and sales strategies.

Colin Bacon, managing director at Junction 17 Cars of Peterborough, said: ‘BCA Partner Finance gives us the freedom to compete on a level playing field with the bigger national groups when it comes to buying power.

‘We specialise in affordable prestige, sports cars and convertibles, and with Partner Finance funding 100 per cent of the purchase price, we can focus on acquiring the right vehicles for our customers and generating profit opportunities.’

Car Dealer Advert Column.pdf 3 04/01/2017 10:42:23

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

AUDI A8 FITTED with a lot of great standard equipment, the Audi A8 is a great alternative for those looking for a premium saloon. Audi Centres are able to offer the A8 in SE Executive trim for £559 per month on a fouryear agreement, with a customer deposit of £8,947.92. Audi dealers also provide a £14,900 deposit contribution.

For the remaining 47 months of the contract, customers pay instalments of £559 – totalling £26,273 by the end of the agreement.

With the deposit on top of that, the client will have paid £35,220.92 over the four-year period, and if they choose to keep their A8 an optional final payment of £16,903.85 is required.

This will mean a total amount of £52,124.77, which is £14,900 less than the OTR price – the same amount as Audi’s deposit contribution.

The contract runs on a 10,000 miles-per-annum agreement, with a 1.85 per cent fixed rate of interest and 1.9 per cent representative APR.

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LATEST TOOL

FLA

HPI drives peace of mind for diesel car owners with free future valuations

More new car finance business done in March

HPI is offering diesel users free peace of mind with its latest online valuations tool.

It will now display future figures for vehicle valuations completed online at hpivaluations. com, making it easier than ever before to track the future value of any vehicle and dispel any fears over depreciating diesel values. The service is freely available for a limited time to help calm the fears of diesel vehicle owners. For cars under five years old, future valuations up to five years in the future are provided.

Fernando Garcia, consumer director at HPI, said: ‘We are offering the free-to-use future valuations service in direct response to increasing negativity and bad publicity surrounding diesel vehicles and usage.

‘This is the first time vehicle buyers and sellers have been presented with free future vehicle values, and although this is undoubtedly of great interest to all drivers looking to sell or buy their vehicles, it is particularly useful to owners of diesel vehicles who may be worried about what the future holds for their vehicle’s value.’

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LATEST figures from the Finance and Leasing Association show that new business in the point-of-sale (POS) consumer new car finance market grew 13 per cent by value and five per cent by volume in March, compared with the same month in 2016. In the first quarter of 2017, new business was up 10 per cent by value and three per cent by volume, compared with the same three months in 2016.

The percentage of private new car sales financed by FLA members through POS was 86.5 per cent in the 12 months to March, unchanged compared with the same period to February.

The POS consumer used car finance market also reported new business growth in March of 17 per cent by value and 11 per cent by volume, while in Q1 overall, new business was up 12 per cent by value and six per cent by volume.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 37

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BIG MIKE.

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

Deal that really took the biscuit – and even drove me to drink!

I

’ve often likened being a used car dealer to running a dating agency. You exist to bring pairings together, to find the correct target for each suitor, and hope that the outcome is a perfect match.

So, when I had a customer wander on to my lot last week asking if I had a Volvo estate that he could part-ex his Nissan Note against, I committed to finding him one.

I love a Volvo wagon, and I normally carry one or two in stock, but on this occasion I didn’t have one available.

I had a good look over the Note, gave it the all-clear for the front cross-member corrosion that, in all fairness, is one of the few things that goes wrong with them, and suggested a sensible PX value of £1,350 to the customer, against £3k’s worth of Volvo.

‘Give me a week,’ I said.

It turned out that a week was more than ample, for moments after the Nissan owner had left, a 2006 V70 estate pulled onto my forecourt, in a rather plush SE spec and finished in a conservative but smart metallic blue.

The owner was looking for a car that was smaller, less expensive and would ideally generate a bit of cash his way, but still be practical enough to accommodate the pushchair on the weekends he had his grandchildren over to stay.

You can see where I was going with this one…

Moments later, a familiar-looking silver Nissan came driving back the other way, and the owner obviously clocked the smart blue Volvo parked at the kerbside, because he slowed down and rolled down the window.

‘That’s not yours is it?’ he asked.

‘I’m working on it,’ I replied, at which point the Nissan owner parked up and started to sniff around the V70, starting at the opposite end of the car to me, where I was mentally valuing it.

It came out, in my head, at £2,150 – if I then gave £1,350 for the Nissan, I’d make up the £800 shortfall by selling the Volvo for £2,950 – fifty quid under Nissan man’s budget cap. Sell Volvo man the Nissan with a smaller mark-up and I’d be quids-in.

I went over to the Volvo owner, who was taking full advantage of my free-to-vend coffee machine and plate of custard creams, the latter of which were originally destined to be my lunch. He seemed interested in my offer, and asked if he could ‘go away for five minutes and think about it’. That’s a phrase we’ve all heard before, and it normally means

Big Mike OUR MAN ON THE INSIDE SPILLS THE BEANS ON THE CAR BUSINESS...

one of two things – either the punter is going away for more than five minutes and is never coming back, or he’s doing exactly what the phrase says on the tin.

The next few moments, then, were critical. If he got in the Volvo and drove off, it was game over. If he didn’t, we could be about to deal. The Volvo didn’t move.

There was nothing else I could do, then, but retire to my Portakabin with a coffee and my one remaining custard cream while Mr Volvo mulled it over.

Volvo people are often very analytical, or occasionally a word containing just the first four letters of that adjective, so I gave him double his five minutes (three games of Candy Crush Saga) before I wandered back out.

What I witnessed on doing so was a scenario I’d never seen before. A cash transaction was taking place on my lot, V5 documents were being signed and not a penny was coming in my direction.

‘I shouldn’t really have allowed the two of them to meet’ It turns out that whilst I was munching away at what would ultimately become the most expensive custard cream I’d ever eaten (at least a grand, if profit from both the cars was accounted for), Mr Volvo and Mr Nissan had got talking. They’d reached the same conclusion as me, and were merrily going about concluding their transaction by cutting out the middle man.

Now, I’ll chalk that one up to experience. I shouldn’t really have allowed the two of them to meet because, in doing so, I indirectly brokered the deal.

But now I fully understand why some cafes and restaurants have signs up saying that people who bring in their own food will be asked to leave.

The sale of food, obviously, is clearly their sole purpose.

And mine is the sale of cars.

I was so irritated by this exchange, not least because that Volvo was a cracking motor, that I shut up shop early and walked home via the pub.

And tempted as I was to swing by the off-licence and fill my jacket pockets with tinnies to take in with me, I didn’t go in there with my own beer…

Who is Big Mike?

Well, that would be telling. What we do know is he’s had more than 40 years in the car trade and picked up some incredible tales along the way.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 39

FORECOURT. Lucas Casasnovas, Seat’s director of product marketing, discusses the attractions of the brand’s latest supermini What does the new Ibiza mean for Seat?

For us, it’s one of our sales spinners of course, but it is also our international ambassador for the brand, so Ibiza is, I would say, the icon of Seat and is also the model with which we started the kind of modern era of Seat, so here is where we have our DNA, basically. Also with the Ibiza, we achieve this to get the young customers into the brand and then they will keep loyal to our brand with Leon and then with Ateca, but Ibiza is the entry level for our brand.

Who are your target customers?

Basically you have young people. Of course, older people are also buying the Ibiza, but basically you would have to define our customer as young, 25 to 30 years old, male and with a sporty feeling inside. FR is our sport version.

What do you think will draw people to the Ibiza as opposed to some of its rivals?

The buyers in this segment are pretty old, but we have very young customers, on average 10 years

younger than the average of the market. What they look for is design, a very beautiful design but also sporty, dynamic, and this sporty dynamic design also has to have feeling when they drive.

So we offer a sporty feeling on the drive and then, since they are much younger than the average driver, the cars are full of technology. We prioritise technology over comfort or decoration or whatever. So fewer chromes, for example.

Volkswagen is elegance-orientated, while we are more sporty and young-orientated.

Spacious

The Ibiza has impressive interior space and a class-leading boot.

Seat Ibiza Simon Davis headed to sunny Spain to take Seat’s new B-segment contender out for What’s new?

As the Spanish manufacturer’s best-selling car of all time – with more than 5.4 million examples shifted worldwide – the latest version of the Ibiza is an incredibly important car for Seat. Plenty of new tech has made its way on to the supermini – which is now being offered solely as a five-door.

It’s the first vehicle in the wider Volkswagen Group to make use of the new MQB A0 platform, and the B-segment car not only benefits from greater space in the cabin, there is also a host of new toys normally only found in more premium cars – such as wireless phone charging.

What’s under the bonnet?

At launch, Seat will offer the Ibiza with a choice of 40 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

three petrol engines, with varying power ouputs.

The entry-level motor is a 1.0-litre MPI unit that develops 74bhp, while a 1.0-litre TSI is also available with either 94bhp or 113bhp.

Our test car was fitted with the range-topping 1.5-litre Evo engine, which produces a considerable 148bhp. This smooth and refined power plant can get the Ibiza up to speed with little fuss. Seat will also introduce a 1.6-litre diesel engine at a later date.

What’s the spec like?

Seat will offer the new Ibiza in five different trim levels in the UK – S, SE, SE Technology, FR and

XCellence. Prices for the latest version of the supermini start at £13,130 and rise to £17,310 for the top-spec XCellence models. That said, prices are yet to be announced for the sporty FR models with the powerful 1.5-litre engine that we tested.

Seat is predicting that the midrange SE Technology trim level will be the most popular in the line-up.

Prices for this model start at £14,660 for the 74bhp 1.0-litre MPI engine.

At this trim level, some of the standard features buyers will receive include the new eight-inch touchscreen infotainment system, satellite navigation, automatic headlights and 15-inch alloy wheels.

THE KNOWLEDGE

Why did the Volkswagen Group decide to use the Ibiza to debut the new MQB platform?

When you have a new MQB, there’s always one brand that decides to be the first one, and for the MQBA the platform for the Golf and the Leon and the A3, Audi took a technological step forward and said it wanted to be the first one to use the platform. In the case of MQB A0 we have young customers who are full of technology. We want to be the first ones there and in the car you

Model: Seat Ibiza FR

1.5 EVO 150 Base price: £13,130 Engine tested: 1.5 Evo 150 Power (bhp): 148

will feel this sportiness and also this champion technology compared with the previous one. We wanted to be the first and Volkswagen said OK it fits so do it.

... and that’s pretty much all we know! The car’s torque, maximum speed, 0-60 time, mpg and emissions have yet to be revealed.

When can we expect to see an Ibiza Cupra?

I can’t give out official information, but if we are targeting young customers we know that it would be very welcome but I can’t confirm it or say when.

TARGET BUYERS: Young drivers and families after a practical car.

Looks

THE RIVALS: Ford Fiesta, Hyundai i20, Citroen C3.

Styling is as sharp as you’d expect from the Spanish brand.

KEY SELLING POINTS: 1. Solid VW Group build quality.

2. Eye-catching looks.

3. Economical engines.

Engine

Its engine is smooth and refined, while the manual gearbox is slick.

DEAL CLINCHER: Sharp styling, excellent build quality and relatively affordable pricing will make the new Seat Ibiza a serious contender in the supermini market.

‘We prioritise technology over comfort or decoration.’

a spin – so what did he think of it?

What’s it like to drive?

There’s no denying that the new Ibiza is a capable little car, but it doesn’t exactly ooze character.

That said, its on-road manners were impressive.

The steering set-up, while light and rather lacking in feedback, was responsive and allowed you to point the car where you wanted it to go with little fuss. Through the tighter bends that were a common feature of our Spanish test route, the Ibiza felt planted and composed, with only a small amount of body roll.

While the Ibiza’s light controls meant that it was easy to manoeuvre at low speed, its small wing mirrors and narrow rear window meant that visibility wasn’t as good as you might expect from a car that has been designed to spend most

of its time pottering around busy urban centres.

On the motorway, the Ibiza didn’t feel nervous or skittish, and the 1.5-litre engine was refined and more than capable of getting the supermini up to speed in a timely fashion. That said, wind noise was noticeable at cruising speeds, and the larger 17-inch alloys caused a fair amount of tyre roar.

What do the press think?

Auto Express said: ‘The new Ibiza sets a new benchmark in the supermini sector.

Its refinement, space, quality and kit will be talking points, while its sense of style stands out among some pretty dull rivals.’ Autocar said: ‘If

you favour a regular small hatchback, the new Ibiza is a very good one that’s fun to drive, nicely finished and has all the toys.’

What do we think?

With the new Ibiza, Seat has produced an incredibly capable little B-segment car. It’s stylish, practical and very well mannered on the road – even if it doesn’t inspire the same sense of fun as some rivals in this segment do. It’s not without fault, however, with a dull cabin and awkward seat position (at least in our case) causing the Ibiza to lose a few marks. Orders for the new Ibiza are open about now, while deliveries begin in July.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 41

FORECOURT. Darren Cassey chatted with Kiyoshi Shimizu, chief engineer and development leader for Honda Clarity With so few manufacturers committing to hydrogen so heavily, why do you feel so confident of its future?

We believe that hydrogen will be the nextgeneration energy carrier as it can be generated from various energy sources and can be transported and stored.

The additional benefit that FCVs offer over electric vehicles is that FCVs provide a longer driving range compared to electric vehicles and

can be charged/filled as quickly as a standard car, which provides further convenience to the end customer.

If we use natural energy sources such as sun, wind or water power to generate hydrogen, we can realise a truly zeroemission mobility solution.

FCVs deliver zero-emissions driving and Honda sees FCVs as the ultimate environmental mobility technology. And for an owner, the

experience is very much the same as what they’re used to.

What steps are you taking to build hydrogen infrastructure, which is severely lacking at this point?

Honda is a member of the HyFIVE project, a consortium of car manufacturers and hydrogen station providers set up

Safety

Extra reinforcement has been put in place to ensure the storage tanks are never in danger.

Power unit

By fitting the fuel cell stack and drive unit under the bonnet, Honda has freed up cabin space.

Honda Clarity FCV Darren took the car for a spin, and here are his impressions. You’ll need this info some What’s new?

This is Honda’s updated, hydrogen-powered Clarity model. The Japanese manufacturer is expanding the range to include fully electric, plug-in hybrid and hydrogen variants, making it the first model to offer all three on one platform.

Hydrogen-powered Claritys have been around for a few years, but now there’s a new and improved version, which we’ve been driving.

Honda’s engineers have managed to reduce the size of the fuel cell stack and electric drive unit – equivalent to the engine and transmission in a conventional car – without losing any performance, meaning it can now fit under the bonnet. It used to sit beneath the cabin, and the new set-up means there is much more space 42 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

for passengers. You can’t actually buy one of these cars right now, although Honda is currently running a very small fleet in the UK. A limited number of long-term Honda customers have been given the chance to apply to run one, but the plan is to offer it in all showrooms after development testing ends in 2022.

What’s under the bonnet?

This is where the Clarity Fuel Cell gets really interesting. Uniquely for a hydrogen-powered car, the full powertrain sits under the bonnet of the Clarity. The fuel cell stack and drive unit are packaged together in a set-up that’s slightly smaller than the company’s

3.5-litre petrol V6 engine. Hydrogen and air are fed to the unit, with the fuel cells generating electricity. A voltage control system then boosts the voltage and provides the drive unit with electricity. There are lithium-ion batteries beneath the cabin that also store electricity and provide it to the drive unit to boost performance under acceleration. The result is 174bhp and 300Nm of torque. It’s not fast by any means, but in normal driving it’s more than adequate.

What’s the spec like?

