Car Dealer Magazine: Issue 112

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FEATURES EDITOR Jack Evans

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

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we’re sending this WELCOME. AS magazine to print, the election results have arrived and it seems our country will be going through another painful time, with our leadership regime having aimed for strong and stable but instead getting coalition chaos.

If we’ve learnt anything over the past 12 months, it’s that basically nothing is predictable when it comes to politics, so I won’t be passing any more comment.

Jon Reay and I can sympathise when it comes to those local MPs who went doorknocking in the run-up to the election, as we decided to go and visit as many dealers as we could in one week around the same time.

All that we’d wanted to do was to meet the dealers quickly, whether we’d known them before or not, to help us compile a fun feature. In one sense we definitely succeeded, but you can turn to page 98 to find out exactly how the trip panned out.

We’ve been exceptionally busy as CDX17 finally arrived at Silverstone on May 23 and all our months of planning for it finally became reality.

Hopefully you were able to join us, but if not we have all of the event coverage from pages 32 to 85.

Needless to say, my idea of being out of the office for a week to visit 26 dealers paired with all of us heading to CDX for a few days, followed by the biggest issue we’ve produced all year has been a recipe for maximum stress for the entire team. Those smiling faces you see on the left of this page are looking quite a bit wearier today!

Hopefully it’s all been worth it and you’ll agree that our pain is your gain.

I’ve got to admit that on the day I didn’t take in a lot of what was going on away from the Live Stage, which is a bugbear for me every year. When I finally got a chance to

read back what had taken place I was absolutely astounded and inspired.

The content of our workshops and keynotes has given me so many ideas for world domination, and I hope you felt the same too.

We’re keen to hear what you thought of the day too. If you attended CDX17 you should have had an email asking for your feedback – and one person will be selected at random to win a case of wine!

This month our writers have continued to travel the world to try out the newest cars on the market first.

Darren Cassey has been driving the Lamborghini Huracan Performante as well as the Volvo XC60 and Jack Evans has been behind the wheel of the BMW 5 Series.

You can read all about what they thought of them, plus what effect the car manufacturers think their new products will make to sales, from pages 90 to 95. There are plenty of new cars coming to market and we’ll be bringing you lots of news on that front in the next issue.

Our newest feature ‘So you wanna be a car dealer?’ is back again, and this month Dan Read has been looking at finding your forecourt. There’s plenty of information on the best options for your business plus opinions from hardworking car dealers, which you’ll find on pages 18 and 19.

There’ll be even more newness to come next issue so watch this space, but for now I hope you enjoy the edition that you’re currently holding!

Rebecca Chaplin Head of News and Features

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 03

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32

INSIDE. ISSUE 112 I JULY 2017

Dashboard

06 Record revenues at JCT600 10 Nissan X-Trail upgraded 12 Around the UK 14 Rebecca Chaplin 23 Around the World 24 Finance 26 Big Mike 31 CDX17 coverage starts 32 Feedback

More than 50 pages of coverage of our awesome automotive expo

127

Our Jack welcomes a new long-termer to the fleet

18

116

‘‘

Forecourt Lamborghini Huracan Performante A stylish Saab for sale in ‘Real Deals’

Silverstone served a purpose for CDX, but the time has come to move on.

Part three of our great new series... how should you choose a site for your business?

James Baggott

130

BMW 5 Series Touring Volvo XC60

Feature A-Z Dealer Challenge

Focus on The power of Promesso coffee

Data File

Car Dealer Club The Statistics Market Insight Taking Stock Auctions

Key Notes with Traka

92

Suppliers Guide Long-termers Why we predict BMW will exceed its sales expectations with the new 5 Series Touring – and why diesel is still so important for the brand

James Baggott

90 92 94 98

108 110 112 115 117 119 123 124 127 130

OUR EVENTS...

As voted for by dealers, Car Dealer Power is unique. Voting has now closed for 2017 – but our awards night is approaching!

It takes place on July 6.

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.

The UK’s biggest and best automotive trade expo features the Live Stage, breakout sessions, workshops and much more. Full coverage of this year’s event starts on page 32.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 05

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

Our website at CarDealerMag.co.uk

On Twitter Follow @CarDealerMag

Forum CarDealerMagazine.co.uk/forum

Are there any pitfalls with courtesy cars?

WE currently do not offer a courtesy car but would like to. There’s nothing worse than a purchased car going wrong a week down the line and not having a vehicle to stick the customer in to ease some of the pain. The garage we use for repairs does not offer one either. I’m aware that we don’t have an obligation to offer one but it would make life easier. So my question is, from your experience, what are the problems, pitfalls and issues before we commit? grant8064 We have always had three courtesy cars to keep our punters happy (we stock about 50/60 cars and hopefully do 8/10 per week). We do a fair bit of aftersales servicing/repairs etc so they are not just used for warranty work. We could not manage life without them as it keeps everyone happy. We usually source our courtesy cars from BCA over the winter time when prices are a bit lower. We don’t have anything fancy – just some three- to four-year-old smallish cars which we put on our trader’s policy. peter..o If you are going to do it, you have to do it right; there are pitfalls. You cannot just give somebody a car and tell them it is on their insurance. We did that years ago and the punter bent the car.

It was inspected and found to have a defective handbrake. We were liable. Another fine mess to get out of. You need to have an insurance policy allowing you to lend out cars and they have to be right. Then you have to get the punter to sign an appropriate permission form before they go. trade vet Thanks for the input! I agree with trade vet about insurance. My first reason for considering it now is that we are likely to expand quite soon so will be doing more volume, hopefully, and therefore have more sold cars back in the garage. Secondly, our trade insurance is up soon so we can renegotiate our terms to include it.

I was considering an old-shape 06/07 C-MAX because it would suit most people. It’s big enough for people that buy a car for work, and

CDX17 top tweets We had a great time at #CDX17 – thank you to those delegates that visited our stand. #automotive #uk #business iDealFILE @iDealFile Well done to all our clients who made the Social Media 200 list! @CarDealerMag Holt Recruitment @HoltRecruitment Delighted to see Beth Constantine scoop inaugural #CDX17 Woman of the Year Award.

FOXY Steph @foxysteph 06 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

Picture of the month We’re well into multi-tasking at Car Dealer Towers. After we’d written about CDX in advance online and in print, hosted the event and welcomed delegates from all over the UK, it was time to pack up and go home. Here, Rebecca, Jack Evans and Jack Healy are taking down the huge welcome banner that adorned one of the mezzanines at Silverstone and greeted people as they arrived at the event. Then it was time to head back to our base on the South Coast where we got cracking on the work needed to bring you this edition of your favourite magazine.

has three individual seats in the rear for families.

Given our stock profile, a Ford is a good midrange car too, so it won’t feel too disappointing to be given. To those doing it already... would you recommend just a valid MOT and recent service, or is there a more stringent maintenance schedule needed as it’s being lent out to Joe Public without a day-old PDI? grant8064 Most insurance companies allow use of a courtesy car for up to seven days whilst theirs is being repaired. I use a courtesy car and although it rarely gets used, it’s there if you need it. A fivedoor Toyota Aygo is plenty for most and £20 tax.

Tom

It’s a baffling business to be in I’ve been a home trader for four years now.

We currently have six cars for sale. Not popular ones like Corsa, Focus, etc, but a couple of 4x4s, a GTC etc. The first three years were good, things kept going up and up. But since late 2016, it’s got worse and worse. The phone barely rings, and when it does, it doesn’t amount to much. When we’ve sold our personal cars, it seems that the

phone rings more. Costs keep going out, and not much is coming in. We don’t offer finance, and we’re not looking for a pitch.

I’d love to be able to relist our cars privately and see if the phone would ring. They’re all priced very well and are good cars.

If and when we have some spare capital and try to buy a car, auction prices are way above retail prices, and have been for a while now. I’m baffled as to how some dealers can sell at such expensive prices, when ours are priced so low and won’t shift. Any opinions would be appreciated.

Starting to feel unemployed at this rate. tradegirl It’s not easy to reach out and ask for help so well done for trying. It is crucial to adapt and move quickly as this industry is changing massively.

I am a relative newcomer and it’s changed hugely even over the past three years.

It’s hard to keep on top of it. Essentially, you can’t just be a car salesman, you have to be a marketer, accountant, lawyer, mechanic and buyer and do everything well.

My advice to you would be to evaluate your business as critically as possible as there are always areas we can improve on. Put yourself in a customer’s shoes and see what they see when searching for you online. Why should they buy from you rather than someone else?

The biggest selling point I think my business has over others is our online reviews. They bring customers to us time and time again.

RoryRSC In my opinion, one of the downsides of being a home trader is that a proportion of punters just feel more confident buying from a big fancy showroom. It’s nothing to do with how cheap your car is or that the spec isn’t good enough. metcars

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CarDealerMag.co.uk | 07

DASHBOARD.

Teenage mechanic killed himself after being bullied But Berkshire garage is absolved of blame at inquest into his death

A

garage whose teenage mechanic killed himself after being bullied there has been absolved of any blame.

Eighteen-year-old George Cheese, pictured, was locked in a cage by co-workers at Sytner’s Reading Audi dealership, doused with brake fluid and had his clothes set on fire, an inquest into his death heard. One of his colleagues even told him he should ‘hurry up and kill himself’.

In a narrative verdict, senior coroner Peter Bedford, who heard distressing details of the abuse the teenager suffered, described the conduct of his colleagues as ‘unacceptable’.

On one occasion, he was held down by four men while a fifth punched his leg. Another time he was tied up and ‘pressure washed’ and

described as ‘a pussy who went telling tales to mummy’.

Much of what happened was dismissed as ‘horseplay’ and ‘banter’ by his colleagues.

Bedford emphasised in his verdict that there were other factors upsetting the teenager before he hanged himself in woodland near his home in April 2015. He had been suffering from a serious cough for several months and was worried about having cancer.

There were additional circumstances, too, including a medical discharge from the army and a relationship breakdown. He had also been affected by mental health problems since he was 14 or 15. Bedford said, however, that what had happened had acted as ‘a wake-up call and a significant shock to the garage company’.

After the inquest, Audi issued a statement, saying: ‘At Audi UK, we remain deeply saddened by the tragic death of George Cheese in 2015 and wish to reiterate our heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.

‘We are very sorry for the huge loss felt by all those so tragically affected.

‘Both Audi UK and Sytner absolutely condemn any behaviour which is detrimental to the well-being of employees in any of our franchises.’

ASTON BARCLAY

Budget used car market ‘on fire’ THE budget used car market is ‘on fire’ and receiving record numbers of buyers and strong prices, according to Aston Barclay’s group operations director, Martin Potter.

Dealers should be taking this end of the market just as seriously as newer partexchanges, as there is a healthy revenue stream to be had, he said.

Four hundred buyers regularly turn up at Aston Barclay’s Monday night Chelmsford sale, with two lanes selling between 400 and 500 cars every week.

Used cars between six and 15 years old can change hands for £200 to £12,000, with dealers reporting a healthy profit on stock, even those with more than 100,000 miles on the clock and having clearly been well used.

More auction news, p119

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DASHBOARD.

JCT600 reports record revenues Firm tells of pressure on margins and rising costs but is well versed in vagaries of the market

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CT600 recently announced record revenues of £1.222 billion for 2016 – an increase of almost seven per cent over the figure for 2015.

Both new and used vehicle sales, as well as aftersales, performed at record levels – but in what the company described as ‘challenging market conditions,’ profit before exceptionals decreased to £17.9m (2015: £20.7m).

Despite pressure on margins and rising costs, JCT600 continued to invest in its network of dealerships, with major redevelopments taking place at outlets such as Audi Lincoln, Bentley Leeds and Volkswagen Hull.

The group also started work on Porsche Centre Teesside, which is due to open next month.

And it continued to invest in the development of its digital platform, which saw visitor numbers increase substantially.

Chief executive John Tordoff, pictured, said: ‘Last year, the UK’s national new car market hit a record of 2.7m registrations which, on the face of it, suggests the industry is in rude health.

‘However, a significant number of these vehicles were pre-registered by dealers in order to

achieve manufacturer targets. With many of these vehicles subsequently being sold as used cars, this resulted in a significant downward pressure on both new and used vehicle profit margins.

‘However, with over 70 years’ experience in the industry, we are well versed in the vagaries of the market and remain committed to providing great value and outstanding service, which we know will keep our customers coming back to us.

‘As part of this ethos, we are continuing to invest in both our dealerships and our online showroom to ensure the customer journey is as smooth and seamless as possible when

shopping with us, and we are also continuing to expand our geographic reach with the opening of a brand-new Porsche Centre in Stockton-onTees this summer.

‘We have also made significant progress in our quest to be the best place to work, rising a massive 27 places to take 57th position in the Sunday Times ‘‘100 Best Companies to Work For’’ ranking for 2017.’

Nigel Shaw, group finance director at JCT600, said: ‘Last year, many of our brands put in strong performances and, despite uncertainty in the UK economy in the aftermath of the Brexit vote, so far customer confidence remains strong.

‘As a well-established business with a strong reputation and a loyal customer base, we are looking forward to further growth.’

Founded in 1946 as Brooklands Garage in Bradford, by current chairman Jack Tordoff, JCT600 has grown from a single dealership into the largest privately-owned business in Yorkshire.

It has 50 dealerships stretching from Yorkshire and the north-east of England to Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire, and represents 18 of the world’s leading car marques.

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

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DASHBOARD.

Political uncertainty ‘threatening UK motor industry’s future success’ bit.ly/uncertainty-112

Top-selling Nissan SUV given host of upgrades Improvements strengthen its family car credentials

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issan has revealed refreshed styling and a whole suite of upgrades for its best-selling SUV. The Japanese car manufacturer says that the improvements to the X-Trail have strengthened its position as a family car in the wake of recent customer feedback.

For example, a redesigned cabin has seen boot space increase from 550 litres to 565 litres, while there’s more legroom for rear passengers.

Exterior upgrades include a wider grille and a new bumper, while the headlights have been redesigned to differentiate between LED and halogen models.

Inside, there’s a new D-shaped steering wheel, which Nissan says will make the cabin easier to climb in and out of. Topspec Tekna customers can choose a new tan and black leather upholstery, while heated front and rear seats are now an

option for the first time. Tekna models also now get an all-new eight-speaker Bose Premium audio system, which Nissan describes as the most complete system it has ever offered in Europe.

Meanwhile, DAB radio is now standard across the range, and the NissanConnect touch-screen system has been redesigned.

The three engine options remain the same, with a 1.6-litre diesel available with 128bhp and 161bhp, and a 2.0-litre with 175bhp. The X-Trail has sold more than 3.7 million units worldwide since it was introduced in 2000.

Approximately 115,000 examples have been sold in Europe since the latest generation went on sale in 2014.

The new X-Trail was unveiled at a special event in Cardiff ahead of the UEFA Champions League final on June 3. Nissan has been the official automotive partner of the Champions League since 2014.

Leeds deal sees Marshall growing with Volvo MARSHALL Motor Holdings plc has announced its acquisition of the business and assets of Leeds Volvo from Harratts Group Limited.

The addition of Leeds Volvo was completed in full consultation and with the support of Volvo Car UK and further strengthens the group’s position as the largest franchise partner of Volvo Car UK by number of sites.

The group now represents Volvo in nine locations in the UK: Bishop’s Stortford, Cambridge, Grantham, Leeds, Melton Mowbray, Milton Keynes, Nottingham, Welwyn Garden City and Peterborough.

Jon Wakefield, 12 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

managing director of Volvo Car UK, said: ‘The transformation of the Volvo brand and product range has contributed to four years of consecutive sales growth in the UK, a trend that we fully expect to continue as we replace our top-selling XC60 model this year.

‘Marshall is a key franchise partner of Volvo Car UK. We are pleased to have supported Marshall’s acquisition of Leeds Volvo and look forward to supporting their plans to upgrade the site to meet our new Volvo Retail Experience standards and further develop our representation in the area.’

Greenyer A PERFECT PARTNERSHIP

Finance is an important tool in your armoury

T

here’s no doubt that the digitisation of the retail space is influencing customer expectations in every sphere of life – and this is steadily having an influence on the used car buying experience.

In today’s used car marketplace, online research plays a role for most buyers before they get anywhere near a dealership. Once they get to a retailer they already have a strong view of what make and model they’re after.

The key to turning them from tyre kicker to buyer is the ‘added value’. It’s all about creating a proposition that responds to the customer’s needs, whether that’s about the way they will finance the car or the ancillary services that will make the cost of ownership more affordable.

New research released last month by the RAC Dealer Network revealed that a warranty and a free MOT with a service were the top benefits motorists looked for when buying a used car. Over three quarters of the drivers surveyed also said the car should be prepared to a high standard and that it should come with a money-back guarantee. And having the reassurance of a quality service was important for over half, who said they would want the dealer to be part of a recognised code of practice.

When it comes to finance, the fact is car buyers rarely think about the total price of the vehicle.

Instead they focus on what they can afford per month. They then go into the showroom with that figure in mind. Dealers therefore need to ensure they have access to a range of finance offerings which will suit different customers with diverse budgets as well as diverse credit profiles.

A dealer with access to a range of finance options can help the customer understand the benefits of each and enable them to make an informed decision that suits their circumstances. This means dealers need to partner with lenders who understand the dynamics both of the motor retail marketplace and the pressures of the consumer credit sector. Lenders who have the most efficient processes, good use of data and technology will be able to provide dealers and their customers with a compliant, swift, efficient experience that will enable the car to be sold.

As the gateway to a large proportion of used car sales, finance is an important tool in the motor retailer’s armoury.

This is underlined by the significant increase in the value and volume of finance extended to motorists so far this year.

Having the right partner to create the finance deals that appeal to a retailer’s customers is crucial.

‘Buyers rarely think about the total price of the vehicle.’

Who is Darren Greenyer?

Darren Greenyer is deputy head of lending at Raphael Finance

More confidence.

From auction to forecourt – if something goes wrong, we’ll put it right.

We’ve paid out over

£200,000 in claims so far this year

See for yourself at manheim.co.uk/surecheck The smartest place to buy and sell vehicles

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 13

14 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

NEWCASTLE: Lookers Dacia of Newcastle has announced an exciting new partnership with local rugby league team Newcastle Thunder, formerly Gateshead Thunder. The new deal sees the Lookers Dacia logo feature on the team’s home and away shirts, and will see the retailer support the club’s community work, which seeks to increase involvement and engagement with sport in the local area. Rikki Ledger, general manager at Lookers Dacia Newcastle, said: ‘We are delighted to partner with Newcastle Thunder and we hope the support we can provide will allow them to progress.’

Dacia site’s tie-up with rugby league team

STRABANE: MG Motor UK has taken another step forward in its national dealer development strategy, with the appointment of Greg Mitchell MG. Established in 2006, the dealership, in Strabane, West Tyrone, provides vehicle-servicing, MOTs, body repair and computerised diagnostics. Joining the MG network will see Greg Mitchell MG further expand its site at Victoria Bridge, opening a brand-new dealership and forecourt dedicated to the sale of MG’s model range. Greg Mitchell, owner of the company, said: ‘Joining the MG dealer network is a big step forward for our business.’

A big step forward for Greg Mitchell

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

LEEDS: Pendragon has announced a new partnership with Rolls-Royce, with the iconic marque set to be sold in a new facility for their luxury-oriented Stratstone division. The dealer chain, which was founded in 1921, will build an all-new dealership in Leeds for 2018, to accommodate the new partnership. The new facility will be the first Rolls Royce Motor Cars Retail Centre in the area. It will allow customers to be a part of the creation of their Rolls-Royce from start to finish.

Pendragon chief executive Trevor Finn, left, said: ‘The opening of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Leeds represents a significant investment for Stratstone.’

Pendragon and Rolls-Royce join forces

SUNDERLAND: A Citroen dealership has raised £80,000 for Macmillan Cancer Care. Town Centre Automobiles has been collecting charitable donations since 2011, through a promotion where £10 from every car it sells is passed onto the charity. With a Macmillan Cancer Support Centre at Sunderland Royal Hospital, those who have worked hard to fundraise at the dealership can see its positive effect in the local area. Chris Sopp, dealer principal at Town Centre Automobiles, said: ‘We’ve been fundraising for Macmillan for six years now. The £80,000 raised would fund a Macmillan nurse for 18 months.’

Six years of fundraising pays off big time

PERTH: Peter Vardy is set to bring Porsche to Perth’s Broxden Business Park, with a £3.5 million facility proposed by the dealer group. Yeoman McAllister Architects will manage the project, which will find its home on a 1.5-acre plot of land off the A9 if approved.

Peter Vardy already runs a Porsche franchise in Aberdeen, which it acquired in 2012. The new site would be the fourth of its kind in Scotland, with Sytner Group also running dealerships for the German manufacturer in both Glasgow and Aberdeen.

£3.5m Porsche site planned by Peter Vardy

News from around the UK DASHBOARD.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 15

CORNWALL: Hawkins Motor Group has donated a Peugeot 108 to the Cornwall Air Ambulance 30th anniversary grand draw. ‘Hawkins are extremely proud to support the Cornwall Air Ambulance and we very much value the patronage of our customers in Cornwall,’ dealer principal Johnny Hawkins told the Falmouth Packet newspaper. ‘As a Cornish company, we very much care about Cornwall and the county’s air ambulance provides an invaluable service for us all.’ For just £1, you can be in with a chance of winning the car. Tickets are available nationwide by calling 01637 889926 or sending an email to enquiries@cornwallairambulancetrust.org.

Car donated to air ambulance grand draw

STOCKPORT: Lookers is set to bolster employee numbers ahead of the opening of its new £4 million Volvo dealership in Stockport later this year, with building work well under way. The group will be looking to appoint more than 20 additional employees, including technical and sales staff, product specialists and a receptionist, to join the seven-strong team already located in temporary premises at the site in St Mary’s Way. Miles Alvis, franchise manager for Lookers Volvo, said: ‘The new team who have been operating out of our temporary facility are making great inroads in re-establishing the Volvo name in Stockport.’

Jobs boost as Volvo makes presence felt

LANCASHIRE: Peoples, the largest independent dealership in Europe retailing only Ford cars and commercial vehicles, has sold its Accrington dealership to Oldham Motor Company. The announcement was made by Peoples finance director Stewart Ramsay who said he was delighted the business had been bought by a motor group which would maintain its high standards. Peoples has three other dealerships in the north-west, all based in the greater Liverpool area, and Ramsay said selling the Accrington business would allow the company greater opportunity to focus on them.

Accrington Ford dealership changes hands

PORTSMOUTH: Building work has been completed on a new top-of-the-line Hendy Kia showroom in Portsmouth. Hendy Group has opened a new, larger showroom in Southampton Road, North Harbour, to exhibit nine newly-released cars at a time when Kia’s UK sales are at a record high. Paul Hendy, chief executive of Hendy Group, said: ‘Portsmouth is an extremely important location for the group and this investment ensures we can offer customers the very best facilities. Impressive sales figures so far in 2017 demonstrate how many motorists put their trust in Kia.’

Important investment in Kia showroom

LONDON: Rolls-Royce Motor Cars London has taken delivery of a very special one-off Wraith at its Mayfair showroom and is selling it to raise money for The Teenage Cancer Trust. As part of Rolls-Royce’s ‘Inspired by Music’ series, the car celebrates the genius of one of Britain’s best-loved rock bands, The Who. It was commissioned by the band’s legendary front man Roger Daltrey, below, who sat down with designers and CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös at Rolls-Royce’s global centre of excellence in Goodwood to hand-pick all of the bespoke design enhancements and produce the ultimate collector’s car.

Who will end up buying a very special car?

DASHBOARD. AUTO TRADER

BMW 3 Series is the fastest seller

THE petrol manual BMW 3 Series was the UK’s fastestselling used car last month, taking just 14 days to leave forecourts, according to Auto Trader.

This makes it the first time a premium brand has topped the national fastest-selling used car list since August 2016, when stablemate the 1 Series prevailed as the nation’s fastest seller.

The Skoda Fabia and Ford Mondeo were both second fastest for leaving UK forecourts in May, taking 16 days on average to sell.

Both of these fastestselling contenders were petrol automatics and registered in 2016. Following closely behind in third place was the 2016 Ford Kuga SUV petrol manual, which took 17 days to sell.

Petrol fuel types dominated May’s fastestselling national top 10, leaving no room for diesels.

The list featured nine petrol cars and one electric hybrid: the 2013 Toyota Prius (automatic), which was the 10th fastest-selling car in May, taking 20 days to leave the forecourt.

SEAT UK

Justin is new fleet sales manager SEAT UK has appointed experienced fleet sector specialist Justin Costello as national fleet sales manager.

His promotion from contract hire and leasing manager at Seat UK will see Costello leading a team of seven area fleet managers.

Costello has been selected to help drive true fleet volumes by capitalising on an expanding and highly appealing product portfolio.

16 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

Jamie Murray delighted to take delivery of Peugeot 3008 PEUGEOT Ambassador and British doubles tennis ace Jamie Murray took delivery of an all-new Peugeot 3008 SUV recently.

The handover took place at the Lawn Tennis Association’s headquarters in Roehampton, south-west London, where Murray said he was delighted to collect the GT Line PureTech 130 model in Ultimate Red.

And the 3008 SUV was immediately pressed into service, supporting Murray as he travels to events on the tennis circuit in the UK. It features the state-of-the-art Peugeot i-Cockpit interior layout, with a compact multifunction steering wheel, 12.3-inch head-up digital instrument display and eight-inch capacitive touchscreen.

In addition, the 3008 SUV has a boot

with up to 591 litres of space, rear seats that fold flat to extend capacity to 1,670 litres, and a folding front passenger seat.

David Peel, managing director at Peugeot UK, said: ‘We’re delighted that Jamie has taken delivery of his all-new 3008 SUV. It’s packed with a host of brilliant design features that will make his journeys relaxing.’

Crooked car dealer faces jail for conning his customers ‘Great deal of money involved and a great deal of misery for the public’

A

car dealer who conned hundreds of people is facing a long jail sentence for fraud.

Richard Burbage, of Poplar Way, Hedge End, Hampshire, had denied five charges of fraudulent trading but was found guilty by a jury at Salisbury Crown Court.

According to the Southern Daily Echo, the 44-year-old clocked car mileages, falsified warranties and failed to give refunds.

He also failed to deliver vehicles, gave false descriptions of vehicles and forged documents.

The court was told he took more than a million miles off the odometers of 17 example cars – and this was just a very small percentage of the vehicles involved.

A major investigation was launched

by Hampshire Trading Standards

by JOHN BOWMAN john@blackballmedia.co.uk

after hundreds of complaints were lodged against Burbage and business associate Stan Rudgley, and the court case lasted more than a month, with jurors taking three-and-a-half days to reach their verdicts.

Four businesses were initially linked to Burbage when Salisbury Trading Standards began a probe in 2013: Hampshire Vehicle Sales, Woolston Car Supermarket, Service 4 Life and Deltaflag.

Then, when Hampshire Trading Standards took over the investigation, Swiftbird became the fifth business under scrutiny.

Among the many complaints, reported the Echo, ex-serviceman

Danny Critchley told how his van engine cut out when it got to 35mph only minutes after leaving the Southampton dealership from which he had bought the vehicle.

Remanding Burbage in custody, Judge Andrew Barnett told him he faced a ‘substantial’ prison sentence, adding: ‘You have been convicted on five counts of fraudulent trading.

‘They are very serious, and there is a great deal of money involved and a great deal of misery for the public.’

An investigation by the Echo revealed that Burbage had arrived in Britain from Australia, leaving behind a collapsed dealership that allegedly owed more than £6 million.

Rudgley, 32, of Coopers Close, West End, had earlier admitted involvement in fraudulent trading and was due to be sentenced at a later date.

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DASHBOARD.

Part 3: Getting going In a great new series exclusive to Car Dealer Magazine, Dan Read is explaining how to get up and running as a car dealer. Despite the pitfalls and problems, it’s still a profession that can be great fun – and it’s attracting a lot of newcomers...

W

elcome back! If you’ve made it this far, you must really want to be a car dealer, and who can blame you? Last year, a record 8.2 million used cars were sold in Britain, and more and more people want a piece of the action.

Thankfully we’re here to give you a head start, with our step-by-step guide to starting up.

So far we’ve done some homework, looked at the basic economics and listened to some wise old pros talking about common mistakes and how to avoid them. This month it’s time to make some moves. Are you ready to get your car dealership up and running? Step this way…

How do I find a forecourt?

A lot depends on whereabouts you are. If you’re in London or the south-east, land is pricier than it is elsewhere, but the theory applies nationally. A visible site beside a busy road will cost more to rent, but could save you thousands in advertising as you can rely more on passing traffic. A less prestigious plot will be cheaper to rent, but you’ll spend more on ads to let people know where you are.

There are generally three types of premises: an open pitch, a showroom, or a warehouse unit.

‘For start-ups,’ says Ian Watson of Jack Ford Motors in Northumberland, ‘aim for an open pitch with a small office and room for 20-25 cars, even if you don’t stock that many to begin with. But be warned – storing cars outside means insurance is higher, and they’ll need regular cleaning. I do all of mine by 10am each day!

‘Showrooms tend to be smaller, more expensive and are often on high streets where it’s hard to get planning permission for a car dealership (see next section). Warehouse units are easier to come by, and keeping cars indoors helps to reduce insurance premiums, but you’ll probably spend more on advertising.’

As for actually finding a location, a basic online search is a good starting point. Most of the big property websites have a commercial lets section, but even searching sites like Gumtree for ‘car sales pitches’ can turn up good results.

18 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

‘You could also just drive around looking for sites,’ says Watson, ‘though it’s a good idea to notify warranty company reps who can often give you a lead, or ask older traders who may recall sites which were car sales pitches but now have different uses.’

Do I need planning permission?

Yes, any property used for car sales must have the correct planning permission in place. This applies to home traders too. If you’re moving into an existing car sales plot, there’s a chance it will have the correct planning permission already, but don’t assume it has. If your premises were previously used for something else, even if it was related to the motor trade, it’s highly likely that you’ll need fresh planning permission.

Commercial properties fall into different categories, and they can be confusing. For example, shops and retail outlets are in the A1 group, but that doesn’t include car showrooms.

Garages primarily used for car repairs are classed as B1, but again, that doesn’t include premises used purely for car sales. Instead, car dealerships fall into a category called ‘sui generis’, meaning ‘unique’ or ‘in a class of its own’.

The website www.planningportal.co.uk has

some definitive advice on the issue: ‘Before you negotiate a lease or buy a property for your business, check whether you need to obtain planning permission for your intended use, and, if so, your chances of getting it.’

And remember, not all local authorities take the same view of car dealerships, so talk to your council’s planning office before you sign any sort of lease.

Let’s talk about rent and rates…

Again, rental costs vary hugely depending on the size and location of the premises. An open pitch with room for 15-20 cars in the midlands could cost around £1,000 per month, whereas the same set-up in London could easily be double that, probably more. ‘But don’t just consider the rent,’ says Watson. ‘Sometimes business rates can be just as much.’

Business rates are based on your property’s ‘rateable value’ – in other words, what the government says it’s worth in annual rent (find out the value of your property at tax.service.gov.uk).

It’s a bit like paying council tax on your house and, generally speaking, the bigger the property,

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

some areas of cover may not be available with your insurer at all.

‘Only pay for the cover elements you need, avoiding unnecessary add-ons.’

Some of the big names are Tradewise, Tradex, Bollington and OneSure, though call as many as you can because, like private car insurance, some will be more amenable to your circumstances.

As we found in Part 1, it’s likely that you’ll pay around £300 per month for a comprehensive policy including the extras mentioned here. the more you’ll pay. Let’s look at the following example: • A forecourt with a small indoor showroom near Ringwood in Hampshire is on the market for £1,750 per month.

• Its rateable value, which you can find online, is £20,000.

• You then multiply this rateable value by 46.6p (or 47.9p if the rateable value is above £51,000).

• That gives us business rates, for the Ringwood garage, of £9,320 per year. That’s almost half as much as the rent itself.

Should I set up a limited company?

It’s not essential, and you could start as a sole trader. But as your business grows it makes sense to trade as a limited company. Not only will it make life easier when it comes to accounting, but it gives you more access to finance and warranty suppliers, and card payment providers.

Setting one up is simple. All you need is a company name and address, at least one director,

at least one shareholder (this can be a director or someone else), and an ‘SIC’ code that describes the nature of your business – for used car sales it’s 45112.

Once you have all that, you can register with Companies House online. It costs £12 and it’s usually sorted within 24 hours.

What about insurance?

Many new car dealers underestimate the cost of insurance, but it really is essential. Motor trade cover comes in many forms, and at the very least you’ll need something called a road risk policy, which allows a legitimate trader to drive any car in their possession for business purposes, whether they own it or not.

On top of that you should insure against theft and damage, both to vehicles and your premises.

Many policies will also cover your buildings and contents as well as your stock.

You’ll need public liability insurance – what if someone is injured on your forecourt? – and, if you have staff, employer’s liability insurance.

‘Some extras may be included on the policy as standard,’ says Sean Davies of GoCompare.com.

‘Others may require an additional fee, and

Should I get trade plates?

‘These are an essential part of a dealer’s toolkit,’ says Watson. ‘It would be impossible to function without them.’