You can’t buy one and it’s impossible to say what the price might be for a car we probably

THE KNOWLEDGE

What has been the biggest hurdle you’ve had to overcome while developing a hydrogen car?

Apart from the vehicle itself, the biggest hurdle has been to keep the cost down and the weight down.

to improve the availability and accessibility of hydrogen filling stations.

Additionally, Honda is a member of the H2ME2 project, which has similar aims as the HyFIVE project.

Demonstrations of the vehicle will also help to bolster Honda’s own infrastructure, ensuring that skills of Honda dealers are updated to prepare for the introduction of fuel cells.

Once you have EV, PHEV and fuel-cell Claritys, what do you foresee the sales split being?

The PHEV and EV cars have only just been launched at the New York Auto Show – we are not publicly sharing sales forecasts on this yet.

Refuelling

One of the benefits of hydrogen over pure EVs is that refuelling takes about the same time as filling up a petrol or diesel tank.

Model: Honda Clarity FCV Base price: To be announced Engine tested: Fuel cell stack

with electric drive unit Power (bhp): 174 Torque (Nm): 300 Max speed (mph): 103 0-60mph: Not available MPG: Not applicable Emissions (g/km of CO2): 0 TARGET BUYERS: Young drivers and families after a practical family car.

THE RIVALS: Toyota Mirai, Hyundai ix35 Fuel Cell.

KEY SELLING POINTS: 1. Very exclusive ownership pool.

2. Zero emissions and low fuel costs.

3. Near-silent driving with less range anxiety than pure EVs. DEAL CLINCHER: Quiet refinement of an executive saloon with low running costs and zero emissions.

‘FCVs provide a longer driving range compared to electric vehicles.’

time in the early 2020s . . !

won’t see on sale until the mid-2020s. However, compared to similar vehicles in this segment, the Clarity holds its own materials-wise.

The one bugbear we desperately hope Honda has improved by the time the Clarity goes on sale is the slow and illogical infotainment system.

What’s it like to drive?

The best compliment you can pay the Clarity Fuel Cell is that it drives just like any other electric car. Because it runs on electricity it’s mostly silent, save for some whirring on deceleration as regenerative braking kicks in to refill the batteries.

(A Honda employee told us that removing the loud whirring and whistling was a top priority.)

Out on the road it’s perfectly happy bumbling

along and never feels lacking in puff should a motorway overtake be required. It is also slightly more responsive than fully electric vehicles when accelerating on the move, thanks to the fuel cell / battery combination.

What do the press think?

Auto Express said: ‘It’s tough to judge the Honda Clarity – while it feels like a remarkable piece of engineering that delivers cuttingedge fuel-cell tech in a simple-to-use manner, it has also been created without much care for price or profit. It feels every bit as ready for public consumption as any of the pureelectric cars currently on sale.’

What do we think?

Honda’s biggest hurdle with its push for hydrogen-powered transport is infrastructure.

Currently in the UK there are only a handful of suitable filling stations, but if the initiatives Honda and other manufacturers are working on prove successful, that number will grow.

As for the car? Well, the perhaps underwhelming verdict from behind the wheel is that the future drives a lot like the past. However, the silence of electrification is always welcome, while the low running costs and undeniable green credentials will also appeal.

The future of the car is promising.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 43

FORECOURT. THE KNOWLEDGE

Patrick Müller, the head of sub-line electrification for BMW Compact Class cars and Mini, discusses a first for the company

Model: Mini Cooper S E

Countryman ALL4 Base price: £31,585 (excl grant) Engine tested: Three-cylinder

petrol with electric motor Power (bhp): 220 Torque (Nm): 385 Max speed (mph): 123 0-60mph: 6.5 seconds MPG (combined): 134.5 Emissions (g/km): 52

How important was it to get electrification into a mainstream Mini car?

We see electrification as the future – and that applies to all of our cars. It’s a real milestone because it’s the first time that we’ve added electric technology to a mass-produced Mini car.

Were there any particular problems with getting this car into production?

TARGET BUYERS: Those who want all the looks and charm of a Mini but with lower emissions and better economy.

THE RIVALS: Lexus NX300h, Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, BMW i3 REx. KEY SELLING POINTS: 1. Excellent economy.

2. Surprisingly involving drive.

3. Good fit and finish levels.

DEAL CLINCHER: It’s a competitively priced hybrid, and one worth considering if you’re after lower running costs in a good-looking package.

Surprisingly, not really. It actually went extremely smoothly because we have a modular system and based the car on well-known components that are well developed and well proven, too. It was a fairly easy project really.

Could you see an electric Mini’s power output being uprated in the future?

I think the car shows potential for future electrified products but volume is still somewhat

Hybrid

Usable all-electric range or a combination of electric and petrol is available for different situations.

Mini Cooper S E Countryman ALL4

‘The car shows potential for future electrified products.’

Handling

The fun of a Mini hasn’t been lost in this bigger version.

Jack Evans charges around in Mini’s hybrid – parent company BMW’s new baby that What’s new?

With diesel vehicles very much hitting the headlines at the moment – for all the wrong reasons – it’s understandable that manufacturers are bringing more alternatively fuelled options to market. Here’s Mini’s offering – the Cooper S E Countryman ALL4. Powered by a three-cylinder petrol engine coupled to an electric motor, it’s capable of a claimed 134.5mpg and should be able to run on all-electric for up to 25 miles at speeds of up to 78mph. The Countryman ALL4, then, is a car for people who want to keep running costs down, and they can do it all for a smidge under £30,000 after the government’s plug-in grant of £2,500 is worked into the overall equation.

44 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

What’s under the bonnet?

The Mini Cooper S E Countryman ALL4 utilises a three-cylinder petrol engine coupled to an electric motor underneath the boot. This is combined with a large lithium-ion battery fitted directly in front of the electric motor. Working together, the systems produce 220bhp and 385Nm of torque. The power from the petrol motor is sent to the front wheels via a six-speed automatic transmission, while drive from the electric unit goes to the rear wheels through a two-stage single-speed transmission. Together, they can send the Countryman to 60mph in just 6.5 seconds and on to a top speed of 123mph.

What’s it like to drive?

The most noticeable thing when you first set off in the Cooper S E Countryman ALL4 is its eerie silence. The car will start by using all-electric power and it can carry on doing so – Mini claims – for around 25 miles at speeds of up to 78mph. This means that zero-emissions driving isn’t just restricted to urban areas.

Thanks to three separate driving modes, however, you can specify how and when you’d like that electric power to come in. Elsewhere, the driving experience is much like any other Mini. There’s little way of telling there’s extra weight imparted into the car’s overall mass by the batteries on

restricted, so we can’t diversify the range too much just yet.

correctly, and because of that everyone is safe to work on the car.

What type of people can you foresee picking the Countryman S E hybrid?

I think it’s a real one for all. You do have the advantage of the electric drive for urban areas, but if you want to go outside and drive through the country then it’s still the car to go for.

Do you think battery degeneration is an issue?

Well, every battery is degenerating slightly, but there’s nothing that will affect the performance of the car.

Are dealers and technicians being given additional training about electric technology?

There is a certain amount of it. However, it’s a fairly easy car to service. As soon as you switch it off, all of the electrical energy is contained in the battery. We do have systems in our workshops that detect whether everything has been shut off

How do you think the technology can progress from here?

In terms of refinement we have hit an extremely good level in the car. It’s just about how the two separate drivetrains interact seamlessly, and that’s very good. I don’t think there is much room for improvement but, as always with electrification,

the energy density of the batteries will improve and you’ll get more electric range. Plus, components will become less costly over time.

Do you think having a hybrid system is a good way of introducing people to electric cars?

Definitely. Driving this car, you see some of the genes that we introduced in the Mini E and the BMW i3 – that’s why you see seamless acceleration from standstill to maximum speed.

We do believe in the non-transmission way of doing things because it gives uninterrupted acceleration, and both those cars are good examples of this. But cars like the Mini Countryman S E Hybrid are how you get people to think ‘I like this electric part of driving so why not pick a fully electric car in the future?’

Solid

Build quality is as you would expect from a BMW Group car.

it reckons will be the ideal introduction to electric cars for people board, while its four-wheel-drive system means that there’s plenty of grip at all times. The sixspeed automatic gearbox has a tendency to shift mid-corner at times, but for the most part it goes through the gears well enough. The steering has a good amount of weight to it and, though lacking any real feel, is accurate enough to allow you to place the car where you want it on the road.

However, despite having similar performance figures as the petrol-powered Cooper S, the S E simply doesn’t feel as keen under heavy acceleration, especially when facing a gradient.

What’s the spec like?

The Mini Cooper S E Countryman ALL4 is priced at £31,585. However, it qualifies for the

government’s plug-in grant of £2,500, giving a sizeable incentive to those who are thinking of buying it. For that amount, you get satellite navigation as standard, as well as Bluetooth connectivity and cruise control. Also, because the Mini emits just 52g/km of carbon dioxide, vehicle taxation costs will be much lower than for a traditionally powered hatch. As always, there’s a sizeable optional extras list on the Countryman, with highlights such as wireless telephone charging and a larger satellite navigation screen improving the car’s overall feel, but these all add considerably to its price.

What do the press think?

Auto Express said: ‘Style-obsessed town dwellers will find appeal in the Countryman PHEV. For short commutes, the silent electric-only travel will help offset the initial price.’

Car said: ‘It has the same virtues as a regular Countryman: a high-quality interior, character in spades and trademark BMW connectivity.’

What do we think?

The Cooper S E Countryman ALL4 is an ideal choice for those who want the looks, charm and solid build quality associated with a Mini but with better economy figures than even the most efficient diesel-engined cars can offer.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 45

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Before you make a decision on your future DMS strategy, why not talk to us and discover how an open approach can benefit your business?

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CarDealerMag.co.uk | 47

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FORECOURT.

BMW 4 Series Convertible Simon Davis interviewed Michael Ising, project manager for BMW’s revamped 4 Series cars What lessons have you learnt from the development of the new 4 Series?

What it all comes down to is that, through relatively small modifications, you can achieve a lot. We’ve changed the headlights, the rear lights and the bumper. Just by doing small modifications you can achieve a lot.

Do you think the changes are enough to enable the 4 Series to keep up with its rivals?

Overall, yes. I think that for the next three years, we will look at place. If you look at our competition – Mercedes and Audi, for example – I think we have made a big jump, so we do have an advantage for the next two to three years.

Who are the target buyers for the new 4 Series?

They will be people between the ages of 40 and 50. They are people who are working, business

people and sporty types, successful people. Not necessarily families but people who are working successfully and want to show that off.

What is next for the 4 Series as a model range?

For the 4 Series it’s really starting in the beginning of 2019. We’re going to re-work the model a little bit, just tiny changes when it comes to the extras and functional changes in terms of the design as well. Then the next model is going to arrive in three to three-and-a-half years. In terms of the Coupe and the Convertible, there are also going to be some extras, some smaller design features.

In terms of the engines, we’ve already said we’re doing very well – also in comparison to the competition. Especially with Efficient Dynamics – so we’re all set with that.

Also in comparison to the competition it’s

all about little tweaks – customer comfort, convenience and connectivity.

What are your current thoughts about the future of motoring generally? Is electrification key?

It’s not all about electrification. It’s also quite important to keep petrol and diesel engines updated, especially regarding emissions and fuel consumption. So there are a lot of different fields to work on. In the past it was only one path and now we have to cater to many.

Do autonomous vehicles go against BMW’s ‘ultimate driving machine’ message?

No, not at all. If you commute to work, for example, it’s not a driving pleasure. If you go on a good mountain road, then you want to drive yourself and a BMW owner will always have a chance to say ‘OK, now I want to drive myself’.

THE KNOWLEDGE Model: BMW 4 Series Convertible Price: £41,790 Engine: 2.0-litre

four-cylinder petrol Power (bhp): 248 Torque (Nm): 350 Max speed (mph): 155 0-60mph: 6.2 seconds MPG (combined): 42.8 Emissions (g/km): 154

...and then he took the 4 Series Convertible for a spin What is it?

BMW has treated the latest version of its two-door convertible to some flashy new LED headlights and taillights, two new exterior colours and some slightly revised styling cues at the front and rear of the car.

The interior has also been refreshed.

What’s under the bonnet?

The 430i Convertible makes use of BMW’s 2.0-litre, turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine. This power plant produces a respectable 248bhp and 350Nm for a 0-60mph time of 6.2 seconds. As with practically all BMWs, the 430i

Convertible is limited to 155mph.

What’s the spec like?

The 4 Series Convertible has a starting price of £37,630 for the basic Sport model. This includes 18-inch alloys, leather upholstery, satellite navigation and electronically adjustable seats.

At the other end of the scale, the top-spec M Sport model starts at £38,980 and adds M Sport suspension, sportier exterior styling and M Sport badges.

What’s it like to drive?

The BMW 430i Convertible is

something of a mixed bag. Where the 4 Series Coupe is quite a taut, agile and sporty-feeling car – particularly the 440i – the roadster feels far more laid back and relaxed.

What do the press think?

Yahoo News said: ‘The drop-top will be bought by those buyers who want nothing more than to swan around town with the roof down.’

What do we think?

The option of having unlimited headroom isn’t quite enough to justify the compromised looks and handling as far as we’re concerned.

TARGET BUYERS: Middle-aged buyers who want a fairly brisk, convertible cruiser.

THE RIVALS: Audi A5 Cabriolet, MercedesBenz C-Class Cabriolet, Ford Mustang EcoBoost Convertible.

KEY SELLING POINTS: 1. Open-top driving experience.

2. Smart, premium interior.

3. Excellent infotainment system.

DEAL CLINCHER: Not the fastest car in the world, but those after a fairly quick, premium cabriolet will find the BMW 430i an attractive option.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 49

FORECOURT. Toyota product manager Neil Spires has high hopes for the hybrid Yaris, thanks to a combination of factors

THE KNOWLEDGE Model:

Toyota Yaris 1.5 VVT-I

6MT Base price: £12,495 Price as tested: £15,845 Engine tested: 1.5-litre Dual

VVT-I petrol Power (bhp): 110 Torque (Nm): 136 Max speed (mph): 109 0-60mph: 10.8 seconds MPG (combined): 58.9

What does the new Yaris mean for the brand?

New Yaris is our main volume car, so for us as a brand it’s a cornerstone. It delivers volume for us, but equally it sort of breaks through brand-wise for hopefully a younger audience as well. So,

Great looks

It remains an appealing and stylish car, particularly for young drivers.

TARGET BUYERS: Young families, city dwellers, first-time buyers.

B-segment, down-sizers, it’s a new audience that we can hopefully conquest as well. It’s a twin-role.

How many are you hoping to sell in the UK? This year we are looking at just over 26,000 units.

2017 should be a strong year.

And most of those are going to be the hybrid?

Yes – we’re looking to hit a 40 per cent mix this

THE RIVALS: Ford Fiesta, Suzuki Swift, Seat Ibiza.

KEY SELLING POINTS: 1. Safety equipment.

2. Entry-level 1.0-litre engine will be cheap to insure.

3. Five-year warranty.

DEAL CLINCHER: Strong line up of standard safety features for familyorientated buyers.

Safety

The Yaris is packed with safety equipment as standard.

Toyota Yaris Hybrid Simon Davis tries out the tweaked supermini to see just what it’s got to offer to set What is it?

The third-generation Yaris has been around for some time now – long enough in fact to have been subjected to no fewer than two facelifts since it was first introduced in 2011. With this latest refresh, Toyota has dropped its 1.33-litre engine in favour of a new 1.5-litre power plant that is both more powerful and more efficient than its predecessor.

What’s under the bonnet?

It wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume that the basic 1.0-litre engine, also tested, is one of the 50 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

slowest on sale. With just 68bhp and 95Nm on tap, the sprint from 0-60mph takes 15.1 seconds – which feels like an eternity when you’re trying to get up to motorway speeds. If you have the patience, the engine will keep going to a top speed of 96mph – although you will have aged significantly by the time you get there. The larger 1.5-litre engine is a much more useable engine. This develops a far more sensible 110bhp, while torque stands at 136Nm for a 0-60mph time of 10.8 seconds and a 109mph top speed.

What’s the spec like?

We got behind the wheel of the midrange Icon Tech model, which costs from £15,045. Standard equipment is generous, with features such as satellite navigation, rear parking camera and a seven-inch touchscreen multimedia system all included. One of the key selling points, however, is the large emphasis that Toyota has placed on safety across the entire Yaris range. All cars come with Toyota Safety Sense as standard. This includes a pre-collision system,

year, moving on from 33 per cent last year. So yes, it’s a big percentage now for Yaris and it’s a good number of cars.

What do you think attracts buyers to the hybrid model Yaris over the regular Yaris models?

It’s a mixture. Hybrids deliver the economy people want – particularly if you’re downsizing.

You’re going for that smaller car and you’re doing

it for a reason. So CO2 emissions and MPG are the obvious aspects that it can give you, but equally it’s ease of driving. I think a lot of people are tuned in to actually wanting a calmer place to be in the car. It’s got an automatic transmission, it’s quite a calm feeling when you’re driving along in a hybrid and quite a relaxing feeling.

Why do you think Toyota is the only manufacturer to offer a hybrid in this segment?

I think it’s just because we’ve been in the marketplace with hybrids for quite a long time, so the expansion of our hybrid product line-up has meant that we’ve gone into different segments before others. The technology we’ve had, and the length of time we’ve been out there with hybrids, I think that’s why we’re ahead of the game in offering that choice.

What is it that attracts buyers to the Yaris over its immediate rivals?

It’s a very striking-looking car to choose, but it packages things up nicely. You’re getting that economy, that space and it’s kind of what a B-segment car should be. It’s really delivering that nice package of cost of

ownership, style and actually a return for your money as well when you’re using it day-to-day.

What have dealers’ initial reactions been like?

Really good. I think it’s something that they feel positive about, based on the reaction and the people I’ve spoken to – the looks, the design and the refresh that it provides. I think the Safety Sense package is a good story for them as well. To be able to say that’s standard on a B-segment car is a very strong thing to have. So, positive so far.

Which specification are you predicting will be the most popular in the UK? I think mixwise we will still see the Icon grade as the highest mix, albeit reduced from where we were at. That’s going to be in the region of about 33-34 per cent. As of today, on the outgoing model that was about 60-70 per cent. So with the two new upsell grades – Icon Tech and Design – we’re looking that they will grow. Certainly, Design grade has been there before, but we’re looking for that to grow and Icon Tech is brand new, so we’re looking at that as a real customer offer that will attract people in. Even so, because there are two choices, Icon will probably still pip them as far as sales mix is concerned.

Compact

Parking and manoeuvring is easy in the small city car.

it apart from its B-segment rivals autonomous emergency braking, lane departure alert and automatic high-beam. Road sign assist is also included on cars in Icon spec and above.

What’s it like to drive?

Our experience of the Yaris was mostly limited to low-speed, urban driving, which it handled amicably. The controls were light and easy to operate, meaning the little Toyota was incredibly easy to place exactly where you wanted it.

Motorways didn’t really cause it to flinch, either, with the Yaris remaining planted and confident throughout. Where it did fall down was in the

engine refinement department, with the 1.0-litre engine in particular making itself heard at cruising speed. There was a lot of wind noise whipped up by the Yaris’s door mirrors, too.

What do the press think?

Auto Express said: ‘The Yaris isn’t as fun to drive as a Fiesta, it’s not as refined as a VW Polo, it’s not as spacious as a Suzuki Baleno and it’s not as quirky as a Fiat 500.’ Autocar said: ‘If you’re happy to accept that the Yaris’s ride, handling, quality, infotainment

and space are behind its rivals’, it presents itself as a competent, safe and wellequipped buy.’

What do we think?

The Yaris is totally inoffensive – so much so that it comes across as a touch forgettable. There isn’t really much about it that jumps out and grabs your attention, and in such a competitive class as the B-segment it really needs to offer that bit extra. Hopefully the Yaris GRMN hot hatchback that is set to arrive in 2018 will help achieve this.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 51

FEATURE.

52 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

HONDA NSX ROAD TRIP

A LEGEND IN THE MAKING Monaco, here we come! We take Honda's new hybrid supercar on an exciting cross-Europe drive to celebrate the legendary link between road car and race car Words: Darren Cassey Pictures: Jon Reay

”

I pin the throttle once more. The NSX effortlessly picks itself up and the numbers on the dial roll on – 130, 140, 150...

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FEATURE.

W

hen a car has a history involving legendary Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senna and its new incarnation shares technology used on the current Honda McLaren racer, it’s something worth recognising.

We were going to drive the new Honda NSX and, while doing so, would pay homage to its top-flight racing ties by crossing four countries (and one principality) over five days, covering thousands of miles and via innumerable McDonald’s ‘restaurants’.

The plan was a simple but exciting one: to take Honda’s hybrid supercar to Monaco on the French Riviera – home of the world’s most iconic street race – with a couple of stops at other Formula 1 circuits along the way to celebrate the link between road car and race car.

It all begins with a pre-dawn start in Woking.

Conveniently, I live less than a mile from the McLaren Technology Centre that is home to the McLaren-Honda F1 team, so it seemed like a logical place to begin our adventure.

This being a Sunday morning, photographer Jon Reay and I had planned to be as quiet as possible, then escape from my neighbourhood quickly so as not to disrupt too many lies-in with our noisy supercar.

However, this being Sunday morning, our quiet exit is interrupted by two lager louts, still drinking from the night before, wanting to have a civilised conversation about the car at volumes akin to an aeroplane taking off.

Drunkards swerved, we bomb past the McLaren logo glowing from the roadside sign outside the factory and head on to the M25. At this time of day it’s almost peaceful, but with so many overhead gantries potentially hiding cameras we decide against making good time and set the cruise control to a steady 70mph.

With the Channel Tunnel crossing at Folkestone plugged into the satellite navigation system and not a whole lot to distract me other than weary Sunday morning motorists, I let my thoughts wander to Hondas gone by.

Throughout its history, Honda has built exciting performance cars and been a technological innovator. The Integra Type R is widely regarded to be one of the best-handling front-wheel-drive cars ever made, while the S2000 roadster is revered even today for its feisty handling and rev-happy engine.

And then there was the NSX. The old one. It had supercar looks and a performance brief that set the likes of Ferrari square in its sights – but with reliability, practicality and Ayrton Senna’s seal of approval. It was like nothing else that had come before and proved supercars could actually work and be used every day.

By the time it went out of production in 2005 it had hardly changed, leaving it lagging behind rivals. But the legend still remained, so when a new version finally entered production in 2016, 54 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

car enthusiasts the world over were left salivating at the prospect of another world-beater.

Plans came and went, the new NSX was cancelled and reborn, and the result was an allwheel-drive hybrid supercar.

A mid-mounted 3.5-litre, twin-turbocharged V6 internal combustion engine was mated to three electric motors – one between the engine and transmission and one on each front wheel – to produce 573bhp.

Fascinating new-age tech? Check. Supercar performance? Check. Yep, this is indeed a proper Honda NSX. After a brief stint on the train beneath the English Channel we drive for a few hours across northern France and into Belgium. At motorway speeds the NSX is surprisingly relaxing, and after heading through monotonous landscapes we finally reach the pretty Ardennes forest.

On the approach to Spa-Francorchamps there’s little to hint you’re approaching a world-renowned Formula 1 circuit. However, we enter the village of Francorchamps – which looks exactly as you’d imagine a secluded Belgian village might look – to be greeted by the occasional motorsportthemed hotel and restaurant.

Then, all of a sudden, the circuit entrance appears and we pull over beneath a large sign.

Sadly, there’s a Volkswagen Fun Cup race going on, so we can’t get on the track.

Still, that’s not really why we’re here. Our final destination is Monaco, one of the most iconic street circuits in the world, so it seemed apt to make a slight detour to Belgium to drive the old road sections that made Spa one of the most feared races on the F1 calendar.

After World War II came to an end, the original Spa-Francorchamps layout was tweaked to remove all but one of the slowest corners. It was virtually flat out from beginning to end, and when F1 turned up in the 1950s, drivers were averaging more than 150mph per lap.

As we cruise around at sane speeds, it’s easy to see why the Belgian Grand Prix often ran smaller grids than other races – drivers feared for their lives and some refused to race. As trees, houses and telegraph poles whizz by, it’s no surprise those fears were well founded. Many drivers died in those safety-free days.

The road opens up and I floor the accelerator.

The punch of the electric motors is immediate and the 3.5-litre V6 engine’s baritone thrum overpowering as I continue accelerating around a long right-hander.

More than 60 years of technological evolution and my brain will barely let me past half the speed those guys were averaging – it took a special kind of person to compete back then.

With shadows growing longer and eyes growing weary, we leave the picturesque forests in our rear-view mirror and punch Metz, France, into the sat nav. The car decides that going via Germany and skirting around Luxembourg will

The Spa circuit appears like a mirage from the

”

Throughout its history, Honda has built exciting performance cars and been a technological innovator.

Ardennes forest – but once you're there you're immediately struck by the history and sound of revving engines

It's hungry work all this driving! Darren ponders what to eat during a break on the road trip from Woking to the French Riviera be quickest, which gives us a chance to enjoy an all-too-brief stint of derestricted autobahn.

With an impressively committed Mini hatchback peeling off from the outside lane at 100mph, I pin the throttle once more. The NSX effortlessly picks itself up and the numbers on the dial roll on – 130, 140, 150…

The road is curving ahead but I’m committed to seeing 160mph on the high-definition dashboard. As my eyes scan the horizon, I quickly employ photographer Jon Reay to point his camera at the speedometer and let me know when I’ve hit my target.

Incredibly, if I hadn’t run out of road, the NSX would have easily carried on pulling. And here’s some advice you can offer to potential

buyers that’ll be of use to almost no-one – up around 155mph the wind starts to buffet around the sleek supercar, which forces maximum concentration from the driver.

Suddenly, the sat nav’s decision to take us into Germany makes sense. We arrive at our glamorous Ibis Budget hotel just after dark and bed down for the night.

DAY TWO Day two will be a day of few words. With almost nothing of note in central France, we pop tonight’s hotel into the sat nav and drive. And

drive. And drive. Nearly 500 miles pass – all of them event-free.

We go through countless toll booths and turn countless heads. Mobile phone cameras snap in our direction and small crowds gather every time we stop to refuel.

It was on this endless stretch of monotony that I really gelled with the NSX, though.

Modern supercars are typically excellent at being boring cars too, and it has to be said the Honda excels at this. Admittedly, my first drive in the car was rather underwhelming because of this fact. However, once you get past the excited giggles that driving fast induces, having a supercar that can cruise comfortably is a godsend for owners.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 55

FEATURE.

Halt! Security wouldn't let us get any closer

”

There have been numerous rallies in the hills here and every road is a joy.

My only complaints are that the seats in our pre-production model aren’t as supportive as I’d have liked, and the sat nav – and infotainment system in general, to be honest – comes with graphics straight out of 1999.

Before continuing our Tour d’Ibis Budget, we halt at Circuit Paul Ricard in the south of France.

The track is returning to the Formula 1 calendar from 2018, so stopping by feels appropriate.

Again, security won’t let us through the gates, but we manage to grab a few shots outside before being told to buggerez off.

Continuing our road racing theme, we hit the surrounding roads at ‘Golden Hour’. There have been numerous rallies held in the hills around here and every road is an utter joy – particularly with golden light cast across the scenery.

With the sun slipping below the hills, Jon’s ISO numbers go stratospheric so we call it a night.

56 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

DAY THREE Day three, and we’re up at silly o’clock and heading for the Col de Turini. Type ‘best driving roads’ into Google and this road will be on every list. It starts an hour or so north of Monaco, so we head on over to tick it off the bucket list before a full day in the principality.

The way up is miserable. Thunder cracks around us and lightning strikes the hilltops ahead. It’s chucking it down and is so grey and miserable we can’t even tell if we’re on the right road. Driving this close to sheer drops in such weather induces genuine vertigo, something I’ve never experienced in a car, and when a snowstorm starts pummelling the car at the road’s peak we decide to call it a day.

It’s not a total waste of time, though, as we get

a shoot done – although we freeze our bits off in the process – before heading back down the hill defeated. Then a miracle happens. The clouds clear, the sun comes out and the road dries up.

I drive like a man possessed, falling in love with machine and scenery in equal measure. The NSX is a new-age technological masterpiece, its scalpel-sharp angles juxtaposing with the ancient rockfaces and rolling hills that this ribbon of tarmac is draped between.

I fight the urge to stop and take in the view in order to soak up the driving experience.

With as much vigour and bravery as I can muster, I attack the relentless onslaught of corners. The surface is poor and still a bit damp, but the NSX never struggles for grip.

A couple of times I pile into a corner that tightens halfway round, but the car carries on unruffled. It’s spectacular.

RACING LEGEND

How Ayrton Senna helped shape the NSX

The difference is so night and day we discuss whether we’ve come down a different way, but there were no junctions. Reay jumps out and sends me off into the valley to get some epic wide shots then we head for Monaco via what feels like our 15th McDonald’s of the trip.

As we reach the end of our descent, in true slapstick style we’re held up by a lorry that has become wedged on a hairpin. A portly Dutch man waves his arms left and right and miraculously the truck inches around the corner – we speed off before seeing how he manages with the next hairpin 200 yards down the road.

We drop into Monaco after nightfall, too exhausted to really take in the scenery. However, even our sleepy heads can’t fail to notice the underground car park we’re driving deep into is home to some wild machinery – a Ferrari F12 TDF, Porsche 911 GT3 RS and a McLaren 12C were

just a few of the automotive delights on offer.

We’d been warned that traffic could be a bit of a problem once inside Monaco, so we set our alarms for an hour before sunrise and slink out into the pre-dawn darkness.

The principality is quiet and still, with few cars around and just a smattering of the scooter army that would later descend on the immaculately maintained streets.

I park up by the harbour and climb out to take the scene in. It’s an odd place, Monaco. Nestled in a hillside, high-rise buildings vie with roads for the limited space, and the hustle and bustle of the morning commute begins.

What strikes me is just how perfect everything is. It helps, of course, that the sun is shining, but every building is beautifully preserved, with the various pastel shades standing out against the deep green of the hillside that sprawls beyond the

MAY marks the 23rd anniversary of Ayrton Senna’s death. The legendary Formula 1 driver tragically died at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix at the age of 34 and is still considered one of the all-time greats of motor racing.

Back in 1989, shortly before the original Honda NSX was to be released, Senna was racing for McLaren-Honda. Late in the supercar’s design process, the Japanese manufacturer’s engineers had spent a month at the Suzuka Circuit in Japan testing the car to perfection.

However, when Senna grabbed the keys during a break in Formula 1 testing, he was to politely tell them it wasn’t quite good enough. ‘I feel it’s a little fragile,’ he reportedly said.

It wasn’t quite back to the drawing board, but with the world’s best driver telling them their car could be better, Honda’s engineers went to work.

Later that year, Senna was invited back to try the car at Honda’s then-new Nurburgring test centre. After taking his comments on board, the engineers had stiffened the chassis by 50 per cent before finely honing the suspension.

The Honda NSX went down as a worldbeater, teaching the likes of Ferrari a lesson about what was possible from a supercar.