Having trade plates means you don’t have to register or tax every car in your possession. It’s the major difference between selling a car privately – which adds a new keeper to the V5 document – and selling one as a motor trader, which doesn’t.

To apply, you’ll need to prove you’re a trader by supplying the DVLA with one of the following: your registered company number, a public liability insurance certificate, or a motor trade insurance certificate.

A licence from January to December costs £165, though the length of your licence, and the subsequent pro-rata payment amount, depends on the month in NEXT which you apply.

MONTH It’s a little bit TOP 10 EUREKA tricky, but you’ll find MOMENTS. WE ASK everything you need CAR DEALERS ABOUT at gov.uk/tradeTHEIR BIGGEST licence-plates.

BREAKTHROUGHS

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 19

DASHBOARD. ENQUIRYMAX

More buyers are after used cars

CONSUMER demand for used vehicles leapt in May with a 29 per cent increase in inquiries compared to the same month in 2016, according to the automotive retail experts enquiryMAX. An analysis of dealer data showed an increase in orders for used vehicles of 19 per cent between May 2016 and 2017. Demand for new vehicles remained steady with a 0.4 increase in both the number of inquiries and orders. David Boyce, above, MD of enquiryMAX, said: ‘Used cars continue to provide a profitable focus for dealers, and the 29 per cent leap in inquiries shows that consumer demand remained despite the election.’

The company provides sales lead management software and retail consultancy to more than 600 dealers in the UK. The data shows May conversion rates of inquiry to order for new vehicles at 22.6 per cent, which compares to 27.8 per cent in April.

The figures for used stock show conversion rates of 33 per cent in May against 33.5 per cent during April.

NISSAN

New fleet sales director named NISSAN Motor GB Limited has appointed Iker Lazzari as fleet sales director.

With 18 years’ automotive experience, plus a strong sales and marketing background, Lazzari joins the team at Maple Cross from his role as head of sales and marketing at VW Financial Services, where he focused on fleet marketing, contract hire and leasing, tactical planning and corporate financial services.

20 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

Aston Barclay non-executive director Glenn Scarborough, new Aston Barclay chief executive Neil Hodson and Oliver Jones from Rutland Partners shake hands on the deal. Below: An artist’s impression of Aston Barclay’s new 18-acre Donington site

Management buyout injects millions into Aston Barclay Deal will pave the way for ‘significant investment’ to develop the business

by JOHN BOWMAN john@blackballmedia.co.uk

A

ston Barclay has secured a multi-million-pound investment from Rutland Partners after a management buyout, paving the way for what it calls ‘a significant investment’ in developing staff, existing and new auction centres and IT. The buyout was led by new chief executive Neil Hodson, who brings with him more than 25 years’ experience following stints at Manheim, HPI and Experian. He will shape the national independent vehicle remarketing provider’s vision for short- and long-term growth.

Glenn and David Scarborough, formerly group managing director and commercial director respectively, will stay company shareholders as nonexecutive directors. The continued investment by the Scarborough family cements Aston Barclay’s familyrun ethos and values, helping it to continue its personal service for buyers and vendors.

Laurence Vaughan is also joining the board and investing as nonexecutive chairman. He was previously chief executive and now non-executive chairman of Sytner Group.

A new 18-acre Super Centre will be opened at Donington Park’s Engine Room exhibition space to become one of the largest state-of-the-art auctions in the country, with space for 350 to 400 cars under one roof.

It will serve as Aston Barclay’s central hub for all remarketing operations, as well as being the home of a new buyer services and account management team. The site will open in the last quarter of 2017, with further network expansion planned.

Meanwhile, Aston Barclay’s Leeds centre has now been redeveloped, aligning it with its Chelmsford, Prees Heath and Westbury centres that have seen a collective £1.5m group investment in the past two years.

It is also in the early stages of expanding its Prees Heath centre in

Shropshire, buying an additional 6.5 acres of land for future development.

Aston Barclay has also restructured its senior management team, with Martin Potter joining the board as group operations director. He is supported by national operations manager Brett Henderson, and a new sales director will join the board.

Stewart Ford has also been appointed as group IT director following a successful career at Cap HPI. He will spearhead the investment in Aston Barclay’s digital strategy.

Hodson said: ‘Aston Barclay is a great business and Rutland Partners’ multi-million-pound investment across all areas will help further develop our service offering for both buyers and vendors.’

More auction news, p119

Hot Stuff at chelmsford

New Twice Weekly Sales Monday 10:15am Wednesday 10am All Warranted Miles â—? Representation at every sale Email accountapplications@astonbarclay.net to register for a trade account today.

Aston Barclay Ltd E:

info@astonbarclay.net

W:

www.astonbarclay.net CarDealerMag.co.uk | 21

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DASHBOARD.

There’s trouble ahead if dealers don’t use tech to please customers I

am now the proud owner of two sofas.

That might not sound very exciting to you but they’re all I’ve been talking about for almost eight weeks!

There was the searching process online, then choosing the specifics and checking they would fit in the space I have available – then there was the ordering itself. Foolish as it may have been, I didn’t go into a shop to look at any sofas before clicking ‘buy’ and sending off my deposit. Happily though, now they have turned up, I can confirm that I do actually like them.

I’m not trying to make the point here that bricksand-mortar dealerships are dead and that everyone will buy everything online from now on – what I did was genuinely stupid and I could have been stuck with two horrible pieces of furniture, as well as being £1,200 out of pocket. To prove members of my generation aren’t all mad, the armchairs you’ll see in our CDX17 round-up were purchased by our own Jon Reay around a week after I bought mine. He approached the process a bit differently to me, travelling to several stores to try them out.

He had shortlisted a few online before doing that, and then came back to the office to order them. Then he collected them in store. Confusing.

The online buying process in my case seemed fairly simple. I ordered my sofas online, was told I couldn’t pay monthly, so I removed one armchair from my order and asked them to proceed.

It was all dealt with over email and I was contacted by different people during the process. I was harassed for a few days while I was thinking about it, but when I said I wanted to definitely buy them, I heard nothing.

Then I chased them and was told the person I needed to talk to was on holiday but my order was confirmed.

As I’d asked them to remove that one chair, I was concerned it was still on the order and I’d have to fork out – so I queried it and was then sent the order form.

I didn’t really think much of it at the time, I was just worried – so it was nice when they confirmed everything was as I wanted it. But it gradually dawned on me that the whole process had been pretty inefficient.

In fact, following that spell of to-ing and fro-ing, I went five weeks without having any contact from the furniture company. Finally, I was called by someone at the firm’s nearest depot to me. They told me the furniture was on its way to them and asked when I wanted to arrange delivery to my house.

Rebecca

They couldn’t take payment (as I’ve said, I had only paid a deposit at this point) but that someone else would call me about that. The following day I missed a call from head office, who left a voicemail saying I needed to pay the balance but I could pay via PayPal using their email address. That was straightforward enough, and I was grateful they’d suggested it, but I had a follow-up email asking me to pay. Again.

I replied saying I’d paid via PayPal but had no response.

At this point I started panicking that my money had gone to the wrong place, but what could I do now?

That same day I ordered a new washing machine online. I picked it out, ordered it and immediately received an email and a text.

It was booked to arrive a couple of days later and I got repeated texts checking I was still happy with the delivery date. On delivery day itself, one of the messages had a

Chaplin ‘it was nice when they THE VIEW FROM BEHIND THE SCENES

confirmed everything was as I wanted it’

tracking link, telling me the exact location of the van and how many deliveries it had to make before reaching me.

Thinking back to the sofas, things hadn’t gone so smoothly. I’d had a call from my delivery man first thing to say he’d be arriving between midday and 3pm. The next thing I knew, he was on my doorstep. I had a call from my washing machine man when he was 15 minutes away.

It was at this point that I realised how ridiculous the furniture company had been. Why hadn’t they just sent me an order confirmation? Why didn’t they let me know they’d received my money or email me to confirm the delivery date had been booked?

Since my washing machine has turned up, I’ve had another message to say they hope I’m happy with the product and could I review the service. I am happy with the product – and the ordering process was efficient and easy. And although I’m talking about sofas and white goods here, there are parallels for car dealers.

There are so many great ways to improve your customer service outside of the dealership, why wouldn’t you want to make the most of these technologies? Please don’t stand still ‘because it’s always been done this way’. Your customers will start to notice what they’re missing out on.

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 | 23

DASHBOARD.

Around the world Dealer news from somewhere other than here

RUSSIA

CAR dealers in Russia are finding life so tough, that many of them are diversifying... into farming! Over the past three years, the Russian car market has shrunk by more than half, with the devaluation of the rouble being the main reason for the decline. Some dealer firms have been going to the wall but others – including well-known companies such as Avilon and Major Auto – have moved into agriculture, which, in contrast to automotive, is thriving.

CANADA

MAZDA’s longeststanding car dealership in Canada has reached its 40th anniversary. Hundreds of customers, plus senior Mazda executives from across the country, travelled to Gerry Gordon Mazda in Winnipeg to celebrate.

Gordon, originally from Northern Ireland, emigrated in 1967 and, after running a garage that repaired British imports, teamed up with Mazda 10 years later.

He said it was ‘the best decision I ever made’.

SOUTH AFRICA

GENERAL Motors is pulling out of South Africa and will phase out the manufacturing and sales of Chevrolet vehicles there. Following the sale of Vauxhall-Opel to the PSA group, GM says it will work with PSA to develop a strategy for the Opel brand in the country. Isuzu will take over GM’s LCV manufacturing plant in Port Elizabeth.

CHINA

AUDI says it has settled a long-running dispute with its dealers in China. The row stemmed from Audi’s partnership with SAIC Motor Corp, the country’s largest car manufacturer, with SAIC potentially making and distributing Audis in future. Dealers feared the tie-up had the potential to jeopardise their businesses if more outlets were added to the Chinese dealer network – but now an accord has been signed based on a ‘common understanding of how the arrangement will meet the interests of all parties involved’ – including dealers.

INDIA

VOLVO has increased the number of dealerships it has in India to 17, with the opening of a showroom in the western city of Pune.

Tom von Bonsdorff, MD of Volvo Auto India, said: ‘We have a good equity in this part of India and our new partners Flyga Auto will help leverage the brand’s potential in the luxury car segment.’

Volvo’s next Indian dealership will be in Lucknow, to the north.

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

24 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 25

FINANCE. Auto Trader Price Indicator feature covers all bases AUTO Trader has rolled out its Price Indicator search enhancement feature across all platforms after a successful launch on the iOS and Android apps.

Whether searching for their next car on desktop, mobile or app, people will now be able to determine whether the total price of the car they are looking at is fairly priced.

Indicators offer car buyers greater transparency on the price of a car than ever – seen as vital in an industry where just seven per cent of car buyers claim to trust dealers and 76 per cent of consumers claim transparent pricing is an important factor in their car-buying process.

Adverts on Auto Trader will be labelled as having a Great Price, Good Price or Priced Low in comparison to similar cars. The Priced Low label indicates that a vehicle is priced significantly lower than the market average. The Indicators are determined by comparing car prices against Auto Trader market valuations.

Karolina Edwards-Smajda, Auto Trader retailer and consumer products director, pictured, said: ‘In an increasingly competitive market where car buyers are savvier than ever before, price transparency is vital in building trust. It’s simply no longer an optional extra but standard spec. That’s why we created Price Indicators, to not only help our customers’ advertisements stand out from the crowd, but to also build that all-important trust, helping them to sell more cars, more quickly.’

Three years old – 150,000 fundings...

Europcar launches flexible alternative to leasing plans ‘A genuine long-term solution without any long-term commitment’

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ar rental company Europcar to motorists looking to get into a UK has launched a flexible new car. With Europcar Long-Term alternative to PCPs to help Hire, we have taken the unknown customers who want to keep out of car ownership and provided driving new cars. an alternative to financing a new car Europcar Long-Term Hire will purchase. There’s no depreciation or mean motorists know their costs each maintenance to worry about. The car month. Starting at £317 per month comes with a free Deliver & Collect plus a £70 deposit, it provides access service and additional drivers can be to new vehicles that customers can added at no extra cost. It is a genuine keep for up to 12 weeks. At the end of long-term solution that doesn’t require the 12-week period, they just swap to any long-term commitment.’ a new vehicle with no extra charges or The basic £317-a-month deal outstanding payments to be settled. provides a mini-category vehicle, Gary Smith, managing director with a monthly mileage allowance of of Europcar UK Group, said: ‘There’s 2,520 miles and an excess of £1,000. much debate at the moment about the Europcar Long-Term Hire Premium, Car Dealer options Advert Horizontal 2.pdf 2 01/03/2017 13:37:03has zero excess on different financing available meanwhile, C

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26 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

NEXTGEAR CAPITAL

insurance for a starting price of £422 per month and a deposit of £70.

For a vehicle such as a Peugeot 208, a high-mileage driver could expect to pay £8,470 over two years with Europcar Long-Term Hire, but to lease it would cost another £1,043, said the firm.

Europcar said it believed its flexible new solution provided motorists with an ideal alternative to car ownership, maintenance and servicing costs.

Customers using Europcar LongTerm Hire can book and rent their car immediately, with no forms or credit checks – just a credit card payment. On average, the vehicles will be less than six months old and customers can change them every month if they like.

WHOLESALE stock funding provider NextGear Capital has celebrated its third birthday by funding its 150,000th vehicle.

The Chester-based business, which has been operating in the UK since 2014 and in Ireland since 2015, is a subsidiary of NextGear Capital Inc and part of Cox Automotive, which is one of the world’s largest automotive services companies.

More than 1,200 dealers now benefit from using a NextGear Capital Stocking Plan to buy vehicles from 60-plus auction and wholesale sources, providing access to their combined stock of more than 800,000 vehicles every year.

David Mercer, managing director of NextGear Capital for the UK and Ireland, said: ‘We are incredibly proud to have funded more than £1 billion-worth of vehicles for dealers since our launch three years ago. That is £1 billion of capital that dealers have not had to find, freeing up their cash flow to invest in other parts of their business.

‘Having funded fewer than 10,000 vehicles in our start-up year, we are on course to fund more than 100,000 in 2017.

Franchised dealers now make up around 15 per cent of our business, and we are seeing good take-up of our innovative demonstrator funding solution.’

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

Treat people well and they’ll do their utmost in the workplace I

’m currently sat at work measuring one of the recent marketing campaigns that my team have put together. It’s delivered exceptional results and shows the hard work that they have put in. However, I’ve started thinking ‘What has led to this success and hard work?’

At First Response Finance, a lot of work goes into our people, which is mainly because of our vision and values.

We believe that when employees are happy, content and fulfilling their desires at work, they are fully satisfied.

Now, I know that we are a medium-sized company with a number of departments and that motor dealers can range from just a couple of employees right up to thousands, so a single opinion may not be applicable to all.

‘Employee satisfaction is a major factor in positive morale’ However, I believe that employee satisfaction works at any business, of any size.

Employee satisfaction is a major factor in employee motivation, employee goal achievement and positive employee morale within the workplace. By treating employees with respect, empowering them/giving them autonomy within their role, providing regular recognition, offering employee benefits and a decent competitive wage for the area, the output of your employees will improve and keep improving.

I have got to admit that not all employees want to work hard and not all employees respond well to the above areas.

The book Leadership And The One-Minute Manager, by Ken Blanchard, Patricia Zigarmi and Drea Zigarmi, discusses ‘different strokes for different folks’. So as leaders, it is our

Ben

Garside TIME IS MONEY

job to change our approach, leadership or management style dependent on the individual.

That said, if you treat people well and give them achievable goals to strive for, they will do their best to hit them – or even better, surpass them!

Some companies provide employee perks and company activities. While this is not the main area of focus, it does have its benefits. For instance, this weekend the marketing department went out for an afternoon of team building, which included axe throwing and air rifle target practice.

While that may seem a little unconventional, it did mean that we had spent two hours travelling and another two hours doing activities outside of a work environment. This was great for building trust and social relationships.

If you’re wondering how to measure the above, then it

Turn over page for more finance stories is simple: surveys, just like you would do to measure your customers’ satisfaction. It is no secret that we currently use Best Companies to measure our employee satisfaction. It is an anonymous employee satisfaction survey, which is overseen annually and gives us an annual benchmark.

However, you could produce your own to start the ball rolling.

If you were to take this approach forward you would usually focus on areas such as management, understanding the vision and values, empowerment, teamwork, communication, charity and environmental work. You will need to share the results with your employees in order to get a buy-in for any changes to the work environment over the following 12 months.

All of these areas show positive leadership and should help your business strive through employee satisfaction.

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 | 27

DEALFINDER.

FINANCE. YOUR ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO . . . HOT HATCHBACKS AUDI S3 SPORTBACK

FORD FIESTA ST AS A brand that has had some of the best hot hatchbacks of all time in its arsenal, the latest Ford Fiesta ST was no different and is considered one of the best driver’s cars. At Ford Centres, you can offer the ST-3 for £196.42 per month on a 37-month agreement, with the customer paying a £5,500 deposit.

After the initial fee, customers pay 36 monthly instalments of £196.42, which by the end of the contract – alongside the deposit – totals £12,571.12. If the customer decides to keep the vehicle they need to pay the optional final payment of £7,724, which would take the final amount paid to £20,295.12 – just 12p over the current promotional price for the vehicle. This contract is based on 12,000 miles per annum, with a 7.2p-per-mile excess charge over the threshold. This offer runs out on June 30, so promote it before the new models come in later this year.

THE Audi S3 Sportback is on the larger end of the hatchback spectrum but makes up for the size difference with more than 300bhp and quattro all-wheel drive. The current promotion makes it available on a three-year contract with monthly costs of £369.

Following a deposit of £6,470.79 from the customer and a dealer contribution of £600, customers then pay £369 over the next 35 months, which ends up totalling £19,385.79 paid by the customer by the end of the agreement.

If they choose to hold on to the vehicle, they must make a final payment of £18,360.20, giving a sum total of £37,745.99 payable by the customer.

The deal runs out on July 2 and is based on 10,000 miles per annum, with a 5.42 per cent fixed rate of interest and 5.4 per cent representative APR.

BMW and Divido partner to ease aftersales financing Paperless payments can be set up and sorted out in minutes

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MW and Divido have reached an agreement to roll out aftersales financing to more than 60 retailers in the UK. By partnering with BMW, Divido is changing the way customers can pay for their aftersales bill by enabling them to spread the cost over an interest-free period of up to 12 months.

Divido’s technology provides a simple and secure way for customers to pay for aftersales repairs or servicing in minutes and is completely paperless, with the BMW retailer getting paid in full right away.

BMW retailers can now benefit from reduced ‘friction’ when it comes to customers paying their bills in store, online or via their phone. In

by DAVE BROWN @CarDealerDave

addition, this helps drive customer satisfaction and retention, it is claimed.

The partnership is a significant development for customers too, who now have the flexibility to pay for their aftersales bill conveniently, at a time suitable to them, by making payments in monthly instalments.

Christer Holloman, co-founder and CEO of Divido, pictured, said: ‘Manufacturers, large dealership groups and finance companies have better things to worry about than how to build and support a tool which lets end-consumers

Car Dealer Advert Horizontal 1.pdf 1 01/03/2017 13:36:04

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pay for anything in monthly instalments, so we did that for them. The modern consumer will touch multiple sales channels before, during and after getting a quote for a product or service. We want to help our dealers convert that customer wherever, whenever they want to pay with finance: in store, online or over the phone.’

Wayne Berry, MD of Berry BMW, a dealership already using Divido, said: ‘We need to be innovative in aftersales to make sure we have programmes that meet our customers’ needs, because our competition won’t stay still.

‘We believe our opportunity to upsell with Divido will be much greater. This is a really good solution for the customer and a really good opportunity for us.’

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

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

PEUGEOT 208 GTi THE 208 GTi name has a great heritage in the hot hatch game and the new version maintains that cheap and cheerful level of fun combined with performance. At participating Peugeot centres, you can offer the 208 GTi for £227.28 per month on a 37-month agreement following a £5,000 customer deposit.

With the dealer also contributing £1,100, the customer then makes 36 payments of £227.28 for the remaining months.

Over the 37 months, the customer will have paid £13,182.08, and if they choose to keep the 208 GTi they will need to make an optional final payment of £9,501, equalling a final amount paid of £22,683.08 – £898.08 over the standard retail price.

This Peugeot 208 GTi offer is available at participating centres until June 30. The agreement is based on usage of 10,000 miles per year, with 4.9 per cent representative APR and 4.9 per cent rate of interest.

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STARTLINE

Chief exec pleased as Dealer Council’s launch meeting proves ‘positive’

Mini race series backing seen as top opportunity

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IVENDI has launched its Dealer Council with a meeting to discuss the future of online new and used car retailing.

Held over a day at The Ivy in Covent Garden, it included representatives from leading franchise and independent iVendi users, including Jardine Motor Group, The Car Shop, Carbase, Howards Peugeot and Saxon Bridge.

A statement of purpose was adopted and approved by all of those present, reading: ‘The iVendi Dealer Council is an informal but confidential discussion group where users of iVendi products can discuss the evolving digital retail model with their peers, sharing ideas and learning best practice. It is intended to help these dealers deliver better business results over time, and to enable iVendi to incorporate their thinking into its future product road map.’

James Tew, CEO at iVendi, said: ‘The first meeting of the Dealer Council was very interesting. The feedback from all present was very positive and we plan to hold a second meeting later in the year.’

STARTLINE Motor Finance is continuing to raise awareness of its brand with a sponsorship deal in the Mini Challenge race series this summer.

It is backing the team of Ryan Dignan and Scotts Jeff Racing in the top JCW Class.

Jeff graduated from the lower Mini Challenge Cooper S class where he was 2016 champion.

Dignan is already well known in the motor finance industry as the co-founder and a director of Zuto.

Gregor Sutherland, chief operating officer at Startline, said: ‘We have started to ramp up our marketing this year. This sponsorship is an ideal way to put our name in front of a new audience and fits well with the profile of the company.’ There are eight race meetings running until September, which Startline will entertain clients at.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 29

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

Standing out in search In April we made some important changes to our customers’ Auto Trader packages. As well as offering greater value as standard, these changes focussed on providing dealers with the best tools to compete more effectively in an increasingly complex and competitive market. Each package included a host of new products designed to help connect with consumers, enabling our customers to respond better to the way that car buyers are searching, viewing and buying vehicles online.

For those dealers who are prepared to invest more for an even greater competitive advantage, we introduced a Premium package which includes Priority Listing on desktop. Similar to a sponsored advertisement on Google, this feature displays Premium customers’ stock ahead of those dealers who subscribe to a cheaper package. Since these changes were introduced we’ve received a number of important questions from our customers that I wanted to address.

Why have you made these changes?

Well, simply put our customers are as diverse as yours and many wanted the option to invest in a more premium alternative to give them the edge over their competitors. Auto Trader is similar to a large shopping mall: some retailers like the option to pay for not just a larger store, but also a more prominent position.

But surely you’re just asking me to pay a 50% premium to get something I already had?

I’ve heard this question a few times over the last few weeks, but the honest answer is no. Our Premium package is completely new and not something that we’ve ever offered before. It was designed to create a competitive advantage at a premium price and we’re pleased to see that the early adopters have already seen an uplift in advert views.

For our customers that haven’t chosen to move to a Premium package, there is no reason why they can’t continue to get just as much value from their packages as they did before.

In today’s digitally focused market standing out in search has become a standard strategic objective. Mobile platforms have had Priority Listing since 2011 and makes up over 70% of our monthly traffic. Introducing the same service on desktop isn’t a radical change but rather a natural next step.

Haven’t you just given me a rate increase and now you want to charge me even more?

The new changes represent a major shift in the products we offer customers as standard, even in our most basic of packages. The key to seeing the true value of your new package is engaging with these new features. Whilst a customer moving from Level 3 to a new Standard package may be paying slightly more, they now have the opportunity to display their stock far more effectively to car buyers thanks to 100 Images, Vehicle Video, Part-Exchange Guide, Dealer Reviews, Finance Calculators and Live Chat. All of these products are included in the Standard package and are proven to be extremely effective in attracting car buyers by building that all important trust.

However, it is new, and like any other new feature we will continue to review it to ensure it is performing correctly and not having a detrimental effect on our wider dealer community.

I heard that you’ve given your big customers Premium packages for free?

This is simply not true, and it never will be.

All of our customers are charged a fair and transparent rate for all of our products.

Mobile platforms have had Priority Listing since 2011 and makes up over 70% of our monthly traffic.

That’s fine, but my cars were on page one, but now they’re on page nine.

Consumers search in a different way, and the only way in which non Premium package cars will appear so far down the list is if they aren’t listed properly.

We see customers visiting our platforms on average six times during the month, spending more than 70 minutes in total.

They don’t click on and buy the first car they see in the results page, they take time and carefully research and refine their choice of vehicle to make sure they buy the right one for them at the right price from the right dealer.

Don’t these changes just make advertising on other classified sites better value?

We certainly don’t think so, and the reason why is simple: we’re able to offer our customers the largest marketplace for new and used cars in the UK and Ireland. In March 2017, we received c.

61.6 million visits, whilst the alternative classified sites received c. 56.2 million visits combined. That’s not us bragging, but it is a fact that we’re very proud of.

There is a big difference between cost and value, and whilst other sites might be able to offer you a cheaper package, with approx. 20 x greater traffic than our closest competitors, we’re able to offer our customers significantly better value pound for pound.

For the latest news, views and insight for the automotive retail community, follow @ATInsight on Twitter and LinkedIn 30 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

BIG MIKE.

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

Yes, life’s good now, but with everyone on PCPs, it may not last...

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was talking to a mate of mine the other day, who, despite his best intentions, is still stuck in the world of new car sales.

I say stuck, because to the likes of me, selling new tin was never that much fun.

I did it for several years, for Fiat, for Austin-Rover and for Citroen (which may explain why it was a tough old game, given where those brands were in the 1980s), but at least it was a level playing field. For me, though, the fun is in buying the cars – the excitement of the bargain and the visualisation of the profit you’ll make off the back of it.

Selling new cars just isn’t the same adventure.

And, according to my pal Geoff, it’s even tougher today.

Online purchasing has changed everything.

Back in 1988, when I was peddling Citroen BXs, your typical buyer would be about 50 per cent of the way down what car manufacturers like to call the ‘purchase funnel’ (believe me, marketeers love that phrase) before they walked into your dealership.

They’d have started off with a copy of What Car? and would have read a few comparative road tests. They’d have scanned the spec tables, and drawn up a shortlist of maybe three or four cars that would suit their needs. The next step would be a tour of the local dealerships – Ford if they wanted a Ford, Citroen if they wanted a Citroen and so on… multibrand sites were few and far between back then.

From a salesman’s perspective, then, the very fact they’d crossed your threshold (or become ‘footfall’ in marketing bullsh**) meant they were at the very least a hot prospect.

They’d walked into your showroom, they were clearly in the market for a car and they were properly set up for you to ‘convert’ there and then, if you had the gift of the gab and (ideally) a chunk of the car manufacturer’s own money ‘on the bonnet’ with which you could play discount tennis.

According to Geoff, though, things are very different today. First of all, manufacturer incentives are often volume related – you get your bonus if you flog enough cars, not as a negotiating tool per se, which is why we see so many pre-registrations.

But worse than that, the internet means that people shop around before they even come to the dealership.

They know what they want and from where they can get it, they know how much it will cost, and whether they want to buy it new or nearly new (where those lovely preregs can bite dealers on the bum).

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

Geoff’s role these days is often to make these ‘prospects’ a nice cuppa, while they go out for a test drive in his bought-in, paid-for demonstrator to reaffirm the decision they’ve already made, only for them to then bugger off home with a nice shiny brochure to place their order for that exact same make and model on a preregistered example from halfway across the country, the deal sweetened by said dealer chipping in for their train fare to collect. It works for me, as often these deals are concluded with no part-exchange, meaning I get a better run at the classifieds than I ever did before, and a much better selection of ‘must be sold due to new car’ bargains.

But for Geoff, it’s soul destroying.

He works hard, lives off his commission but is constantly ‘in the bucket’ with his employer – a car trade term meaning he’s already borrowing against next month’s commission, just to make ends meet.

‘People shop around before they even come to the dealership’ I, meanwhile, am enjoying something of a purple patch thanks to the quality of used stock there is out there at the moment, often as a result of this buying culture.

My stock might be older than average and my lot a bit ‘backstreet’, but it’s a nice little business.

But my fear is what happens next.

Folk like Geoff are keeping what custom they can by tying customers into PCPs, and with the UK having a dreadful ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ mentality, that shiny new piece of metal on the driveway for £279 a month is hard to ignore.

But once you’re in a PCP, you’re in it for keeps as it’s so expensive to get out. That’s good news for Geoff, but it means the bottom could be about to fall out of the used car market, especially when these cars get to their second or third ownership cycle, where they’re too old for anyone to consider as a status symbol.

And as more and more people tie themselves into monthly payments, which are often not far off the loan repayments I could get them on a more straightforward hire purchase scheme, I can’t help but feel a bit exposed…

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 | 31

CDX17.

INTRO

Familiar faces, superb stands... and a Crazy Cart!

James Baggott, CEO of Baize Group, the parent company of Blackball Media, publishers of this very magazine, introduces a whopping 51 pages of coverage from this year’s CDX.

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can’t think why the sight of the CEO of the company about to host one of the biggest events to take over their Wing skidding sideways around the halls in a go-kart raised the eyebrows of the Silverstone event staff, but it sure did.

I tried to explain that the tail-happy Crazy Cart was the ideal way to get around the three huge spaces we were beginning to fill ahead of the UK’s biggest motor trade expo a few days later, but they weren’t happy.

They mumbled something about elf and gravy, or at least I think that’s what they said, but I was too busy trying to perfect my power slide around the Mac boxes we were unpacking.

The Sunday before our big event – as you can probably guess – is rather less frantic than the big day itself. The team (and I, supposedly) are there to map out the huge stands that in a few days will be chock-full of delegates looking to do deals.

I might not have been taking the set-up day too seriously, but CDX really is rather a big deal now. With a valid claim to being the biggest motor trade expo in the UK, the team and I have aspirations to grow it even further.

We make no bones about the fact we want it to be a European version of the brilliant NADA Convention in America, and with our plans for next year extending the event to two days for the first time, we’re well on the way.

But for that to happen we needed this year’s event to be a roaring success. Hence the nerves, and my attempt to relieve the stress with some Ken Block action on an electric go-kart…

Come the big day and there really wasn’t

James on the Live Stage at CDX17 anything to worry about. Our brilliant readers arrived in their droves – the car park outside the front of the Wing was full by 9am, and the overflow car park transport bussed yet more delegates in steadily all morning.

Before they arrived, though, we held our team meeting outside the main entrance in the soft post-dawn glow of a beautiful spring day. The display cars were in place, the 102 exhibitors set up inside and the Car Dealer Live Stage ready to entertain. Like most briefings of this type I struggled to pay attention – a combination of nerves, excitement and trepidation for a busy day ahead kept my mind drifting away.

As the team received their final instructions, I wandered through the halls taking in the amazing stands. Suppliers had gone to town this year with bigger and better builds than ever before. Our headline sponsors, GForces, had erected their amazing aircraft-style monolith in the middle of the event, while new entrants to the market, American firm Gubagoo, had dominated hall one with a massive stand.

‘We make no bones about the fact we want it to be a European version of the brilliant NADA Convention.’

James Baggott 32 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

Elsewhere, Cox Automotive Group had built a stunning concert-style showpiece, Auto Trader were putting the finishing touches to their whitefloored spot and the popular coffee machines that featured on so many firms’ stands were gently humming as they warmed. This was the calm before the storm.

On the Car Dealer Live Stage, Rebecca Chaplin and I had a packed programme of speakers, panels and experts to look forward to. Over the day we chatted to head honchos from Facebook, Twitter and Google – all pulling in standing-roomonly crowds. Dealer bosses, from the large to the small, told us about their gripes, while we grilled car manufacturer chiefs on their hopes for the year and the SMMT’s chief executive Mike Hawes on his hopes (and fears) for Brexit.

While I was busy chatting to our guests on the Live Stage, elsewhere, the brilliant workshops

Watch the CDX17 video at

James, centre, with the CDX / Car Dealer team

There was more to see and do than ever

CDX17 was the biggest and best event yet!

in our GardX Future, RAC Customer Service, GForces Tech and iVendi Finance forums were packed with delegates. There was a huge array of speakers to choose from – too many in fact, which is another reason we’re extending next year’s event to two days.

During the day, our Social Media 200 Award winners were announced and our Woman of the Year crowned. In the little time I did have away from hosting on the stage I managed to wander around the halls.

Nearly 3,000 delegates packed the event out, which made squeezing my way around a little tricky, but I overheard a lot of business being sealed and a lot of connections being made.

CDX is as much about the networking as it is the workshops and expo – and with so many people in the huge halls it was hard not to bump into countless familiar faces.

I finished the day with a stint on TalkRadio who were covering our event and then popped along to the brilliant Autocar Awards that were taking place as the evening showcase. The great and the good of the worldwide car industry were honoured by the weekly car magazine as the sun set over another successful CDX. The hard work, time, effort, sweat and tears that go into making our expo the most important date in the motor trade calendar are very real indeed, but as the dust settles and we reflect on another brilliant event, we’re not letting up until the planning for CDX18 is complete.

I’ve already got my ideas hat on to make next year’s Manchester showcase better still – more on that later in this issue – but for now, enjoy our comprehensive coverage of this year’s stellar event.

I’m off to charge the go-kart…

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 33

Our CDX 17

Above: Team GForces and the GForces Hub taking centre stage in Hall 2 at CDX 17

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DX, Car Dealer Magazine’s expo for the UK’s automotive retail industry, is all over for another year. On May 23rd, approximately 2,500 delegates and over 100 exhibitors descended on Silverstone.

Together, we explored the sector’s most innovative products and leading-edge technologies. We also heard from pioneers and leaders in the fields of user experience and customer journeys. Most importantly, we saw how challenges are being turned into opportunities, and how everyone, from independent operators to the largest dealer groups, are eschewing positive change in an evolving marketplace.

Established in 2015, CDX 17 marked the expo’s third consecutive year. It was also our third year as headline sponsors. GForces are leaders in providing automotive digital technology, marketing, and creative services to independent retailers, multi-franchise dealer groups, and global manufacturers. CDX therefore represents every aspect of our business, and vice versa. We are extremely proud to have been associated with the biggest and best event of its kind in the UK from the very start.

34 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

CDX offers fresh thinking, and embraces the latest trends and marketing initiatives.

Another recurring aspect was the event’s ability to grow its annual audience and reach. CDX 17 saw more exhibitors and delegates than ever before. For us, that meant an incredible number of visitors to the GForces Hub, many of whom were new to our products and services. We relished the opportunity to introduce so many of you to our latest web and showroom tools, like NetDirector® Experience and the NetDirector® Vision App. We also carried out free SEO audits on request. More than anything, this proved how unique each and every business we work with is. Every site was different, delivering different buyer journeys and displaying equally different strengths and weaknesses.

A premium event that attracts the good and great of our industry.

Undoubtedly, CDX throws a spotlight on the real stars of the showroom and the key performers of the industry.

And no matter the size of your automotive business or how specialist, CDX 17 really showed there was something on offer for everyone. Some of the biggest names at manufacturer and dealer level took part in panel discussions on the Car Dealer live stage. Internet giants and industry changers like Google, Facebook, and Instagram held workshops on enhancing digital experiences for car buyers. And independent operations and specialists showed how important their services and customer impact was at local level.

The insight and knowledge brought under one roof at CDX means there’s real scope to change our business models for the better. And that’s one of the expo’s real strengths. This isn’t just an oversized market filled with stalls and eager sales people.

There is a real desire to leave CDX more informed and better equipped to create more enhanced and complete customer experiences. We want to see for the newest ways we can connect with our audiences for ourselves.

And of course, we want to see what our competitors are doing.

Being so well attended by the industry, there is a real sense of raising the bar and setting new standards. CDX genuinely offers fresh thinking, and embraces the latest trends and marketing initiatives. Seeing them executed in such style, and in ways that have real-world relevance to ROI and profitability, means everyone attending can benefit and put into practice some of those elements.”

And just with the live panels and workshops, it’s the networking, interaction, and collaboration between delegates and exhibitors that really makes CDX stand out.

We felt inspired and informed by every contact we had with visitors to the GForces Hub. Candid questions and opinions backed by experience means exhibitors and experts alike need to make their offerings relevant.

Tim Smith, Group Strategy Director at GForces, explains why the event has become so popular in such a short period of time.

Above: Award-winning products and solutions backed by expert consultation

“In just three years, CDX has quickly established itself as a premium event that attracts the good and great of our industry, from automotive suppliers to major innovators. Being held at the historic home of motor racing in the UK also grants it considerable status, and I have no doubt CDX will continue to grow.

We felt inspired and informed by every contact we had with visitors to the GForces Hub. Ultimately, what CDX 17 gave GForces, was the opportunity to showcase our entire offering and engage with our full audience. We could talk to independent retailers and single-franchise operators about NetDirector® Editions, the advanced dealer websites made exclusively for individual market sectors. We showed dealer groups how the NetDirector® Vision App could save them time and money whilst also enhancing how their stock was presented.

And we could demonstrate the stunning, in-browser interactivity of NetDirector® Experience to manufacturers.

Importantly though, face-to-face, we could show how all our products, our award-winning NetDirector® platform, and our marketing services, had the flexibility and adaptability to be relevant to all of them. After all, just like CDX, we’re exclusively automotive, but encompass every aspect within.

It is an event, and an industry we continue to be thrilled to contribute to. ■ 0844 326 7033 www.gforces.co.uk

Above: The NetDirector® Vision App saves retailers time and money

GForces NetDirector® registered Trademark of G-Forces Web Management Ltd

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 35

CDX17.

EXPO IN PICTURES

Simply the best expo yet!

When we say CDX is the biggest automotive expo of its kind in the UK, we aren’t telling porkies. And our exhibitors seemed very happy with the way things were going for them...

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ust when you think the stands at CDX can’t get any more impressive than those of previous years, our exhibitors excel themselves. The three halls at this year’s event were filled with sensational structures of all shapes and sizes, put up by companies such as GForces, Cox Automotive, Dragon2000 and GardX. Our thousands of delegates were spoilt for choice as they wandered The Wing complex at Silverstone and the sheer scale and size of the event took many people’s breath away.

Perhaps the first stand that most people noticed as they entered Hall One was constructed

by Gubagoo, a company that supplies ‘the most advanced customer communication solution in automotive’. Brad Title, president and CEO, was impressed with his surroundings.

He told us towards the end of the day: ‘We’ve had great foot traffic and a phenomenal response.

I’m glad I came to this event – I got exactly what I wanted and we’ve handed out 500 brochures – that’s how successful it has been for us.’

Andy Pryce, managing director of Sigmavision, told us: ‘This is the first time we have exhibited and the response has been tremendous. We’ve had a lot of vehicle manufacturers and dealer groups come and talk to us so we have been delighted with the way things have gone.’

Paul Bromage, client support manager at Crystal Clear Warranty, said: ‘We’ve found it tiring! But it’s been very productive. The standard of the exhibits has been fantastic and we’ve certainly got some positive leads. We’re looking forward to being at CDX next year as well.’

‘Great foot traffic and a phenomenal response.’

CDX17 reporting team: James Baggott, John Bowman, Dave Brown, Darren Cassey, Rebecca Chaplin, Simon Davis, Jack Evans, Jack Healy, Margaret McDonnell, Clare Newman, Tristan Shale-Hester, Sophie Williamson-Stothert.

Pictures: Jonny Fleetwood, Isabel Infantes and David Mirzoeff.

36 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

Watch the CDX17 video at bit.ly/CDX2017

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 37

Best Software of the Year

sales@dragon2000.co.uk dragon2000.co.uk 01327 222 333 38 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

CDX17.

Car Dealer Live Stage KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Brexit, diesel, the FCA, data... just some of the issues we face!

There was no shortage of talking points when Mike Hawes, chief executive of the SMMT, took to the Live Stage for a chat with Rebecca Chaplin at CDX17.

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urning challenges into opportunities will be key for the automotive industry as Brexit brings big changes to our working environment over the coming months and years.

That was the message from Mike Hawes, chief executive of the SMMT, when he spoke to Rebecca Chaplin on the Live Stage at CDX. ‘What we don’t know is the exact nature of our future trading relationship with Europe and thereafter what the opportunities will be to trade more broadly or easily with the rest of the world.

‘As it is, we export to over 160 different countries and if the costs or barriers to trade are reduced, then opportunities will present themselves. The flip side will be whether those barriers go up in Europe.’

Another talking point during Hawes’s spell on the Live Stage was the possibility of a diesel scrappage scheme. Hawes wasn’t convinced one is needed or will happen.

He said: ‘I think we were always fairly reticent about the ability to deliver a scrappage scheme. If you’re trying to address air quality, it needs to be targeted. The government has identified 39 cities that have at least one road with an air-quality problem. It’s more efficient and cost-effective to address those particular problems.

‘Do you want something to bolster an industry that is at an all-time high when what we’re really trying to do is ensure the market is stable and has that degree of sustainability? What we don’t want is to have a peak, which is exacerbated by a scrappage scheme and when you go off the drug it’s cold turkey. That makes it harder to plan.’

The discussion turned to the FCA’s investigation into motor finance, but Hawes was cautious to prejudge what this could mean.

‘The FCA has said that it’s not an investigation,

Mike Hawes said the automotive industry faces challenges on a number of levels at the moment but that they’re gathering evidence on the performance of the motor finance market,’ he explained. ‘Over 80 per cent of new car sales now have some sort of finance. It’s usually PCP but there are growth areas in private contract hire as well. There are concerns at the edges that perhaps some of the finance deals on offer haven’t been sustainable, or that the appropriate checks haven’t been in place.

‘Now, that’s the accusation that’s being investigated. We work with the Finance and Leasing Association and all of the finance companies involved. A lot of the franchised dealers are very alert to their responsibilities.

‘We believe that it has undoubtedly made the market more stable, but it has also meant many more people could buy a new or nearly new car than perhaps could have. The critical thing, whenever you take out any sort of financial product, is to be aware of the terms and

‘There are concerns that perhaps some of the finance deals on offer haven’t been sustainable.’

Mike Hawes

conditions, and the emphasis has to be on the person providing that information.’

One issue that is rumbling under the surface, and dealers are preparing to take measures to ensure they comply, is changes to the way email opt-ins work. One audience member asked Hawes whether manufacturers were doing enough.

‘I think this is one of the problems we face at the moment. Potential changes to recalls, changes to MOTs... the industry faces challenges on a number of levels. What you’re talking about with data is right up there as well,’ he said.

‘You have to make sure that your business complies with the legislation, otherwise you’re not able to operate. If you’re part of a larger organisation or one that operates internationally, we need to make sure that the UK is seen as a safe haven for data, so that you can have that free flow of information across borders whatever happens with Brexit.

‘There are plenty of organisations who can offer advice – and from the conversations I’m having with manufacturers, they don’t seem unaware. They’re feeling that this is just one of a number of problems at the moment though.’

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 39

CDX17.

Car Dealer Live Stage KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Anita Fox: Embrace mobile Whether you’re looking to drive footfall to your dealership, push people towards your website or gather leads, Facebook can help, Anita Fox, head of automotive at the social media platform, told James Baggott at CDX.

F

acebook remains a platform of choice for social media users all around the globe, including the UK. That said, the car industry is still lagging behind many other sectors as it seems reluctant to embrace its capabilities and benefits.

Anita Fox, head of automotive at Facebook, has worked on both sides of the fence with previous roles at both Volvo and Jaguar Land Rover. At CDX, she explained that the problems she was facing 10 years ago are still issues today.

‘A number of things I noticed, particularly when I was at JLR, was that it was the preserve of big companies to make big, amazing TV ads. Mobile is now democratising the way that businesses can display themselves.

‘Look at the number of small businesses that are now able to produce really high-quality video content,’ she explained.

‘I still think we’re moving really, really slowly. I say that very generally but I’ve had the ability to see it from inside the industry and to now see it through the eyes of the tech industry. There are a lot of things that were challenging to us when I was at Volvo 10 years ago, such as being able to share information between the manufacturer and the dealer, and those problems are still there.’

Facebook advertising opens up a new world of possibilities for brands looking to put their adverts in front of carefully-targeted consumers.

Fox continued: ‘As an industry, we’re putting adverts where we want to see them. We’re not thinking about where our consumers will see them. That’s one of our big challenges; we need to think about where consumers are now consuming media, not where we physically want to hear it or see it.

‘The second big challenge, another one we had 10 years ago when I was running lead management, is we would create leads, then we’d pass the data to a dealer and we wouldn’t know what had happened to that lead at that point.

‘The brands who are doing it best are using their existing customer base to go and find people

40 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

who look like their customers. Then we can go and find people who look like their customers to make their targeting even more robust.

‘Some of the best campaigns we’ve got running at the moment are using something called lead ads. A lead ad means that when you want to catch data, you don’t have to send that consumer to your website to fill in a form, using your thumbs which can be really awkward, we can

populate that form with data we already hold.

‘I can’t reveal all of our clients’ objectives but there are two things I can quote. With BMW, they saw five times the amount of leads versus using the data capture form. Then with Mazda, they ran a service booking campaign. They saw 225 per cent more service bookings in the month they ran the Facebook advertising.’

Whether you’re looking to drive footfall to your

Watch the CDX17 video at bit.ly/CDX2017

and be a fast mover Dozens of delegates listened to Anita Fox’s discussion with James Baggott

‘The brands who are doing it best are using their existing customer base to go and find people who look like their customers.’

Anita Fox, left, head of automotive at Facebook dealership, push people towards your website or gather leads, Facebook can help.

‘The first thing you’ll be asked when setting up a campaign on Facebook is, “what is your business objective?” You need to ask yourself, are you trying to drive people to your showroom, in which case you’ll want to use the store visits objective; am I trying to capture someone’s data for a new car launch, then you’ll want to use a

lead objective; am I trying to push people to my website; or do I want to give them an offer that they can actually redeem?’

As Fox pointed out, mobile has drastically shaken up the industry in the past 10 years and both manufacturers and dealerships need to look at how their businesses operate in this sphere or face losing out.

With Uber as an example of how one relatively

small business has empowered users and transformed an industry, she pointed out that automotive needs to embrace change to keep up in this fast-paced, technology-focused era.

‘There is no doubt that Uber has had a huge impact on the taxi industry.

‘Not only has it made it really viable for anyone with a car to get a job taxiing, it’s brought so much more convenience to the way that people can access taxis,’ she explained.

‘One of the key things with our industry is because a lot of us don’t live and work in cities, we just don’t have visibility of how much this is affecting our industry. It’s because I now live and work in London, having worked in the midlands at Jaguar Land Rover, that I suddenly realised how quickly these things are beginning to change the way we behave.

‘Even just having a car sat at home for five days a week, you begin to think, “how could I monetise it?”

‘And when there are opportunities like Airbnb where people are happy to share their flats, people are now more than happy to share their vehicles when not commuting.

‘I think the key is, it’s no longer about the big businesses being better or winning against the small businesses, it’s now more about fast-moving businesses overtaking slowmoving businesses.’

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 41

CDX17.

Car Dealer Live Stage PANEL SESSION

Independent dealers

MOHAMED BENLAADAR Whitethor Cars

What are the challenges facing the independents? Four major names in the field spoke quite frankly about what worked for them – and what didn’t.

Are there any opportunities that you guys think independent dealers should be taking advantage of at the moment?

MB: A big thing for us is local presence. I’m a very good self-promoter. I do a lot on Facebook, we’re always doing it, and I also share it to my personal page. But I’m of the younger generation. We were using Facebook when it first came out, and we’ve carried on using it, so we’re a little bit savvy with that. Digitally, get on there. It’s a struggle, it’s not going to be easy for anyone, but you’ll learn. Look at the big boys, take a bit from here and there, and try and put your own spin on it.

Do you use Facebook organically or do you put some money behind it?

MB: Anyone who uses Facebook organically is, I think, going to struggle. The algorithms have changed. If you’re not paying you’re not getting anywhere. You’ve got to be really good to do it organically, but all the big guys are sponsoring posts and putting a lot of money into Facebook, and you can see why.

LIVE STAGE

Sean, can you tell us about what you do and the challenges you face at Geoff Cox? SC: We’re a small business that’s been established for over 50 years now. We have the Subaru franchise, which equates to a very small element of what we actually do. But what it does is add the credibility for a good, successful used car operation, which is the core of the business.

There’s a lot of changes in the financial environment, politically and everything else.

When there’s any change on the horizon, people tend to reserve what they’re going to do until there’s some stability in the financial climate.

Ross, you deal with beautiful, high-end cars.

How are you finding it at the premium end?

RQ: I think now we’re in spring-summer time they’ve come into their own. I found January and February a little bit slow-going. Four-wheeldrives were still doing well, naturally, ’cause it’s winter. Fortunately, we have the benefit of both the four-wheel-drive side and the sports and 42 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

prestige, which is good. But I think the performance stuff, since we hit March, has really come into its own.

Unfortunately, the four-wheel-drive sales have eased off a bit, possibly because of the ‘Dieselgate’ situation. We’re definitely seeing an improvement on petrol selling, without a shadow of a doubt. So I think that’s one to watch.

car. But buying online – reserving online perhaps.

I think there will always have to be that human element of physical contact with the car.

Do you think buyers are ever going to be ready to buy off your website, purely online?

US: I’m not sure if they’re quite ready to buy online. Quite a few people have seen videos and pictures, and commit pretty much 90 per cent to buying a car. As for 100 per cent click and buy, I’m not convinced. I think people still want the experience. They want to touch, feel, smell; it’s a big expense.

MB: I think it depends really. What do you class as buying online? My opinion is that as we’re getting more tech-savvy, and as we’re taking more photos, if they commit to a buy, would you classify that as a buy? It’s not rare for us to take a £9,000 payment by bank transfer and deliver the car. We’ve done it; it can be done.

SC: We try and put as much information as humanly possible on the site, such as pictures, reviews and video. It helps get them to the point where they have to make a decision about the

RQ: I think, when it comes to used cars, people will always want to see the car before they’ve actually paid for it. Maybe new stuff might be different. I think there’s probably a market there.

When it comes to marketing, where do you spend the most money, and what works for you?

RQ: Quite easy – Auto Trader. That’s where the most money goes. But at the same time, it does work. In all fairness, it’s a necessary evil. It costs a lot of money but I’d never come away from it.

ROSS QUIRK

Quirks Car Company

Do you guys use any of the rivals to Auto Trader?

RQ: I personally use most of them. When you look at the pricing structure compared to what you pay for Auto Trader, you’d only need to sell one car every two to three months and it pays for itself. They definitely deliver that return – not to the same level as Auto Trader, to be fair, but it’s still a decent return on your investment.

US: I’m using Auto Trader. I’ve tried other platforms but they simply don’t work for me.

Auto Trader works to a certain degree, but I think some of the changes that they’ve made in the last few months, the results are very poor.

SC: We have pretty much all of them that are worth having. The way I look at it, Auto Trader is by far our biggest overhead. It generates the most amount of income. Like it or hate it, it’s there and they dominate the market, so you have to have a presence on there. The way I look at it from the other platforms, I only need to sell one or two cars for it to pay for itself in that given month.

UMESH SAMANI

Specialist Cars

SEAN CANTILLON Geoff Cox Car Sales

And I’m on the ball, looking at those statistics, to make sure the juice is always worth the squeeze on those other platforms, and it is.

Are you using videos to promote your cars?

US: I’ve done videos for the last three years or so. Every car gets a full walk-around video. Some customers do buy cars over the phone because they’ve seen the car, so videos do work.

RQ: We use them now as well, and we’re finding it pretty effective. Also, all the sales guys use it for video presentations to customers. It almost breaks that barrier before the customer has come down. I think it’s something that’s going to get bigger.

MB: We don’t use it at the moment, but it’s definitely something we need to implement. All the big dealers are doing it, but for us it’s finding the time to do it.

What about social media in general? What platforms do you invest your time in, and do you

actually sell any cars using social media?

MB: We’ve definitely sold a lot of cars on Facebook. We’ve sold some good cars on there and thought “Wow, that’s really paid for itself on that car.”

RQ: I’m finding that Facebook is working really well now. We’re finding that with videos of the cars, we’re getting a lot more interaction and likes.

We are definitely selling cars through Facebook now. Instagram’s another really good one. It’s all about photos, all about pictures.

US: I think you have to be on all the platforms.

Yes, it does sell cars, but it’s also building the brand, the trust ability. It’s not just a matter of selling, it’s building credibility online.

SC: I agree with that. It’s having cohesion between your website and social media. We don’t use it as a platform to advertise our stock but more of a window into the personality of the business.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 43

CDX17.

Car Dealer Live Stage PANEL SESSION

Why supercars aren’t just for millionaires Romans International is one of Europe’s best-known independent luxury car dealerships – and delegates at CDX gained a fascinating insight into the company.

S

upercars are big business at the moment.

With prices consistently rising on special or in-demand performance models, it’s a safe area in which to invest. However, there are certain problems that exist for those who sell them – and one of those people is Marc Jaconelli, co-owner of Romans International.

Jaconelli’s brother Paul founded the Surreybased business in 1994, with the aim of providing some of the highest-ticket cars on the market.

Now, the firm stocks cars ranging in price from £30,000 to £3 million.

Putting your money in supercars is safer than investing it in housing, according to Jaconelli.

‘You’ve got the perfect storm – low interest rates, the taxation rates on cars are good in comparison to property, and manufacturers are producing cars that are appealing to the extra millionaires and billionaires that are appearing every day,’ he explained. However, he is aware that the current boom is going to end at some point – and when looking at today’s supercar prices, it’s hard to see them going much higher.

It’d be easy to think that high-price supercars are reserved for millionaires and billionaires only – but they’re for enthusiasts too, according to Jaconelli. ‘We have a few celebrity clients who come into the showroom, and a lot of our business is done on the phone,’ he told James Baggott on the Live Stage.

However, whereas you’d expect a large amount of cash to be changing hands, the reality is that a lot of business is done through a service more associated with Fiats than Ferraris.

Jaconelli explained: ‘Something that will surprise a lot of people is that we do an awful lot of finance. To give an example, in March we did £7million-worth.’

‘Every car that we have, goes on the website as soon as it’s prepped.’

44 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

Marc Jaconelli told James Baggott that Romans International has embraced social media The way Romans markets cars is changing, too.

Whereas many dealers are struggling to adjust to the digital age, Jaconelli explained they’re making the most of social media channels to promote the business: ‘As an avid Sunday Times reader in the past, I’m sad to say that newspaper advertising – certainly for us – has had its day.

‘We use social media in a big way,’ he added.

‘We have big followings on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Every car that we have goes on the website as soon as it’s prepped, and we’re very strict on this. We also use YouTube – so we’re attacking all areas of social media.’

Why are they taking their marketing in this direction? ‘The customers are getting younger,’ explained Jaconelli, ‘and they’re very internet and social media savvy.’

Are traditional selling values still as important in this modern world of tweets, status updates and photo posts? Yes, according to Jaconelli: ‘I believe the tools we use have changed, but there is still a process. I don’t think the road to selling has changed – and it’s never going to change.’

Jaconelli still remains an avid fan of supercars: ‘My favourite car we sold was a McLaren

Jaconelli’s audience had a chance to quiz him F1 – though it’s the only one we’ve ever sold, unfortunately. We sold it a fair few years ago for $4.5 million, which would be a snip today’ – and the effect of being around these vehicles doesn’t appear to be wearing off.

Brexit remained a hot topic at this year’s CDX – and it was an issue that Jaconelli was quick to talk about. ‘Initially, we did notice a change – we experienced a 20 per cent saving because of the Euro-Sterling rates. However, the trouble with export is that there’s very rarely a part-exchange opportunity and no finance opportunity either. The vast majority of our business has been UK-based.’

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CarDealerMag.co.uk | 45

CDX17.

Car Dealer Live Stage KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Ross MacDonald: Making the Twitter agency sales manager Ross MacDonald focuses solely on auto clients in his role, working with all the large car manufacturers to exploit the social media platform to its full potential, covering a wide range of aspects from marketing to customer service.

What is the typical target your clients are trying to work towards?

It really depends. For the big car brands they’re all focused on their new car launches and getting as many people as possible to be aware of them.

But because they’re car brands they’re also really competitive, so there’s a nature of one-upmanship and they want to do things people haven’t done before. Ultimately, the bottom line is how they can use Twitter to sell more cars.

to use the platform in a fun way [but] there are situations where you do need to just get information out there.

Have you done any research into how people should divide their time between different social media platforms?

It should all just be on Twitter! To be honest, I think the brands are starting to realise that having a simple social media strategy isn’t the smartest way of doing things. If you look at Twitter, it’s a very different platform to Facebook or Instagram. Doing what people do on Facebook, and expecting it to do just as well on Twitter is never going to work. It’s about figuring out the strengths and weaknesses of the platforms, whether they work for your campaign, and tailoring your output for each platform, rather than trying to implement a catch-all approach.

What opportunities are there with Twitter that our delegates could be taking advantage of?

The big thing for Twitter at the moment is our live streaming. This opens loads of opportunities for brands to be involved in streaming of events.

We launched in the UK on football transfer deadline day and streamed the Sky Sports News feed on Twitter for free.

When it comes to car dealers, I think you can use it as a customer service platform. A good Audience member: Do you have any example of that isn’t from a car brand but plans around lead generation? there’s a book store in north London Lead generation is a big thing for us. called Big Green Bookshop. It’s based in To be honest, it’s not something we Wood Green, which is quite a deprived do incredibly well at the moment. area of London, so it’s quite hard to run We do have a number of plans that an independent book store there. we’re rolling out this year. Last year LIVE STAGE One Sunday evening they tweeted at Twitter was certainly about getting saying basically: ‘Guys, you need to come the platform right for consumers, and and buy some books, because we have bills to this year we’re a bit more focused on how brands pay this week.’ It was a fairly innocuous tweet, can get involved. but the response was overwhelming. Within minutes they had hundreds and then thousands How can you trace customers actually of responses from people saying they would buy making their way to the dealership? a book. So they ended up having all of these oneWe work with people like Ford and BMW in a to-one conversations with people asking about number of ways, where we will have Twitter tags books they’d like to buy. It was a lovely way to integrated on to their website. So we can sort of show how you can use the platform to have that track the user journey and see how far through one-to-one contact with customers. the process they got. We do a lot around car It certainly wasn’t planned, but this was just an configurators on Twitter. We can track how far honest tweet to say that if they didn’t sell more the users get into configuring their car, we can books they’d go out of business. track which users have seen which adverts, so we do have a very long funnel of being able to track So what should the ratio be between tweeting each single stage. with personality and straight-up just handing out information?

Is there a type of user that looks at a car on We spend a lot of time with the big car brands Twitter and actually buys it? talking about this. My personal view is that it’s Autos is one of the key passion points on Twitter, okay to have a personality for your brand and alongside music, sport and politics. People are 46 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

tweeting about new cars, but do they see an advert and buy the car in the same session?

Honestly, probably not, but I think it plays a part in the overall role.

How big is brand awareness – actually building your brand and your business – on Twitter?

It varies from client to client. In Ford’s case, most of their business is branding. So for them, they use Twitter as a branding platform; they don’t use it as a performance or a response-driving platform. They work with us to align themselves with major events, such as our NFL streams in America. It’s quite compelling with the Twitter streams – when you cut to an ad break, the conversation turns to the brands in the adverts, rather than the game itself. So it’s a really powerful opportunity for a brand like Ford to get people talking about a new car.

Is there a way that smaller dealerships can capitalise on those big events that are going on?

We look at a lot of research on the platform,

Watch the CDX17 video at bit.ly/CDX2017

most of Twitter for car sales ‘Autos is one of the key passion points on Twitter, alongside music, sport and politics.’

A question from the audience...

Ross MacDonald

and two-thirds of auto fans follow their local car dealership. I think it’s a good opportunity to gain local followers, and it’s okay to then get involved in the conversation around big events. People like hearing, not just from big brands, but local dealerships as well.

Audience member: What are the most popular age groups for using Twitter in general?

It varies from market to market, but if you look at the US and the UK, it’s a slightly older audience [than Facebook]. Eighteen to 44 is our most popular demographic. We do have quite a broad audience, and we think less about the actual demographics. We see our audience as the kind of people who are interested in breaking news and what’s happened around the world.

Audience member: You spoke about Ford and the new car industry, but is there something you can offer used car dealers?

When it comes to used cars, Twitter is an opportunity to speak to people when they’re

talking about changing cars, when they’re talking about taking their car for a service.

Audience member: Do you not think that the 140-character limit is a barrier, and is there any virtue in removing it or extending it?

My personal viewpoint is that I don’t think it’s a barrier. When you think about the nature of Twitter, it’s an incredibly fast-moving platform.

Once you open up that character limit, it slows the platform down, and that takes away from the essence of what the platform is.

That said, we are looking at ways to make it easier for users to make multiple tweets. So, fairly soon we’ll be rolling out some tools to make that much easier.

Audience member: We find that we have followers who have a passion for the brand, rather than followers looking to buy a car from us. Is there anything you can recommend that’s going to help us grow our customer base from followers that are going to buy cars?

I think if you’re concerned about people following you for the brand rather than what you can offer them, you have to look at what you’re offering the customers on the platform. Give your local customers a reason to follow. What’s really popular on the platform is hints and tips, quirky things in the local community, and offers. If you do more of that, you’re offering people a reason to follow you beyond the brand association.

How important is the number of people who follow you, from a brand perspective?

I don’t think it’s as big an issue as it was five or six years ago when we were still growing. Even if you’re a smaller brand, it’s more about the quality of the people than the pure numbers.

And when it comes to the key way that businesses should be measuring how successful they are on Twitter, what would you advise?

There isn’t a catch-all answer for that really.

I think the customer-service part of Twitter is extremely relevant. So, making sure you’re responding to users on Twitter, and so on.

With bigger branding campaigns, we have a whole range of metrics that we measure, including retweets, likes and engagements.

But ultimately, I think it depends on your campaign objective, and what you’re looking to get out of it.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 47

CDX17.

Car Dealer Live Stage PANEL SESSION

Online classifieds bosses Selling cars via the internet has undoubtedly shaken up the industry, and representatives of three of the biggest players in the field faced some tough questioning about it.

What are your USPs when it comes to selling with dealers?

NC: For Auto Trader, obviously a well-known name in the industry, the biggest thing is the size of the audience we have; the number of car buyers. That’s what you’re paying for access to. Increasingly though, we’re finding that the audience and the activity on Auto Trader is letting us develop products around data.

It allows dealers to work out which cars are best to sell on their forecourts, where their prices should be, and what we’re finding is, that leads to them speeding up their stock turn and profitability, which is kind of a win-win. I’d say that’s the heart of it.

PJ: At Motors, we are here to help dealers sell cars and make more money. By advertising with Motors, you reach 5.1 million unique visitors each month. We provide dealers with tools to help run their business: upload their stock, export their stock, understand the performance of their stock and advertise websites. We have SZ: We’re never a player that says a transparent pricing model, which LIVE STAGE only work with CarGurus. We’re means that people pay for the value that’s working with 24,000 dealers in the US. delivered – that’s really important to us. I Our model is to say that return on investment is think transparency flows through our business. the way you should think about your investment in a marketing programme like ours. We think SZ: I really appreciate that my colleagues we provide great profitability to those dealers speak about transparency; we wrote the book based on a view of their marketing spend on our on it! The founder of CarGurus is the founder subscription programme and the closed sales of TripAdvisor, so for people who know our they’re making, but you should work with our move into this market, the focus is completely two colleagues here as well if they are returning to provide as much information as possible to on investment. consumers when they’re looking to purchase In the US we found that we have only a 28 per cars. That means an instant market value that cent overlap in audience with Auto Trader US. We compares cars in a local market on a deal-based believe we’re bringing a different consumer from system – a look at all the options and trims of the search perspective because we’re right where those cars, combined with consumers’ experience they are in their search funnel, hitting them in working with those dealers, so a dealer rating the time of purchase and converting them. But from the consumers. we never say don’t work with another player if it’s That led TripAdvisor to success and we’re returning on investment. doing the same thing in the car industry.

What do you think dealers should be considering when choosing between you?

48 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

PJ: I think that’s absolutely right, and I think Nathan would agree with me as well. It’s

absolutely fundamental that dealers take time to understand what they’re getting for their marketing spend. Marketing is sometimes described as a black art; you don’t know which half of your marketing budget is wasted. With online advertising everything is trackable.

Sometimes you have to take a leap of faith, but if dealers are preparing their cars properly, if they’re buying the right cars and pricing them properly, then they will attract interest. And you’ve got to get that visibility for your cars while also making sure that’s the right level of visibility to allow you to advertise profitably.

What do your users want from dealers like the ones here today? Is there something they’re not doing that you could give them tips on?

NC: There’s this tension between wanting to be able to control the sale within the store or the dealership versus giving the consumer the information online. I think the consumer wants to almost make the entire decision from the comfort of their own home at a time that suits

NATHAN COE

PHIL JONES

Auto Trader

Motors.co.uk

them. A lot of people are researching outside of dealership hours.

Transparency and ratings are what consumers are looking for. They don’t feel like they get that all the time now. They still feel like there’s an element of the haggle or the deal that has to be done in the dealership.

Audience question: How do you balance the proportion of your site to actually advertise our dealerships and stock without then taking away our extra opportunities to sell finance and insurance by hiving off some of those leads to other companies?

PJ: Our research shows that we often assume people distrust our industry. It’s not that. People trust it, but buying a car is a hassle and they kind of can’t be bothered. There’s more information online than ever. We need to give people that information and that flexibility, because they want to research in their spare time.

They want to know that when they call a dealer, someone’s going to answer the phone, or that someone will respond quickly when they send e-mails.

We all buy things online every day and we know how we behave as consumers and we want the industry to behave like that. So I think flexibility as a retailer is key.

PJ: Fundamentally, we are all advertising companies. So there’s an element of that, and we have to think about how we monetise. For Motors, it’s the dealer that we primarily exist for, and putting anything like that on our website is given long deliberation to make sure we’re answering consumer need.