It’s impossible to say whether that would still be the case without Senna’s inputs, but there’s no denying his other-worldly knack for driving helped change the supercar market forever.

Ayrton Senna tested the original NSX

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FEATURE. principality’s borders. At the risk of getting too sentimental, I slide back into the low-slung seats and pull away on to the start/finish straight – it’s a surreal feeling. After hundreds and hundreds of miles of travelling and many years watching the race on TV, we’re driving the Honda NSX on the iconic Formula 1 track.

I cruise past race control, over the chequered line from which Formula 1 cars would soon be lining up. Then I turn right through the first corner and needlessly clip the red and white rumble strip – just to say I had.

Up the unfeasibly steep hill – you really don’t get a sense of the incline on television – I can’t help but stare across the harbour to my right.

The sun is just peeking above the water, casting glistening light across the calm sea.

A few minutes later I’m diving right and heading downhill towards the Fairmont Casino.

This is the moment I’ve been waiting for – the most iconic hairpin in motor racing. I swing left and continue down the hill.

That was all over far too quickly. A right then another right and it’s down towards the tunnel, but I use the adjacent roundabout to swing back around to take in the hairpin once more.

On my way back down I put the hazard lights on and pull to one side.

Stepping out of the car for a moment, I try to imagine what it must be like for Formula 1 drivers to scream around here at full throttle – there really is no margin for error.

Wistful moment passed, I jump back into the low-slung seats and continue my slow lap of Monaco. Into the tunnel and I can’t resist dropping a few gears to enjoy the engine note. In everyday driving it’s fairly unexciting, but spin the ludicrously large drive mode dial to ‘Sport’ and the volume is amped up.

Full turbo boost also becomes available at all times, making the power unit respond enthusiastically to every twitch of your right foot.

I slow to a crawl and plant my foot – the noise is deafening, as sound waves reverberate around the enclosed space and filter through the cracked window. I ease off before my enthusiasm gets

Trying the Monaco street course for size

On the iconic Col de Turini mountain pass

me into trouble and cruise down to the chicane – which high-vis-wearing workers are currently building – then hug the harbour to take in the final section of the lap. Again, my mind is blown at the commitment required to drive at speed around here.

The road is narrow, the Armco is unforgiving and the water is mere feet away.

Early-bird workers stroll out of cafes that lie inches from the racing line and the sheer charm of inner-city racing hits home.

I joyfully complete the lap, marvelling at the fact the speeds I strained to achieve on the autobahn a couple of days earlier will be reached around here with ease when the Formula 1 circus rolls into town.

There’s something really special about this place. Everything’s so clean and its inhabitants so rich, it should feel soulless. But it’s not – it couldn’t be further from it, in fact.

Perhaps it’s just the sheer intrigue of the notoriously secretive principality that excites.

Maybe it’s the nostalgia that comes from decades of glamorous motor racing on its streets.

But in this age of health and safety, there’s something quite exhilarating about being here and seeing just how close to the edge these drivers really are.

It’s sanitised, but only just, and that’s really refreshing.

As I mull this over, I look across to the NSX. Quite how a mainstream manufacturer made something so beautiful is beyond me, but kudos Honda, your supercar looks marvellous.

I jump back inside and switch to quiet mode.

Cruising away silently on pure electric, it’s the perfect way to end the trip: Formula 1-inspired, high-tech hybrid technology on one of the oldest, most traditional circuits in the world. It just seems right. [CD]

SELLING THE NSX The UK has been lucky in getting a rather large proportion of NSXs to sell, as the demand has been high. Only two dealerships in the UK – Crown Honda and Chiswick Honda – have been accorded the status of approved NSX dealer.

Tristan Shale-Hester spoke with Crown Honda’s NSX specialist, Jason Baum, who’s been tasked with selling these very special cars.

TSH: What do you think of the NSX? JB: It's just exceptional. It really is beyond our expectations.

We were having a meeting the other day, talking about bits and pieces to do with the car, and someone said: ‘Can you imagine Ferrari or 58 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

Lamborghini having a meeting like this? They’d be laughing at us.’ That’s because the product is so good that we haven’t had any of those issues that can wear you down.

The quality of the product is phenomenal. It’s an exceptionally good car to drive. Obviously we’re biased, but as far as the quality and the feel of the car are concerned, the everyday use, the usability of the vehicle is just phenomenal.

The fact that it’s got a fabulous turning circle, that it’s easy to live with, all those wonderful things you expect from a Honda, but from this wonderful product that’s a super hypercar – we’re absolutely delighted and in awe of the car. We just wish we had a few more.

TSH: Has the NSX made any difference to how people see the Honda brand?

JB: Perception is everything in this day and age. Honda has a reputation, as we know, for reliability, build quality, longevity. What we’ve lacked from our range is the excitement – dare I say the sexiness?

When I was a kid, I had posters of the Ferrari F40 on my wall. Hopefully kids now will be having pictures of the Honda NSX on their wall.

The great thing about it is when people see it they don’t automatically see what it is, they see the Honda badge and their delight is so evident. You’re driving along with a customer on a test drive or doing a road test, someone’s

Snaking round a bend while heading back to motor racing's most famous hairpin – the Grand Hotel in Monaco

next to you winding down the window and they say: ‘What’s that?’ ‘It’s a Honda.’ ‘Oh, my mum’s got a Honda Jazz.’

TSH: How many have you sold?

JB: We’ve been very successful so far. We’ve handed over 54 NSXs. Honda has told me there’s going to be 180 to 190 cars in total.

We’d love more than that, but it’s going to be a very limited-run car in the UK. The initial 106, 107 cars are sold and after that there’s a standby list. We’re starting to go through that list and the remaining vehicles will then be allocated to people on that list depending on when they put their name down.

TSH: Have you had anyone come into the showroom to look at the NSX but leave interested in something else?

JB: For a while we haven’t had anything like this, that customers would just come in to take a photo of. And how many brands with supercars also have vehicles that are affordable to buy for less than £20,000 brand new?

We’ve noticed that people coming in to look at the NSX then end up looking at the new Civic. It shows that we make more than good reliable cars.

People who have been with the brand a long time didn’t think they’d be able to buy something like this with a Honda badge and

that’s the thing we’re deliriously happy about.

TSH: What do customers think when they see it?

JB: Seeing people’s reaction in the showroom, it’s like on Facebook or Instagram, when you see one of those films where people are genuinely shocked or surprised.

We’ve got a fabulous showroom here in Hendon and we get all types of customers who come in – people who might not be aware of the car. They see this car at the other end of the showroom and you see them pointing at the Honda badge!

It’s like seeing your children do well at sports day, that’s how I feel. It really is special to us.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 59

FOCUS ON.

Trustpilot

Harness the positive power TRUSTPILOT

W: uk.business.trustpilot.com T: 0203 889 8444

T

he automotive industry in the UK is on the brink of a revolution – and it’s all down to the internet.

More than 27,000 jobs in the UK car sales sector are set to disappear in the next 10 years as motorists looking for a new car desert dealerships for digital platforms. This figure has come from research carried out by online review community Trustpilot and the Centre for Economics and Business Research.

The findings indicate that traditional selling channels could take a back seat as an estimated 20 per cent of all sales will be conducted entirely over the internet by 2027. That means dealers will need to redouble their efforts to ensure they’re leading the pack online if they’re to survive and thrive in this brave new world.

Winning the race will involve not just offering the

best prices but generating trust and confidence idea and Trustpilot was born. The company among potential purchasers. opened offices in New York and London, then This is where Trustpilot comes in.

Melbourne, Berlin and Denver. Now it has With its focus on customers, more than 500 employees, representing community and companies, 40 nationalities. the website helps people buy Attracting 20,000 new with confidence, builds trust reviewers each day, more than and transparency between one million new reviews sellers and buyers, and helps are uploaded to the website dealerships (and a wide each month which currently variety of other companies) features more than 26 million harness the power of reviews. reviews of 152,000 businesses The story behind the and counting. organisation is a fascinating One of the key sectors in which one – and the principles on which it operates is automotive, and senior Trustpilot was founded 10 years ago figures at the company believe James Westlake still hold true today. Back in 2007, Trustpilot can become a powerful Peter Mühlmann, the organisation’s founder and ally of dealers in the UK as they prepare to now CEO, saw an opportunity to help online navigate the tricky waters ahead and enter a shoppers. His mother wanted to shop online new, digital-first era. but needed more information to make the best James Westlake, senior vice-president at purchases. Mühlmann thought: ‘Why not help Trustpilot, said: ‘Competition between dealers people make smart purchases and share their will be stiffer than ever, as they will be forced to experiences with others?’ compete across both traditional and digital sales A dedicated team helped channels. Key to winning this race is not just Mühlmann build his having the best price, but also generating enough

‘Competition between dealers will be stiffer than ever, as they will be forced to compete across both traditional and digital sales channels.’

James Westlake, senior vice-president at Trustpilot

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of online reviews trust and confidence so that consumers are happy to buy a car through your platform.

‘With more than half of all shoppers checking online reviews before making a purchase, one effective way to do this is through embracing feedback. By inviting users to review your platform, you will not only help to humanise it but also boost search rankings and, most importantly, generate trust.

‘This is vital for dealers as sales move online and nearly half of all buyers visit just one or no dealership prior to their purchase.’

Trustpilot currently works with more than 1,000 automotive businesses globally, receiving more than 50,000 reviews a year.

Kristian Wheeler leads Trustpilot’s UK sales team and is highly experienced in signing dealers up to the service. He says that customers are happier to buy cars from brands that have the backing of the trusted review platform.

‘We don’t just work with car dealers,’ said Wheeler. ‘We also work with other businesses within the

automotive sector. Whether it be breakdown cover with the RAC, Kwik Fit for tyres or Halfords to pop in and buy some oil, there’s a broad context when it comes to our position with dealerships.

‘We’ve built a review platform for whatever industry you’re in, whether you’re buying from Carphone Warehouse, Argos or even Ann Summers. If they can use it then any brand can.’

He explained why Trustpilot is so important for dealerships, saying: ‘If the consumer is thinking of buying a vehicle from a dealership and they see Trustpilot on that company’s website, then because Trustpilot is used by businesses in all sectors, our brand and our review platform

speak volumes to that consumer because it’s not the first time they’ve seen us.

‘It might be the first time they’ve considered buying a car from a particular dealership and they don’t know what to expect, but it’s not the first time they’ve seen Trustpilot because they’ve bought a sofa from DFS or they’ve popped into Morrisons, for example – all these typical businesses that consumers will buy from on a fairly regular basis.’

KEY FEATURES So what are the key features that can help you succeed? Put simply, if you enter a business relationship with Trustpilot the website will help you: • Build your reputation by collecting feedback, helping you understand your customers and showcasing how great you are.

• Boost your presence in both paid and organic search to get more visitors.

• Use your reviews to create confidence and reduce website abandonment.

• Respond to reviews, rescue unhappy customers and increase your retention rate.

• Quickly gain the trust of new customers.

• Effectively analyse your dealership’s performance.

Kristian Wheeler told Car Dealer:

‘We’ve built a review platform for whatever industry you’re in, whether you’re buying from Carphone Warehouse, Argos or even Ann Summers.’

‘Car dealerships should work with Trustpilot because we are a review platform for a multitude of industries, so it builds a lot more trust than a boutique review provider.’

Kristian Wheeler leads Trustpilot’s UK sales team

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 61

FOCUS ON.

Swinton Insurance

A truly personalised service for your motor business SWINTON INSURANCE

W: swinton.co.uk/business-motortrade

WHY CHOOSE SWINTON BUSINESS?

A

t Swinton Business, we’ve been arranging business insurance for more than 10 years, across a diverse range of industries including the motor trade, manufacturing, construction and commercial property.

Our experience tells us that no two businesses are exactly the same, and even those in the same sector may well have different cover requirements.

Our bespoke service One of our customer relationship managers will visit you to carry out a thorough assessment of your business.

As well as noting risk, they’ll discuss your requirements and highlight any particular needs your business may have. They’ll then prepare and present a tailor-made package of bespoke insurance options. They will share their personal recommendation and give expert advice to guide you through the decision-making process.

Once you’ve chosen an insurance option, your customer relationship manager will arrange your insurance cover. Our team will then check in with you throughout the year, allowing you to update us on any issues, inform us of any plans that may require a change to your policy and feed back on our service. Your customer relationship manager will be available throughout your policy to talk or meet with you to ensure you and your business continue to remain protected.

Protect your motor trade business with Swinton We understand the risks you face in the motor trade – from fire, theft and fleet insurance to flood risk, premises and employer liability. We’ll work with you on-site to highlight where the greatest risks are to ensure that should the worst happen, you’re covered for those things that will have the greatest impact.

We work with our panel of insurers to find the right cover for your particular business needs and

Call 0800 197 1892 today to speak with the team, or visit: www.swinton.co.uk/business-motortrade Swinton Group Limited, registered in England number 756681 whose registered office is at Swinton House, 6 Great Marlborough Street, Manchester, M1 5SW. Calls are recorded for training and quality purposes. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

62 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

• Personal service, including face-to-face assessments.

• Dedicated customer relationship manager.

• Expertise in the risks faced by your business.

• Continuous support throughout the process.

then create a bespoke package to ensure you have appropriate cover.

The Swinton Business team is dedicated to offering a truly personalised service to your motor business.

We’ll work with you to ensure that you have the right level of cover for your business.

You can call your local regional business centre to speak with one of our business insurance experts and arrange your face-toface risk assessment.

Make sure you’re properly covered.

Then you can focus on moving your business forward.

It’s good business sense.

Call

0800 197 1892 today or visit www.swinton. co.uk/business

Swinton Group Limited, registered in England number 756681 whose registered office is at: Swinton House, 6 Great Marlborough Street, Manchester, M1 5SW. Calls are recorded for training and quality purposes. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 63

FOCUS ON.

Paint and interior protection

Add value for customers and generate more income The suppliers on the following pages are all looking to help you make money in a tough market

W

e all know that we work in a very competitive industry and that it’s getting tougher and tougher to make a decent level of profit purely from the sale of new or used cars.

Buyers are more switched on than ever when they arrive at our dealerships. They have done their homework – online, obviously – and are pretty clued-up about the sort of car they want, the trim level they are expecting and the price they are prepared to pay.

We’ve all read the stats that tell us customers only visit one or two dealerships before making a buying decision, whereas back in the day they would spend whole weekends exploring their options and making their mind up.

Against this backdrop, what can we do to generate a bit of extra income for ourselves whilst adding value for our customers? Part of the answer lies in aftersales and one of the key areas there is paint and fabric protection.

If you have a buyer who’s just getting behind the wheel of a lovely new motor, one that you have prepped and valeted to within an inch of its life, it’s only natural that they will want to

by DAVE BROWN @CarDealerDave

keep it spick and span for the forseeable future, both inside and out.

The suppliers on the following pages – we have three of the leading players in this arena – all have excellent products and reputations and will deliver you a win-win solution. As we’ve explained, there’ll be added value and satisfaction for your customers and some welcome additional income for you.

First up is the company you see represented on the opposite page – AutoProtect.

The business points out that bringing paint

protection to life online and positioning it as a core part of a dealer’s customer support proposition can deliver impressive results.

Next up, on pages 66-67, is Supagard, who claim to have been number one in professionallyapplied automotive paint and interior protection products since 1988. There’s no doubt that the quality of their products is absolutely top-drawer.

Finally, on pages 68-69, we have LifeShine from Autoglym, a brand that’s recognised and trusted by customers throughout the UK. The key to LifeShine’s effectiveness is the Carbon Shield Technology that underpins it.

FEATURED SUPPLIERS AutoProtect

Supagard

LifeShine from Autoglym

If your paint protection sales are in the doldrums, then maybe it’s time to create a fresh approach. Not all paint protection products are the same, by any means.