Our vision is that we can provide something where a dealer is on the vehicle advert page, and the consumer can actually see the finance pricing from the dealership. They can click through with our partners iVendi, and you can have a fully tracked finance application all the way through.

We want you to then be able to build your partexchange as well, and actually get as close to an online transaction as possible.

SAM ZALES

CarGurus

NC: The one thing I’d add to that is that we’re very clear that our main customers are car dealers.

They drive the majority of our revenue and our business model, and they’re the reason we have stock, which is the reason we have car buyers. I think, in some of those cases, there’s a real gap that isn’t served. With something like finance, our effort in that respect is to get dealers able to push their finance on Auto Trader, which we’re doing free for the rest of this year.

SZ: I’d just add that your inventory is what creates the consumer experience on our site. We’ve kept consumers coming back. We’re now the most trafficked site for repeat visitors in the UK, so we’re proud of that growth. Our goal is to bring those consumers to your doors to close more of that business. We don’t offer a finance solution today. Our goal, if we get into the finance arena, is to provide a consumer experience and either share that revenue with you or find a way to have you continue your profits on the finance stream.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 49

CDX17.

Car Dealer Live Stage PANEL SESSION

Franchise dealers There’s a lot to think about as a franchise dealer. Targets, finance, pre-reg, the possibility of a diesel scrappage scheme – the list goes on. It all added up to another fascinating session on the CDX Live Stage.

Do you think manufacturers’ expectations are realistic of franchise dealers at the moment?

WB: No. We’ve got three franchises – two I believe are very good and one that I’m finding very challenging at the moment. As a small family business, we have limited budgets to work with and manufacturers are making us stock a huge amount of cars. We cannot stock all the right vehicles all of the time – and it gets to the point where you’re not sleeping at night. Things need to change, though some manufacturers are doing well to help us.

MB: All manufacturers have reasonable methodology to support their expectations, but whether or not this shines through to reality only really becomes apparent at the end of a given period. After Q1, you could think that everyone was correct, but then you look at Q2 and say ‘okay, it’s not quite panned out’. There was a lot of pull into Q1, and I think that we’ll see that the first six months delivered what we wanted but that it was all crammed into one quarter.

WILL BLACKSHAW Blackshaws

LIVE STAGE

KS: The best manufacturers give us targets that are tough but achievable. The worst situation is when you’re given a target that is in dream land and doesn’t reflect where the market is. Nine times out of 10, we’re able to negotiate a sensible position and then we do well. However, sometimes you can’t. Then, you have to walk away and say ‘thanks, but no thanks’.

DT: I do, I think we’ve seen a lot of manufacturers amend their targets for this month, which is welcome. But when you talk about their expectations, we’re not just meant to sell cars – it’s about the customer experience too, and although we agree with this, they want us to do it in so many different ways, it kills the bottom line.

Have the targets been realistic this year?

WB: One manufacturer put up their targets by 10 per cent, but because we’re low-volume it remains realistic. However, another set unrealistic targets so we switched off and went down a used car 50 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

route. That said, the manufacturer came back and adjusted them off the back of that – so in reality, I’m quite content with the targets I’ve had so far.

MB: I think that every dealer would like a lower target on day one. In the spirit of a partnership, we accept a target and go at it hard, then if there is a shortfall, a sensible conversation can take place which reflects the effort that has gone in.

KS: I would echo that. With most manufacturers you do your level best, and if you have the right relationship you can usually come to an agreement by the end of the quarter. However, not all manufacturers are quite that mature, handing out big targets and you know with them that it’s do-or-die. Some of the targeting is unrealistic at the moment.

DT: I completely agree with Ken. Dealers are pushing every channel they can, and the manufacturers still want more. All that you end

up seeing is the margins getting squeezed and that affects the industry because we’re all having to discount heavily to try to get the numbers up. If we can be more mature about it with our partners, we can come to some agreement.

Is pre-reg as much of a problem as it has always been?

WB: Again, for us, due to our volume, we sometimes find at one franchise that we’re doing two or three at the end of the quarter. We have to make our decision on the first day of a quarter.

We go in for the target and if it’s realistic we’ll make it happen, but if it’s not we have to switch to used and forget about it for the rest of the quarter. So for us, not really, no.

MB: It’s a tough question! What we tend to do is look at each proposition on its own merits and look at whether we can digest the units and liquidate them fast. It’s always about weighing up the risk versus the reward. We take a pragmatic view on each opportunity that presents itself.

‘I think the best manufacturers give us targets that are tough but achievable.’

Ken Savage, Perrys

MARK BUSBY

Hendy Group

So in your minds it’s not a problem but an opportunity?

MB: I think if managed properly it can be. I think in an ideal world we wouldn’t be doing any of that and would wait for the buyer to purchase the new unit in the showroom next month.

However, we recognise that we have some volume objectives to hit and that this is a route to market that has been around a long time now.

KS: It’s never a problem if it’s the right stock with the right money behind it. Therefore, in a controlled environment it doesn’t pose an issue.

We know what to do and what not to do now.

KEN SAVAGE Perrys

consideration from our team – we’re watching carefully to see what others are doing. We need to find a way that’s easy and frictionless, and there’s strong evidence that suggests that end-to-end selling online is a channel that will drive some volume – so it’s high on the consideration list.

KS: We prefer to meet our customers, because we feel we’re able to do a better deal that way.

Inevitably, it’s coming though. I suspect we’ll get there, but it’s not something I’m going to push the envelope on. However, if our customers are going to do it, then we’ll have to follow suit.

DT: I’ve never really liked pre-reg, I think it’s quite dangerous. I’ve always likened it to drugs; if you’re so inclined you can get away with it, but after a long time it’ll do some serious damage.

DT: It’s here to stay and we need to get ready for it. That said, I don’t think the customers are quite ready for it yet. They’re at the stage where they end up printing out an online deal and bringing it into the dealership.

Are any of you planning to start selling cars online as complete process?

MB: I think it’s a channel that is getting serious

WB: I like the idea of online buying. One of our manufacturers has explained that they’re going live with it later this year and they’ve got it spot-

DOM THRELFALL Pebley Beach

on – though I don’t think there are going to be massive volumes to begin with.

There’s been a lot of talk in the press about a diesel scrappage scheme.

DT: Everyone’s perception of diesel cars is that they’re no good. The last scrappage scheme didn’t cost the government much but the manufacturers had to put a lot of money into it. Now, though, we don’t have the margins.

KS: Unless a scrappage scheme was done properly, I think it would be the end of selling diesel in volume. Our manufacturer partners are geared up to be selling diesels, so I can’t see them being supportive.

MB: It would be a welcome stimulant to the new car market. There’s a lot of propaganda around at the moment, but there are some really clean diesels out there. When you explain how clean a Euro 6 diesel engine is, people are still happy to buy a diesel.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 51

CDX17.

Car Dealer Live Stage KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Scott Sinclair: How to harness Google and YouTube industry manager Scott Sinclair gave plenty of pointers on how the search engine and video-sharing website can benefit businesses – including when reputations are being muddied – and not all of them need cost dealers anything.

Let’s start with a general one – how can dealers use Google to improve footfall?

To start with the obvious: Search. There are a couple of new innovations we’ve just announced for our AdWords product. Earlier this year we announced that, for the first time, you can track ad clicks to footfall, and for dealers that’s gamechanging. Gone are the days where you have to measure your online ad spend through test drive forms and phone calls.

We call it ‘online to offline measurement’, and it’s automatically added to your AdWords account, so all you have to do is make sure your location extension is enabled and the data will start to come through. That’s the most important thing for any dealer to do.

demographic split for age and gender and so on, and then you can use that information – which is free – to make business decisions.

Could you give us some tips on how dealers can use that information effectively?

I work with a lot of car dealerships, portals, supermarkets – the vast majority are using these in-market audiences. They help you advertise to consumers who are ‘in-market’ for a car.

Let’s say you’re a big used car supermarket.

You target people who are looking for a used car on Google. When someone sees your advert, you build up an audience list and you can then remarket to those people using the Google display network or on Search.

So let’s say a consumer has been served So how much does Google know about your advert that talks about large volume customers? Could you even predict when manufacturers because that’s what they’ve someone is ready to buy? shown an interest in. You can then add them to I guess what really differentiates Google from an audience list using that knowledge other platforms you might use is that we so that you can tailor more specific have a really powerful search engine adverts to them again later. that enables us to work out intent, As a buyer goes through the and that intent is what you can use research journey, you can be to target your advertising. We have informative and help them audience targeting models that run in get to the point of purchase.

LIVE STAGE the background and we can model the scenarios that happen when someone is What’s the best way for dealers likely to want to buy a car. It’s called in-market to make the most of YouTube? audiences, and we make it available to everyone Even if you have the time and capacity to upload who uses AdWords. a video of every car you sell on YouTube, the There are various auto-related ones. For audience for that is probably very small. example, we know if someone is in the market If you think about the average stock for a used car, or perhaps a new car. We can even turnaround – about 34 to 60-odd days is the sweet tell if they have a preference for one specific spot – that video is probably not of much use to manufacturer. We can also see car types, so you and probably won’t get many views. So I’d know if they’re in the market for a hatchback question the value of that. or a convertible. Every time someone goes on However, let’s say you only sell Volkswagen to Search or YouTube etc, they’re giving us the Golfs – that may not be a realistic scenario – but information to build these models, which helps you could make a generic video about the Golf us offer better audience targeting to you. that demonstrates that you are the best retailer of And those models are constantly updating. We that particular car. That’s how I’d use YouTube. can tell how far along the car-buying process you Now you’d only want to show that video are and how likely you are to be buying a car. And through Google’s TrueView advertising to people it’s those people we’d target through AdWords. who are in-market for a VW, in-market for a used Within AdWords, we give you the information car, and within, say, 40 miles of your location. of how many people are in that audience, how That way, that would be an incredibly smart many likely ad impressions you can serve, the use of that video asset you’ve created, but also 52 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

highly relevant to the audience you show it to.

I think we focused for a while in online marketing at getting super-targeted, but actually, the audience size at a really targeted level is quite small. I’d encourage you to think bigger again and you’ll potentially reach more consumers, which will help you increase your business.

Is there a way to protect your reputation on Google?

My best advice would be just don’t ignore it.

You’ve got Google My Business, TrustPilot, Reevoo – it’s very easy for consumers to go out and say nasty things, so be aware of them. Be positive about it and use it as an opportunity to

the power of Google James listens intently as Scott makes a point

‘What we have seen is a change in behaviour – it’s people looking for used cars instead of new cars.’

Scott Sinclair

engage with your customers. If you’re seen to be responding to a user, addressing their concerns and showing you care, that’s a much better way of dealing with an issue than ignoring it.

What Google tools should dealers go home and take advantage of immediately?

Let’s start with free stuff. Everyone in this room should have Google My Business. When someone searches for your business, it shows your details, your location on the map, your phone number and so on.

Also, look at your AdWords keywords and check they’re performing for you. But don’t judge it based on how many people fill out forms or

call ahead – our research suggests 40 per cent of customers won’t contact you before they turn up.

We’ve been working on these things called ‘beacons’ with a number of other companies. So you can buy a beacon for about £5 and stick it on your roof. And when someone walks in your store it registers them to count footfall.

It can also then trigger a notification to say something like ‘welcome to your dealership’. It sounds intrusive, but people have to have turned on ‘nearby notifications’ to get that.

So if they don’t have that turned on but you have an app, you could send that notification through the app to direct them to the cars they’ve been researching online.

What about search volumes for cars? Are people still as interested in cars as they used to be?

Yes. The good news is that search volumes are actually up four per cent year-on-year. What we have seen is a change in behaviour – it’s people looking for used cars instead of new cars. That also seems to be reflected in SMMT data and so on. But overall, the car market is growing – from a Google perspective.

Interestingly though, purely on desktop, car search traffic is down, but on a smartphone search volumes are up 19 per cent year over year. And now around 55 per cent of all automotive search traffic is on mobile phone.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 53

CDX17.

Car Dealer Live Stage PANEL SESSION

Car supermarkets Speakers from three big-league players in this sector – The Trade Centre Wales, CarShop and Imperial Car Supermarkets – covered a wide range of topics, including marketing, recruitment, online sales and just what it takes to be a success.

Firstly, Andy – what is the secret to running a successful car supermarket?

AC: I think it’s very much the same as running a smaller car dealership. If you’re the owner and driver of a business, you need to take pride in the appearance of your stock, in the professionalism of your staff, and you’ve got to have a competitive edge.

LN: We’ve invested in our digital capabilities over the last five years, and we’re also putting a lot of science behind the decisions we make, particularly regarding where and how we’re acquiring stock and making pricing decisions.

NS: Similar. For us it’s product, place, price and promotion – the four Ps. Covering best practice, making sure vehicles are prepared to the right standard and marketed at the right price. We’re looking at turning the stock as quickly as possible.

We’re also training sales people to provide the best customer experience – it’s all the basics, just doing them right, but with volume.

So what are the challenges at the moment?

AC: With a business of our size, the main challenge is the logistics. For example, at our new store in Wednesbury in the West Midlands, we’ve got in excess of 1,200 used cars there at any one time. And since it opened at Easter, that store has retailed between 250 and 300 cars a week, which is an incredible amount of vehicle movement.

time. It’s amazing what a decent team of people will do in a dealership. If you have the right people you’ll do well; if you don’t, you won’t.

Leo, would you mind telling us how many cars you’re retailing on a weekly basis, for context?

LN: On a weekly basis, it’s 600 a week.

How many staff do you all have across these businesses to be able to sell so many cars?

AC: Of the three larger stores, including their share of our main preparation facilities, each of the sites will have around 100 staff on site on average. Typically, a sales team will be between 20 and 40 sales executives.

‘It’s amazing what a decent team of people will do in a dealership. If you have the right people you’ll do well; if you don’t, you won’t.’

Neil Smith

LN: Across the business, we’re just approaching 600 staff. That’s right across the sales teams, back office staff and so on.

NS: At Imperial, we have about 250 staff.

We’ve got six sites – three larger sites, two medium ones and a small one, plus one preparation centre.

LN: I think one of the key areas is recruiting and retaining some of the top talent in the industry, and not necessarily looking from within; trying to attract talent from other retail businesses who may not have considered a career in automotive.

Not necessarily on the customer front-end roles, but also within our internal teams, software development, marketing teams and those areas.

So guys, you’ve got huge marketing LIVE STAGE When it comes to selling cars online, budgets. Where do you spend it, and is that something you would pursue? what works for you?

AC: No, because that’s not the business AC: In Wales, we spend £250,000 on advertising model that we have at the moment, which is per month across three stores. In the midlands, hugely successful. We prefer to bring a customer we spend just north of £400,000 a month. A in, so they can be dazzled by a massive choice of mixture of different advertising methods works cars, rather than try and pin a customer down to best for us – you’ve got to be across everything, a car online and lose some of the impact of the whether it’s having your brand on the local petrol investment in our premises and stock. pumps or having big digital boards along the side of the motorway. Everything combined delivers LN: Yes, absolutely. I think it’s something the the big footfall. market is moving towards. Consumer demand will continue to build in that particular area.

LN: Our advertising is quite different from We’re already seeing 60 per cent of our sales Andy’s. It’s predominantly digital. As Andy says, coming through some form of pointed business. a mix is very important. We’re constantly trying

NS: Preparation, getting cars as quickly as possible through the process. We’re retailing 900 cars a month, so we’ve got to be preparing that number or more. We’ve grown as a business pretty quickly, so it’s just managing that growth, and then keeping ahead of the game in terms of digital marketing. Staff is a massive challenge all the

to understand which channels are playing a role and influencing the purchase. I think having one channel to deliver one sale isn’t what happens today; consumers enter the market and will be in the market for a considerable amount of time. In that time, they’ll be touching multiple channels which will all be playing a part in their decision to purchase a particular vehicle.

54 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

What about you, Neil?

NS: We’ve looked at it over the last 18 months.

We offer what we call a ‘Click, Call, Collect’ service, and about five per cent of our sales are handled that way. We’ll do the deal over the phone, online, and guarantee the part-exchange value. Finance will also be pre-approved. They’re

Watch the CDX17 video at bit.ly/CDX2017

ANDY COULTHURST The Trade Centre Wales

LEO NELSON CarShop

then more confident to travel some distance to look at that car. Ninety-eight per cent of customers drive away [in one of our cars].

when they come into the business, and the person referring gets a financial bonus three months down the road.

Have you got a special interview process to find new members of your team?

AC: We just recruited 130 staff in total for the new midlands site. With the more technical roles, we did one-to-one-based interviews, but for a lot of customer-facing roles we do group sessions.

Do you all use video in your dealerships?

AC: No, we don’t use video, and we don’t image the majority of our stock because we don’t use traditional classified advertising to drive footfall.

Our website lists the fastest-selling cars, but we don’t replenish stock on a daily basis – we just replenish those fast-selling cars.

LN: We run recruitment days, particularly for our customer-facing roles. In a very similar way, we’ll get a group of potential candidates together and run a triage session – lots of different activities to allow those people to engage and collaborate with one another, so we can put them through an assessment process.

NS: We do a lot of what Andy and Leo have already said, but we also run an internal referral programme, which tends to work quite well.

At least those individuals know what to expect

LN: We take 36 images with the doors closed and 36 with the doors open, which we stitch together to create an illusion of a video in a 360° spin. At the minute, implementing video on a larger scale would be a challenge for us.

Do any of you use motoring content or features to boost your SEO on your social media pages?

NS: We use independent reviews on the vehicles – Car and Driver reviews – and those are automatically appended to every model

NEIL SMITH

Imperial Car Supermarkets

we’ve got. We want to keep the customer on our site so they don’t have to go anywhere else to get an independent view. There’s also a content specialist who is writing and creating content around topical conversations.

AC: We typically just promote on the website all of the stuff we do in the community. We also post some of our internal news, but in terms of a digital strategy, we don’t do that.

Audience question: Andy, I’m still very fond of the traditional media with the press, but we always find it very hard to attribute how well that does – how do you track that?

AC: We track this by instinct, trial and error, and we’re so close to the business we can immediately see if something is working or not. When something’s working, we’ll do a little bit more of it. I’d suggest that 30 per cent of what we spend our money on probably doesn’t work. But, on the whole, we’re very successful at driving footfall.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 55

CDX17.

Car Dealer Live Stage PANEL SESSION

Manufacturer bosses It was three in a row for two members of our manufacturer panel... by which we mean that Lance Bradley and Andy Barratt appeared on the Live Stage in 2015 and 2016. Joining them this time were Jeremy Thomson of Mazda and Kia’s Simon Hetherington.

What’s your assessment of the new car market at the moment?

AB: I think the market is best described as interesting. Obviously we had a record March and this surprised a lot of people’s expectations, and this was followed by a difficult and challenging April from a new car point of view. As I described to my boss, it was the March hangover and Easter – but I can’t quite explain May. It’s a bit of a challenge, there are plenty of excuses, but we’ve just got to work harder as an industry to engage customers and that means better value, better processes, more professionalism and knuckling down to do the job properly.

What are your predictions when it comes to the number of new cars registered this year?

ANDY BARRATT AB: Well, we were looking at a car and Chairman and managing commercial vehicle market of 2.8 or 2.9 director, Ford of Britain million. Arguably we’ll have to revise that down to 2.65 or 2.7 million, but one has to recognise that it’s still almost a record market in the UK. We have to remind ourselves that in the new car market. After a stellar March and business these are the heydays. There LIVE STAGE then a very weak April, May is are cycles to this market and the depths looking patchy, particularly in terms of are pretty difficult – but we need to recognise retail footfall. I think what’s interesting is that that it’s a record market and we have to make the when you look forward to 2018, the spread of most of it. manufacturer views [on the size of the market] is huge. There’s 400,000 difference between the LB: I agree with what Andy is saying really. The highest and the lowest in terms of manufacturer car market is challenging from our own point of perspectives on 2018. That’s a big, big spread. view. The pick-up market is up as much as the car market is down though, so that helps us. I think What would you say to dealers who one other factor with April was the pull forward think your targets are unrealistic? into March because of the change in road tax. I JT: We set our targets deliberately lower this would say most of us were surprised that the car year anticipating the market, and I make no market was down 20 per cent in April, but we’d secret of the fact that particularly this month expect to see a recovery in the rest of the year. we’ve been very responsive and lowered targets even further. I think it’s unrealistic to set targets SH: At the risk of just saying I agree with these that are unachieveable, because ultimately the guys, I’ll echo again that it’s going to be one of consequences are very bad for both the networks the strongest markets of all time. We shouldn’t and the manufacturers. I appreciate that we lose sight of how strong quarter one was. have huge constraints and problems in terms However, quarter two has played out differently. of supply and feeding that supply, but in this kind of unstable market I think that JT: We share a similar view in terms of the 56 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

LANCE BRADLEY

Managing director, Mitsubishi Motors in the UK

manufacturers owe a debt to their retailers to work very closely with them.

SH: Ninety-nine per cent of our dealers achieved or exceeded their targets in the first quarter, so you could say that the targets were too low.

LB: It’s always a challenge as a manufacturer to set targets. They have to be stretching enough to achieve what we need to achieve, but at a point where dealers feel they can actually hit targets and make some money doing so. It’s one of the key things that we as manufacturers do.

AB: I think the day a dealer tells you a target is reasonable you’ve set it too low. It’s in the dealer’s DNA that everything is a negotiation, that’s the business they’re in. We’re duty-bound as manufacturers with long lead times to set a reasonable forecast for the market and therefore production requirements, because we too have a return for our shareholders. In that process, by encouraging – sometimes pushing – and

SIMON HETHERINGTON

Commercial director, Kia Motors UK

JEREMY THOMSON

Managing director, Mazda Motors UK Ltd

‘Without a doubt, the dealer business model is under pressure this year.’

Andy Barratt, Ford

working hand in hand with dealers, you do drive a dealer to attain a level that they didn’t expect.

As a responsible manufacturer, if you can do that then you can reach mutually achievable goals.

Our dealer network had a record profit last year, and that doesn’t come from giving them gentle objectives that they breeze through.

What do you think dealers should be focusing on at the moment?

AB: It’s interesting. Without a doubt, the dealer business model is under pressure this year. In contrast, the used car market has been great in 2017. If you look at it across the two channels then it’s been great. However, you can’t be complacent. You have to work on every single channel and every single department because the speed the consumer is changing means that anyone who isn’t working on it will be left behind. There’s a huge amount of innovation around, and you can’t ignore it.

SH: I think the most important thing to focus

on is the customer and making sure that we’re understanding and delivering what the customer wants and expects. I’m representing a manufacturer that has a lot of new products coming through, and that’s brilliant for going out and telling new customers what we can offer. At the same time, we need to look after our existing customer base and make sure we provide the level of service that they want.

What about the war on diesel? Is it causing any problems in your businesses?

AB: I think it’s the question that most people ask any of us. There’s clearly a level of uncertainty, and that can lead to a buyers’ strike. I think there is going to be a lot of change, and as an industry we’re going to have to work particularly hard – especially with Euro 6 diesels, because it’s not the demon that it’s been made out to be. Our advice is to remain calm.

LB: It’s a slightly difficult one for the industry because it does make a good story. The fact is that

modern diesels are pretty good engines and a lot better than those from 10 years ago. Stories, and therefore customers, often fail to pick up on that difference. It’s the same as any manufacturer – you’re trying to plan ahead and provide the most efficient response that you can.

SH: There’s no doubt that in the short term it’s having an impact. Customers are asking more questions than before, and it’s frustrating how much of the reporting is inaccurate and tends to club modern and older diesels together. We’d prefer to see a bit more clarity on that.

JT: We talk about the demonisation of diesels, and I think it’s a real issue. Half of all NOx is coming from gas central heating for homes and offices. We don’t talk about that. Of the 50 per cent that comes from vehicles, just 11 per cent comes from cars. Getting it all into context and communicating it properly is a challenge. We need to land the messages better.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 57

CDX17.

Car Dealer Live Stage PANEL SESSION

Future of digital dealerships ‘Bricks and clicks’ is a phrase with which we have all become familiar in recent years – but is the internet taking over completely from physical dealerships, or is there room for both? Over to our panellists...

LIVE STAGE

Will car sales ever go completely online, do you think?

SH: I’d say it is happening already. For some of the manufacturers in the new car arena such as BMW, Peugeot and Hyundai, it’s happening now.

In the next 12 to 18 months I think it’ll become the majority rather than the minority who are retailing new cars online. In used cars, I think it’s taking a little longer but we’ve already had some interesting journeys out this year including Bristol Street in the last couple of weeks.

Are consumers ready for it across the board or is it an isolated thing?

SH: There’s clearly a certain type of consumer who is more used to buying things online, but there doesn’t have to be and I think it’s all about the journey. There will be people who want to stick to the traditional model, there will people who want to do an entire digital journey and there will be some people who want to go across both of them. Rather than calling it e-retail and 58 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

physical retail, you’re more likely to see the two paths cross over.

Karen, do you think Carwow has had a big part to play in making people want to buy online?

KH: I think we’ve certainly made it easier for people to compare and contrast over lots of different makes without having to go to lots of different websites. We take our lead from the retail industry though, so yes, more people are shopping online – whether it’s clothes shopping or for their groceries – but if I wander down Oxford Street or go to the Trafford Centre it’s still busy. You could argue that the retail industry is probably 20 years ahead of automotive so in my mind, there’s still a key role that the dealership has to play in helping customers buy cars.

Ben, are GForces building these online showrooms as we speak?

BG: We’ve been working on it for some time and I think part of the reason we haven’t got there is

because the market isn’t necessarily ready and it’s a complex product. We’re very much pushing the idea that there’s not just one way of doing it.

There is a physical brand experience that needs to happen. If you look at the likes of Amazon and eBay, they’ve created physical shops as part of their branding – they know it’s not just all online.

Phil, you talk to a lot of dealers all of the time, what are you hearing in the market?

PN: They’re aware of what’s ahead of them.

I think we’ve seen a lot more dealers of late embrace the digital market. We’re going to start seeing a lot more from the dealer network, they’re understanding how consumers are shopping.

We’ve had a lot of conversations about Amazon entering the UK market. They’ve obviously entered the car market in the US and Italy, more recently, so we’re starting to see that model more and more.

What’s the biggest obstacle?

SH: There’s certainly a bit of technology, when it

Watch the CDX17 video at bit.ly/CDX2017

SHAUN HARRIS

Sales director, Codeweavers

comes to tying the journey together. Component parts have always been in existence. You can get an online part-exchange valuation, arrange your finance online, look at the images and spec of a car, but combining all that as a journey has been an obstacle. I also think what’s held it back so far is people negotiate when they buy cars and moving from that ‘negotiate’ model to fixed prices is taking that barrier away.

KH: To add to that, there’s been a huge cultural change. We’ve seen some of the most successful dealers on Carwow recruit differently, pay their staff very differently, and the most successful people handling digital leads are not traditional sales people who have been in the industry for 20 years. They are young, enthusiastic people who are being paid on productivity, not on a low base and high commission.

BG: I agree, the cultural change in the business is a big one. We’ve seen that in the past with record

KAREN HILTON

Head of sales operations, Carwow

BEN GREEN Business intelligence director, GForces

PHILIP NOTHARD

Black Book editor, Cap HPI

stores, who’ve not embraced that change.

I think also, in terms of being able to buy a car online, the assets that sit around the car in terms of the visuals and understanding what you’re buying – configuration – have been somewhat limited. Consumers need to have the best you can get to make that decision and be comfortable with it alongside trust in who you’re purchasing from. I agree with Shaun that all the products are there but it’s disparate, and it needs bringing together.

If you were setting up a dealership now, would you be investing in a forecourt or doing it all online?

SH: There is definitely a future for physical forecourts. You look at really successful retailers, they know they need a physical presence and a digital one; having the fluidity and creating journeys that customers are in control of. There will be people who want to go meet dealers and look at the cars physically. It will still be there and I can’t see a day when the physical sale goes away.

PN: I think in terms of retailers and consumers, that’s in the forefront of everybody’s mind.

They’re becoming a lot more data-hungry, they’re a lot more interested in the finer details of consumer behaviour such as what cars to buy, when to buy them and how much to pay. I think that whole digital space is driving a better dealer and those who are embracing it are becoming very successful. I think that’s the way we’ll see it going forward.

KH: I think the other thing we need to get a handle on is operating models and operating costs. I can say this because I used to work for a manufacturer and arguably it was part of the problem, but we encourage dealers to invest in million-pound gin palaces. I think if we were going back 50 years and we had a crystal ball our dealerships would look very different.

We’d have smaller dealerships that have a much greater use of technology.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 59

CDX17.

Car Dealer Live Stage PANEL SESSION

Maximising aftersales With the margins on car sales getting squeezed ever tighter, dealers are having to think of other ways to generate revenue and boost that all-important bottom line. Aftersales can have a huge part to play here, as we heard on the Live Stage at CDX on May 23.

Why is aftersales so important?

AP: If I can comment on our world which is tyres and tyre-related services, I think there are two issues. First of all, the whole space is very competitive these days. My local Kwik Fit would like to service my vehicle, and my local dealership would like to sell me tyres – so the lines are blurred these days and there’s a great deal of overlap in the services which the traditional dealers and fast-fixes provide.

There is also a perception still that the dealership is not the place to buy a tyre – people think that it’s an expensive way to do it. Because of that, we need to try a bit harder to generate trust from consumers. I think the other factor is one of efficiency, in that there’s a lot of red work that may leave the dealership. Vehicles might come in for servicing or repairs wearing badly worn or illegal tyres, and they leave with those tyres – so we need to look at how efficient we are in our operations as well. Technology can arguably be a solution to all those issues.

points means that the tyre scans are very accurate and reliable even if a vehicle comes in with wet or dirty tyres.

We need to help the consumer make a purchase decision when a worn tyre is discovered. A tyre is a distress purchase – people never want to buy a tyre, they have to buy a tyre and we need to help them.

Producing a 3D scan that allows them to understand the wear condition of that tyre overcomes some of that selling barrier.

The technology also indicates if you have any wheel misalignment, and this means we’re able to know whether or not to get it on the alignment rack. I think the alignment rack is one of the most underused pieces of equipment in the service area, and to feed sales to that alignment rack is very effective.

This year, we’ve coupled a hand-held scanner to the drive-over ramp, and it’s a good solution for those who don’t have much space and are not channelling their vehicles through a service lane. The important thing is that you scan every vehicle and every tyre to generate your ROI.

DB: There’s a huge amount of margin in aftersales, so when you look at the bottom line at the end of the day in So, when workshop staff produce terms of revenue and profitability, it this picture or document that says all really comes through aftersales. The LIVE STAGE their tyres aren’t quite right, does other factor is the customer’s lifetime that leave people an option to say, retail value, so it’s about being able to retain ‘I don’t want those’? that customer year after year by providing really AP: The important thing is that we can present good care and service for that customer. You need a rather complicated diagnosis in a way that is to do this because you want that repeat purchase easy to understand. The public can look at these of a new vehicle from that customer but also 3D scans and get it – you don’t need to be a tyre you want them to really enjoy the service they’re expert. That way, we can get over the scepticism, getting. Last year, the UK aftersales market was the instinctive reaction of ‘I’ll go home and think worth £21 billion, the fourth largest in Europe – about it’, and you can close the sale there and and it’s amazing. The growth opportunity there is then. Dealers using this technology have the another five to 15 per cent this year as well, so the potential to double tyre sales. aftersales market is fantastically important.

Can you explain the solutions you provide to dealers and workshops in order for them to make money?

AP: I see technology as an enabler to address a lot of red work being lost in association with tyres and tyre-related services. Our own innovation is a technology which produces a 3D scan of a tyre. That has some technical benefits in that acquiring a 3D scan comprising of 300,000 data 60 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

So David, tell us what Divido offers please.

DB: What Divido offers is a way to finance your car service and also anything else in aftersales.

Consumers are very used to buying and purchasing new and used vehicles using finance.

However, when it comes to aftersales there can be some unexpected bills that a customer is presented with, and the customer doesn’t have any options apart from paying with their credit

or debit card. What Divido offers is a very simple and frictionless way to apply for finance. It takes less than a minute to apply and be approved, and then to be able to finance your service, as well as any accessories such as a tow bar or roof rack. We make it very simple for customers to be able to spread the cost of their service or accessories.

And what do dealers who use that find?

Are they able to get people to commit to paying for things that they may not have done normally because of the finance offer?

DB: Absolutely. It’s a number of things. We’ve found that a lot of dealerships, if they have a customer that has a large bill, they’re able to help that customer spread the payments. Aftersales agents have used the service plan with the customers, and they’ve been pleased that it’s been an option because they may have had a holiday

‘I think that customer retention is the number one issue.’

ANDREW PRYCE

DAVID BACKSHALL

Managing director Sigmavision

Commercial director Divido

Andrew Pryce

Andrew Pryce makes a point to Rebecca Chaplin coming up or they don’t want to use their savings.

It’s a great way for them to spread the cost.

Also, people may agree for more work to be done if there’s an option to spread payments?

DB: Absolutely. The upsell opportunity on that is tremendous, and we’ve seen that whereas a lot

of customers may have refused the red work or amber work in the past, offering them finance has shown increases in acceptance by as much as 25 or 30 per cent. It’s a great opportunity to retain customers too, especially those who may have refused red or amber work. It’s also a great way for dealers to increase their conversion rates.

Gents, if you were to give one piece of advice to a dealership or workshop when it comes to maximising profit, what would you tell them?

DB: Simply to offer their customers as many options as possible. Also, make sure you make the customer the centre of anything you do.

Because customers think very much on a monthly budget basis, which they do when buying a new car, it can work for aftersales.

Give them the choice of how they want to pay for their service plan, parts and accessories.

AP: Customer retention is the number one issue. Because of this, I’d say ‘remember the relationship as well as the transaction’. You have to do your best, whether it’s process-related or involves the employment of new technology to generate the trust with your client that means they come back.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 61

CDX17.

BREAKOUT SESSION

Social Media 200 awards It’s not just about Twitter any more! This year, we widened our scope when we looked at compiling the list of the most influential dealers on social media. Now we include many other platforms too, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube...

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hen we started to compile and publish our list of the most influential dealers on Twitter a few years ago, dealers seemed mainly to be using that social media platform to engage with customers and other brands, as well as share news and opinions.

As has become increasingly apparent recently though, car dealers the length and breadth of Britain have turned to other platforms too as they seek to sell more cars and get themselves noticed online.

Correspondingly, this year we worked harder than ever before to find as many UK dealers taking advantage of these opportunities.

Once again, the Car Dealer team used Klout to measure how engaged and influential you are across social platforms.

Klout uses unique algorithms to measure you across all of the accounts you’ve connected, which can include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube. For that reason we’ve taken into account the followers of your

Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts too this year. That allows us to differentiate car dealers with the same Klout score.

The Klout team had this important message for our 2017 winners: ‘Social media provides a channel for businesses to interact directly with consumers, and those that take the time to truly engage on the right social channels can build strong brand affinity, get direct and unfiltered customer feedback, and resolve customer issues in real-time.

‘The Klout Score is the most comprehensive way to measure a business’s impact across social media channels, processing more than 6.5 billion social signals daily to arrive at the most accurate number. Those brands who score highly are getting it right – engaging in the right way and pushing out the right content to the right people at the right time.

Congratulations to this year’s winners.’

As with previous years, we invited those people who won places in our prestigious list to attend

Lots to think about at the social media session an exclusive breakout session at CDX, which included a Q&A session with representatives of Twitter and Google.

We do our best to find and recognise all the dealers using social media, but if you think you should have been included, let us know!

THE TOP 100 – GO ONLINE TO BIT.LY/SM-200 FOR FULL LIST

Name 1 Prestige Diesels 2 Marshall Group 3 Arnold Clark 4 Romans International 5 Porsche Retail Group 6 Swansway Group 7 Motorpoint 8 Caroline Shield 9 CarShop UK 10 JCT600 11 Vantage Motor Group 12 Redline Cars UK 13 Harwoods Group 14 Imperial Car Sales 15 Alexanders Prestige 16 Fords of Winsford 17 Evans Halshaw 18 Johnsons Cars 19 Sandicliffe 20 Hendy Group 21 Arbury Motor Group 22 CCR Motor Co 23 Big Cars 24 Stoneacre Motor Group 25 RRG Group

62 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

Klout 83 80 74 72 71 71 69 69 69 67 67 67 66 65 64 64 63 63 63 63 63 63 62 62 62

Total Followers 27,079 16,219 46,786 63,711 23,928 13,456 33,355 22,446 5,868 17,475 17,385 5,964 40,600 19,412 35,710 8,830 39,436 13,068 6,905 6,498 4,608 2,131 380,991 21,297 10,264

Name 26 Griffin Mill Garages 27 Jim Reid Vehicle Sales 28 Umesh Samani 29 Cargiant 30 Saxton 4×4 31 Greenhous 32 D M Keith Škoda/Seat 33 Vanarama 34 West Way Nissan 35 Carbase 36 LeasingOptions.co.uk 37 Stan Palmer Honda 38 Stafford Audi 39 Crewe Audi 40 Snows Group 41 Stoke Audi 42 Essex Auto Group 43 Mike Brewer Motors 44 Lexus Stockport 45 Glyn Hopkin Group 46 Lease4Less 47 John Clark 48 Smiths Motor Group 49 AllVehicleContracts 50 Jennings Motor Group

Klout 62 61 61 61 61 61 61 60 60 60 60 59 59 59 59 59 58 58 58 58 58 58 58 57 57

Total Followers 4,250 13,037 9,309 7,005 5,651 4,076 1,943 46,723 12,428 10,214 7,863 7,081 6,971 6,698 5,390 3,193 30,657 29,629 5,674 4,909 4,901 4,131 2,367 23,333 5,170

Watch the CDX17 video at bit.ly/CDX2017

2017 AWARDS Most Influential Car Dealer Prestige Diesels & Sports Ltd Most Influential Independent Dealer Prestige Diesels & Sports Ltd Most Influential Franchise Dealer Marshall Group Most Influential Car Supermarket Motorpoint Most Followed Dealer on Twitter Tom Hartley Jnr Most Followed Dealer on Facebook Big Cars Ltd Most Followed Dealer on LinkedIn Romans International The Social Media 200’s Highest Climber Marshall Group

Scott Sinclair of Google makes a point to those present

Name 51 Steven Eagell Toyota 52 TH Boler Automotive 53 Mercedes-Benz Retail 54 Cars of Portsmouth 55 Ivan Hamill Cars 56 HR Owen 57 JA Autos Ltd 58 Stafford Land Rover 59 Bristol Street Motors 60 Wrexham Volkswagen 61 Simon Bailes Peugeot 62 Marshall Volvo 63 Philip Raby Porsche 64 Perrys 65 Go Vauxhall 66 Aston Martin Works 67 Sandles Cars 68 Jardine Audi 69 Motordepot 70 Alan Day Volkswagen 71 Crewe Volkswagen 72 Butlers Vehicle 73 Newmarket Motor Co 74 Luscombe’s Leeds 75 Stratstone

Klout 57 56 56 56 56 55 55 55 54 54 54 54 53 53 53 53 53 53 53 53 53 53 52 52 51

Total Followers 4,004 33,771 9,217 8,631 3,416 18,123 5,595 4,153 20,739 4,427 1,836 487 75,708 74,272 32,453 9,131 7,070 6,380 5,967 3,988 3,972 2,175 7,350 3,490 17,142

The Social Media 200’s Best Social Campaign Marshall Group

Name 76 Caffyns Group 77 Robert Forrester 78 Sturgess Motor Group 79 Autofarm 1973 Ltd 80 Agnew Group 81 Simpsons Škoda 82 Marriott Motor Group 83 Palmdale Motors 84 Marshall Mini 85 Tom Hartley Jnr 86 Hippo Motor Group 87 Jemca Car Group 88 H A Fox Jaguar 89 RRG Stockport Toyota 90 Marshall Vauxhall 91 John Holland 92 Daksh Gupta 93 HWM Aston Martin 94 Peoples Ford 95 Crown Honda 96 Stoneacre York Road 97 Marshall BMW 98 Citygate Automotive 99 Smallbone & Son Cars 100 TrustFord

Klout 51 51 51 51 51 51 51 51 51 50 50 50 50 50 50 49 49 49 49 49 49 49 49 49 48

Total Followers 11,230 11,048 10,484 7,659 3,307 2,184 1,966 1,679 434 63,908 7,506 4,310 3,601 2,301 1,111 20,378 13,336 8,361 5,952 3,153 2,997 2,532 2,320 1,122 37,899

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 63

CDX17.

BREAKOUT SESSION

Women in the Motor Industry How do we encourage more women to work in the automotive industry? Where does the problem lie? The inspirational ladies on this year’s Women in the Motor Industry panel had plenty of answers on how to tackle the gender divide…

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hat do we look for in an employer?

Trust, respect, the ability for progression? The answer is more than likely to be ‘yes’ to all three. Yet, even now in the 21st century, it would seem that employment values don’t mean the same thing for women as they do for men – or, at least, they’re not provided with the choice.

Nevertheless, the women of the industry are determined to raise the bar in job satisfaction for those already working their way up the ladder and those breaking into the industry.

Now in its third year, this year’s Women in the Motor Industry (WITMI) panel was bigger than ever. The breakout session, held in association with CDK Global, returned to CDX with more great panellists, more topics and even more delegates. We were also joined by Car Dealer’s inaugural Woman of the Year, Beth Constantine, retail principal at Allams Skoda in Epsom.

‘We need to show women what’s available to them and what this industry is all about – it’s all about gaining control and helping to break the stereotype,’ said Gemma Heathcote, GardX marketing manager. Heathcote started working at GardX as a graduate and was keen to share her story on how she ended up working in the motor trade rather unexpectedly. ‘I wasn’t what you would call attracted to the industry, but now I’m in it I’m thrilled to be here. I essentially fell into my dream job after finishing university, and I count myself lucky to be here.’

When WITMI host Julia Muir, who has more than 25 years of experience in automotive retailing and manufacturing, asked if enough was being done to attract young women into the industry and what, in her opinion, she felt would help encourage more to join the minority, Heathcote replied: ‘What I love most about my job is the opportunity for progression and the

64 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

creativity of the role. If we can help spread the word that working in this industry isn’t all about working under the bonnet or landing you in a dead-end job, then I’m sure the number of applications we receive from female candidates will increase.’

Muir, who founded The 30% Club, a group of CEOs and MDs campaigning to close the gender gap in the industry, rolled off some eye-opening facts and figures. ‘It’s no secret that women make up the smallest footprint in automotive. However, the figures are beginning to look a little healthier.

In retail, for example, 60 per cent of the roles are filled by women. The shocking thing is knowing that only three per cent of managerial roles are filled by those women.’

Throughout the session, the panellists focused on four ‘How To’ points: how to reach out, how to welcome in, how to pull through the ranks, and how to hold on to the talent. Anita Fox, automotive client partner for Facebook and Instagram, who has worked in several roles in the sector, including for Jaguar Land Rover and Volvo, said: ‘I think it’s all about role models. I’m sure everyone has heard of Alicia Boler-Davis, for example, who is an extremely inspirational woman. But in my opinion, there aren’t enough role models like Alicia across Europe, especially not in this sector. We all need people we can aspire to.’ She added: ‘I got into the role through a shadow placement. Companies need to offer more of these opportunities, and when women looking to break into the sector are offered one, they need to grab it by the horns and show they’re hungry to go far.’

Julia Greenhough worked across a number of senior roles in high street retail before joining TrustFord three years ago. Previously with brands such as Virgin Records, Safeway, BHS, Cargo and Argos, she has bought and marketed across a

BETH CONSTANTINE

JULIA GREENHOUGH

ANITA FOX

wide spectrum of product areas. According to Greenhough, TrustFord has been working on improving its recruitment processes.

‘Our online recruitment process is definitely on the up, and we don’t just look at qualifications or skill sets – we look at behaviours, and this is what sets us apart from other organisations,’ she said.

‘Experience, although it is still important, is less relevant for us. We want to see people’s attitude to work and their determination to thrive. We strive to achieve a healthy balance of gender mix and skill diversity.’

‘We’re not actually managing bias’, explained Melody Munday, who appeared in ITV’s Deals, Wheels and Steals after setting up her own dealership. ‘We’re managing unconscious

The breakout session drew a rapt crowd

AWARD

Beth is named our first Woman of the Year

Beth Constantine, right, receives her trophy from Rebecca Chaplin

JULIA MUIR

GEMMA HEATHCOTE

LE ETTA PEARCE

MELODY MUNDAY

bias, which is actually more worrying. I was determined to make my mark in the industry. My divorce, which resulted in me becoming a single mum, pushed me to become an entrepreneur.

‘I knew nothing when I started and taught myself everything I know now.’

Constantine said: ‘I’m also a single mum and I wanted to buy my house and give my daughter the life she wants. Looking at her, while she’s doing her A-levels, I always ask “How do we get them into the industry?” and then I realise – it has to be encouraged at a younger age. This is why I think providing more courses, training and apprenticeships for younger generations is extremely important.’

Le Etta Pearce, sales and service director at

Auto Trader, has gained a lot of experience around the industry, previously working for Manheim and Ford.

She said: ‘We need to help women understand that there are possibilities and great opportunities for them in this industry but, at the same time, we also need to encourage employers to move with the times and break the tradition of assuming that women don’t have what it takes to go far in a male-dominated industry.’

Muir concluded: ‘It’s proven that women won’t put themselves forward for a role if they don’t tick all the boxes, whereas 60 per cent of men will.

‘With this in mind, we need to seek out talent and tell them not to wait for the “right moment” that may never come but to go for it!’

Melody Munday makes a salient point

The audience shows its appreciation

BETH Constantine was named Car Dealer Magazine’s inaugural Woman of the Year at CDX17 after being given a series of glowing nominations by her colleagues.

The retail principal at Allams Skoda in Epsom joined the dealership in August 2010 as a sales manager and was promoted to her current position in April 2014. Constantine’s colleagues referred to her as an inspiration, passionate and hard-working.

One person said: ‘Beth has singlehandedly transformed the whole business. She is very hands-on and always approachable.’

Another commented on Constantine’s strong leadership, which has taken the car dealership from strength to strength, adding: ‘Beth has grown the Allams business over the last five years to become one of the strongest Skoda retailers in the country.

‘Her customers love her service and her business delivers one of the strongest customer retention rates nationally.

‘She also has a very loyal sales team, which has been incredibly stable over the last five years.’

Constantine said: ‘I am totally overwhelmed at being recognised and nominated and then going on to win this new award. I will share this award with my staff at Allams Skoda, as they help and encourage me as much as I help and encourage them.’

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 65

CDX17.

BREAKOUT SESSION

Advice for garages large and small Workshops need to be on the lookout for problems and pitfalls that can cost them money... from tyre purchase scammers to not having a licence to play music.

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he Independent Garage Association is the leading voice in the servicing and independent garage sector, offering advice to businesses and ensuring that garages nationwide remain competitive.

Terry Gibson, head of member services at the IGA, hosted a well-attended talk at CDX – covering topics ranging from online tyre scams to a licence being required if music was played in garage reception areas.

It’s easy to see how businesses can be caught out in a variety of ways, and it’s not hard to work out that the IGA’s role is increasingly important.

Not obtaining the correct music licence could cost a garage dearly, Gibson explained.

He said that a national fast-fit chain was fined £200,000 for playing music without a licence – something that could have been avoided for as little as £45 a year.

Gibson was also keen to impress upon attendees the importance of checking the small print in various documents. Though an obvious precaution to take, perhaps, it’s something that many garages fail to do – with one garage invoiced for £46,000 from a ‘rollover’ contract (the product or service wasn’t specified), despite the first year costing just £1,146. Similar to people’s personal phone and energy contracts, these rates start off low but can rise substantially after a certain period of time.

One deception that caught the attention of the audience was the ‘tyre scam’. It sees a random caller phone a garage – usually one not specialising in tyres – and requesting to buy four, usually expensive, new tyres.

The ‘customer’ pays for the tyres with a credit card over the phone remotely, giving the business reason to believe that they are genuine.

The garage then orders the tyres and has them delivered, at which point the buyer requests to send someone to collect them. A taxi arrives for the tyres and takes them away to the ‘customer’.

However, a month later it’s revealed that the garage has lost the money because it failed to follow the correct processes involved with an over66 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

Terry Gibson said it was important to keep an eye on the small print at all times

The IGA is part of the Retail Motor Industry Federation, which is the biggest retail automotive trade body in the UK. the-phone transaction. Amazingly, it’s a ploy that has caught out countless businesses – with one garage losing £3,977 in a single day because of it.

The IGA is part of the Retail Motor Industry Federation, which itself is the biggest retail automotive trade body in the UK, giving support to its members and advice to those who need it.

One of the biggest pieces of advice that Gibson gave – and one relating to an issue that keeps hitting the headlines – was about recalls.

With manufacturers issuing recalls both small and large, it is down to the retailer to check whether or not a car is included in one before it is sold. ‘It’s good practice if nothing else,’ explained Gibson, who also revealed that selling a car currently under recall carries the possibility of a three-month prison sentence.

Larger businesses are most likely to be on top of recalls – though we’ve seen large manufacturers caught out by them recently – but it’s the smaller retailers too that should take note of the

experience and advice that the IGA has to offer.

Owners who fail to pay the National Living Wage could face a maximum fine of £20,000 per worker – an oversight that could cause a business serious damage – and 360 offenders have got into trouble with the government, with nearly £1 million paid back to more than 15,500 underpaid workers. Given the increase in apprenticeships and the fact that young people are becoming more interested in jobs within the motor trade, this is an area that has come in for close scrutiny – and it’s something employers simply cannot ignore any more.

It’s easy for independent garages and servicing departments to consider themselves too small to make a big mistake but the reality is that they’re more likely to be caught out.

Gibson ended his session by returning to a theme that he’d mentioned earlier – the importance of checking the small print at all times and for all transactions.

Customer Service Forum ADAM O’NEILL

Don’t be afraid of those bad online reviews A few taps on a keyboard can do serious damage to a business’s reputation, said Adam O’Neill at CDX. How do you fight back and win customers over?

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rom time to time there will be an occasion when you as a business will get a review that may not show you in the best light.

But RAC dealer marketing manager Adam O’Neill explained to delegates at CDX17 that they can maintain and improve their brand’s online reputation and presence by keeping on top of reviews and responding to them properly.

‘Your online reputation is what future customers will find when they search for your business online,’ O’Neill explained. ‘A reputation can be tarnished with just a few taps on a keyboard, without you even knowing about it.’

What O’Neill wanted to emphasise was that all companies would get bad reviews at some time. What was important was responding appropriately and making sure you were honest with your customers.

O’Neill said: ‘You need to be responding to all your reviews – good or bad – and customers will notice how you react to problems that other customers have had. They will then choose to buy from you or from someone else.

‘Don’t be afraid to show bad reviews. You’ve got nothing to hide. Some people are happy, but those bad reviews add credibility to the good.’

O’Neill added: ‘More than half the adults in the UK use online review sites – they’re everywhere. People are concerned that one bad review can make or break their business. Positive reviews are great, and if you get one leverage it.

Social media is a big thing now and people are posting a lot of their reviews on those sites.

‘Shoppers know that no-one is perfect, which is why customers see value in honest feedback even if it’s not all positive. A poor review can actually help a business. So, as I said, it’s not the end of the world. There’s no point in worrying about it, just deal with it.’

O’Neill said that whether you got good or bad reviews, it was best to reply to all of them

‘You need to be responding to all your reviews – good or bad.’

Adam O’Neill, dealer marketing manager at the RAC, pictured right to maintain good customer connections. ‘My opinion is that you should be responding to all reviews, whether positive or negative. A negative review isn’t necessarily bad – just deal with it appropriately. Take a few minutes to compose yourself before sending out a proper response.

Find all the facts from their point of view, not just necessarily from your point of view.’

Another tip that O’Neill highlighted was that it was good to maintain contact with all those who posted a negative review, as it could lead to good follow-up feedback in future.

O’Neill said: ‘The customer will be grateful that you remembered their complaint and that could turn their negative experience into a positive one.

‘Make sure if you’ve put a course of action in

place with that customer that their issues are addressed. Speak to them and make sure what you did has satisfied them.’

As people use the internet and online reviews more often to get their impression of vehicles and businesses, it is more important than ever to develop an effective online strategy.

O’Neill cited findings from Motors that ’72 per cent of people now use three or more websites when buying a car’ and stats put together by the RAC that found ’95 per cent of people said reviews impacted on which dealer they chose’.

So, to sum up, it is more important than ever to have an effective online presence, with responding to reviews in a professional manner at the centre of your strategy.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 67

CDX17.

Customer Service Forum ANDREW McMILLAN

Happy staff, more business Golden circles, contented employees and the perils of leaving non-digital customers behind... the former head of customer experience at John Lewis provided plenty for CDX delegates to ponder.

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business of any size always needs to attract customers – and building a good reputation and relationship with clients can help attract others to start using your services.

But how exactly do you get chosen, and what ethos can help promote a friendlier environment for existing and new customers?

Andrew McMillan worked for John Lewis for 28 years – with the last eight as head of their customer experience department – and is now an independent consultant who has helped companies hone their skills in consumer engagement. He spoke to delegates at CDX17 to guide them towards laying the groundwork for making their businesses more appealing and likely to be selected over prospective rivals.

The main focus of McMillan’s presentation was the concept of American marketing consultant Simon Sinek’s ‘Golden Circles’, a model which splits the basic structure of all businesses into three simple circles – ‘what’ in the outer ring, ‘how’ as the middle one and ‘why’ at the centre.

McMillan explained: ‘It works on the basis that companies know what they do otherwise they couldn’t trade. Some know how they do it but few know why they do it, and the classic approach for businesses is to start from the outside and work their way in but then never get to the middle. ‘[Simon Sinek’s] philosophy, and mine, is to start from the inside and work out, and think about why should my business be chosen, why am I in business and what can I do for my customers. It’s a really powerful philosophy and a way of thinking to change a bit of practice in business.’

McMillan used his former employers as an example to show that even though the aim of any profit-based business is to attract as many customers as possible to make the most money, it is actually the attitude of the staff that should be the main focus of a brand as that is the factor that will lead to the creation of more leads and the building of a good reputation.

Dealers need to offer a customer experience, not just good service, said Andrew McMillan ‘Why does John Lewis exist?’ asked McMillan.

‘This is a fairly odd one. It’s about the happiness of the people who work there.

‘It’s got nothing to do with the customers at all.

John Lewis doesn’t care about customers initially because it is a business built on the people in the company being really happy.

‘How do you have a successful retail business?

You look after your customers and provide great service and products. Simple, simple stuff but nevertheless very important.’ McMillan then didn’t feel the need to explain ‘what’ John Lewis does, as its reputation speaks for itself as one of the leading brands on the high street.

He also emphasised the importance of offering an experience rather than just a service and making the customer feeling special. Comparing ‘service’ brands with ‘experience’ brands, McMillan explained the difference between McDonalds and Emirates, with the latter being portrayed as a company that wants its customers to have ‘an amazing experience’.

He said that despite Emirates being a multibillion-pound organisation, they want to make each customer experience as personal as possible.

He explained that this would help lead to greater profit through ‘the branded experience’.

The former head of John Lewis customer experience guided the delegates towards offering such an experience and spoke about ‘random experiences’ and ‘predictable experiences’.

‘You don’t want to be in the bottom box here as

a random experience and very few organisations will exist as one nowadays – there’s too much transparency on the net for that.

‘A lot of brands will be in the ‘‘predictable’’ category, and I include McDonalds in this, because it doesn’t feel special in any way.

‘One thing Emirates do and what John Lewis try to do is be in the ‘‘branded’’ box. That means you’re a good operator, you can be trusted to do what you do but actually beyond that it feels special in some way, and if that translates into more of a tangible difference then it can be something much more compelling.’

McMillan said it was important to make sure the customer experience was under the company’s control, and whatever the brand did could alter how they were perceived. One point he mentioned was the digitalisation of companies and how that could mean they were losing touch with a valuable customer base.

‘One challenge that I’ve noticed for a lot of organisations in the last couple of years is that they have spent so much time going digital they’ve neglected more traditional channels like telephone and face-to-face. That’s very dangerous if you’re a local trade platform.

‘You might want to go digital if your customer base wants to, but if they don’t, you’ll leave them behind and some organisations have done that.’

A good attitude and work ethic of the employees was also a key point made by McMillan, and he said that typically there were

‘A lot of organisations have spent so much time going digital they’ve neglected traditional channels like telephone and face-to-face.’

Andrew McMillan 68 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

Watch the CDX17 video at bit.ly/CDX2017

four groups of employees – ‘Walking Dead’, ‘Spectators’, ‘Cynics’ and ‘Players’ – all of whom are likely to be present in any company.

Those with a better attitude towards the brand – the cynics and players – were overall the better people to have, as they care more for the brand than the other two groups, and the only reason why the cynics would exist is because of poor leadership in the past.

McMillan said the best way to get more players in your business is ‘being absolutely frank and truthful and honest with your employees’ and picking up on faults and inconsistencies to make sure they understand how you want your business to be run and perceived.

Hiring the right people is also key to creating the best customer experience and McMillan said: ‘You need clarity both legally and morally around the attitude that you’re looking for.

‘That sounds very draconian but we would have exited people after six weeks if they weren’t working out. You’ve got to be single-minded.

‘The framework and parameters for the

people in the company were set by the founder’s principles and the commitments that went behind them. Then within that framework, which was pretty wide, employees could do what they thought was right, as you didn’t want to stick people in and suck the life out of them.’

In reference to John Lewis’s reputation for customer engagement, McMillan ended on the point that if individual relationships with customers are consistently strong, people won’t ever go anywhere else.

‘As long as the customers have been touched by the business through an email or with a phone call, as long as those feelings are validated, they will never go anywhere else, and it’s very difficult to copy that because it’s an individual relationship with individual customers, and that’s the power of this stuff.’

CDX delegates listen intently to Andrew McMillan, right CarDealerMag.co.uk | 69

CDX17.

Customer Service Forum STEVE SETTLE

Building yourself a fan base Building relationships with customers works better than relying on survey forms and reviews, automotive consultant Steve Settle told delegates at CDX17. And it’s important to keep listening!

I

n a world where the majority of customers are passive, what can you do to encourage them to get out there and insist that others should shop with your business?

What turns them from the silent majority into huge advocates and promoters of your business?

In an interactive workshop in the RAC Customer Service Forum, independent automotive consultant and former Toyota and Lexus customer service director Steve Settle shared his advice on keeping customers onside and turning them into your loyal fans.

As well as ensuring the basics of customer service are in place (leadership, consistency, passion and teamwork), he believes that the key is to build trust and to listen to what each and every customer wants.

This won’t be the same from customer to customer and what one customer might want one day, they might not want the next.

Settle said: ‘Delivering a great customer experience is not rocket science, but at the same time there’s no silver bullet. You’ve got to deliver what the customer wants. Sometimes we think we know what they want and we try to deliver what we think they want but there’s a big difference between the two.’

Many dealerships rely on customer surveys and reviews for feedback, but Settle argued that these don’t always reveal the true picture and that sometimes, surveys don’t ask the right questions.

He instead recommends building relationships with customers, getting them onside and truly listening to what they want.

‘There is such a thing as ‘‘survey blindness’’ and there is a danger that you have so much noise that you can’t see the message,’ he said.

‘Reviews, surveys, they’re just one point of reference and can create data noise. Instead, actually take the time to listen to what each customer wants. Every

‘Delivering a great customer experience is not rocket science.’

Steve Settle, former Toyota and Lexus customer service director 70 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

Delegates were keen to hear Steve Settle customer experience is personal; for one it will be getting the car ready on time; for another it will be that the car is always valeted.’

Complaints, too, should be seen as an asset and if logged and analysed, can form useful knowledge on which to base future decisions.

He added: ‘Take time to listen to customers and take continual feedback from them. Complaints are inevitable in this business owing to the nature of what we do, but it’s how quickly you respond and how fast you fix things that is important.

‘It’s tiresome, but it’s a good idea to log complaints, not just for the sake of it, but so that you look back at the end of the month and see what complaints you have. You can probably learn from it quite significantly, and that can

help your process development, your business development and profitability.

‘Complaints can trigger changes in the business. If you have the mindset that a complaint is a present and not an aggravation, you can use it as an opportunity to create a fan.

‘Ninety-five per cent of customers who complain don’t know what they want – they want to complain but don’t know what the outcome of that situation is going to be. If you can take control, you’ve now got the ball back and it’s going to be less expensive for the business and more effective. Don’t forget that when something goes wrong, it’s your opportunity as an organisation to show the customer what you can do.’

Settle ended his talk with his motto during his days at Toyota – ‘always do the right thing’.

He said: ‘The customer is not necessarily always right, but if you can tell yourself at the end of the day that you always did the right thing, that’s what’s important.’

PERFECT PLACEMENT

How can you tell if a candidate will deliver great customer service? Ask them the right questions people who are predisposed to customer service?

‘Look at your current staff – who is the best at customer service? Who do customers want to speak to first? Is there someone who gets all the plaudits and all the phone calls? Look at what makes these people tick and what character traits and attributes they have.’

Traditionally, when a service advisor vacancy arises, the dealership will look for someone with experience and a knowledge of Kerridge, but this means that while you get someone who is a theoretical fit, they might not be any good at Jimi customer service.

Matthews ‘Kerridge can be taught

“ 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.

in an afternoon to a day and you can train people to understand the motor trade. Customer service can’t be taught in that time,’ he added.

The secret, Matthews believes, is to hire someone with the right attitude, who is already predisposed to customer service because of their background and outlook on life. Perhaps they’re generally helpful, or they do charity work or take part in sport.

Matthews also advises recruiters to hire for the long-term rather than the ‘now’. And advertising for ‘hungry, driven’ sales execs will not help customer satisfaction!

Kay, Moneypenny Receptionist.

W

ith average staff turnover in the motor industry running at 32 per cent, it’s more important than ever to recruit and retain the right people. Jimi Matthews, director of business development for recruitment agency Perfect Placement, led a workshop on hiring and retaining people who will enhance your customer satisfaction scores.

Demonstrating a direct link between employee engagement and customer satisfaction, the first step is to hire the correct people by asking the right questions at the interview.

Even if they’re not going to be customer-facing, ask them questions that will help you assess their predisposition to customer care; for example, is the customer always right? Or, does customer care cost money? Matthews said: ‘How do you spot

moneypenny.co.uk 0333 202 1005

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CarDealerMag.co.uk | 71

CDX17.

Customer Service Forum NIKKI PASEK

Refunds, repairs and more A recently launched trading standards website will help you stay on the right path when it comes to dealing with customers.

T

he Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) recently launched the Business Companion service, a new website that gives an overview of consumer rights, distance selling, warranties, credit and how dealers can protect their customers and themselves.

The government-sponsored site can be found at www.businesscompanion.info and provides information on a range of trading standards legislation. The information is designed to help businesses stay within the law, reduce the chances of legal action and avoid costly consumer issues.

It currently receives about 400,000 visits per year and is mainly used by smaller businesses.

There is a dedicated section for car dealers and information is broken down into three levels of guidance, from quick and easy information to concise guidance and then more detailed knowledge. The information has been specially written by trading standards experts and is up to date with current legislation.

As well as introducing the Business Companion website, Nikki Pasek, who is the commercial director at the CTSI, took questions from delegates in the RAC-sponsored Customer Service forum at CDX17.

With recent changes to the law, plus the introduction of the Consumer Rights Act in 2015, there can often be an element of confusion.

Pasek said: ‘Consumer law is far-reaching and there is a huge amount of regulation to keep up with. The Consumer Rights Act has brought about some of the biggest changes we’ve had in consumer legislation. It deals with situations such as refunds and repairs and covers those situations when you’re dealing with customers.’

She added: ‘The law looks at what you sell, how you sell and where you sell it. There are different rules depending on how and where you sell. If you have an online presence and actually 72 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

‘Consumer law is far-reaching and there is a huge amount of regulation to keep up with.’

Nikki Pasek, commercial director at the Chartered Trading Standards Institute

start to negotiate consumer contracts online, there are different rules that apply to you than if you were selling face to face.’

Pasek offered help for anyone who wanted to ask questions about trading standards law and answered questions on what to do if customers demand a refund. She also explained how sellers can ensure they have fulfilled their obligations.

‘Buying a car can be very complex,’ she said.

‘Legislation dictates that it must be of satisfactory quality, but what that means differs from council to council. However, you need to think about what a reasonable consumer would expect.

‘For example, if I was to buy a second-hand car from you and the minute I drove it off the forecourt there was a problem, that’s clearly not acceptable. That is a fault and that’s not satisfactory quality.

‘If I drove it away and within a few days maybe one of the seatbelts started to stick a little bit,

that may be wear and tear. The other general rule is that the satisfactory quality should take into account the price of the car, the description of the car and anything the consumer was told when they purchased it from you.

‘If it is deemed that a car is faulty, then a consumer has 30 days from the date of delivery to reject that car and get their money back from you. In that situation, you must then give them a full refund.

‘If they have part-exchanged their car, then you need to return it to them, and if you can’t do that, you need to provide them with the equivalent value.

‘The consumer can ask you to repair their car as an alternative.

‘You cannot insist within the 30 days that the consumer accepts a repair. If they want a repair but you believe it’s too costly, then you can ask them to take the refund.’

Finance Forum LAWGISTICS

A simple message: Don’t panic!

Recent changes to legislation might seem as though the balance has tipped in favour of the consumer, but in reality, dealers still have a pretty strong hand in most situations.

D

ealers have been facing legal challenges on a daily basis since the Consumer Rights Act and Alternative Dispute Resolution Regulations came into effect in 2015, but solicitor Nona Bowkis from automotive legal experts Lawgistics was on hand to give assurances and allay fears.

‘A lot of dealers were worried – particularly about the 30-day right to reject,’ she said. ‘But in all honesty, it hasn’t been the issue that a lot of dealers thought it was going to be, mainly because there are lots of little bits in the law that mean we can bat off consumers – even the very annoying ones who just come and come at you.

‘There are a lot of nuances in the law that will help you.’