Working with several manufacturers, dozens of dealer groups and hundreds of retailers, Supagard is a famous name with a great reputation – and with good reason.

Autoglym’s LifeShine product is a no-brainer for switched-on new and used car buyers – and it’s been designed to be applied as speedily as possible.

P65

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P66

P68

ADVERTISEMENT

Paint Protection A natural profit opportunity The Value of a Better Process The saying ‘if you do what you have always done, you will get what you have always got’ is well established. So, if paint protection sales are in the doldrums, then create a fresh approach.

Bringing paint protection to life online and positioned as a core part of a dealer’s customer support proposition, rather than an ‘add-on’ can deliver impressive results, especially when the showroom process mirrors the same integrated approach.

AutoProtect UK distributors of Williams Racing Official Licensed Products

There can never be any doubt that customers love the high quality valeted finish of a well-prepared car on the forecourt or in the showroom. The shine, the smell; it’s a captivating combination that contributes to the successful sale of a car. Helping customers to maintain that strong emotional attraction to their car can only be good; for the dealer’s reputation, customer satisfaction and retention.

This is the appeal of paint protection to every dealer, let alone when priced attractively as an important profit opportunity that sits very naturally in the showroom.

In most dealers, the opportunity that exists to be more successful with a product can sometimes be overlooked, mis-understood or promoted ineffectively. Get it right and the benefits can flow!

Customers Want Their Car to Look Great Almost eight out of 10 British drivers use a car wash to keep their car looking great, spending an average of £7 (and often more) per wash.

Over a three year period, a once a week clean will total over £1,000 – people want their car looking great.

Also from the same research, women preferred to pay to have their cars washed, with 90 per cent saying they regularly visited a hand car wash service. Only 69 per cent of male

respondents preferred to let someone else clean their car. Those aged between 21 and 35 are particularly keen on getting their car cleaned, preferring to pay for the service.

However you look at it, it seems people want their car to look great, arguably some more than others.

Not All Paint Protection Products are the Same There is a battle of ‘hearts and minds’ to be won in the showroom; not all paint protection products are the same. An online search of paint protection will quickly reveal expert responses to consumer questions about the value of paint protection and invariably these, quite rightly, focus upon price and product quality. Too often, the sales assumption is that all products are the same when they are not.

A product that protects from bird droppings, UV rays, acid rain, road salt and insect residue has a higher value than one that just gives a temporary shine. Going further, a product that offers a long-term shine and requires less maintenance also has a higher value.

Finally, there is ‘brand value’ – AutoProtect is proud of the Williams Racing Official Licensed Products it markets. A fantastic, well-respected global automotive name, with its reputation for performance is a huge asset, something backed up by a great guarantee.

However, a great process without training will still see sales fall short of their potential.

Across AutoProtect, the latest UK-wide training programme is geared around establishing a new promotional process that embeds the value of paint protection as a core part of the customer‘s car usage experience during the purchase journey.

As a footnote, a key reason why now is such an opportunity for paint protection is the shift in the way consumers ‘buy’ their car. Customers are moving from ownership to usage, courtesy of PCP finance. Paint protection fits perfectly into the PCP three-year change cycle, making the customer’s desire for a shiny smart car easier and helping to support a strong residual value (and creating a high quality ‘retailable’ P/X).

Five Top Tips to Drive Paint Protection Sales Upwards 1.

Adapt your sales process.

2.

Use a product that engenders customer confidence.

3.

Price it fairly.

4.

Use sales penetration as the key metric.

5.

Create a new sales mindset – every customer loves a shiny car, so help them to keep their new car that way.

W

www.autoprotect.co.uk

linkedin.com/company/autoprotect twitter.com/autoprotect

e

sales@autoprotect.co.uk

The Williams name and logo are trademarks of Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited and are used under licence. Williams Images © 2017. Williams Grand Prix Engineering Limited.

All rights reserved. Ultimotive Ltd is the worldwide licensee of Williams car care products. Ultimotive Ltd, 4 Altbarn Close, Severalls Business Park, Colchester, Essex, CO4 9HY, UK.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 65

FOCUS ON.

Paint and interior protection

Supagard – the UK’s number 1 since 1988!

SUPAGARD

W: supagard.co.uk T: 0141 633 5933

S

upagard has been the UK’s market leader in professionally-applied automotive paint and interior protection products since 1988 and our reputation for quality is second to none.

Many manufacturers, dozens of dealer groups and hundreds of retailers think so too and we recognise the importance of supporting them to grow profitability and to meet the demands of new challenges in the constantly evolving marketplace – that’s why we never rest on our laurels and are committed to a programme of continuous research and development to ensure that we only offer market-leading technology that is proven to make a demonstrable difference.

This philosophy has led to the development of our acclaimed range of polymer and polysilazane paint sealants, which like all Supagard treatments, undergo continuous and rigorous independent testing to maintain their technical superiority over other products and are among the most advanced treatments available.

For vehicle interiors, Supagard Quick Drying Fabric Protector not only gives guaranteed protection against spills and stains, but also saves a massive amount of valeter time and cost in preparing a vehicle for sale as it is touch-dry in 90 seconds and the vehicle can be driven away five minutes after the product has been applied.

More recently, Supagard spotted a gap in the market which led us to develop a unique product with enormous potential to provide another effective and long-lasting profit stream in addition to our renowned paint and fabric protection systems.

Over the last few years, there has been a massive increase in the availability of leather interiors which are now commonplace in all makes and models of car and not just the luxury

‘‘

We only offer marketleading technology that is proven to make a demonstrable difference.

66 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

Work under way in the Supagard lab, above; and below, a headrest restored to its former glory

brands. But in the event of a problem stain or spill, existing leather care products can only try to restore the leather’s appearance – none of them will prevent that damage in the first place.

Supagard Leather Preserver is a breakthrough leather protection system which offers three years guaranteed protection for new and used cars with leather upholstery – a UK first!

It is the first product on the market that will protect a vehicle’s leather upholstery from staining caused by dye from jeans and clothing, food oils and everyday liquids while still allowing the leather to breathe and keep its natural finish and flexibility. The leather is guaranteed against staining for three years and the customer has no responsibility for on-going maintenance.

One grateful customer was recently saved from

an expensive repair or replacement bill when he had his child in the car.

The young lad had amused himself by drawing a face on the back of the headrest with a permanent marker, but as the interior had been treated with Supagard Leather Preserver, the artwork was able to be removed and the headrest now looks as good as new.

This unique product has proved to be so popular there has been a 100 per cent take-up

by Supagard’s existing client base, which gives them an additional lucrative profit stream and an advantage in the showroom that no other paint and interior protection supplier can offer.

Contact us today to find out how your business could benefit from our market-leading paint and interior protection systems.

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Paint and interior protection

LifeShine is enjoying huge success – and it’s not difficult to see why!

AUTOGLYM

T

E: lifeshine@autoglym.com T: 01462 677766

he last few months of political and economic uncertainty have seen the already hyper-competitive world of car sales (both new and used) rendered all the more cut-throat, which in turn has placed those involved within this industry under huge pressure. Combine this with the ever-tighter margins car dealers must work within on a daily basis, and it becomes all too clear why there’s a greater demand than ever before for extra sources of revenue, new profit streams and more creative thinking. This helps explain why LifeShine, the revolutionary vehicle protection system (VPS) from Autoglym, has exploded in popularity.

It’s rare that a product comes along which can be of equal benefit to both car dealer and car buyer, but LifeShine is undoubtedly an example.

It provides dealers with an invaluable extra ‘string to their bow’ and a superb opportunity to boost the value of their business, while customers receive an industry-leading product that’s been proven to provide comprehensive paintwork, glass and interior protection.

Extensive independent research has confirmed Autoglym’s findings, namely that dealers can achieve, on average, increased penetration rates of 13 percentage points when they switch to LifeShine, with some even enjoying boosts in penetration of as much as 80 per cent.

One of the biggest reasons for this is undoubtedly the wider Autoglym brand, one which is recognised and trusted by consumers throughout the UK and further afield, and no doubt aided by the various royal warrants displayed prominently on the firm’s products for many years. It’s a powerful facet of the business and one which shouldn’t be underestimated.

LifeShine is so effective thanks to the Carbon Shield Technology which underpins it. This sees liquid carbon molecules fused to the vehicle in

68 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

question’s paintwork, which in turn form a long-lasting barrier against a wide variety of common contaminants, including tar, salt, mud and the weather. Independent testing once again verifies LifeShine’s effectiveness in this respect, with a recent controlled durability test confirming LifeShine Carbon Shield Technology’s ability to outlast competitor systems by a minimum of 10 fold.

LifeShine has been designed to be applied in as little time as possible (its maker is only too aware of the importance of a fast and efficient application process), meaning dealers can work through a large number of cars in a single day.

Application takes just half an hour and 80 per cent of professionals went on to describe the process as ‘very easy’.

LifeShine is something of a no-brainer for fiscally astute new and used car buyers, especially as it’s backed up by a slick app which clearly sets out the advantages and features of the VPS. Buying a new car is (after a house) the largest single purchase most people make in their lives, and they want to afford it as much protection as possible.

LifeShine also caters for automotive glazing and interiors, hence the inclusion of both an ultra-effective glass treatment for side and rear windows (which drastically reduces the amount of time and effort required to clean them), and an interior protectant. This sports incredible hydrophobic properties, meaning it can repel and prevent staining from spills from water, coffee, soft drinks, milk or any similar non-corrosive liquids. The kit also includes an array of suitable Autoglym products called the LifeShine Aftercare Collection, all designed to preserve the protective qualities of Carbon Shield Technology.

Finally, LifeShine is endorsed by some of the largest and most exclusive OEM concerns around, including Audi, VW, Seat, Skoda, Kia, Vauxhall, Honda and Jaguar Land Rover, and is underpinned by significant levels of investment in consumer advertising to raise awareness of LifeShine and its protective potential.

The product also comes with a lifetime guarantee, which is wholly supported by Autoglym, one of the UK’s most trusted car care specialists.

To find out how LifeShine can benefit your business and for a free demonstration, please call 01462 677766 or email lifeshine@autoglym. com. [CD]

DRIVEN BY RESULTS EXTERIOR , INTERIOR & GLASS Put the shine back into your profits and discover how your dealership can benefit from increased penetration rates when you switch to LifeShine.

With a lifetime guarantee, exceptional durability and superior protection, your customers will be as delighted as you are.

For a free demonstration, call 01462 677 766 or email lifeshine@autoglym.com

Carbon Shield Technology

TM

lifeshine.com CarDealerMag.co.uk | 69

DATA FILE. FEATURE.

Ask Lawgistics .com

Car Dealer Club lawyers at Lawgistics answer dealers’ legal questions. Join for £39.99 a year to get advice like this when you need it

Our mechanic might steal our customers!

Q

We have a mechanic who is quitting his job. He handed in his notice and told us he wanted to establish his own business. We are concerned he will compete with us and poach our customers. Is there anything we can do?

This situation is not uncommon, and, perhaps not surprisingly, is easier to face if you have taken prior steps to protect your interests.

The tool of choice in this situation is a ‘restrictive covenant’. Put simply, your employee agrees, in return for a consideration, not to do certain things that will be detrimental to your business, such as setting up their own business, soliciting your customers, poaching fellow employees or providing a direct service to a customer whom he or she has dealt with while in your employment.

Restrictive covenants are contractual agreements and, if at all possible, should be embodied into the written employment contract at the commencement of your member of staff’s employment – not least because the wage will

A

JOIN CAR DEALER CLUB AND GET ALL THESE BENEFITS WORTH £1,000s FOR JUST £39.99 70 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

provide the required consideration. If restrictive covenants are omitted from an employment contract, they could be included at a later stage up to employment termination.

This, however, is likely to cause significant difficulty as, technically speaking, you will be varying someone’s terms and conditions and restrictive covenants will normally require the explicit consent of your employee, evidenced in writing.

Without an incentive, your employee may well be disinclined to agree to the restrictions. In theory, restrictive covenants can form a separate agreement, which will need to be in writing, separate to the employment contract.

A specifically stipulated benefit, usually a monetary payment, will be required to make the restrictive covenants enforceable in this case.

But from a practical standpoint, the agreement to restrictions may prove difficult to achieve.

As a side note, modified appropriately

A free telephone consultation and other great benefits, too n A free telephone consultation worth £100. n Lawgistics’ Basic package worth £95. n Twenty-five per cent off the ‘pay-on-use’ legal helpline and casework service. n Up to 25 per cent off any stationery or warranty products. n Upgrade the Basic package and receive £100 off the Small Business package or £250 off the Professional package.

restrictive covenants may also be used in your terms of business with your suppliers and subcontractors. There is one problem with restrictive covenants, however – they are essentially restrictions on trade, and, as one judge has put it, ‘to be treated with suspicion’.

They ought to provide no more than adequate protection for your legitimate interests. Anything over and above that and the covenants will be declared unenforceable.

The burden is on you to show the restrictions are no more than adequate.

That is why they need to be carefully drafted, preferably by a legal expert.

No more than adequate restrictions means the restrictive covenants must have clearly defined limits in extent, duration and often geographical area of application.

Apart from restrictive covenants, there are other means of protection. Fiduciary duties of your senior employees, confidentiality clauses and data protection restrictions are worth mentioning.

ADVICE

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(*subject to vetting)

Exclusive five per cent discount on your tailormade trade insurance At Unicom, we’ve been safeguarding our clients with the best protection policies for more than 20 years – so, no matter what role your business plays in the motor trade, we can have you covered for every possible risk. From road risks to legal cover, your motor trade insurance can be tailored to suit your individual needs. It’s our job to make sure that you get the best price for the cover that you want.

Rejection rights

Q

I’m having a few customers wishing to reject their vehicles under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

Often it’s simply buyer’s remorse.

Where do I stand on this please?

It depends how the vehicle has been paid for. If the vehicle is subject to a hire-purchase agreement, there is a cooling-off period.

However, if the consumer has paid with cash, the advice is as follows.

During the first 30 days (starting from taking possession of the vehicle, not the invoice date), the consumer must provide evidence to show there is a fault with the vehicle or that it has been mis-described.

If a fault has been identified, that fault must render the vehicle to be of ‘unsatisfactory quality’.

The vehicle’s age, mileage, purchase price and any other circumstances must be taken into account. Each scenario is therefore different.

The other opportunity under the short-term right to reject rules is if the vehicle has been mis-described.

To ensure the vehicle leaves your premises fault-free and that you have the evidence for that, we advise checks be carried out, such as an MOT or a predelivery inspection. As the consumer has to provide the evidence, they might have trouble doing that if they have simply changed their mind and, as you say, are suffering buyer’s remorse.

A

USEFUL ADVICE FROM LAWGISTICS

It was only a faulty starter motor... but customer wanted his cash back DEAN GRAY runs Merrywood Commercials, a family-run used van dealership in Tolworth, near Surbiton in Surrey. The company prides itself in selling secondhand vans at competitive prices.

A few months ago, Gray was faced with an everyday scenario that started to get out of hand.

‘We sold a Ford Transit and the guy had it for two or three weeks,’ said Gray. ‘The vehicle then broke down, so we asked the customer to bring it back so we could repair it – normal dayto-day sort of thing.

‘Straight away, the customer was saying, ‘‘oh no, I want my money back”. We’ve been in the trade quite a while and we knew that we were doing the right thing to try to rectify it. It was a starter motor, which was £110 and it was an £8,000 van.’

After the vehicle had been fixed, the customer said it still wasn’t right, but Gray and his team were confident they had resolved the situation and that the van would have been in good working order.

Gray added: ‘There was no major work. It

really was just a case of taking the old starter motor off and putting the new one on.