Bowkis pointed out that although the 30-day right to reject was seen as a bonus for consumers, the test was now actually quite hard, which was therefore reassuring for dealers. ‘It’s not enough that there’s a fault; the consumer has to prove that it was there at the point of sale, and this is missed quite often, particularly by finance companies,’ she said.

But what exactly puts the consumer in a position of strength?

Bowkis broke this down into three elements: a car must be not of satisfactory quality, not fit for a particular purpose, and not as described.

Expectations and common sense have to come into play concerning satisfactory quality, and Bowkis cited one particular court victory involving a 10-year-old BMW with 90,000 miles on the clock, where the roof only worked from a button inside the car and not the fob as well.

The buyer knew this at the point of sale but still went to court having put the car through a ‘health check’.

The buyer claimed for £7,500 of items, even though he had only paid £6,000 for the car.

‘The dealer said he knew the buyer was going to be a problem as soon as he walked in and wished he’d never sold him the car. We do hear that quite a lot!’ commented Bowkis.

In the end, and after protracted proceedings, the judge awarded the buyer £135 for a broken glove box lock, despite the dealership having

‘There’s lots in the Consumer Rights Act to help you even if you think it might be very consumer-friendly.’

Nona Bowkis, pictured

effected a repair, and just £50 for his claim cost plus appearance fee – the complainant having tried for £700.

Bowkis told attendees how the Sale of Goods Act – the precursor to the Consumer Rights Act – had ‘not fit for purpose’ as its legal test, so the new, more specific wording of ‘not fit for a particular purpose’ as its replacement on the statute books had made all the difference.

Turning her attention to ‘not as described’, Bowkis said that most problems here came from pre-populated advertising portals, which gave just the main features of a car. ‘Disclaimers can help,’ she advised the dealers, ‘where the onus is on consumers to ask about something specific they want and not rely on generic features that have been put there. Anything they know of at the point of sale [means] they can’t come back and say they want to reject it because it’s not got this or it’s not got that.’

Returning to the topic of satisfactory quality, she paraphrased the late Lord Denning – seen as the 20th century’s greatest judge – who had said that ‘if somebody buys a used car it’s not going to be perfect and at some time or another there’s going to be an issue with it’.

Bowkis told the dealers: ‘We use that all the time and judges are on board with that in terms of the satisfactory quality issue. There’s lots in the Consumer Rights Act to help you even if you think it might be very consumer-friendly.’

And she was quick to put the audience’s mind at rest regarding ADR. ‘There’s a lot of faff about this really,’ she said. ‘If it reaches that stage of a dispute and you say this is my final decision, then you have to say ADR is available and give a website of an ADR provider. But unless you’re a member of a trade association, you’re under no obligation to participate in ADR. ‘It’s as simple as that.’

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 73

CDX17.

Finance Forum IVENDI

Choice and trust are key when it comes to offering finance This year’s Finance Forum at CDX was a big success, and James Tew, the chief executive of sponsor iVendi, explained why finance is at the heart of car retailing.

E

xpert guidance and advice was given to dealers on how they could sell used vehicles more effectively online by using a finance-led approach.

‘We see finance very much at the heart of the online retailing journey,’ James Tew, the chief executive of Finance Forum sponsor iVendi, told them. The company helps dealers sell vehicles online, predominantly through finance.

It works with 4,500 dealers on websites and 8,000 dealers in total are connected to its platform, which ultimately connects to lenders.

Tew proudly told the room that Black Horse had referred to the company as ‘the digital glue that sits in the middle’.

He gave the audience some thought-provoking statistics: • 74 per cent of consumers will arrange how they’re going to fund a potential car purchase before visiting a dealer.

• 76 per cent will have visited a dealer’s used vehicles website before going to the dealer.

• 71 per cent want to start the whole buying process online, including financing – and the same percentage use comparison sites for financial services products.

Tew pointed out that virtually all dealers work with multiple lenders but nearly all of them didn’t offer a choice of lender products on their website.

And because it had been found that 43 per cent of consumers wanted to search by monthly payment, it was important to include payment search on websites. But these results had to be put in context so that customers could see instantly if it was a good deal, therefore, comparison sites had to be brought into the equation.

‘Vehicle retailing is complex for dealers but it’s also complex for consumers. Existing solutions only cater for part of the process,’ he said.

The company had looked at 12,500 paid-out finance deals, tracking the vehicle price from quoting when it first went into stock all the way to the deal being paid out.

74 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

This data was then put into four categories: • The easy customer wanting ‘the happy path’, ie, no discounting, no part-ex, and no valueadded products – 35 per cent and tending to be on cheaper cars.

• Discount and add a part-ex – seven per cent and more expensive cars.

• Vehicle price cheaper (ie, haggling) – 22 per cent.

• Vehicle price higher (but couldn’t tell if that was because of negative equity or valueadded product) – 36 per cent.

A major point of importance that Tew was keen to ram home was the trust factor. ‘If the customer has got the trust, if you say to the customer whatever happens you get your money back, no complaints, the potential is that 35 per cent of used car sales could go online. I think that’s huge,’ he said.

‘This could happen tomorrow, this year. All we’ve got to do is get the trust. Who can provide the trust? Lenders are the ones that are carrying a lot of the candle for this.

‘Your dealer brand, your franchise brand and the lender brand combined can give this trust to the consumer so that they can start this transaction. This means running a digital channel alongside your “analogue” walk-in customer channel.’

He added: ‘There are some lenders, especially in the captive market, who believe there’s only one finance product in the world and that’s PCP and they ram it down the customer’s throat.

‘They don’t give the customer choice. The same

‘Vehicle retailing is complex for dealers but it’s also complex for consumers.’

James Tew, chief executive of iVendi

question has to be asked of dealers as well: are they offering choice?’ And he reminded the room: ‘Seventy-one per cent of consumers like choice – they use comparison sites.’

He said: ‘There should be choice in the showroom as well, and if you can give a selection of lenders, this level of transparency is only going to engender more trust with the consumer.’

Watch the CDX17 video at bit.ly/CDX2017

COX AUTOMOTIVE

Top tips on making the most of those part-exchanges Know your local market, appraise accurately, and ditch the word ‘disposal’ – there was lots of good advice from Julian Wheway of Cox Automotive.

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elegates at CDX17 were given a how-to lesson on maximising the profit on partexchange cars at a workshop run by the world’s largest automotive service organisation, Cox Automotive.

Hosted by its product director, Julian Wheway, the workshop outlined the ways in which car dealerships — from small independents to large franchise groups and supermarkets — can make the best of part-ex deals in a changing market.

Wheway stressed the need for businesses to do the right part-exchange deals: to only accept cars the business can afford to buy (and sell on) — and to make the process faster and simpler in order to compete with online car-buying services such as WeBuyAnyCar and Carwow.

He said: ‘The growth of online platforms has disrupted the market, that’s undeniable, and they’re going to disrupt the way you’ve done business.

‘But the fundamentals are still there, you’re still dealing with a physical product, you are still shifting metal.’

The workshop began with statistics outlining how, in franchised dealers at least, 100 per cent of used cars in the UK, and 97.8 per cent of new cars, have part-exchange as part of the deal.

‘Every car that you’re selling has a part-exchange as an element of the deal, so it’s a critical part of your business,’ said Wheway. ‘You have to get it right.’

The need to ‘know the market’ was the first top tip in the workshop, with Wheway suggesting businesses really needed to think about the marketplace in their area and decide whether the car they’re buying from a customer is one they can sell on quickly.

He then reminded delegates about the importance of setting the right price for a car

‘Use technology to help you make an accurate appraisal of a vehicle.’

Julian Wheway, product director at Cox Automotive

once it’s put up for sale, taking into account the additional extras and accessories it might have.

Using the Porsche Cayenne as an example, Wheway said there are optional extras worth £10,000. Meanwhile, a particular Bentley model can be fitted with a Breitling dashboard clock worth £155,000 — more than the car itself.

‘Use technology to help you make an accurate appraisal of a vehicle,’ he said, ‘and get an individual appraisal as well. The car you’re assessing may be a specialist vehicle or one with accessories that add value.’

Wheway urged delegates not to use the phrase ‘disposal’: ‘We shouldn’t be talking of disposal – it’s negative. Selling is far more positive and customer-focussed. And part of the process of maximising your part-exes is by changing the language. By doing that, we change the mindset.’

Additionally, Wheway warned against slowing the sales process down. ‘In the past the customer came in and you slowed down the process. You gave them a coffee, and made it look like you

were working really hard for them by taking the time to get the best possible price for them. And you may well have been working hard, ringing round to get the best value,’ he said.

‘But these days, if you’re slowing the customer down and not offering convenience, then why? I don’t know why dealers are still doing that.

‘We have to speed the process up and get away from relying on traders. The customer comes in these days with a price in mind. They know what they can get.’

Wheway also suggested some specialist acquisitions could be useful to keep hold of as ‘forecourt furniture’ and eye-candy to lure customers in to add value overall to the business.

‘In summary, where the majority of our part exes are customers we’ve seen, we are already getting it right. But there’s a lot we can still do,’ he concluded. ‘We can use tech correctly, we can get a thorough appraisal and we can add value in the process. If we don’t do that, we will get beaten.’

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 75

CDX17.

Finance Forum DIVIDO

Finance beyond sales ‘Don’t be afraid of using finance in aftersales, customers are used to it’ – that was the message from the commercial director of Divido to those at the iVendi Finance Forum.

T

he growing demand for aftersales finance was explored by financial technology company Divido at the iVendi Finance Forum. Commercial director David Backshall spoke about the opportunities that exist to improve revenue by offering finance for aftersales products such as servicing, tyres and brake pads.

He began by outlining how the market had changed in recent years, with car loans, for example, rising to £31.6 billion in 2016 — treble the amount loaned seven years ago. And he said customers are now far more informed before they make a purchase.

‘Finance is an enabler and not just for people who cannot afford a product, it’s widely used for the rich as well,’ said Backshall.

‘People are very astute, and the more choice there is for the consumer, the better the perception of service will be.’

Customers, Backshall added, search online for everything and especially aftersales products — with cost, location and reviews top of the list.

Backshall said: ‘We are a connected generation, and reviews matter an awful lot. There’s also a

lot of competition in the market, so people want to shop around, do the research. But the truth is, most people would rather go to the dentist than put their car in for a service — the aim then is to make the experience as painless as possible.’

Backshall suggested that with more than 30 million cars on the road in the UK — and a rise in the number of cars more than eight years old as well as the rise of the new market for electric vehicles — businesses could tap into the potential revenue of offering finance for aftersales products.

He concluded: ‘Offer your customers as much choice as possible. Don’t be afraid of using finance in aftersales, customers are used to it. And make it as simple and easy as you can. I think you’ll find your conversion rates will be a lot higher than you’re seeing at the moment.’

Recently, BMW and Divido reached an agreement to roll out aftersales financing to more than 60 retailers in the UK (as reported in full on page 26 of this edition).

David Backshall

CONSUMER CREDIT CENTRE

‘FCA have teeth and they’re not shy about taking action’ THE consequences of offering car finance without having authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) were outlined during a workshop at the iVendi Finance Forum.

Hosted by the Consumer Credit Centre, the session drove home the message that not having authorisation, or not abiding by FCA guidelines, could result in a loss of more than just trade.

‘It is a common fallacy that when you get your FCA authorisation it’s back to business,’ said David Golder, managing director of the Consumer Credit Centre. ‘Getting authorisation means the full burden of expectation falls on you.’

Operating without authorisation, or not meeting the FCA’s principle-based regulations, could result in a business being named and shamed online and in print, having restrictions placed upon it, incurring hefty fines, or even imprisonment. Golder revealed that in 2015, fines 76 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

David Golder addresses his audience totalled more than £900 million, adding: ‘The FCA have got teeth, they’re enthusiastic and they’re not shy about taking action.’

The workshop covered a lot of ground, with Golder outlining how the FCA works and what it expects from businesses once they gain the authorisation they need to offer finance

to customers. Golder also outlined the FCA’s future plans to get key people within a business registered and authorised as well.

Then he stressed how crucial it was for businesses to draw up a vulnerable customer policy as part of its compliance — ensuring those who may have physical or mental health issues, or who do not speak English as a first language are taken through any transaction properly.

He concluded: ‘I didn’t intend to frighten you at all about the environment you’re in, but I think it’s really important that you understand the consequences of not getting it right, and the importance of making sure everyone in your business knows that too.’

Following the workshop, Golder offered delegates the chance to have a confidential chat and gain more advice about regulations and compliance.

A better way of doing business

STREAMLINE YOUR SALES PROCESS Discover the power of our Mobile Finance Calculator.

It’s designed to help you spend more time with your customers and less at your desk.

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CarDealerMag.co.uk | 77

CDX17.

Tech Forum GFORCES

GFORCES

Making your sites accessible everywhere and at anytime With mobile phones preferred to tablets and desktops when it comes to internet usage, a thorough deep dive into performance is needed.

T

echnology is constantly evolving and the importance of keeping your sites up to date to stay in touch with the whole market is always important. With more people using mobile than ever before to access automotive websites, it is crucial to have your sites as available to as many different devices as possible.

GForces retail sales director Paul Hilton and business intelligence director Ben Green told delegates about the current state of consumer habits in which devices are used more often, as well as how to keep on top of the ever-evolving browsing environments people are using.

Hilton cited recent Ofcom data, stating: ‘The UK’s internet usage on mobile phones is at its highest, not just in terms of visits to dealer websites on mobile phones – we all know that is very high – but internet usage as a whole, with nine in 10 users and consumers in the UK now owning a smartphone.

‘We at GForces – and this is based from 1st January to 31st March this year – found that there were more than 10,000 individual mobile devices that have been used to access websites supported by GForces. So not only have we got the considerations of a user’s access through those devices, we’ve also got the consideration of how those different devices might work and operate and function through our websites and surf through that.’

Hilton explained that despite the development of tablets, they didn’t dominate the browsing and usage scene as much as mobile phones did. He said: ‘We see 45 per cent of real traffic to our websites on mobile handsets – not tablets or anything else.

‘We’ve actually seen a decline in tablet users and visits to automotive websites recently, as well as a decline in desktop users at the expense of mobile.’

Hilton emphasised the importance of making websites as usable as possible and said: ‘We need to make sure ultimately that we’re optimising our sites properly with all these

Paul Hilton 78 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

different devices, not just saying, “I’ve got a responsive website because my web provider tells me [I need one].”

‘You need to have a proper deep dive into the way your sites perform.’

That succinctly led into Green’s area of expertise – business intelligence – and he stressed the need to use ‘BI’ effectively.

‘When we think about business intelligence, actually what you’re thinking about is infrastructure. It’s how you can store data and access that data. You want to get to the stage where the digital information and the information that is being collected on your sites actually changes the profitability of your business and in our industry they’re really coming on to this idea of business intelligence,’ he said.

He took delegates through the process of how websites are optimised through the testing process, independent analysis and eventual implementation of the new site formats.

He told how one website saw valuations go up by 22 per cent off the back of the tests. ‘Then we analyse the results of those tests and plan the roadmap for the next part of the site and the next bit, because one thing that hasn’t been done in testing, especially with the automotive industry, is to not be seen as a programme.

‘This needs to get to a set mentality because if you sort one thing, I can guarantee there will be another and another, and as devices evolve there will be problems with different environments and you have to make sure the site’s getting optimised properly.’

To finish, Green expressed the importance of investing in this side of the business. ‘An Econsultancy survey stated that for every $92 spent on acquiring a customer, only $1 is spent on converting them to a sale on average.’

He told the workshop: ‘We’ve got used to understanding that you’ve got to invest in acquiring customers but we don’t put the same emphasis on when they get to the site what are they actually doing, and helping them forward.’

Watch the CDX17 video at bit.ly/CDX2017

How digital will inherit the earth In a landscape that’s forever shifting, dealers shouldn’t be daunted but instead should look to make small, regular changes to conquer that mountain.

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he future is digital, and those companies – not just retailers – that fail to innovate, adapt and utilise the constant stream of new technology to help improve their customers’ experiences and drive business will be left behind and forgotten about.

That was the key message of Tim Smith, the group strategy director of GForces, during his ‘How digital will inherit the earth’ presentation at CDX17.

The event’s headline sponsor is a leading provider of internet software and services for the automotive industry. Its mission is to help its clients understand and navigate the oftenconfusing world of online sales and develop marketing strategies to counter the challenges they face. This means that GForces has to constantly innovate, identify new trends and develop its own solutions to stay competitive.

During his workshop, Smith discussed how the definition of ‘digital’ has changed over the years. ‘Digital used to be, if you like, the antithesis of analogue – it’s zeros and ones – or it’s all about fingers.

Tim Smith clarifies the ‘democratisation of IT’ to the workshop attendees ‘Digital, when we talk about it in this context, is really made up of a number of components – social, mobile, the iCloud and, potentially, the consumerisation of IT.’ Smith explained that with this change in the definition of digital, and with the advent of social media platforms and mobile devices, there was now a ‘democratisation of IT… everyone is an expert when it comes to what experience they should be receiving as a consumer’.

The increased capabilities that consumers have to communicate via, not only with one another but also with retailers and other organisations, was forcing businesses to innovate to satisfy their existing customer base, as well as creating competition in unexpected places.

In the automotive world, Smith cited the example of how Tesla – a company founded by a ‘techie’ – had grown in a short space of time to become a car company that was worth more than Ford Motor Corporation. Key to this was the company’s massive investment in the future as well as its ability to sell directly to consumers and leapfrog the old model of automotive retail.

Smith also talked about how society’s attitudes towards mobility solutions were changing, with these changes largely being

‘Technology and digital have impacted younger people’s view of what a car should be and what it should do for them.’

Tim Smith, the group strategy director of GForces

driven by technological development. ‘One of the interesting things is if you look at the change in attitudes – especially in youngsters, millennials – the number of people wanting to actually take a driving test is dropping,’ he said.

‘That’s a pretty big drop in just eight years – 17.2 per cent. Why is that? It’s attitudinal change.

It’s societal change.

‘A lot of people now see car ownership as a burden. It’s a switch. It used to be a symbol of freedom, used to be an expression of passion and being able to get out on the open road and move where you wanted to.

‘Technology and digital have impacted younger people’s view of what a car should be and what it should do for them. They’re not interested necessarily in long-term PCP contracts, or actually owning a vehicle and having to pay for it while it’s not being utilised.

‘You can now buy insurance on an hourly basis.

This is the way the market is moving. It’s a way we need to interact with these consumers and deliver the service that they’re expecting.’

The digital world is forever changing, and these changes bring with them new ways that consumers can interact with businesses and also redefine the expectations that consumers will place on them. the attendees were told.

Smith stressed that retailers needed to constantly be looking to make changes to the way in which they run their businesses and be willing to invest in new technologies if they wished to survive. ‘Although it’s a daunting and big world, and digital is obviously imperative, we only need to make one small change on a dayto-day basis and eventually you’ll find you’ve climbed a mountain.’

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 79

CDX17.

Tech Forum FACEBOOK

How to drive sales and footfall with Facebook

Aiden White addresses the audience

‘Target customers with the relevant ad at the optimum time to attract them to your site and to your physical location.’

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martphones have redefined the way people discover and consume information.

Because of this, automotive retailers – and retailers in general – need to be sure their social media strategies are driving people to their websites and into their showrooms effectively.

During his presentation at CDX17, Aiden White, an automotive client solutions manager at Facebook, told a packed conference room just how they could leverage the social media site to increase footfall to their dealerships.

White emphasised that dealerships shouldn’t look to spend a great deal of time posting organic content. ‘You spend more effort creating it than it gives back,’ he explained.

‘We’ve seen some pages posting upwards of six times a day with one or two interactions on each post. Simply put, the ROI is next to zero.

‘The pool of people likely to engage with updates on cups of tea, this month’s best salesperson or your bacon sandwich is tiny.’

Instead, said White, retailers should shift their focus towards activity that generates impact.

Key to this is identifying your audience and targeting your posts towards them. Facebook offers a range of tools that can help dealers do this within its Business Manager suite, such as its Custom Audience tool.

This can be used to organise your own customer data with Facebook’s data in order to help create content that can be sent to your audience at the most relevant times. They may have just bought a new car, meaning you could make sure they are targeted with ads for accessories. Alternatively, they may have bought a car from you some years ago and be looking to upgrade so, again, target them with the relevant ad at the optimum time to drive them to your site and to your physical location.

Smith also spoke about the importance of instant messaging. ‘Fifty-six per cent of people are more likely to shop with a business if they

can message them directly and get a response,’ he said. He stressed retailers should strive to respond quickly – either with automatic replies or with dedicated staff – and that they should make people aware of the fact they can message them.

Smith said the most important thing a dealer could do was ‘focus on the actions that matter for the business, create campaigns that solve issues, and above all, focus on impact’.

YOUTUBE

Automotive videos are among the top 10 most popular

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ealers now recognise the importance of a strong presence on Google. However, they need to look beyond the obvious to maintain a competitive edge – and that, says Google automotive industry manager Scott Sinclair, is where the search engine giant’s YouTube subsidiary can help.

He explained to a packed room how the people behind YouTube saw the video-sharing platform as three things: a crystal ball to spot and capitalise on trends, a home for global moments, and a culture engine, with new ideas being born, such as some dealerships making their own versions of Carpool Karaoke.

Sinclair had plenty of dazzling statistics for his audience: 97 per cent of people watch a YouTube video at least once a month, and more than 70 per cent of videos are now watched on smartphones. YouTube, he said, is now the 80 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

Scott SInclair focused on YouTube biggest online platform in the UK, with 42m people per month watching a video on YouTube and 256 videos on average being watched per user per month, equating to roughly 17 hours per month. What’s more, 82 per cent of people can be reached through YouTube.

The category ‘automotive’, ie, people watching car videos, is in the top 10 most popular on

YouTube, and 100 hours of automotive content are uploaded to it every minute. ‘That’s a week’s worth of video viewing every minute about cars, adverts, reviews, stunts, you name it,’ he said.

And while people are looking to buy a car, they’re watching videos to help them make that decision.

‘Fifty-two per cent will only visit one dealership when they come to purchase, so you’ve got to make sure they’re informed,’ he emphasised.

Sinclair highlighted a YouTube survey that revealed that 87 per cent of car buyers said they used the internet but, importantly, of that figure ’42 per cent of them who’d never bought a car before said that they’d go to YouTube for information to help them in that decision-making process’. So, he said, ‘it’s important that you think about YouTube as a source of information to help users.’

Future Forum ARMCHAIR MARKETING

Winning at Google Lee Manning, the founder of Armchair Marketing, gave dealers the inside track on the number one search engine – and a few Facebook tips, too.

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rmchair Marketing has one key aim – to make digital advertising simple.

The company specialises in paid search advertising and lead generation; social media management, content and training; video creation with YouTube; and promoting website content.

The Armchair team is made up of experienced car sales experts. They offer advanced advertising services, but without the industry jargon.

Lee Manning, the company’s founder, explained the importance of Google search and PPC (pay-per-click).

‘There are 24 touch points on the average automotive consumer journey,’ said Manning.

‘If you’re buying a car, you do a lot of this stuff.

You find a car, you watch a video, you locate the dealer and so on. ‘‘Stacy’s car-buying journey’’ was a study conducted by Google. She was followed

by Google to work out all of the things that she did in her car-buying journey. She conducted 139 Google searches. The point of that is Google search is really important to what we do.

‘The objective is to be seen on as many searches as possible by customers who are going to buy your products. A lot of companies focus on 50 per cent SEO and 50 per cent PPC, but now 85 per cent of above-the-fold Google search results are there because of PPC. Eighty per cent of dealers we evaluated were missing out on 1,000 visitors a month from their own search terms.’

Manning then went on to talk about the role of a PPC manager and how some dealers don’t get their money’s worth.

‘The whole point of PPC is to help you solve your business’s problems. The biggest thing that I see time and time again is that PPC managers rarely communicate with business owners.

‘If you’ve just bought 50 stock cars, your PPC manager needs to know this. If you’ve got 10 overage cars that are like a noose around your neck,

your PPC manager needs to know this.

‘But that’s not your job. Your job is not to pay somebody to keep ringing them up to tell them what your challenges are. It’s your PPC manager’s job to come to you and ask what challenges you’re having. Communication is vastly important.’

Manning also explained how Google evaluates the quality of each advert, considering that more important than how much cash has been spent.

‘There’s a thing called quality score in Google Ads. It’s basically organic. Google puts together a formula and it figures out how good your ad is and how relevant it is for the person searching for this particular search term. The more relevant it is, the more likely it is to stack on top.

‘One of the biggest myths I hear about Google advertising is the more you pay, the more you’re listed at the top. It’s an utter myth.’

‘One of the biggest myths I hear about Google advertising is the more you pay, the more you’re listed at the top. It’s an utter myth.’

Lee Manning, Armchair Marketing’s founder, pictured left

Finally, Manning discussed the hugely relevant topic of social media, specifically Facebook.

‘To the automotive industry, Facebook is emerging and people are starting to talk about it. The worst problem with Facebook in the automotive industry is that people heard about the boost button. Lots of people tried the boost button and got lots of metrics, but no car sales, which made them think Facebook is rubbish.

‘Actually, Facebook is a ridiculously powerful tool. It shows ads that are relevant to you. When Facebook is used properly, we can penetrate into whatever feed we need to. It’s all about targeting.

‘What Google and Facebook do now is essentially only advertise to the people who want to buy. We’re living in an age where, if you get that right, you’re going to sell more cars.’

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 81

CDX17.

Future Forum GARDX

Keeping everyone happy How to improve the quality of a website so that you really influence buyers, plus the best ways to increase upsales and add-ons – top advice dispensed by industry experts to help dealers boost business and maximise profits.

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ardX specialises in products that protect vehicles from the effects of wear and tear. It was represented by a wide variety of people, with GardX Ad-Vantage head Victor Coutin introducing the workshop on e-commerce and implementing traditional best practice.

First up was GardX consultant Alistair Jeff, head of practice at Feasa Automotive Consultants.

He talked about what customers are looking for and how they can be influenced.

‘Buyers don’t know what they want,’ said Jeff.

‘They’re open to influence. According to figures from Auto Trader, 58 per cent of customers consider multiple marques, 46 per cent don’t know what marque they want to buy and 29 per cent are open to both new and used cars. Two out of three customers have no idea which retailer they’re going to buy a car from, 79 per cent use the internet and 54 per cent say it’s the most influential research source.

‘Basically, they’re open to influence, so the quality of your website and the way you present your product online is absolutely fundamental.

The most common feeling among car buyers is that the car-buying process is “interesting”, as well as “enjoyable” and “exciting”. It’s a changed world. We need to change from having a dealer mindset to retail mindset.’

Devin Daly, chief executive of Spincar, jumped in next to explain how dealers can improve the look of their websites via means such as improved photographs of their products.

‘The first basic tip is to take photos in a consistent manner to convey professionalism,’ said Daly. ‘For example, Warby Parker’s website has every single pair of sunglasses lined up the exact same way. I’ve been to countless dealer websites where one-third of the vehicles will be

‘It’s important to use interactive tools that allow customers to access the information they want quickly.’

Devin Daly, chief executive of Spincar 82 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

Alistair Jeff does some number-crunching shot from the front, one-third shot from the side etc. Which do you think conveys a better sense of professionalism?

‘Second is ensuring value-added features are visible. The person taking the photos could be a valeter or a porter, so he doesn’t necessarily know which features he should be capturing. For example, on a pick-up truck you, should always shoot the tail hitch and the back-up camera. With photo prompts, you can assure that value-added features are captured.

‘A study from Dominion in the US found that if you can reduce the time from when you intake a vehicle to when you get it online by three business days, on average you’ll improve annual gross profit by $180,000 (£140,000). There’s also a calculator where you type in a whole bunch of figures and it’s the same thing: astronomically high values. When we entered this market, it was a travesty. We saw a lot of dealerships taking 72 hours to get their photos up.

‘Another example is how I see, for instance, photos of a white Range Rover with a white background under a load of white light, and it looks totally washed out. If you can use camera controls to get a much higher-quality photograph it’s a proven way to improve conversion rate.’ Daly discussed some web display practices that can make a dealer’s website more appealing.

‘First and foremost is using interactive tools.

Today’s consumer is reading 60-character tweets. They’re getting all this information

at their fingertips very quickly. They don’t want to sit through a five-minute video or flick through 60 photographs. If there’s a make-or-break feature, like cooled seats for example, if I have to flick through 60 photographs to find that, I’m going to get frustrated and bounce. It’s important to use interactive tools that allow customers to access the information they want quickly.

‘In web design, we think of the fold as the point below which you need to scroll to see certain information. A lot of the time, the important vehicle details and the things that differentiate your piece of inventory and make it unique end up down below the fold. A study

by Google found that 60 per cent of consumers never scroll below the fold. You’ve got to make it easy for people to find that information.’ He added: ‘You often find that the way vehicle information is displayed is in a long list that’s not prioritised, not categorised and not even alphabetised, so if I want to know if this car has cooled seats I have to read through

Victor Coutin gets things started

Watch the CDX17 video at bit.ly/CDX2017

‘Profit’s not a dirty word and we shouldn’t think of it as so in the industry.’

Amanda Massey, GardX head of sales 75 of these. You need to get the details above the fold and make it easy to find what features that vehicle has. Another tried-and-tested method to increase conversion is to use scarcity. If someone calls in and says they want to view a vehicle on Saturday, tell them you have two viewings between now and then.

‘This needs to be done on the website.

Showing how many people are looking at a vehicle can really help drive conversion.

‘Recommendation engines are also really important. We recently did a study where we found that 60 per cent of leads come from recommendations. That’s why it’s so important to look at what type of vehicle the customer’s looking for, what price band, what filters they’re using, what features they’re interested in.’

Amanda Massey and Richard Gonzalez In a separate workshop, GardX head of sales Amanda Massey and deputy head of sales Richard Gonzalez addressed the topic of upselling and add-ons.

‘Providing customers with great products helps residual values and helps dealerships,’ said Gonzalez. ‘You can have the repair through your workshop to get more revenue. If the customer claims on GAP, they’re going to come back to you as a dealer.’

‘Having the right product for your customers will naturally give you profit,’ said Massey.

‘Profit’s not a dirty word and we shouldn’t think of it as so in the industry. It’s fair that we make a fair profit and we should be open about it, so add-ons aren’t something we should be shying away from. Long gone are the days when the GAP product could be sold for £2,000.

‘With technology on cars now, servicing is getting longer. You look at a BMW for example – you may not see that customer for two years. They might have a service plan, so the opportunity to upsell has been diminished.

‘If that customer’s got a tyre programme, you may see them as often as once a month and that touchpoint gives you the chance to upsell. It’s key to have a disciplined sales process that dovetails with your retail car sales process.

‘It’s even more important to demonstrate that you do have those controls in place. You then need to have something in place to deal with non-compliance. The strength of management needs to be there to make sure that everything is in place and nothing goes wrong.’

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 83

CDX17.

Future Forum YOMDEL

Live chat can help you be available all the time If a customer’s online and they can’t find a way to contact you in a way that suits them and at a time that suits them, they will go elsewhere, Andy Soloman, CEO of Yomdel, warned delegates at CDX.

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e’re living in an age of distraction, and dealers need to be available all the time to engage with potential customers – that was the message from Andy Soloman, CEO of Yomdel, a business that provides managed live chat services for clients in the automotive sector.

‘Your customer is everywhere,’ said Soloman during a session at the GardX Future Forum.

‘Your customer is online. They’re more connected, they have more choice and they have less patience. We are living in what really is an age of distraction. People do not devote an awful lot of time to doing things that, in the past, they spent a lot longer doing because there are so many different stimuli coming at them.

‘With more choice and less time, they become more impatient and less tolerant, and they want an immediate response on their terms.

‘You need to be able to offer multiple channels so people can contact you however they want.

With mobile phones, people can be doing anything at any point in time.

‘If you’re not available, it doesn’t matter how good you are. If the customer’s online and they can’t find a way to contact you in a way that suits them and at a time that suits them, they will go elsewhere.

‘We live in a 24-hour world.

People are doing things at a time of their choosing. Traffic shows that 48 per cent of people are visiting [your website] during business hours, but 52 per cent may be coming outside standard

‘When it comes to high-value automotive services, people crave human interaction.’

Andy Soloman, right 84 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

business hours. These people are a huge pool of potential business.

‘If you’re not able to give people online help when they need it, they will just go away. If you’re successful giving them help online when they need it, you will create more business.’

Soloman then moved on to explain how Yomdel’s managed live chat service can help solve the new problems presented by a digital world.

Interesting stuff from Andy Soloman ‘Live chat is the bridge between the real world and the digital world,’ he explained.

‘You’re using humans, real people, intelligent operators, able to respond 15 to 30 seconds after someone comes into the chat. If you have a chat, you will also deliver what seems to be one of the highest forms of customer satisfaction.

‘When it comes to high-value automotive services, people crave human interaction. They’re not happy doing everything on their own.

‘Conversion rates soar. Using live chat will push up website conversion rates by approximately 50 per cent. This is because it’s offering people choice, and targeting them at the time when they actually have a need.

‘It not only generates a high level of satisfaction and very measurable return on investment, it’s a channel where you can see, for everything you spend on it, what you get out of it.

There is no ambiguity there at all.

‘Operating the chat yourselves presents a number of challenges, not least that the customer triggers the chat at a time that suits them. When the customer wants to chat may not suit you. To create a good experience, speed is an integral part as well as intelligence.

‘With a managed service, you can be available all the time. It can also be low-cost, as live chat filters out timewasters.

‘However, live chat is not the whole answer. It’s the application, execution and quality of live chat. A Google study found that a customer carries out 900 digital interactions when buying a car. You need to interact with them at this point.

‘Being available is critical. The more that you can engage on that voyage of discovery, the more you can help that person, and in turn gain trust, nurture a relationship and place your business at the front of their mind as they get all this information to make the decision of which dealership they’ll go to.’

AUTO TRADER

Nick King gets his point across

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hen it comes to car sales, power has shifted from the retailer to the customer. And there are plenty of other changes afoot too, Nick King, Auto Trader’s insight director, told his audience at CDX. ‘The world is changing,’ confirmed King. ‘But our needs don’t change. Technology massively jumps up, but it becomes normal. Everyone talks about trust and transparency, but I don’t know who I trust any more. Who do you trust now?

‘The most powerful form of trust now is when someone buys something from you and you recommend they buy something from someone else. If you’re not nailing that, you’re missing out.

‘But needs don’t change, I still want to buy a car and be sold a car. We did a study and found the key to success or failure is the shifting mindset.

‘The more positive dealers are audacious or even pioneering. The traditional dealer is fixed and doesn’t want to change, whereas the new “retailer” wants to try things and change because they accept the world has changed. Power has shifted from the retailer to the consumer because we’re all online now. The world’s transparent.’

Following his introduction to the changing world, King started to explain what the modernday consumer is looking for in a car dealership.

‘One in four successful dealers say that their

The best dealers see themselves as retailers... and show a pioneering spirit We’re all online and everything is transparent... so how can you capitalise on the new world order and continue to survive and thrive? Over to Nick King of Auto Trader... customers expect nice waiting areas, breakout areas and improved showrooms. Dealerships should feel less business-like and more personal.

‘In general, speed of stock-turn has a big effect, as does using data to track and measure everything effectively. Nailing price is another element that will really help you.

‘Also, you need to keep people motivated and make them feel valued. Responsibility can be devolved and everyone can take ownership, from the valeter to the receptionist to the salesman.

‘The elephant in the room is that this is a maledominated industry. Today, 24 per cent of dealers are hiring women, 41 per cent are hiring the same number of women or less and one third have never hired women in the sales team.

‘Empathy is one of the top assets companies want in their salespeople. I’m not saying women are the only people with empathy, but it’s mad that in a world where 50 per cent of the people are women, the mix is vastly in favour of men.

‘Staff retention is also difficult. Fourteen per cent of people say finding staff is hard and they also say one of the biggest cuts that’s made straight away when times are tough is training, followed by marketing.

‘When times are tough, you need to keep promoting yourself. If you stop advertising, you’re forgotten, because there’s a whole world out there trying to get your attention all the time.’

Life needs to be made easy for buyers if your business is to succeed, said King. ‘We sell cars every day for thousands of pounds, but customers only usually buy a car every few years. It’s scary for them when it’s their own money. If you can make it easier for them, you’re going to win.

‘You need to optimise your link management services, be more welcoming and bring in more customers. Most dealers agree the customer journey has changed.

‘Customers are more informed.

Everything’s available online 24/7.’

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 85

CDX17.

AUTOCAR AWARDS

Winners galore!

Once the CDX stands had been dismantled and the workshops and Live Stage sessions were over, it was time for another very special event – the annual Autocar Awards, held during the evening of May 23, and in the same iconic venue: The Wing, Silverstone.

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he CEO of Jaguar Land Rover, Ralf Speth, was awarded the top prize at the 2017 Autocar Awards, held in Silverstone’s iconic Wing building and headline-sponsored by premium tyre brand Vredestein.

Speth was presented with the Issigonis Trophy, named after the creator of the legendary Mini, in recognition of his contribution to Jaguar Land Rover’s remarkable transformation following the sale of the brands to Tata Motors in 2008.

The Issigonis Trophy is presented to the individual who has contributed the most to the health, excellence and competitiveness of the European motor industry. Together, the British luxury marques now constitute Britain’s largest automotive manufacturer, with the company’s three UK manufacturing plants producing more than 544,000 cars in 2016.

Design supremo Peter Schreyer received the Sturmey Award for his work across the HyundaiKia Motor Group, which has included the continual evolution of both the Hyundai and Kia product ranges, in his role as president and chief design officer.

Named after Autocar’s founding editor, Henry Sturmey, the award was created to salute innovation and achievement.

Joining Schreyer’s success was Kia UK’s CEO and president, Paul Philpott, who took an Outstanding UK Leader award as the brand continues to achieve record sales following its 25th year in the UK. Mike Flewitt, CEO of McLaren Automotive, picked up the inaugural Editor’s Award, for his impact on the company’s success over the past year. Thomas Ingenlath, head of design at Volvo Cars, picked up the Design Hero award – and to celebrate, he showed off a unique Volvo V90, specified to his own brief.

Tobias Moers of Mercedes-AMG took the Engineering Hero gong, while Alan Gow was named Motorsport Hero for his work both as British Touring Car Championship director and for the Motor Sport Association.

Other industry professionals honoured included Mazda UK managing director Jeremy Thomson and Malcolm Wilson, whose M-Sport 86 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

business is one of the world’s leading private motorsport teams. They joined Paul Philpott in receiving Outstanding UK Leader awards.

Accompanying their respective teams at the Silverstone ceremony, the very best new and used cars were out in force. Nominated by Autocar readers, the Volkswagen Golf GTI was named the most influential car in motoring history.

Not to be outshone, many other groundbreaking cars of today also joined the GTI in the spotlight, as six were named Autocar Game Changers, a category sponsored by Vredestein Tyres – one of the world’s leading tyre manufacturers with a history spanning 100 years.

The winning game changers have been named as the Alfa Romeo Giulia, Aston Martin DB11, Tesla Model X, Renault Zoe, Toyota C-HR and Seat Ateca.

Accolades were handed out to the Porsche Panamera, Bentley Bentayga and McLaren 720S for achieving five-star reviews.

The Innovation Award went to the Lamborghini Huracán Performante for its aero-vectoring rear wing, while the Britain’s Best Driver’s Car award went to two cars at the opposite end of the spectrum: the Porsche 911 R and Ford Fiesta ST200. Finally, the Mini Roadster picked up Used Car Hero, awarded in association with Warranty Direct, as named by Autocar’s used car expert, James Ruppert.

Autocar editor Mark Tisshaw said: ‘The Autocar Awards unite the industry through a passion for building, selling and driving the very best vehicles on the planet, and the winners named here are a testament to the talent that drives Britain’s flourishing automotive industry.

‘Congratulations must go to the winner of the Issigonis Trophy, Ralf Speth, the dedication of whom has played a special part in the evolution of two of the most iconic and cherished brands into the largest automotive force in the UK. What’s most impressive is that this staggering progress has taken place in less than a decade.’

Speth said: ‘I am absolutely delighted to be given this very prestigious award, and I would like to thank the editors of Autocar magazine deeply. Autocar’s standing remains the same as it

The Autocar Awards are very special indeed ! has ever done: it is a hugely influential title with a long history in this great industry.

‘This award is something that I cannot accept just on my own. It is an honour I accept on behalf of all the incredible people who work at Jaguar Land Rover.

‘Together, we have been on quite a journey over the last few years, rapidly expanding our workforce, recruiting and nurturing the best engineers and focusing on innovation, design and customer satisfaction.

‘We are the UK’s biggest R&D investor and are always striving to be better than the best. It is a privilege to be leading such an organisation. I expected to do this job for two years, but now it’s seven and I’m still enjoying it.

‘I still find it amazing, contributing to this thing and helping shape it. Thank you, Autocar, for recognising Jaguar Land Rover’s achievements.

Here’s to the next few years.’

Watch the CDX17 video at bit.ly/CDX2017

2017 WINNERS Issigonis Trophy Ralf Speth, CEO, Jaguar Land Rover Sturmey Award Peter Schreyer, president and chief design officer, Hyundai-Kia Motor Group

Ralf Speth was awarded the Issigonis Trophy

Editor’s Award Mike Flewitt, CEO, McLaren Automotive Five-Star Cars Porsche Panamera Bentley Bentayga Diesel McLaren 720S Reader’s Champion VW Golf GTI

The occasion was a great way to follow CDX

Design Hero Thomas Ingenlath, design vice-president, Volvo Cars Engineering Hero Tobias Moers, CEO, AMG-Mercedes Motorsport Hero Alan Gow, series director and administrator, BTCC Innovation Award Lamborghini Huracán Performante and its aero-vectoring rear wing

Kia’s Paul Philpott, second left, with his trophy

A HUGE BONUS

Honouring cream of the car industry

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he Autocar Awards – held in the evening after CDX has closed its doors – recognise the cream of the car industry, from its leading personalities and talents through to the very best – and surprising – cars on sale today.

This year’s event, supported by Vredestein and Warranty Direct, was no different, as 250 of the car industry’s most influential figures gathered to find out who would win our prestigious trophies.

These include the very special Editor’s Award, the Sturmey Award for innovation and excellence, and the Issigonis Trophy, which honours the individual who has contributed the most to the health, excellence and competitiveness of the European motor industry. Stars of the night

included JLR’s Dr Ralf Speth, Kia and Hyundai’s Peter Schreyer and McLaren’s Mike Flewitt.

Silverstone is the perfect venue for the Autocar Awards because of its standing and heritage, two values that Autocar also holds dear.

Staging the event in the evening after CDX is a huge bonus, because it gives CDX attendees a chance to mix with key figures in the industry, and because it gives our influential guests a chance to see all that CDX has to offer.

Jim Holder, editorial director, Autocar

Britain’s Best Driver’s Cars Porsche 911 R Ford Fiesta ST200 Autocar’s Used Car Hero sponsored by Warranty Direct Mini Roadster Autocar’s Outstanding UK Leaders Jeremy Thomson, managing director, Mazda UK Paul Philpott, CEO and president, Kia UK Malcolm Wilson, managing director, M-Sport Autocar’s Game Changers, sponsored by Vredestein Alfa Romeo Giulia Aston Martin DB11 Tesla Model X Renault Zoe Toyota C-HR Seat Ateca

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 87

Bigger. Better.

May 21 & 22, 2018 at Manchester Central The UK’s largest and most informative expo and conference dedicated to the automotive industry will be taking place at Manchester Central! And it won’t just be for one day – it will be taking place over TWO DAYS!

Find out more at 88 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

Be there.

• MORE exhibitors than ever • MORE workshops and seminars • MORE Live Stage sessions • MORE new products and show offers • Supplier events • Meeting spaces for large and small groups • The BEST line-up of speakers and workshops in the industry

cardealerexpo.co.uk CarDealerMag.co.uk | 89

FORECOURT.

Lamborghini Huracán Performante

Engine

The engine is a delight and will go down as one of the all-time greats.

Aerodynamics

Styling

Extrovert styling turns the theatre up to 11 but still has a purpose.

Active aerodynamic wizardry is genuinely noticeable.

Darren feels like a hero behind the wheel as he puts a very special car through its paces What is it?

The Performante is based on the already superquick Huracán supercar, but to make it capable of astonishing lap times – it recently broke the production car record at the Nurburgring in Germany – the Raging Bull brand has gone to town. As is often the case with such machines, there’s been plenty of weight saving. The Performante is down 40kg on the standard car.

However, the real headline is Lamborghini’s next-level active aerodynamic package. Dubbed ALA – Aerodinamica Lamborghini Attive – it manipulates the air flowing over, under and 90 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

through the car to stick it to the road. In high-speed corners you can genuinely feel it at work.

What’s under the bonnet?

Beneath the engine hatch at the rear sits the mid-mounted 5.2-litre V10 that’s at the heart of what makes this car such a visceral experience. It’s a naturally aspirated unit – also found in the Audi R8 – so that means no turbochargers to suck the fun out of the glorious sound. The noise is raucous and refined in equal measure.

At full pelt on track you couldn’t care less about numbers, but they do make for impressive reading. The engine makes 631bhp and 600Nm of torque, which combine with the all-wheel drive system to deliver a 0-60mph time of 2.7 seconds and a top speed in excess of 200mph. It’ll hit 125mph in about nine seconds.

What’s it like to drive?

We tested the car at the famous Imola circuit in Italy before taking it out into the hills

Federico Foschini, commercial director at Lamborghini, chatted to Darren Cassey about the car, and the evolving Lamborghini dealership experience I gather you are looking to improve the dealer experience for customers. How do you plan to do that?

We have been looking at this for more than a year now – and we are taking several steps. The first one is a physical step, so you will see we are going to change completely the appearance of the dealership, by changing the material and by changing the colour. One important feature of these new dealerships is that we will be creating a corner, almost a room, where our customer can go and have the experience that he can have in a Lamborghini.

More than 70 per cent of a typical Aventador, for example, is personalised. So this means that more than 70 per cent of the car has personal content. In other words, they are produced with some content that is not standard or optional. The normal options list we offer is really huge, but our customers are doing something more themselves.

Is a virtual-reality design studio something you are bringing to the dealerships?

We are ready to do this, because we think that digital is one of the channels we need to give to our customers in order to have the maximum variety of ways to get in touch with our product.

But one thing is clear to me. Maybe I’m old style, but I think that the luxury we provide is still important. The customer’s journey needs to take them into a luxurious world. So we need to give to the customer a physical touch point; he has to have the feeling that he’s special and that he’s the only one who is having this kind of experience. We will never substitute the physical channel with the digital channel.

buy one or do you try to allocate them to your existing customers?

This is a car that will give us a lot of conquests because of what we have achieved with it and in particular the technical content. We have already done a pre-selling phase, and we already have almost 1,000 customers waiting for this car. So already, on paper, this year is full.

You’ll be selling a lot more of the Urus than your supercars, so will the physical aspect you mentioned be retained as you do so?

The Urus will be a luxury product in another segment, and we will be emphasising how particular and how precious its content will be.

So for this reason, in terms of the contact point with the customer, we don’t want to change; we want to improve.

The big challenge for us will be that in selling this car, we will have a lot of customers who are not really fans of super sports cars.

Maybe they are coming to us from other brands such as Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and BMW. And we need to guarantee them on the one hand, the unique luxury experience delivered by Lamborghini, but on the other hand, the same level of service they would receive from a more mainstream manufacturer.

So, we need to match the fact that it will be more of a daily-use product, but one with a certain level of luxury – and a very important product forever for the customer.

THE KNOWLEDGE Model: Lamborghini Huracán Performante Base price: £207,925 Engine tested: 5.2-litre V10 Power (bhp): 631 Torque (Nm): 600 Max speed (mph): 200+ 0-60mph: 2.7 seconds MPG (combined): 21 Emissions (g/km): 314 TARGET BUYERS: Wealthy car enthusiasts looking for a track day supercar that’s also fun to drive on the road.

THE RIVALS: Porsche 911 GT3, Jaguar F-Type SVR, Ferrari 488 GTB. KEY SELLING POINTS: 1. That astonishing engine will make you lament the rise of turbochargers.

2. No other road car is as capable on track.

3. No car can get close to the styling theatrics of a Lamborghini.

DEAL CLINCHER: It’s ludicrously fast but perfectly approachable, making you look like a hero on track.

With a product like the Performante, can anyone go into a dealership and ask to

surrounding the circuit. On track, the Huracán Performante feels at home, especially at such a high-speed circuit.

Despite the race car-like looks and violent performance, it’s surprisingly forgiving on road and track and has the ability to make you look like a hero behind the wheel. And yet it still takes concentration to get the most out of it.

What’s the spec like?

It’s hard to imagine any car that costs in excess of £200,000 being good value for money, especially when a Porsche 911 GT3 costs nearly £100,000

less and is utterly brilliant. But if you’re able to put such a vast sum of money down on a car, the concept of value almost becomes irrelevant.

So, what do buyers get for their money? Inside, there’s plenty of soft Alcantara and racy bucket seats as standard, though ‘comfort’ seats can be used instead. The digital instrument binnacle is a delight. For those who really want to splash the cash, the company’s Ad Personum personalisation programme allows near-infinite levels of customisation.

What do the press think?

Autocar says the ‘Performante’s chosen speciality of active aerodynamics gives it real technical intrigue,’ while Top Gear called it ‘flabbergasting’.

What do we think?

The Lamborghini Huracán Performante is a truly special car that’s certain to become a legendary Raging Bull. It takes the standard supercar’s wild looks and turns the drama up to 11. And the driving experience goes up to 12.

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FORECOURT. Jack Evans spoke to Claus-Otto Griebel, head of project for BMW 5 Series Touring What were some of the major challenges when producing the 5 Series Touring over the saloon?

There were two challenges we faced. The first was ensuring that the Touring was as sporty as the sedan, and the second was making sure that it was as comfortable. That meant tailoring the suspension and the interior, too.

How did you find solutions to those problems?

We fitted air suspension to the rear axle, and this adds better ride comfort as well as the ability to

firm it up and therefore make the car sportier.

We also did a lot of work on the stiffness of the chassis, and we also wanted to ensure that the Touring was as quiet inside. I think we achieved this. We think we’ve done a good job here.

Where do you see the future of the 5 Series Touring going?

I think at the moment that’s a difficult question.

We don’t know whether it’s going to be a diesel market in the future – I think we need to

prepare for other things. Perhaps we’ll have more autonomous technology or more alternative fuels, but at present we just don’t know.

Do you think it’s still important for BMW to be producing strong diesel engines?

Yes. At the moment our markets demand around 90 per cent diesel for our Touring cars, so they have to be strong. If a market says we need more hybrids, then we’ll have more hybrids – and likewise for petrol-fuelled cars.

Space

The Touring offers exactly what you would hope for with excellent luggage capacity.

BMW 5 Series Touring Jack is impressed by a car that’s actually been around in one guise or another since What is it?

The 5 Series Touring is somewhat of an underground success for BMW. More than a million units have been sold since the car first went into production in 1972, offering buyers high levels of practicality with that all-important badge appeal. The recipe has remained largely unchanged: take all the refinement that you find in the 5 Series saloon, but increase its spaciousness and all-round flexibility. It’s been a package that has sold well throughout Europe, and this latest one is the most technologically advanced yet.

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What’s under the bonnet?

Our test car was a 520d model.

Powered by a 2.0-litre turbocharged diesel engine, it’s likely to be the best-selling variant. BMW claims that it’ll return 62.7mpg and emit just 114g/km, making it ideal for private buyers who want a car that is relatively cheap to run, as well as fleet buyers who want a vehicle in a lower business tax bracket. It’s worth pointing out that the base 520d retails for just under £40,000, so doesn’t incur additional premium car vehicle

tax charges. In the 520d, power is sent to the rear wheels via an eight-speed automatic gearbox. With 187bhp on tap, it should reach 60mph in 7.5 seconds, and carry on to a top speed of 139mph. Of course, for those who want more punch, there’s a larger 3.0-litre diesel engine, as well as two powerful petrol units.

What’s it like to drive?

There’s very little to complain about when it comes to the 5 Series Touring’s driving style.

THE KNOWLEDGE

Will there be a hybrid 5 Series Touring then?

At the moment, it isn’t planned – but, again, if the market says that we need one, we’ll look into it.

because it looks both sporty and functional at the same time. For Europe, we know that things get better and better for the Touring – though this isn’t the same for countries outside Europe.

How important is it for BMW to still make estate cars?

I think that the market for the 5 Series is a big one. In Europe, the Touring is in high demand, so we still make an awful lot of them. I think that for European buyers, the Touring is successful

Would you like to see an M5 Touring?

Personally, no. If we look to Audi, they’re doing well with the performance estate cars, and we have tried to make a high-performance estate but it didn’t run. Maybe in the future we could see one, but at the moment it isn’t planned.

Driving

Dynamic driving characteristics make this car.

Model: BMW 5 Series Touring Base price: £38,385 Engine tested: 2.0-litre

turbocharged diesel Power (bhp): 187 Torque (Nm): 400 Max speed (mph): 139 0-60mph: 7.5 seconds MPG (combined): 62.7 Emissions (g/km): 114 TARGET BUYERS: Those who want all the refinement of the standard 5 Series but with heightened practicality levels.

THE RIVALS: Audi A6 Avant, Mercedes E-Class Estate, Volvo V90.

KEY SELLING POINTS: 1. Excellent economy levels.

2. Decent range of engines.

3. Cutting-edge on-board technology.

DEAL CLINCHER: The 5 Series Touring ticks all the boxes, and it can carry plenty of them too.

‘We have tried to make a highperformance estate but it didn’t run.’

Technology High levels of technology.

the early 1970s Despite its size – it’s now well over 1,630mm in width and more than 2,975mm in length – it never feels at all unwieldy, and this is down to its well-judged steering which is both precise yet predictable. In truth, it lacks any real feel, but remains accurate. The power delivery in the 520d model is good too, with plenty of poke on tap regardless of revs.

What’s the spec like?

Base-spec SE cars come with a high level of standard equipment. Priced from £38,385, SEspec cars benefit from 17-inch alloy wheels, LED

headlights, air conditioning, as well as front and rear parking sensors. All cars get BMW’s latest iDrive infotainment system, accessed via a 10.25-inch colour touchscreen.

Of course, as with any car in the BMW range, there’s a vast options list to choose from.

Highlights from this include Driving Assistant Plus, which incorporates adaptive cruise control, lane change assistant and lane keeping assistant, as well as steering and lane control assistant.

What do the press think?

Top Gear described the car as ‘very refined, great to drive and featuring loads of high-tech’ while Car Magazine said: ‘The BMW 5-series Touring continues to impress.’

What do we think?

BMW plans to sell around 5,000 5 Series Touring models. Considering the way it drives, its high level of build quality and relatively good value for money, we think it could sell an awful lot more.

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FORECOURT. Karin Thorn, Volvo’s vice-president of vehicle propulsion, and Robert Broström, senior technical leader of user experience, discuss what’s new and what’s to come Volvo’s new chassis all come with the potential for electrification. When do you think you can have pure electric across the SUV range?

KT: We’ve already committed to having electric cars by 2019, and we’ll start with the smaller cars and build it up to SUVs. But it’s absolutely the goal to offer pure electric across the range because the quiet nature of the powertrain is quite a natural fit with the premium brand.

We’re also intrigued by the PowerPulse technology that’s on the diesel engines – you can really feel it enhances response.

KT: Yes, we’re very pleased with that technology.

It’s actually patented by Volvo, so no other manufacturer can offer anything like that. It came about from two of our in-house engineers having a conversation and coming up with the idea and then we developed it, so it’s fully in-house.

Is there any reason why it’s only on diesels?

KT: Theoretically, we could use it on petrol engines, but we feel like we have better solutions for petrol, such as the supercharger. But for diesel it works really well and for those customers we feel this is a great selling point.

Volvo’s tablet-like screens work beautifully but the touchscreen controls the vast majority of

Suspension

The ride and handling on air suspension is very impressive.

Power

Hybrid option has an extremely low benefit in kind rating for business buyers.

Volvo XC60 Despite a couple of niggles, Darren Cassey is impressed by the new Swedish SUV’s What is it?

The Volvo XC60 sits in the lucrative mid-sized SUV market and has thus far proved to be hugely successful for the Swedish manufacturer, with nearly a million units sold since it was introduced nine years ago.

And that upward trend should continue with the new XC60. It now sits on Volvo’s Scalable Product Architecture, which allows componentsharing across the range to bring down costs.

It also gets Volvo’s ‘Thor’s Hammer’ headlights and chunky grille, which give it a classy, modern look.

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What’s under the bonnet?

We tested the D5 model, which has the company’s four-cylinder twin-turbo diesel unit. It makes 232bhp, returns economy of 51.4mpg and emits 144g/km of CO2. The well-insulated interior means engine noise is subdued, while performance is impressive when called upon.

In the UK we get two diesels – the second is the D4, which manages 54.3mpg and 136g/km – one petrol and one hybrid. The 251bhp T5 petrol achieves 38.7mpg and 167g/km, while

the 315bhp T8 petrol-electric hybrid emits just 49g/km and achieves 135mpg on the combined cycle, contributing to benefit in kind of just nine per cent.

What’s it like to drive?

Volvo has put comfort at the top of the XC60 agenda. Our car had optional air suspension and it rode beautifully, with surprisingly little body roll in the corners.

The SUV is at home on the motorway, munching through miles in quiet comfort and

THE KNOWLEDGE

functions. Isn’t that more distracting for drivers when Volvo’s USP is safety?

RB: Well, actually, the reason why we have put these options in the Volvo Sensus touchscreen is to improve safety.

We have tried to design it so that the things you use regularly are more prominent and then the things you need less are a couple of swipes away, and so on.

Model: Volvo XC60 D5 Inscription Base price: £37,205 Engine tested: D5 PowerPulse 2.0-litre four-cylinder diesel Power (bhp): 232 Torque (Nm): 480 Max speed (mph): 137 0-60mph: 7 seconds MPG (combined): 51.4 Emissions (g/km): 144

It remembers what you’ve used recently and most often will try to display shortcuts to what you need, so once owners have had their car a while, the main screen should have everything they need most of the time.

Then it’s our responsibility with parts like climate control to make our system so good that once it’s set you never feel the need to change it, so that’s a consideration as well.

Interior

TARGET BUYERS: Families wanting lots of space and something interesting. Fleet owners seeking a low benefit in kind (BIK) and a decent amount of luggage space.

The stylish interior is much more interesting than that of its German rivals.

THE RIVALS: Audi Q5, Jaguar F-Pace, BMW X3.

KEY SELLING POINTS: 1. Interior is far more interesting than German rivals’.

2. Ride is aimed at comfort and relaxation – and it succeeds.

3. BIK is low on hybrid model, which will make it mightily appealing for business people.

DEAL CLINCHER: A relaxing drive and an interesting design.

‘It’s absolutely the goal to offer pure electric across the range.’

classy look and finds it a comfy drive with ease. The D5 engine is a highlight, pulling hard when required but delivering easy economy in everyday driving.

If relaxation is key, there are few in the class that can touch the XC60. However, it does pay for it a little in the corners. The steering is direct but lacks feel and although the air suspension deals with most of the body roll it can’t quite hide its bulk on a twisty back road.

What’s the spec like?

The standard specification is highly impressive, with 18-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights and

leather upholstery all standard, not to mention the impressive City Safety driver aid package.

The Sensus infotainment system is responsive and the high-definition screens are easy to read, but the layout isn’t too intuitive, although Volvo says the system learns what menus you use regularly and puts them on the main screen to ease navigation.

What do the press say?

WhatCar? called it a ‘great all-rounder and one

of the best large SUVs on the market’, while Auto Express noted that some rivals ‘are more dynamic to drive’.

What do we think?

Elegant styling inside and out and a driving experience that’s more comfortable than any rival can manage is an enticing recipe. The Audi Q5 feels spacious in the cabin and while boot space is far from class-leading, overall, Volvo’s effort feels composed and brilliantly put together.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 95

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CarDealerMag.co.uk | 97

FEATURE.

And I’m telling you that isn’t the Chiswick flyover, Jon...

98 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

A-Z DEALER CHALLENGE Do I lie or do I tell the truth? I could pretend from the off that we succeeded in our challenge to spell out the alphabet with dealership names (don’t you dare give me that look like everyone else did) in five days, but that would be telling a bit of a porkie.

Did we visit 26 dealers? Yes. Did we spell out the alphabet with dealership names?

Yes. Then how could we have failed? Well…

Words: Rebecca Chaplin Pictures: Jon Reay

”

There was a smile but also a look of concern that we would get used to over the next few days CarDealerMag.co.uk | 99

FEATURE.

T

DAY ONE

his is an idea that Jon Reay and I had been thinking about for a while – and after several weeks of failing to make any detailed plans (and with CDX around the corner), we just decided to crack on.

It was a sunny Monday morning and as soon as our carriage for the week arrived, we were off.

The vehicle in question needed to be Britishbuilt for this tour of what turned out to be mainly England and a bit of Wales (sorry Scotland and Northern Ireland!). We could have gone for the worthy Nissan Qashqai or an equally admirable Mini, but we landed ourselves a Range Rover Sport. Perfect for chomping a few thousand miles and plenty of terrain and weather changes.

Our plan so far was this: head for Wales.

There were some rules to our challenge: we didn’t need to spell them out in order, car brands – such as Ford Birmingham or Renault Norwich – didn’t count, and we weren’t counting the word ‘the’. We wanted to travel as far as possible within the five days so decided we would try to head up the west coast of England and retreat down the east, doing a sort of loop. Apart from that, the world (or certain regions of the UK) was our oyster.

In the end we visited 33 dealerships. At least those are the ones I remember visiting. There could have been more when I was so tired and grumpy I could barely see.

So there were around six car dealers we saw but were unwilling to be included, either because we looked like tricksters or because we didn’t have any way of proving who we were.

If you haven’t heard before, we’re based in Gosport, which is effectively the end of the earth.

If you turn one way you head towards London; the other way, the sea.

Our first stop as we left Hampshire on the A34 would be a stone’s throw from the Didcot junction. In fact, the great silver building is unmissable from the flyover there.

We rolled into Marshall’s new Jaguar Land Rover dealership completely undercover in our black Range Rover, much like the stock on the lot.

This would be the first time we’d have to explain to anyone outside of the business what we were doing, and as we walked through the huge glass doors, I didn’t have a good feeling about it. There was a smile but also a look of concern from the receptionist that we would get used to over the next few days. However, they welcomed us with open arms and offered a short tour around the new-look showroom.

We had to move on swiftly as we hoped to get four more dealerships done that day and it was already close to midday. The next logical manoeuvre was to head for the M4 and at Swindon we’d stop for a P – Pebley Beach Hyundai and Suzuki. With things busy in the showroom, we took the opportunity to bag 100 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

ourselves an F for Fish Brothers over the road too.

Things were going well and already we’d successfully photographed three dealerships with plenty to pick from in the local area. This is where we began to spot holes in our plan... We all know that marketing teams have the best intentions but can sometimes cause issues where there are none. This was our logic, anyway, when we made the decision not to call anyone in advance and just turn up on the day. Who doesn’t love a surprise, anyway?

Not far up the road, we had our eyes set on another dealership, but with plenty of high-end supercars on their books and a very special franchise, they weren’t keen on two twentysomethings with funny haircuts taking photos. However, they were very nice about it.

Important note at this point: we’ve now visited four dealerships, none of which has offered us a coffee... We were in luck, though, as we hunted down the letter W – Williams Automobiles in Chipping Sodbury and not far off our current route on the M4. All of a sudden, we were in the rural West Country, driving past farms and country houses, but there didn’t seem to be a dealership around until a discreet Williams sign on the side of the road caught our eye.

Down the track we were into what was a converted derelict farm – breathing a new lease of life into the location and the business.

We chatted away with sales director Paul Tovey who explained that the Morgan showroom we were standing in was a feeding shed until its recent renovation. Managing director Henry Williams arrived in a customer’s mint-green Aero 8. It was he who made the decision to sell the Williams business that you may remember in the Bristol area, dealing in Mazdas and Saabs, to focus on what had been the bolt-on franchises of Lotus and Morgan. The business now specialises in those brands plus Caterham, and the relaxed country feel is idyllic for owners of lightweight cars such as these.

After a lot of ogling the cars on show, we made a move to our next location in Cardiff, but the traffic wasn’t looking good. We had the sat nav set for Sinclair Volkswagen, in the heart of the city, but as it was approaching 6.30pm, it became a race against time that we lost as we crawled along the roads. Instead, we went to our hotel with a plan for a fresh start in the morning.

D

Always a warm welcome from Umesh Samani

Time for a P in Swindon...

...then it’s over the road to cross F off our list with trainee sales executive Michael Norcliffe

DAY TWO

espite intending to make an early start, we had a fairly lazy lie-in before heading out for pancakes, as Sinclair wouldn’t be open until 9.30am.

We arrived at the Volkswagen dealership on East Tyndall Street with a huge sign above the cars welcoming us in both Welsh and English.

Again, we received the same confused look

The team at Sinclair Volkswagen Cardiff

Rebecca meets Phil Simon, head of business at Marshall’s impressive new JLR showroom

Williams Automobiles boss Henry Williams welcomes Rebecca to the dealership

Rory Anderson, left, and Thomas Cheung – the co-owners of RS Car Sales

when I explained: ‘We’re trying to spell out the alphabet with dealerships. Would you mind if we got a few pictures of your showroom?’

This time we were hustled upstairs to meet the general manager and find out a bit more about this place, and we were offered a very welcome cup of coffee. This team is in quite a unique position compared with other Sinclair dealerships, not only because they can’t really expand in this location, but with a huge amount of passing traffic they’re almost always busy.

However, he told us that with a changing consumer attitude they were working towards transforming the way they sell cars. Unlike other Sinclair locations, the sales team’s role is now more focused on advising and explaining facts about the model range rather than selling.

Photos taken of the whole team, we hit the road with the aim of covering enough dealerships today to make up for yesterday’s pitiful attempt.