‘But the customer started phoning up our sales guy and saying something about his uncle being a barrister.’

Gray wanted the peace of mind that came with knowing he’d done the right thing, so he made a phone call to Lawgistics to get their take on the situation.

They agreed with him and gave him some helpful advice.

‘That literally was it,’ said Gray.

‘In the end, we resolved it with Lawgistics’ advice.

‘We went back to the customer and I told him I could appreciate that having his van break down must have been frustrating, but that everything I’d told him about us fixing the starter motor was true.’

Gray said he was ‘very satisfied’ with the advice he had received from Lawgistics.

WANT TO UPGRADE? LAWGISTICS’ Basic membership – which you receive as a member of Car Dealer Club – is a cracking deal, but what if you need something that has extra clout? Larger dealer groups or a dealer embroiled in a big legal battle may require some more firepower, and the good news is that club members get discounts on Lawgistics’ other packages. You’ll receive a £100 discount off the Small Business package (normally £695) – perfect for sole traders, a partnership or a small dealer group – and £250 off the Professional package (normally £1,295). This is ideal for franchises, a dealer group or a car supermarket and covers all relevant legal areas and documentation.

There really is a package for everyone with Lawgistics.

EASY STEPS TO JOIN 1. GO TO CARDEALERCLUB.COM 2. HIT SUBSCRIBE

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Dragon2000’s dealer management system is one of the most versatile and easy-to-use products on the market. The software can help manage supplier and customer details, help you keep on top of your costs, and ensure that your business is running as smoothly and as profitably as possible. Car Dealer Club members are eligible for a 10 per cent discount on their first year of a Dragon2000 software subscription – and they get the free Vehicle Health Check app too.

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Dragon2000 CarDealerMag.co.uk | 71

DATA FILE.

Thestatistics

n

SMMT Sales Data

n

Taking Stock

After a mega-March, registrations decline dramatically in April Year-to-date figures are still up compared to last year, bank points out

T

he UK new car market experienced a significant decline in April, following exceptional growth the previous month.

Figures published by the SMMT show that 152,076 new cars were registered in April, a 19.8 per cent drop.

Demand was down across the board, with registrations by private buyers, businesses and large fleets falling 28.4 per cent, 21.0 per cent and 12.3 per cent respectively.

Petrol, diesel and alternativelyfuelled vehicle registrations also declined, with AFV demand down for the first time in 47 months, albeit by a marginal 1.3 per cent.

Despite the substantial falls in the month, the overall new car market remains strong in the year to date, with new registrations in the first four months up 1.1 per cent year-on-year to 972,092 – the highest level on record.

Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, pictured, said: ‘With the rush to register new cars and avoid VED tax rises before the end of March, as well as fewer selling days due to the later Easter,

April was always going to be much slower.

‘It’s important to note that the market remains at record levels as customers still see many benefits in purchasing a new car. We therefore expect demand to stabilise over the year as the turbulence created by these tax changes decreases.’

Chris Bosworth, director of strategy at Close Brothers Motor Finance, said: ‘The record-breaking golden period for new car registrations always had to come to an end at some point, and given the highly volatile economic climate, it’s not surprising the latest figures show a decrease in demand.

‘We expect the turbulent political landscape, rising inflation and its impact on consumer spending will

also hinder new car growth in the months ahead.’

Ian Gilmartin, head of retail and wholesale at Barclays, said: ‘A dip in new car registrations was anticipated by everyone in the industry following the duty changes introduced at the beginning of April.

‘That said, a 20 per cent fall is significant, and can’t be entirely attributed to the increase in VED. Consumers may be beginning to tighten the purse strings on large purchases given ongoing uncertainty in the wider economy, so, as has been predicted for some time, we’re probably now seeing some levelling-off in demand.

‘However, it’s important to keep these figures in perspective. As the year-to-date numbers are still up compared to 2016, with nearly a million cars registered already, April’s data shouldn’t cause undue concern.

‘The message sellers should take is to be on their guard and monitor sales patterns over the next quarter, but also recognise the unique circumstances that contributed to the weaker result.’

In sea of red figures, Seat is one of the few still green SEAT was one of the few manufacturers to record a positive sales result in April.

Against a backdrop of falling new car registrations, as reported above, the Spanish manufacturer bucked the trend with impressive growth of 12 per cent.

After an equally strong March performance which saw its UK subsidiary become its largest sales market globally for the first time, 72 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

Seat surged past several rivals, such as Honda and Mini, with 3,926 registrations, and closed the month within touching distance of both Land Rover and Renault. Overall, its performance represented an increase of 426 units compared to the same month in 2016 (3,500), while its market share increased from 1.85 per cent to 2.58 per cent. At the end of April, Seat’s UK

sales were up 22 per cent compared to the first four months of 2016.

On top of that, the brand also remained the second fastest-growing car brand, behind Jaguar, in the first four months of the year.

Richard Harrison, director, Seat UK, said: ‘Seat has real momentum and in the UK we’re really starting to realise the brand’s true potential.’

SMMT sales data Apr/year to date

5

Top

Most-improved manufacturers in April

Aston Martin +87% Lotus

+20%

Maserati +15% Seat +12% Mercedes +10%

5

Bottom

Worst-performing manufacturers in April Jeep -72% Infiniti -64% Subaru -54% DS -53% Fiat -49%

LEXUS -19%

SEAT +12%

Marque Abarth Alfa Romeo Aston Martin Audi Bentley BMW Chevrolet Citroen Dacia DS Fiat Ford Honda Hyundai Infiniti Jaguar Jeep Kia Land Rover Lexus Lotus Maserati Mazda McLaren Mercedes-Benz MG Mini Mitsubishi Nissan Peugeot Porsche Renault Seat Skoda smart SsangYong Subaru Suzuki Toyota Vauxhall Volkswagen Volvo Other British Other Imports Total

April 2017

2017

213 265 77 13,094 104 11,277 13 2,789 1,397 416 1,981 16,183 3,016 6,958 118 1,732 364 6,291 4,116 672 29 109 1,690 9 13,345 219 3,734 1,309 8,041 5,405 1,240 4,074 3,926 6,011 965 282 123 1,658 5,113 10,732 9,954 2,735 70 227 152,076

% market share 0.14 0.17 0.05 8.61 0.07 7.42 0.01 1.83 0.92 0.27 1.30 10.64 1.98 4.58 0.08 1.14 0.24 4.14 2.71 0.44 0.02 0.07 1.11 0.01 8.78 0.14 2.46 0.86 5.29 3.55 0.82 2.68 2.58 3.95 0.63 0.19 0.08 1.09 3.36 7.06 6.55 1.80 0.05 0.15

April 2016

2016

287 345 41 13,668 195 10,980 0 4,639 1,898 902 3,890 23,311 3,353 7,183 335 2,405 1,303 6,866 6,482 835 24 94 2,314 0 12,077 272 3,994 1,392 10,029 6,804 1,361 5,196 3,500 6,617 900 257 272 2,303 6,644 16,037 16,877 3,324 80 219 189,505

% market share 0.15 0.18 0.02 7.21 0.10 5.79 0.00 2.45 1.00 0.48 2.05 12.30 1.77 3.79 0.18 1.27 0.69 3.62 3.42 0.44 0.01 0.05 1.22 0.00 6.37 0.14 2.11 0.73 5.29 3.59 0.72 2.74 1.85 3.49 0.47 0.14 0.14 1.22 3.51 8.46 8.91 1.75 0.04 0.12

% change -25.78 -23.19 87.80 -4.20 -46.67 2.70 0.00 -39.88 -26.40 -53.88 -49.07 -30.58 -10.05 -3.13 -64.78 -27.98 -72.06 -8.37 -36.50 -19.52 20.83 15.96 -26.97 0.00 10.50 -19.49 -6.51 -5.96 -19.82 -20.56 -8.89 -21.59 12.17 -9.16 7.22 9.73 -54.78 -28.01 -23.04 -33.08 -41.02 -17.72 -12.50 3.65 -19.75

2017 1,514 1,984 722 60,874 685 60,758 31 21,136 9,603 3,627 19,558 120,707 20,787 34,814 1,403 14,866 3,126 35,996 33,855 4,566 117 749 16,859 146 68,182 1,284 21,001 6,413 61,391 33,798 4,977 29,200 20,708 28,333 4,182 1,641 1,055 15,609 40,152 77,465 69,732 16,317 245 1,924 972,092

Year-to-date (YTD) % market share 0.16 0.20 0.07 6.26 0.07 6.25 0.00 2.17 0.99 0.37 2.01 12.42 2.14 3.58 0.14 1.53 0.32 3.70 3.48 0.47 0.01 0.08 1.73 0.02 7.01 0.13 2.16 0.66 6.32 3.48 0.51 3.00 2.13 2.91 0.43 0.17 0.11 1.61 4.13 7.97 7.17 1.68 0.03 0.20

2016

1,314 1,953 315 61,048 653 57,475 3 25,993 9,351 6,186 22,555 117,208 23,062 32,551 859 11,085 5,049 31,028 30,600 5,172 111 421 19,505 0 59,316 1,264 20,172 7,977 53,872 37,795 4,687 29,155 16,890 27,039 3,737 1,640 1,257 13,848 37,432 91,069 74,320 14,832 249 1,237 961,285

% market share 0.14 0.20 0.03 6.35 0.07 5.98 0.00 2.70 0.97 0.64 2.35 12.19 2.40 3.39 0.09 1.15 0.53 3.23 3.18 0.54 0.01 0.04 2.03 0.00 6.17 0.13 2.10 0.83 5.60 3.93 0.49 3.03 1.76 2.81 0.39 0.17 0.13 1.44 3.89 9.47 7.73 1.54 0.03 0.13

% change 15.22 1.59 129.21 -0.29 4.90 5.71 933.33 -18.69 2.69 -41.37 -13.29 2.99 -9.86 6.95 63.33 34.11 -38.09 16.01 10.64 -11.72 5.41 77.91 -13.57 0.00 14.95 1.58 4.11 -19.61 13.96 -10.58 6.19 0.15 22.61 4.79 11.91 0.06 -16.07 12.72 7.27 -14.94 -6.17 10.01 -1.61 55.54 1.12

Figures supplied by SMMT

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 73

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74 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

MARKET INSIGHT.

..in association with ASE-global.com

A quiet month, yes, but it’s about to get busier...

April was rather uneventful but an upsurge in activity is coming, says Adam Cottam

A

pril was a quiet month across the listed motor retailers, with very little movement in share prices and no transactional activity.

The FTSE fell back slightly, possibly because of increased fears that the UK economy was slowing because of exchange-rate-led inflation.

Pendragon released a positive interim statement, outlining solid growth in their used business – something the company is looking to focus on in the short to medium term.

Share price performance There wasn’t much movement in UK car retailer share prices in April, whilst the FTSE 100 slipped back slightly. April registrations fell by 20 per cent on 2016’s which was the single biggest fall in six years, although many commentators believe this is at least partly due to the consumer bringing forward purchases to March to save money on VED. The feedback ASE have received is that the ‘bringing forward of purchases’ theory could be flawed as the consumer was largely unaware of the changes to legislation. Having said that,

Share price movement from January 3 to April 28, 2017

Share price movement from January 3 to March 31, 2017

Pendragon

112.0%

112.0%

Vertu

111.5%

112.6%

Lookers

110.9%

109.4%

Inchcape

121.7%

119.9%

Cambria

116.7%

120.0%

Caffyns

96.2%

96.2%

Marshall

128.3%

123.2%

we are aware of some proactive dealer groups pushing the message to the market to try to drive sales. During April, there was an increasing concern over the UK economy as there was a feeling the growth seen in recent months was slowing. Inflationary pressures stemming from the weakened pound were beginning to seep through as consumer spending data showed households were applying the brakes.

Financial performance Pendragon was the only group to make any financial announcements in April, releasing an interim statement for the first quarter of 2017.

The results showed underlying profit increased by 17 per cent in the period compared to 2016.

Like-for-like revenue rose by 10.4 per cent, with used up 23.3 per cent, showing the business is well under way with its strategy to grow its used operation.

Used profit grew by 16.5 per cent – a figure that demonstrated the growth in revenue was being converted to earnings.

The company is aiming to double its used car revenue by 2021 and has already increased its footprint by opening two new stores in the southwest with others on the way.

Transactional activity April was quiet in terms of activity but we are noticing an upsurge in activity now that Q1 is out of the way. A number of transactions are expected in the coming weeks and months to continue the growth in the market we have seen in recent years.

Who is Adam Cottam?

Adam is corporate finance executive at dealer profitability specialist ASE plc. You can read his column here every month.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 75

REAL DEALS.

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

Budget Bond – every bit an Aston Martin but no massive premium TRISTAN SHALE-HESTER takes a look at an underdog of the premium British marque – the DB7

A

ston Martin has a reputation for making cars that, while being sporty

and fun to drive, are almost uniquely refined and understated. That’s why it’s the marque of choice for your stereotypical movie spy – step forward James Bond.

Admittedly, 007 never drove a DB7 – one of which is being sold by a Scottish dealership. The closest it got was Rowan Atkinson in the first Johnny English film, where it was used in a very funny car chase with a hearse.

This may sound off-topic, but it’s actually hard to think of a better way to explain the DB7. The vast majority of Astons end up being remembered for one reason or another. The DB9 was an epic grand tourer, the DB5 was used by Bond while the DBR1 was a legend at Le Mans and other racing circuits.

However, despite having all the looks, performance and character one would expect of the brand, you don’t often hear reference to the DB7. It’s very much one of the forgotten Aston Martins – something of an underdog.

The DB7’s production ran from September 1994 to December 2004, during Ford’s ownership of

The pedigree sports car is a stunning shade of green

76 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

the company.

Its styling was based on the Jaguar XJ41 concept car and it was engineered in Kidlington, Oxfordshire. This example is available from Scottish Motor Services in Glasgow. It’s the Vantage version, meaning it has a 5.9-litre V12 engine, producing 420bhp and allowing for a 0-60mph time of 4.9 seconds.

It’s fitted with the five-speed Touchtronic automatic gearbox, so it has a top speed of 165mph. It has about 86,000 miles on the clock and is in total working order with a full service history. The pedigree sports cars is finished in the stunning shade of Buckinghamshire Green and the interior has been upholstered in cream sports leather with green piping.

Other features include 18-inch alloy wheels, reverse parking sensors and bi-xenon headlights.

The price for this high-powered and undeniably classy classic is £26,980. Now, that may not sound like a small amount of money at

first, but take a moment to think about it.

What we’re talking about here is a proper thoroughbred Aston Martin. It’s a typical British sports car, with a big, naturally aspirated engine in the front, rear-wheel drive and coated in a timeless hue of green paint.

Furthermore, we think the number of DB7s on the road will continually decrease as the model stays under the radar but, as we’ve seen with similar cars, people will suddenly remember how cool they are and demand will rise, pulling the value up with it.

For anyone looking for an affordable sports car that’s great fun and lets you stand out from the crowd without being too boisterous, the DB7 really is the perfect contender.

TAKING STOCK. Remarketing specialist BCA analyses its latest Pulse report to give its thoughts on matters that dealers need to consider in the months ahead

High volumes of stock mean that it’s a buyer’s market in the short term The headline average value rose above £9,000 for the first time on record in April, notes Simon Henstock, BCA’s chief operating officer for UK remarketing

A

verage used car values reached record levels at BCA in April as professional buyers continued to bid strongly on a wide range of stock. The headline average value reached a record figure for the third month running and conversion rates remained strong across the board. The headline average value rose above £9,000 for the first time on record, having climbed steadily during 2017.

Average values for fleet and lease stock also reached a new high point, with a similar record-breaking price performance achieved for dealer part-exchange vehicles. Values for nearly-new vehicles fell by just under one per cent.

At £9,090, April recorded the highest headline figure on record, rising by £240 (2.7 per cent) over the month. Year-on-year, average values rose by £935, equivalent to an 11.4 per cent uplift over the period – a result of good levels of demand and BCA offering a richer mix of stock with a lower age and mileage profile.

While seasonality is less of a factor than it used to be, we still see some slowing of trade as the summer months approach.

Post-Easter, potential retail customers often turn their attention to funding the imminent summer holiday, as a result postponing any change of vehicle to later in the year.

This naturally impacts in the wholesale sector as professional buyers are more likely to buy to order or simply fill gaps on the forecourt.

While BCA’s data shows average values are rising, much of this is driven by the high quality of stock we offer from the cream of the

fleet, leasing, finance and dealer sectors and webuyanycar.com vehicles.

We are seeing high volumes of stock reaching wholesale channels which means it is a buyer’s market in the short term.

Conversion rates are under pressure as a result, and it is critical to price vehicles correctly at the point of sale, The old adage of ‘best bid, first time offered’ is as true today as it has ever been and our data confirms that. Sellers find that it becomes increasingly difficult to sell on a second or third entry for sale if they do not adjust their reserve values to meet market expectations. It increases the time to sale and potentially results in higher holding costs for sellers as they chase the market down.

For the second month running, average

Average values in fleet and lease sector

£10,473

values in the fleet and lease sector rose to a record high, with a small month-on-month rise of just £18 establishing a new highpoint of £10,473. Retained value against original MRP (manufacturer’s retail price) fell slightly to 42.87 per cent, while year-on-year values were up significantly, rising by £574 (5.7 per cent), as both age and mileage continued to decline.

Dealer part-exchange values rose by £82 (1.7 per cent) to £4,676 in April, the highest point on record for PX vehicles at BCA. Longer-term values have been relatively stable, with year-onyear values ahead by £202 (4.5 per cent), with average age and mileage little changed over the period. Values for nearly-new vehicle values fell by just under one per cent to £18,028, with model mix having a major effect in this low-volume sector, as we always point out.

Dealer part exchange values

£4,676

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 77

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AUCTIONS.

Adesa leads with upstream defleet remarketing mobile technology. bit.ly/adesa-111

Henstock AUCTION STATIONS

Dealer Pro can help you enjoy summer success

A new look in Leeds Aston Barclay completes major refurbishment scheme

A

ston Barclay has completed a £500,000 investment in its Leeds centre, aligning its facilities with the rest of the group to enhance the experience for buyers and vendors.

Listening to the requirements of its customers, the independent vehicle auction group completed the renovation of its northernmost auction centre in early May, with a new, fully-branded auction hall and rostrum the main focus of the improvements to the five-acre site.

Martin Potter, group operations director, The same considerations are said: ‘The success and dedication of our displayed in the re-branded booking Leeds team, who always go the extra mile, hall and reception area, allowing has allowed us to invest heavily in the customers to keep abreast of all auction site, aligning it with our centres in Essex, activity across the group, while taking Shropshire and Wiltshire.’ advantage of free onsite parking, Completed in Aston Barclay’s green refurbished bathrooms, free wi-fi and a and black livery, the new auction hall soon-to-be-refurbished customer cafe. transforms the centre from a traditional The refurbishment also includes a new auction into a state-of-the-art centre vendor area, allowing sellers to keep upbefitting its award-winning status. to-date with their auction results, whilst Aston Barclay’s digital routes to market having easy, direct access to the Leeds are brought to the heart of the auction hall, management’s increasing levels of service. with increased screen sizes and improved ‘We look forward to welcoming new video feeds to Aston Barclay’s growing and existing fleet and dealer customers online buyer base. from across the UK, the north and the The re-brand has also allowed interior local area, to our state-of-the-art Leeds storage space for sale vehicles to be better centre, where they’ll continue to receive utilised, maximising stock turn and an unrivalled levelPage of personal customer Car dealer new strip ad 3/16 26/9/16 14:32 1 improving overall service levels. service,’ added Potter.

THE FLEET AUCTION GROUP - THE UK’S

N1 O

TRADE ONLY AUCTION

W

ith the summer months upon us, the market is moving into a period when demand eases and values remain relatively flat.

Families are thinking about paying for their summer holidays, and decisions on a new or replacement car are often made after the break.

So what might dealers focus on over the coming weeks?

It is important to re-appraise the stock you have on the forecourt and look at your pricing strategy. Be ruthless in pruning over-age stock, and keep a close eye on your partexchange line. Cash in these non-retail and over-age vehicles and invest the money in attractive new stock.

When business slows, it is important to identify the profit opportunities in part-exchange stock and this is where BCA’s Dealer Pro tools can help. Dealer Pro is an online and iPad tool, designed to help dealerships control and manage vehicle appraisals, provide accurate valuations and profitably manage their part-exchange inventory and vehicle disposals – and, as a result, sell more vehicles.

The system has been adopted by many of the UK’s leading dealer groups and has transformed the handling of partexchange appraisals and valuations. Incoming part-exchange vehicles can be processed fluidly, and allocated to retail or trade. The system can integrate with existing processes, is auditable, transparent and doesn’t rely on any subjectivity.

Group functionality means every incoming vehicle can be seen by every part of the business. Should another dealership within the group spot a car that has been uploaded to Dealer Pro, it can get in touch and offer a deal – all in real time. This means that while the customer is still in the building, two deals can take place. The customer gets a fair price for their car, and another dealership benefits from being able to purchase the vehicle.

Maximise your profit opportunities by making the most of your PX vehicles. It’s one sure way to beat the summer slowdown!

Who is Simon Henstock? ‚

He is BCA UK s chief operating officer for remarketing. Visit bca.co.uk or call 0845 600 6644.

Purpose built 12 acre auction complex Central UK location Fixed cost buyers premium Fleet Car Sales every Monday & Thursday at 10am Collection of vehicles 24 hours a day, 7 days a week Excellent variety of weekly stock from premium sources Regular Top Car Sales. Vans, Truck & Plant every week Enclosed and heated auction halls and viewing area All new website & stock locator. On-line bidding The UK’s finest auction restaurant Call for account application

The Fleet Auction Group Ltd., Stephenson Industrial Estate, Coalville, Leicestershire LE67 3HG Telephone: 01530 833535 Email: info@fleetauctiongroup.com www.fleetauctiongroup.com CarDealerMag.co.uk | 79

80 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

RECRUITMENT.

Senior management changes at Fiat Chrysler

SUBARU

Structure ‘now aligned with needs of customers and dealers’

F

iat Chrysler Automobiles UK has had a shake-up of its senior management team with immediate effect.

Alejandro Noriega has been appointed country manager at Fiat and Abarth, and will oversee retail sales and marketing for the two brands. He was previously head of the Fiat Professional brand and his experience and track record in commercial vehicles equips him well to take on Fiat and Abarth.

Richard Chamberlain is the new Fiat Professional country manager, responsible for all business activities of FCA’s award-winning commercial vehicle division. He joined FCA in November 2016 from Renault Trucks, and has experience at both OEM level and dealer retail, having also worked for Inchcape Mercedes as national corporate manager.

Lee Titchner has been appointed network development director, responsible for FCA dealers across the UK and Ireland. He moves from his previous role as head of FCA UK’s Mopar division

– the reference brand in charge of customer care, services, accessories and spare parts – to oversee the dealer network.

Sebastiano Fedrigo has been named as the new Mopar service, parts and customer care director.

He previously headed up the Fiat and Abarth brands in the UK and Ireland, and will now use his car and commercial experience to expand Mopar in this country.

Previously country manager for Jeep/Alfa Romeo, Damien Dally has moved to a role at FCA HQ in Turin. The identity of his replacement has yet to be announced.

Ashley Andrew, managing director of FCA UK, said: ‘I am delighted that the new structure of the company is now aligned with the needs of both our customers and dealer partners.

‘We have the right people heading up these particular departments, with great teams in support, totally focused on the growth of FCA in the UK and Ireland. I am confident FCA will continue to grow and succeed.’

New operations director WILLIAM Brown has been appointed to the position of operations director at Subaru with immediate effect. Brown is currently operations director for Isuzu UK, and the new position will add responsibility for Subaru’s sales strategy to his existing role.

He said: ‘I’m delighted to be appointed operations director at Subaru and look forward to bringing my experience with Isuzu to the role and growing the franchise.’

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The monthly magazine for garage professionals For advertising and subscription inquiries contact Jon Hickey Sales manager j.hickey@blackballmedia.co.uk Tom Adams Account manager tom.adams@blackballmedia.co.uk

Or call 023 9252 2434

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@workshopmag

workshopmagazine.co.uk

KEY NOTES.

..in association with Traka

Commuting’s too costly! ... and not just in terms of the time we spend on our crowded roads, says Paul Smith

F

orgive me in advance if this sounds like a personal rant. To some degree it is, but the issue is one with real implications and enormous costs to individuals and society as a whole.

It came as some surprise immediately after Easter to find Theresa May had decided to call a snap general election. My fear is that this election is more about strengthening her power-base in the Conservative Party than addressing the problems that face this country.

To solve one of the most pressing issues we have at the moment, I would like to see increased investment in transport infrastructure to get the country moving better. Here’s why…

One of our most significant problems is the prolonged lack of investment in road and rail infrastructure as the demands on it have continued to rise exponentially with population growth and changes in the labour market.

This problem is particularly acute where I live and work in the south-east, where we are seeing the lengths of commutes to and from work, whether by road or rail, rising at an alarming rate.

The number of UK workers who commute daily for two hours or more has increased by a third in just five years, according to research carried out by the Trades Union Congress (TUC). That’s 3.7m, or one in seven, UK workers spending at least two hours per day travelling to and from work in late 2016, up 900,000 from 2015.

The TUC believes that the reason a rapidly increasing number of workers are putting themselves through lengthier commutes is that they are being priced out of housing near their places of work.

But for others like me, commuting routinely some 70 miles – 25 miles of which is on the M25 – the problem is more about investment in road

infrastructure or the lack thereof, married with sheer volumes of traffic.

Another recent survey I read, this time from online investment manager Nutmeg, put a ‘lifetime value’ on the cost of the daily commute in hours and cash terms. For those commuting in and around London it’s a staggering 13,097 hours wasted or 18 months of a London commuter’s life, costing each of them an estimated £66,407.

The wasted hours and cash spent (either in terms of rail tickets, fuel burnt or wear and tear incurred) is at epidemic proportions.

There is lots of talk about the need for Brits to increase our individual productivity levels.

Surely the government could do worse than help us commuters reduce the wasted time spent getting to and from work by investing more heavily in our transport infrastructure?

The largest ‘bugbear’, for commuters who drive to work is, not unsurprisingly, traffic congestion.

A third (32 per cent) said that this was the biggest problem, closely followed by miscellaneous delays (30 per cent), dangerous or bad drivers (27 per cent), journey lengths (17 per cent) and overcrowding (also 17 per cent).

That poll coincides with research from used car website Motors.co.uk which confirmed that

more than two thirds of drivers would happily take a pay cut to work locally in a bid to cut the cost of their commute.

Many proposals have been put forward for addressing motorway congestion over the last 15 years – all of which have been shelved.

Most recently, there have been suggestions that the M25 could become a double- or even triple-decker motorway with tunnels and flyovers relieving the most heavily overcrowded sections.

Highways England is also considering upgrading the rail network to try to keep people off the M25 by constructing a 35-mile high-speed railway line between Heathrow and Gatwick airports, and a direct rail link between the west coast mainline and west London. But none of the ideas are being taken to the next level in any hurry. It seems that more and more of us are doomed to longer and longer commutes.

My view is that the issue could be solved if we got some of the UK’s brightest transport minds on it and fast-tracked investment into the best ideas.

Or should we embrace the idea of the motorway autonomous vehicle lane and accelerate investment in autonomous vehicle technology so driverless cars can be adopted more quickly?

Right now, we can anticipate fully driverless vehicles to be on the road in numbers as early as 2021. A large proportion of congestion incidents on our busiest roads are caused by driver error or vehicle mechanical failure.

Once autonomous vehicles are fool-proof and have dedicated lanes assigned to them, we can but hope that their presence will reduce both driver error and mechanical failure-driven incidents and therefore commute times.

At the very least, we will have the option to let the autonomous car ‘take the strain’ rather than that overcrowded commuter train.

Who is Paul Smith?

Paul Smith heads Traka Automotive, part of the ASSA Abloy Group brand Traka. ASSA Abloy bought the electronic key management software provider eTag Solutions, which was founded by him. Traka is a leader in intelligent access control, key management control solutions and keyless electronic lockers.

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CarDealerMag.co.uk | 83 15/12/2016 09:56

DATA FILE.

James Litton

TRADER TALES

Poor repairs could be a matter of life or death

W

hen you go to the supermarket or butcher to buy meat, thinking of how it got there is not something that sane carnivores like to consider. The body and paint world is a bit like that for me. I know there are places that fix cars and return them, but I seldom think about what happens in a body shop.

I do know that there have been developments in the world of SMART repair. The men and women with a van who used to paint your stock around the back are a dying breed.

Today, many dealer groups have invested in small ovens which are designed to both quicken used car preparation and make the job more professional.

A recent trade communication has made me sit up and take notice of the future. As we move to a world of autonomous electric vehicles, repairing accident-damaged cars with radar technology is fraught with legal implications for insurers and repairers alike.

You will be aware that collisionprevention technology is standard on many vehicles today, and radaroperated cruise control has been available on many prestige models for years. However, what you may not know is the impact of poor bumper repairs can compromise the ability of the car to react and therefore undermine this amazing technology.

Insurance companies are insisting that body repairers replace defective bumpers in cases where important radar sensors are located either in or close to the bumper. The implication for an insurer for a vehicle poorly repaired on their instruction is clear. Used car preparation will become a lot more expensive if bumpers are routinely replaced as opposed to repaired.

We could be set for an MOT which has radar effectiveness built into the test. If the radar is not working within a certain tolerance, the cost of sensors and replacement bumpers could eclipse the cost of more traditional MOT failures.

The big challenge for us all is vehicle provenance and inconsistency of approach by various repairers.

How can you buy used car stock or take a vehicle in partexchange without the fear of it having had a poor repair?

There is not a national log of vehicle repairs except those already in existence and perhaps this should change.

I am not convinced that manufacturers follow correct repair methods on their own management fleets, so it is very possible that some dealers will behave correctly and some will not. How is this enforced and managed?

Having discussed this issue with a colleague, our scary conclusion was that it could take a motorist to die before many take this subject seriously.

‘It’s possible that some dealers will behave correctly and some will not.’

Who is James Litton?

James is general manager – director of Volvo Cars Poole. He always has something to say about the industry he loves.

84 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

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We took our revenge on a noisy colleague

I

used to work with a really annoying chap at a dealership a few years ago. His name was Steve but we renamed him Russell... well, really, we meant ‘Rustle’.

The reason for that was that he ate lots of noisy food during the working day – and it used to get on our nerves. Big time. First thing in the morning he’d kick off with a couple of cereal bars, wrapped in the noisiest packaging known to man.

Then he’d move onto some crisps (again pretty deafening) and after that, he’d tuck into some homemade sandwiches wrapped in rattly tin foil.

And don’t get me started on the poppadoms. Once a week, he’d nip to the local Indian takeaway and return with at least four or five in a brown paper bag. Crunch, crunch, crunch! Anyway, there came a time when Rustle was due to take a holiday, and we were all looking forward to a bit of peace and quiet at work.

It really was a lovely couple of weeks at the showroom. We were all getting used to the blissful silence.

Then Rustle returned. And it was worse than ever. He had bought back some sweets from holiday and, you guessed it, they were encased in annoyingly noisy packaging.

We were convinced he had done it deliberately and felt mightily fed up. Rustle didn’t care though, he just sat there, chomping, crunching and chewing to his heart’s content. That’s when myself and a colleague hatched a cunning plan (to nick a phrase from Blackadder) to get a bit of revenge.

We’d noticed that Rustle was the only one tucking into these post-holiday sweets so we issued a warning to all our other colleagues to continue to stay away from them.

Then, one afternoon when he’d gone to the local shop for some popcorn (more bloody rustling) we carefully swapped some of the sweets for laxative tablets, confident that in his haste to tuck in he wouldn’t really notice. All the sweets were different, random colours so we were pretty confident our prank would work.

Indeed it did. Shortly after sampling a couple of treats from the post-holiday tin of delights the following day, Rustle could be seen sprinting to the gents.

Our revenge was sweet (well, several sweets actually...)

‘Anyway, there came a time when Rustle was due to take a holiday.’

Tell us your story

Have you something to confess? We’d love to hear your tale of woe. Email our head of news and features (you can find her details on page three) or post them on our forum – simply type cardealermagazine.co.uk/forum into a web browser and get confessing!

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 85

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LONG-TERMERS. LATEST FROM THE FLEET...

Citroen C3 We enjoy the full handover experience when we go to collect ‘our’ new Citroen C3

by DARREN CASSEY @DCassey

W

e’ll be living with a new Citroen C3 for the foreseeable future, so to mark its arrival we collected it from Richmond Citroen in Portsmouth for the full handover experience.

First impressions are great. The large, glasssided building – which is half-Citroen and DS, half-Hyundai – is modern and airy. I’m greeted by a friendly receptionist who offers me a drink and ushers me towards a coffee shop incorporated into the dealership.

While I sip a latte and wait for our photographer to arrive, it strikes me just how important an excellent dealership experience is. Buying a new car is often the second biggest expense for a person after a house, and as a family turns up with kids giddy with excitement this point becomes clear.

The wait for the snapper lets me cast a sneaky eye over the dealership, which is quietly buzzing with activity. A gentleman waits in the coffee shop with his young, impatient son. A mechanic walks out of the service bays behind the dealership to explain that the minor issue with his car was taking a little longer than expected to fix – he was totally polite and it put the customer at ease. So far, so impressive.

With the photographer ready to shoot our every move, I join a chap called Tim who talks new customers through everything there is to know about their new purchase.

We stroll over to a C3-shaped car draped in cloth and together pull the cover back to reveal the funky hatchback that is our new Citroen.

All customers get to do this, and it’s certainly a welcome act of theatre for such an expensive buy.

Tim walks us around the exterior of the car. It’s painted Polar White, which offsets nicely with the black Airbumps down the side. Style-wise it’s a huge improvement over the old car.

We jump inside and all the gadgets and gizmos are explained – we tether my phone to the infotainment system and Tim explains how the integrated Connected-Cam dashcam works.

Now admittedly, the C3 isn’t exactly brimming with technological wonders that require hours of explanation, but it’s a welcome step to ensure that we know exactly how our car works.

After a brief chat, we’re both happy that

Senior sales executive Tim Symon hands over the keys of the Citroen to a delighted Darren

THE KNOWLEDGE Model: Citroen C3 Flair Price: £17,555 (with options) Engine: 1.2-litre petrol Power: 109bhp Torque: 205Nm Max speed: 117mph 0-60mph: 9.1 seconds MPG (combined): 61.4mph Emissions: 103g/km Mileage: 6,278 THIS MONTH’S HIGHLIGHT We now know our C3 like the back of our hand.

Early impressions have been positive, too. everything’s been explained and let Tim return to work. Then it’s back to the coffee shop to take advantage of the free wi-fi and another dose of caffeine. Well, it almost feels rude not to...

Darren is shown the ins and outs of the C3 Flair CarDealerMag.co.uk | 87

LONG-TERMERS. LATEST FROM THE FLEET...

Audi A6 Our Audi A6 Avant is already clocking up the miles after a mammoth trip to the Alps

by JAMES BAGGOTT @CarDealerEd

A

s baptisms of fire go, the Audi A6’s arrival on our fleet has certainly been leaning towards the inferno end of the scale. No sooner had it arrived in the office car park than it was heading straight back out again on a 1,500-mile, pan-European jaunt to catch the last of the ski season in the Alps.

Our relationship was definitely in its infancy when I pointed KX17 YVY towards the Chunnel – in fact, the Gotland Green Avant still had fewer than 200 miles on the clock – but I thought what better way to get to know ‘my’ new car than a 13hour trip to the mountains?

Crossing France is never the most exciting of journeys, but the many miles of monotonous motorway gave me the perfect opportunity to get used to two of the Audi’s stand-out features.

Its lane assist steering was the first. Once it’s ‘seen’ the lines on the road, a green road illuminates on the dash that helps keep you in the middle of the lane, actively adjusting the wheel for you. It’s a little strange when the system first tugs you gently around a bend, and even now, some 3,000 miles into ownership, it doesn’t feel any less unusual. I’m undecided as to whether I like it or not.

When teamed with the car’s radar-controlled cruise control, though, it does help make for a relaxing drive. Once you’ve set your speed, it’ll slow down and speed up as traffic pulls out and back in front of you. It’s really rather good, and on the French autoroutes, where traffic is a distant memory, it helps make long journeys far more bearable – so much so that you can let your mind wander to more pressing matters, such as why hasn’t Costa expanded into France?

In a little over two months the Audi’s cavernous 565-litre boot has been called into action on several occasions. It easily swallowed three people’s ski gear, countless ‘big shops’ and many a Doberman and French Bulldog combo, while the brilliantly designed snowboard rack meant interior space wasn’t swallowed up with my ‘tea tray’ on our trip to the Alps.

Compared with the Q7 I ran before it, there’s a distinct reduction in rear seat space and comfort over the off-roader, though – its reclining seats and superior legroom are missed in the A6.

88 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

The A6’s looks have drawn many an admiring comment and its boot has a phenomenal capacity I’ve got used to the fact the estate is running slightly older multimedia software to the Q7 – it’s perfectly functional, reliable and easy to use, but I do miss the digital dashboard. The A6’s small digital screen, nestled between the two analogue dials, is a boon but nowhere near as good as the full TFT option on more modern Audis.

Other gripes? Well, if I’m being fussy, the S-tronic automatic gearbox can be a little sluggish on start-up and sometimes a little too hesitant at roundabouts when you’re after a quick getaway, while the stop-start system can be a little aggressive, cutting in a few metres before you come to a complete stop, which is annoying.

That aside, the 3.0-litre TDI engine is a joy – pulling strongly throughout the rev range and feeling noticeably faster than the Q7, a car that featured exactly the same 268bhp unit. Sadly, the economy isn’t living up to the claimed 53.3mpg combined figure quoted by Audi. If I’m lucky I’ll get 31mpg, which is pretty poor.

On my long trips one thing has become startlingly apparent – just how comfortable and accomplished the A6 is at soaking up massive mileage. After 13 hours each way to the Alps and back, my passengers and I got out feeling just as refreshed as when we got in. The optional sports seats are superb and the driving position near-perfect, aided no doubt by its plethora of adjustable options.

The Avant has also won many admiring glances from passers-by – and when I’ve posted pictures of it on social media, the menacing looks have attracted a fair few comments, all of which have been very positive.

Sadly, the front passenger door picked up a nasty gouge under the handle while parked at Heathrow. I’m still grumbling at the lack of respect people have for other cars, and rueing the tiny parking spaces we have to squeeze into these days. I’m going to try to get the blemish repaired – the mere thought of a mark on the Matrix-style green paintwork makes me sob a little inside.

THE KNOWLEDGE Model: Audi A6 Avant Black Edition S tronic Price: £63,045 (with options) Engine: 3.0-litre, TDI Power: 268bhp Max speed: 155mph 0-60mph: 5.5 seconds Emissions: 138g/km MPG (combined): 53.3 Mileage: 4,270 THIS MONTH’S HIGHLIGHT Effortlessly swallowing up the miles to the Alps and back, with everyone staying refreshed.

REST OF THE FLEET

Skoda Superb Mileage: 13,070 With its gigantic 660-litre boot, the Superb has been a trusty load-lugging companion for the video team on a number of shoots. However, its overeager stop/start function is becoming annoying.

Lexus NX300h Hybrid power is put to the test in the Lexus NX300h after selfdoubt creeps in over driving style

by REBECCA CHAPLIN @believebecca

H

ybrid power does suggest to most people that they’ll be saving the earth and their pocket at the same time.

The words ‘Toyota Prius’ are synonymous with eco-friendly, hybrid-powered living. If you live with a hybrid though, particularly one such as this with four-wheel drive and a hefty weight of more than 1,700kg, you’ll soon realise this isn’t necessarily the case.

I’d been driving around for a month or so when I started to think that something must be seriously wrong with my driving style.

That’s because in the manual for the Lexus NX300h it boasts an average of no less than 50mpg in all driving conditions. However, I was barely getting more than 30.

As I didn’t need to do any long drives for the next week, I decided I would stick the NX in ‘eco’ mode and drive as carefully as I could.

I live less than a mile from the office, so walking would be my usual form of transport in the morning. However, with this car able to stay in pure electric mode up to speeds of around 40mph, I reasoned that I shouldn’t need to use much more petrol than I usually do.

The great thing about plug-in hybrids is that as long as you keep them charged up at home, you could do most of your around-town driving on the electric motors. However, in the NX you

need your petrol motor to recharge the batteries, and it’ll only drive for around two miles on pure electric power before they cut in.

The NX struggles to remain in electric mode when pulling away – although you would think this would be ideal – but it’s still responsive.

There’s plenty of torque, too, even at low speeds.

Even with my very best efforts, though, I couldn’t better 35mpg from the Lexus. However, with a large tank the Lexus NX will do around 400 miles before you need to fill up again.

With changes to vehicle excise duty, taxing a new Lexus NX300h will increase from £115 to £160 for the first year, dropping to £150 from year two. However, at £38,890 for this topspecification car, you’ll just dodge the extra surcharge for cars over £40,000!

Volvo S90

Seat Ibiza Cupra

Mazda MX-5 RF

Mileage: 5,988

Mileage: 8,250

Mileage: 5,216

A puncture gave us the perfect opportunity to push our car’s hope-you-never-have-to-use Volvo On Call button and we were impressed by the speedy and super-helpful assistance.

Fast, exciting and relatively practical, the little Cupra has been outstanding. However, its time with us is at an end and it’s being replaced by something a bit more grown-up – the Ateca SUV.

With its ingenious folding roof mechanism, stunning good looks and sheer driveability, this is a car that provides enjoyment with a capital E. It really does deliver on every level.

All the 3s for the fuel economy – so, nowhere near the much-vaunted 50mpg-plus then

THE KNOWLEDGE Model: Price: Engine: Power: Max speed: 0-60mph: Emissions: MPG (combined): Mileage:

Lexus NX300h £38,890 2.5-litre petrol hybrid 141bhp, 210Nm 112mph 9.0 seconds 119g/km 54.3 6,196

THIS MONTH’S HIGHLIGHT If only. It was impossible to achieve anything approaching a decent fuel economy.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 89

BAGGOTT.

Have you got our FREE iPad app? Download it here bit.ly/CDMiPad

I’d like a man cave full of classics... with some tough tests for buyers

S

aturday mornings used to be spent whiling away the hours at my brother’s car dealerships.

He worked at several sites across the south – all used car dealers, which varied in size, shape and stock. There was the small one tucked away in a petrol station car park, where the constant thrum of the tyre pressure machine would rattle the mobile-home-cum-office every 15 minutes or so. Then there was the one owned by the travelling community – the front of the pitch covered in mildly priced, auction-sourced used car fodder, the rear littered with caravans in various states of disrepair.

My favourite, though, was the larger site he ran on the main road into Gosport. A former petrol station, the owner had bought the whole place, pumps and all, and covered it in cars.

At one stage it had more than 100, from the rotten ones in Crappy Corner, to the convertibles and eye-catchers stuck out on the grass in front.

I used to love wasting away my weekends, eating McDonald’s, drinking the lukewarm brown liquid that pretended to be coffee from the machine, and people-watching as my brother sorted the ‘time-wasters’ from ‘buyers’ before even bothering to leave the warmth of his office.

I’ve always fancied having my own car site. I went the other way and started up this magazine, but the yearning to sell cars, motors that I love, and to sell them in my own way is still strong. Perhaps one day I’ll do it – but when I do, I want it done my way and for my own reasons.

So what would I sell? Well, those of you who follow my tweets or rants on these pages will probably know I have a couple of ’80s hot hatches. The first is a Ford Fiesta XR2 – E-reg – and the second a Peugeot 205 GTi 1.9 – J-reg – which was lovingly restored for me by someone who knew what they were doing. So my stock would be ’80s and ’90s hot hatches.

Cars such as the VW Golf GTI, Fiat Uno Turbo, 205, Citroen Saxo VTR and VTS, Peugeot 106 GTI, 106 Rallye, maybe even, if I’m really desperate, the odd Nova GTE. There’s certainly a burgeoning market for cars like these.

People like me, who fondly remember them clogging up the local car parks doing burn-outs, want to own them again.

They may have had one – filled the parcel shelf with speakers and the boot with a subwoofer that could shake the foundations of a house – and then driven them far too fast around local roundabouts. And who doesn’t want to do that again?

I’d display them in a beautiful barn. Wood floors and lots of light, all of them polished to within an inch of

Who is James Baggott?

their lives. They’d be shining examples of these classics and priced accordingly.

I’d have a wonderful website to show them off – filled with professional pictures: glossy, artistic and desirable. Viewing would be by appointment and then only when I’d worked out whether a potential buyer was fit to own one of my classics.

I struggle to part with things, you see, so not only would they have to be prepared to pay my highly inflated prices, they’d also have to pass my Not-A-Tool Test. Tyre kicking, sucking through teeth upon opening bonnets, elbows out of windows or any form of trainers would see said customer asked politely to leave.

My car dealership – which I’m thinking now would be more of a church for classics – would be a place of reflection, for admiring these mostly square and boxy beauties.

There’d be the odd Cosworth in there too, Escort obviously,

James Baggott ‘The yearning to sell AGAINST OUR BETTER JUDGMENT, WE GIVE OUR CEO THE LAST WORD EACH MONTH

cars, motors that I love, is still strong’

and a few RS Turbos. Love those. I’d be a studious buyer – looking for the cars I could restore (with the help of some experts) and with provenance being key. I’d want them to have either been fastidiously looked after or left to rot for 20 years – one extreme or the other. The latter meaning I could restore them and do it properly.

My barn would have a relaxation area – comfy sofas, decent wi-fi and a really good coffee machine. There’d be a Sega Rally arcade game in the corner, a drone racing area, a pool table (naturally) and a bar for when customers just want to sit back and take in the ambience of musty metal.

Yes, I know my business plan has more holes in it than an Alfa Romeo Arna (my first car, if you were interested), but this wouldn’t really be a business. You see, I wouldn’t want to sell any of the cars anyway, merely add to my collection. The barn would be more man cave than car dealership – a place to spend time with motors I grew up with and chill out with friends. If I’m honest, I probably wouldn’t even answer the phone.

It would all be simply an elaborate way of buying all the cars I’ve always wanted to – which, as my brother taught me all those years ago, is the only real reason anyone would want to run a car dealership.

He’s the founder of Car Dealer Magazine and chief executive officer of parent company @BaizeGroup, an automotive services provider. He now spends most of his time on Twitter @CarDealerEd and annoying the rest of us.

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0115 946 6370 enquiries@frfl.co.uk www.firstesponsefinance.co.uk

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