We were keen to get ‘Z’ out of the way, because how many dealerships can there be with a name beginning with that letter? We’d found one in Wolverhampton, selling performance cars, so headed there next. However, our quest was shortlived as we drove three times round the ring road before working out they were housed in some offices and a private car park and there was little chance of us getting through the door…

Second failure of the week and only five dealerships out of 26 covered!

We head north to surprise a dealer who will no doubt welcome us with open arms – Umesh Samani Specialist Cars of Stoke. He explains that initially he could only keep four cars on the forecourt but now both his showroom and the area outside are packed with vehicles for sale, while he’s taken over the workshop next door too! ‘I just buy things I like these days. A lot of my stock comes from private buyers,’ he said.

One eye-opener in the showroom is an AustinDKG 57 from 1947, although it’s not really for sale. He explained that one customer had offered it to him way back and after careful consideration he couldn’t not have it. We enjoy a cup of coffee but have to make a move to our next stop about 30 minutes away – RS Car Sales.

White performance cars are selling well, as co-owners Rory Anderson and Thomas Cheung explain, and it’s clear from their gleaming stock on show. The pair are busily working away, so we have a brief catch-up before heading to Manchester for the night.

W

DAY THREE

ith plenty to do we decide to hedge our bets, get on the road and find the letter O elsewhere in the country. Little did we know at this point that it would be easier said than done.

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FEATURE.

Hippo Prestige in Blackburn may have a curious name but it’s big on high-end vehicles

Today we’re in Lancashire...

This one’s slap bang on Keswick's main road 102 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

At Blackshaws’ Alnwick showroom with owner Will Blackshaw

Vertu Honda in Newcastle upon Tyne

Evans Halshaw in Sunderland

Lookers Ford in Leeds

JCT600 Seat in Sheffield

It’s an early start as we head for Chorley and visit the appropriately-named Chorley Group’s Nissan site. The sun is shining over rows of perfectly lined-up cars and the showroom is bustling with eager buyers during a special promotion. Jon snaps away and we leave them to do business in pursuit of another Z. Not somewhere we’ve previously covered, we’re heading for a hearse dealer, which seems fitting for the end of the alphabet.

However, once again we’re snubbed by a dealership that only really operates online. At least we think so, as we drive around a golf club with no hearses in sight.

We’ve got another dealership in the area to visit, the curiously named Hippo Prestige.

Here the luxury products are lined up and gleaming. We take a look around before heading to the preparation centre down the road to see how they arrive.

There is another tricky letter we’ve got planned for today and that’s X. The scenery continues to become more picturesque as we head further north and we stop in Colne, parking on a very severe slope. A few tweets to ensure we’re not let down again have brought us to XLCR Vehicle Management, also known as The Best Car Deals.

Although it’s more of a broker, the location inside an old post office is pretty incredible.

In a tour of the building we see the competitive nature of this place, with each sales person getting their own song that will play when they make a sale, and screens buzzing with information. Upstairs, we meet the office dog and see the spectacular bar, feeling only a hint of jealousy, before getting a snap with head of commercial vehicles Alex Woodcock and account manager Scarlett Jolly.

With 10 dealerships in the bag, 16 to go and under three days to complete them in, Reay and I are feeling more positive but the end definitely feels very far away. Close to the Lake District, we take this opportunity to see what the Range Rover Sport can muster on these winding roads and how many sheep we can dodge.

Then it’s time to chomp through the miles as we attempt to venture as far north as we can manage in the time frame. We make it to Keswick where we break for the night after a two-hour drive. That’s C, H and X ticked off our list…

W

Alex Woodcock and Scarlett Jolly of XLCR Vehicle Management in Colne

DAY FOUR

e’re up early as we’ve got plenty of miles to travel and people to see today. With a (veggie) full English devoured, we head to the local Fiat dealer Keswick Motor Company. The familyowned dealership is buried in the town centre and we dodge around the morning deliveries to get our photos.

The next trek is east and north as we go in search of B for Blackshaws Garage in Alnwick.

It’s around 120 miles away but the morning traffic down a B-road is not what we need at this point in the journey.

Luckily for us, owner Will Blackshaw is here and not at his other site in Morpeth today and he talks to us about the pros and cons of dealing Suzukis, Mitsubishis and Nissans in these areas.

We strike lucky again and manage to bag two more letters nearby, stopping in at Vertu Honda Newcastle before visiting Evans Halshaw Nissan in Sunderland – the closest Nissan dealer to the factory.

Our final stop of the day is Leeds, and while the sun is still shining in the sky, we head to Lookers Ford, unmissable thanks to the huge emblem of the brand across the entirety of glass windows on the side of this FordStore.

We had hoped to visit a JCT600 dealer too, but our plans are scuppered by opening and closing times paired with jammed-up roads, as everyone leaves their places of work at the same time.

We sit in the traffic while dealerships around us close, catching a glimpse of an Arnold Clark showroom that could count as an easy A, and prepare to start again in the morning.

T

DAY FIVE

his is the big one! We’ve got a lot of distance to cover today but we’re slowed down by a wait – and a brief McDonald’s – to check we’re OK to photograph one of the dealerships. We start with JCT600 Seat and PriceRight, on a joint site in Sheffield.

Reay and I break in a bit early, as the team are still having their morning sales meeting, but are greeted by a cheery salesman.

We explain what we’re doing and he’s the first person to laugh in our face rather than just stare at us, worried that we’ve lost our minds.

We’re given the seal of approval and we head south, but we leave without ticking off the Arnold Clark dealership, under the mistaken notion once again that we’ll easily find another.

Geoff Cox in Derby is our next stop. Sean Cantillon and Craig Vladimirovs, now TV stars as well as being Bangers4Ben’s winning team and Cantillon named Dealer Principal of the Year at the Used Car Awards, weren’t ones we could miss.

Although Geoff Cox has a Subaru franchise, there are also used cars, and Vladimirovs is sending a customer on a test drive of a Land Rover Discovery as we arrive.

The pair explain 4x4s and pick-ups are big business in this rural area and that’s why the Subaru franchise works well for them.

Reay manages to spill coffee on the dealership floor for the first time today and we make a sharp exit.

As we’re jaunting through the countryside, a row of cars catches our eyes – and there is our letter O, Oakwood Car Sales! Heading south and we’re getting CarDealerMag.co.uk | 103

FEATURE.

The Ribblehead Viaduct in North Yorkshire made an imposing backdrop to our road trip 104 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

”

It’s unlikely we’d have been able to show our faces in the office ever again if we didn’t complete the challenge.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 105

FEATURE.

temptingly close to home, but first we stop close to my home town of Milton Keynes, which turns into another wasted trip to find a letter A. It seemed like a really good idea, because the dealership had a funny name that fitted with our trip and would have been the perfect opener.

However, when we arrived, the number of cars on bricks with bits missing made us think twice.

Here at the magazine we don’t ever like to think badly of any car dealership, but in this case we decided it was safer to just drive on by…

We continue driving and reach Letchworth Garden City’s Norton Way. I’d like to pretend there was no bias in the selection of this piece but Norton Way came as a recommendation from one of Reay’s friends who once bought a Honda here. It’s been a long journey down the M1 and we’re grateful that our time hasn’t been wasted as they let us take some snaps of the site.

We’re hoping to make it to Essex today, so we hit the road sharpish to try to make it around the M25 before rush hour hits. The trip will take about an hour and a half, and with three dealerships we want to see in the area before closing time we have to make a spur-of-themoment decision to miss one out.

With Z and Q both on the agenda, and some of the toughest letters in the alphabet to find, we decide to try those first. A bad idea...

Z is yet another Zenith and we trail up and down a country lane where nothing seems to be going on, looking for any signs of life. Parked up where Google Maps claims it is, we try calling and are told it’s appointment only.

With little time left, we make a dash for Quirks Car Company, where cars are already being moved around for closing.

There are concerned faces when we walk in asking to speak with director Ross Quirk at the very end of the day, but despite covering his holidaying sister’s work too, uploading Auto Trader adverts, he makes time for a chat.

The quality of second-hand sports car stock on Quirks’ forecourt is impressive, with Porsches, Audis and Mercedes packed behind the wroughtiron railings. He explains that the traffic passing this plot, right by the A127, is incredibly high and for that reason a lot of their trade is done thanks to word of mouth and referrals.

D

DAY SIX

id you think that was it and we’d failed? It’s unlikely we’d have been able to show our faces in the office ever again if we didn’t complete the challenge. When we spoke to Zenith Luxury Cars the day before, we booked an appointment for the next morning and explained what we were doing. Turns out we were in the wrong place...

On the way we manage to get the letter T in the bag in the shape of Trade Price Cars, another 106 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

Used Car Awards winner. It’s an impressive and bustling site, unsurprising on a sunny morning like this. Affordable cars line the perimeters with two overflow areas for customers to view even more shining stock.

From there, we head over to Zenith, where we meet owner Raheem Brown. He explains that he’s been in the business for a few years but has just moved to this new location where all of the luxury stock is safely tucked away.

Next we’re on a mission to finally sort out an A. There’s one nearby and we pay them a visit, but on a Saturday and with plenty of customers around, luck is not on our side.

So, dejected and rejected, we make our way back home, with four car dealers still to go…

I

DAY SEVEN

know I said five days, but officially if you want to drive more than 1,000 miles and visit 26 dealers along the way without arranging it in advance, it will take you seven days.

Fortunately, we had a bank of local ones near our office that we could do on the way home, starting with Yeomans Citroen in Fareham.

With the sun shining down on us, we knew we would finally finish the A to Z of Car Dealers.

We dashed in, shook some hands, snapped some photos and got on our merry way.

After racking our brains for a local dealer beginning with A, we slapped ourselves on the forehead, remembering that in Southampton there’s a used car dealer called Avenue Car Sales.

The decorative building was surrounded by used cars but one was a stand-out motor for me: a Union Jack-wrapped Nissan Note.

It seemed like everything was going our way, as just over the road there was a car dealership beginning with D. We walked in, feeling confident the end was near, but were quickly shot down. After a conversation with a salesman, he went to check with his boss who was also happy as long as we could provide some proof of where we were from. We’d run out of magazines and our plans were ruined…

Cue a spark of genius from Reay, who remembered another local car dealer who could provide the same letter, and we headed over to the Diesel Car Company.

Now we were down to just one more slot to fill. We’d seen super-cars, classic cars, affordable used cars, new cars and much more on our travels but this would be the most cars we’d seen in one dealership at any one time.

We called in and asked for operations director Neil Smith at Imperial Car Supermarket who gave us the OK for some photos and our job was complete! Our relief was overwhelming!

It might seem like this was a completely unplanned and sporadic trip around the country to visit car dealers, and you’d be right, but isn’t that what customers do every single day? [CD]

Ross Quirk, the director of Quirks Car Company

TV stars Craig Vladimirovs, left, and Sean Cantillon at Geoff Cox Derby

Oakwood Car Sales in Derby

Diesel Car Company in Southampton

Yeomans Citroen in Fareham

We meet Raheem Brown at Zenith Luxury Cars

in Wickford, makes time for us despite his punishing workload

Norton Way in Letchworth Garden City

Trade Price Cars in Wickford

With Neil Smith at Imperial Car Supermarket

Avenue Car Sales in Southampton

OUR DEALER ALPHABET: Avenue Cars, Southampton Blackshaws Garage, Alnwick Chorley Group, Chorley Diesel Car Company, Southampton Evans Halshaw, Sunderland Fish Brothers, Swindon Geoff Cox Car Sales, Derby Hippo Prestige, Blackburn Imperial Car Supermarket, Southampton JCT600 Seat, Leeds Keswick Motor Company, Keswick Lookers Ford, Leeds Marshall Jaguar Land Rover, Oxford Norton Way Mazda, Letchworth Garden City Oakwood Cars, Derby Pebley Beach, Swindon Quirks Car Company, Wickford RS Car Sales, Sandbach Sinclair Volkswagen, Cardiff Trade Price Cars, Wickford Umesh Samani Specialist Cars, Stoke Vertu Honda, Newcastle Williams Automobiles, Chipping Sodbury XLCR Vehicle Management, Colne Yeomans Citroen, Fareham Zenith Luxury Cars, Brentwood CarDealerMag.co.uk | 107

FOCUS ON.

Promesso

Boost your reputation with the power of coffee PROMESSO

W: promesso.co.uk

As new research reveals the power of coffee to make an unforgettable impression, Heike Wiesner, Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE) Professional, discusses how changing the way car dealers view the coffee they offer could change how their customers view their business.

C

ar dealers are being urged to take a fresh look at their coffee offer to deliver unparalleled levels of customer service, reinvigorate their business and impress and delight their customers.

Coffee plays a significant role in all walks of life and working culture, providing consumers with those all-important moments of relaxation and indulgence. It is therefore critical that businesses examine how high-quality coffee can be one of the subtle nuances that puts them ahead of the competition, and changes how their customers view them.

The call to improve the services on offer in car dealerships follows new research, commissioned

by Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE) Professional, which reveals that 72 per cent of consumers would expect to be served a hot beverage when making a significant purchase, such as a new car, or when seeking professional advice.

The survey of 1,000 consumers also highlighted the power of coffee to make an unforgettable first impression with one in two consumers more likely to view a business favourably if it served high-quality coffee in the lobby or reception area.

Don’t risk disappointing your customers by taking

108 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

a chance on your coffee offer. We know that men are twice as likely to take their business elsewhere if you do, while millennials are six times more likely to take a negative view of your company.

Consumers’ understanding of the breadth of coffee styles and flavours available has dramatically expanded, resulting in coffee fast overtaking tea as the nation’s favourite hot beverage. Globally, more than 55 million cups are consumed each day and with this, an expectation for high quality and variety – no matter the location – has become the norm.

Consumers are all different – they have their individual style, personal tastes and unique character – and this drives their desire for personalised products and services, be it the coffee they drink or the car they choose to drive.

To treat your customers and provide a level of personalisation and service that they have come to expect means finding a high-quality coffee solution that lets them create every coffee imaginable, customised to each personal taste profile and preference. JDE’s Promesso offers businesses the perfect, award-winning coffee solution. It features an innovative design, unprecedented coffee personalisation and the perfect combination of functionality and quality.

It offers effortless interaction and ease of use.

No training is needed and it’s easy to maintain, requiring no more than seven minutes per week, which equates to 10 per cent of the time needed to service fully automatic espresso machines.

It offers consumers fresh-bean quality

coffee, tailored to their personal taste. For example, Promesso enables users to customise every element of their favourite hot beverage by adjusting the strength, volume and even coffee to milk ratio. For those VIP customers or staff, favourite beverages can even be saved to a personal profile, making it easy to access personalised drinks at the click of a button.

Promesso is a coffee solution that is smart, innovative and takes care of itself. As businesses look to improve their customer service and stand out from the competition, their coffee solution could be that all important differentiator.

Promesso is ideal for car dealerships looking to serve premium-quality coffee in the car showroom, service centre or reception without the hassle or training required by more complicated coffee solutions.

It allows your business to surprise customers with a high-quality coffee shop experience that surpasses their expectations, improves customer service and helps to improve how they see your business. It means car dealerships can treat their customers to a hot beverage experience that offers the quality to impress and consistency to deliver a perfect coffee, in every cup. With 10 varieties of premium hot beverages on offer, why should you or your customers have to compromise?

To reinvigorate your business and take a fresh look at your coffee offer, visit promesso.co.uk for more information.

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 109

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

Am I allowed to offer customer trade price?

Q A

A client wants to reject a car he bought from us four months ago. Can I offer him trade price?

If you are purchasing the vehicle from the consumer as a goodwill gesture, you can offer an amount which you deem to be fit.

It’s then up to the consumer if they wish to accept that amount.

However, if the consumer is seeking to reject the vehicle under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, then the amount offered needs to have a fair and reasonable amount deducted for the consumer’s use of the vehicle during the time it has been in their possession.

Let’s say, for example, that you sold a car and that there was a problem with the gearbox.

If the failure occurred within the first 30 days of taking possession,

JOIN CAR DEALER CLUB AND GET ALL THESE BENEFITS WORTH £1,000s FOR JUST £39.99 110 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

the consumer may be entitled to reject the vehicle if that problem rendered the vehicle to be of unsatisfactory quality.

If the failure occurred after 30 days, and was supported by evidence of the fault emerging after the point of sale, then the consumer would be entitled to a repair only.

Moving on from that, let’s imagine a repair is carried out but that the repair itself fails.

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.

The consumer may now be eligible to enforce their right to reject the vehicle.

It is also worth bearing in mind, it has not got to be the same component which fails, it can be any that renders the vehicle of unsatisfactory quality.

As we have indicated, Section 24 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 allows the seller of a motor vehicle to deduct a fair and reasonable

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(*subject to vetting)

amount for the usage of the vehicle.

Unfortunately, the legislation does not provide any guidance on how to work out what a ‘fair and reasonable use’ charge is.

We have advised other clients to review the valuation of the vehicle taking into account the additional mileage using a CAP or Glass’s guide. This will then provide you with a monetary value to offer.

However this will need to be retail value and not trade price, and the consumer will have paid retail value!

Another alternative will be to charge pence per mile but this is likely to be an unreasonable amount to deduct if the consumer has incurred a lot of mileage. This will be down to negotiation between yourself and the consumer. Each case is based upon its own facts.

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.

My buyer has an unhappy wife...

Q

I sold an eight-year-old vehicle to a customer who haggled the price down to £8,500 because of some scratches on the bodywork and a small dent to the back bumper. Apparently his wife isn’t happy with the car so he wants to reject it. She says it is not of satisfactory quality due to the dent and scratches. Do I have to issue a refund?

This is not a wholly uncommon situation but like any form of buyer’s remorse, it does not give the consumer the right to a refund.

For a consumer to be entitled to a refund, there must actually be something wrong with the car.

That ‘something wrong’ cannot be something minor or relatively inconsequential and neither can it be something which was accepted as part of the deal.

Your customer’s refund entitlement fails on both those counts as scratches and dents are very unlikely to make an eight-yearold vehicle not of satisfactory quality.

More importantly in this particular scenario, the ‘faults’ were pointed out as part of the sale so they became part of the contract.

Therefore, there is no breach and no legal entitlement to a refund.

A

LAWGISTICS GIVES YOU CONFIDENCE

Court case ended successfully... thanks to great support and advice BENJAMIN Sargeant is sales manager at Cherub Autos, a specialist dealership in the midlands – and needed Lawgistics’ help in dealing with a customer who had bought a 2005 BMW 318Ci convertible.

‘We sold the car to a lady who had travelled from Salisbury to us in Solihull,’ said Sargeant.

‘A couple of days later, she contacted us to say that a warning light had appeared on her dashboard. We told her she could use the warranty we had provided, or bring the car back and let us rectify the problem.

‘She then sent us a letter saying she was unhappy with the vehicle and wanted her money back. She wanted us to collect the car from her, but not until we had sent her the money.’

It was at this point that Sargeant decided to approach Lawgistics, who told him he should try again with his offer.

‘She eventually let us collect the vehicle for it to be repaired,’ said Sargeant.

‘We drove it back without incident and paid to have a specialist inspect it.

‘The only fault was a faulty

coolant sensor, so we fixed it and gave it back to the customer.’

Sargeant thought he might have heard the end of it, but that wasn’t the case.

‘We heard from her again three months later to say that the electric wing mirrors had stopped working. She said she wanted a refund or that she would take us to court, even though the car was 11 years old with nearly 100,000 miles on it. We decided once again to get Lawgistics’ help.

‘Lawgistics helped us collate evidence and the case eventually went to court. She demanded £3,500 for the car and £1,200 in costs she had allegedly incurred.

‘With the information from Lawgistics, we had the confidence to present our case to the judge, who ended up being keen to get a compromise solution. We offered £3,250, which the court enforced.

‘We saw it as a successful outcome because we sold the car for a profit two weeks later.

‘It was the knowledge that Lawgistics have, and the way that they make that available to you, that gives you the confidence to argue your case.’

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At Paragon Car Finance, we’re so confident we can better the deals and improve the service other lenders offer that we want to give £50* to all eligible Car Dealer Club members who book an appointment with us to see how Paragon Car Finance could help you and your customers get a better deal.

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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.

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Dragon2000 CarDealerMag.co.uk | 111

DATA FILE.

Thestatistics

n

SMMT Sales Data

n

Taking Stock

Another month of decline – with the election a factor But the market for alternatively-fuelled vehicles bounced back in May

T

he UK new car market declined in May, with demand falling by 8.5 per cent, according to figures released by the SMMT. A total of 186,265 new cars were registered in the month, with business purchases driving the market, up 20.1 per cent, to offset declines from private and fleet buyers.

Although it dipped slightly in April, the market for alternatively-fuelled vehicles (AFVs) bounced back to continue the upward trend seen in the first quarter and take a new record market share of 4.4 per cent.

More than 8,000 AFVs were registered in the month, representing an increase of 46.7 per cent. Almost 50,000 new AFVs have joined Britain’s roads so far this year.

Despite a dip of 0.6 per cent in overall registrations since January, more than 1.1 million new cars have been registered on UK roads so far in 2017.

Business and fleet sectors have driven demand, up 5.3 per cent and 2.4 per cent respectively to offset a decline from private buyers of 4.2 per cent.

Even so, more than half a million new cars have been registered by private buyers since the start of the year. Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said: ‘We expected demand in the new car market to remain negative in May due to the pullforward to March – which was an all-time record month – resulting from VED reform.

‘Added to this, the general election was always likely to give many pause for thought and affect purchasing patterns in the short term.

Although demand has fallen, it’s important to remember that the market remains at a very high level and, with a raft of new models packed with the latest low-emission and connected technology coming to

market this summer, we expect the market to remain strong over the year.’

Chris Bosworth, director of strategy at Close Brothers Motor Finance, said: ‘The new car market is experiencing a turbulent time. The unsettled political landscape and rising inflation has impacted consumer spending, and the recent new vehicle tax rate is certainly impacting new car growth. Following the general election and as we enter the Brexit discussions it’s likely we’ll continue to see this pattern continue.’

Simon Benson, director of motoring services at used car website AA Cars, said: ‘May saw a continued downturn in new car registrations following the vehicle excise duty tax changes that came into place in April, although this was at a slightly lesser rate than in the previous month.

‘Alongside the tax changes impacting the market, it’s natural to see many consumers deciding to hold off purchasing a new motor ahead of the general election. Demand for alternatively-fuelled vehicles was back on track in May, rising significantly after a slight decline in April.’

Demand for diesel cars drops by a fifth, figures show DEMAND for new diesel cars plummeted by a fifth last month amid rising concerns over air pollution.

Around 81,500 new diesel cars were registered in May, down 20 per cent on the same month last year, according to the SMMT. This represented a fall in market share from 50 per cent to 43.7 per cent. Air pollution is linked to an estimated 40,000 early deaths a year 112 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

and 37 out of 43 areas across the UK are exceeding legal EU limits for key pollutant nitrogen dioxide, much of which comes from diesel engines.

Jim Holder, editorial director of What Car? magazine, said he was surprised by ‘the scale of the drop-off’.

He said: ‘There is no clear government strategy on diesels. There has been a wave of negative headlines

around the fuel but at the same time the taxation system continues to incentivise them. These mixed messages do nothing for consumer confidence, nor does the blanket reference to all diesels being dirty.

‘There have been significant steps in reducing emissions, particularly with the latest Euro 6 regulation compliant units that are on sale now.’

SMMT sales data May/year to date

5

Top

Most-improved manufacturers in May

Infiniti +152% Aston Martin +120% MG +33% Porsche +24% Abarth +20%

5

Bottom

Worst-performing manufacturers in May Lotus -90% Jeep -71% DS -56% Subaru -36% Renault -31%

PEUGEOT -26%

MG +33%

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

May 2017

2017

341 269 148 13,764 115 12,731 4 4,028 1,939 647 4,075 20,514 3,397 7,321 346 2,564 303 6,682 5,619 715 2 107 2,447 62 14,660 395 4,972 1,142 10,627 6,060 1,278 4,308 3,882 6,713 924 273 155 2,722 6,720 14,041 15,656 3,184 51 362 186,265

% market share 0.18 0.14 0.08 7.39 0.06 6.83 0.00 2.16 1.04 0.35 2.19 11.01 1.82 3.93 0.19 1.38 0.16 3.59 3.02 0.38 0.00 0.06 1.31 0.03 7.87 0.21 2.67 0.61 5.71 3.25 0.69 2.31 2.08 3.60 0.50 0.15 0.08 1.46 3.61 7.54 8.41 1.71 0.03 0.19

May 2016

2016

282 337 67 13,970 120 15,423 0.00 5,783 2,137 1,478 4,327 23,740 4,243 7,232 137 2,590 1,078 6,912 6,290 874 20 129 2,862 0.00 13,721 296 5,073 1,310 10,925 8,208 1,023 6,259 3,499 6,159 1,001 310 246 2,738 7,144 16,300 16,050 2,973 98 221 203,585

% market share 0.14 0.17 0.03 6.86 0.06 7.58 0.00 2.84 1.05 0.73 2.13 11.66 2.08 3.55 0.07 1.27 0.53 3.40 3.09 0.43 0.01 0.06 1.41 0.00 6.74 0.15 2.49 0.64 5.37 4.03 0.50 3.07 1.72 3.03 0.49 0.15 0.12 1.34 3.51 8.01 7.88 1.46 0.05 0.11

% change 20.92 -20.18 120.90 -1.47 -4.17 -17.45 0.00 -30.35 -9.27 -56.22 -5.82 -13.59 -19.94 1.23 152.55 -1.00 -71.89 -3.33 -10.67 -18.19 -90.00 -17.05 -14.50 0.00 6.84 33.45 -1.99 -12.82 -2.73 -26.17 24.93 -31.17 10.95 8.99 -7.69 -11.94 -36.99 -0.58 -5.94 -13.86 -2.45 7.10 -47.96 63.80 -8.51

2017 1,855 2,253 870 74,638 800 73,489 35 25,164 11,542 4,274 23,633 141,221 24,184 42,135 1,749 17,430 3,429 42,678 39,474 5,281 119 856 19,306 208 82,842 1,679 25,973 7,555 72,018 39,858 6,255 33,508 24,590 35,046 5,106 1,914 1,210 18,331 46,872 91,506 85,388 19,501 296 2,286 1,158,357

Year-to-date (YTD) % market share 0.16 0.19 0.08 6.44 0.07 6.34 0.00 2.17 1.00 0.37 2.04 12.19 2.09 3.64 0.15 1.50 0.30 3.68 3.41 0.46 0.01 0.07 1.67 0.02 7.15 0.14 2.24 0.65 6.22 3.44 0.54 2.89 2.12 3.03 0.44 0.17 0.10 1.58 4.05 7.90 7.37 1.68 0.03 0.20

2016

1,596 2,290 382 75,018 773 72,898 3 31,776 11,488 7,664 26,882 140,948 27,305 39,783 996 13,675 6,127 37,940 36,890 6,046 131 550 22,367 0.00 73,037 1,560 25,245 9,287 64,797 46,003 5,710 35,414 20,389 33,198 4,738 1,950 1,503 16,586 44,576 107,369 90,370 17,805 347 1,458 1,164,870

% market share 0.14 0.20 0.03 6.44 0.07 6.26 0.00 2.73 0.99 0.66 2.31 12.10 2.34 3.42 0.09 1.17 0.53 3.26 3.17 0.52 0.01 0.05 1.92 0.00 6.27 0.13 2.17 0.80 5.56 3.95 0.49 3.04 1.75 2.85 0.41 0.17 0.13 1.42 3.83 9.22 7.76 1.53 0.03 0.13

% change 16.23 -1.62 127.75 -0.51 3.49 0.81 1,066.67 -20.81 0.47 -44.23 -12.09 0.19 -11.43 5.91 75.60 27.46 -44.03 12.49 7.00 -12.65 -9.16 55.64 -13.69 0.00 13.42 7.63 2.88 -18.65 11.14 -13.36 9.54 -5.38 20.60 5.57 7.77 -1.85 -19.49 10.52 5.15 -14.77 -5.51 9.53 -14.70 56.79 -0.56

Figures supplied by SMMT

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 113

JOURNEY

MANAGE YOUR

CONSUMER digital

to

physical

engage

convert

transact

Contact us to discuss how we can help you manage your consumer’s journey 0845 226 0503 info@ivendi.com www.ivendi.com/CD 114 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

MARKET INSIGHT.

..in association with ASE-global.com

Strong results despite the general election Listed dealer groups seem to be thriving, even in uncertain times, says Adam Cottam

F

ive listed dealer groups issued statements on their recent financial performance during May, and on the whole, they were very strong against a backdrop of an increasingly challenging new car market and wider economy in general.

It’s fair to say the prospect of a general election did not help the industry, but we expect things to improve now it is out of the way.

The result will have a bearing on the strength of the economy in the short to medium term as it will impact investor and consumer confidence.

Share price performance Vertu, Inchcape and Marshall slipped back in May although Cambria’s price made significant ground. All of this came against the backdrop of increased political campaigning.

Before polling day, it was widely accepted that any weakening of the Conservative majority in Parliament would have harmed consumer and business confidence due to the knock-on uncertainty that would have followed in the Brexit negotiations.

Generally, the election slowed consumer spending, as more advertising space was taken up by political messages and people became more and more distracted. This was particularly felt in the motor trade with several groups feeding back to me that footfall had dropped in recent weeks.

Registrations slowed in May, with an 8.5 per cent reduction in demand in the month, although YTD registrations were virtually the same as this time last year. Inflation caused by the weakened post-Brexit pound appears to have fully bitten, with consumer spending dropping as household budgets are squeezed.

Financial performance Several listed groups made announcements on their financial performance throughout May. Final results for the year-ended February 28 were released by Vertu, and they were very strong. Revenue grew 16.5 per cent and PBT grew by 15 per cent.

The increase in earnings was largely driven by a robust used performance, accounting for around 70 per cent of the total gross profit in the group. Aftersales also performed strongly, which, combined with used, more than offset the effect of a challenging new car market.

Share price movement from January 3 to May 31, 2017

Share price movement from January 3 to April 28, 2017

Pendragon

116.0%

112.0%

Vertu

104.6%

111.5%

Lookers

109.6%

110.9%

Inchcape

116.4%

121.7%

Cambria

120.0%

116.7%

Caffyns

97.1%

96.2%

Marshall

109.8%

128.3%

Lookers were one of two groups who released a quarter one trading update. Helped by the 2016 BMW and Mercedes acquisitions, new cars outperformed the wider UK market. Volumes were up 7.4 per cent and 9.2 per cent on a like-forlike basis which was encouraging for investors.

The effect of the company’s efforts to drive online leads can be seen by strong used performance (used gross profit up 23 per cent, 17 per cent likefor-like) along with solid aftersales results (gross profit up 18 per cent, nine per cent like-for-like).

The other group who released a trading update for the three months to March was Inchcape, whose results were solid across their worldwide operations. Focussing on the UK and Europe,

growth of 6.1 per cent was seen in revenue although there was little other detail to discern which areas of the business had generated this movement.

Cambria issued results for the half-year to May 2017 showing the group had delivered £5.6 million of PBT in the six-month period, an increase of 21.7 per cent year on year.

This growth was mainly driven by acquisitions made in the period and despite some fallback in new and used volumes, which declined by 4.6 per cent and 1.2 per cent respectively. The results were impressive given the number of complex building projects Cambria is currently undertaking, and the disruption caused by the fire at the JLR Welwyn Garden City business.

Preliminary results for the year ended March 31, 2017 from Caffyns showed a 40 per cent increase in underlying PBT to £2.05 million.

Like-for-like new car volumes were up 9.3 per cent, outperforming the UK market, and used volumes were also up by 15.9 per cent.

The group was also boosted by the sale of its Lewes Land Rover business earlier in the year for a profit of £4.68 million in a deal which saw them retain the freehold.

Transaction activity May was another quiet month for transactions, although next month it is expected to be much busier with several transactions likely to complete in early June.

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 | 115

REAL DEALS.

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

Enjoy some Swedish style in a Saab with a lot going for it TRISTAN SHALE-HESTER is rather smitten by a well-equipped 9-5 that’s up for sale in Kent

A

nyone perusing the used car market for a good saloon car with a premium

feel is spoilt for choice. The segment is dominated by German brands such as BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz, as well as British marques like Jaguar. But for many years, there was always one manufacturer that had something a bit special up its sleeve.

Before its unfortunate demise at the start of the decade, Swedish carmaker Saab had a reputation for quality and refinement. Its television advertisements boasted of its roots in building fighter jets, with the slogan ‘Nothing on Earth comes close’. But there were no explosions or machine guns in the message. The conveyed feelings were ones of smooth style.

This sentiment was reflected in the people who drove these Swedish masterpieces.

While there is a commonly-held view you will often find an arrogant businessman in his BMW or Audi mere inches from your rear bumper, a Saab driver would never sink to such callousness.

This may be because Saabs had a hint of the artistic to them. They were styled not just for practicality, but to create an atmosphere within their cabins that is incomparable to anything else. This is why – while German brands gained popularity among bankers, stockbrokers and hedge fund managers – the Swedish vehicles attracted the likes of writers, designers and photographers.

The 9-5 we see here is a very special model indeed – it’s the last of the breed. The secondgeneration version was revealed at the Frankfurt

116 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

It’s a standout car, but not ostentatious in the slightest Motor Show in 2009 and entered production in 2010. It received fairly positive reviews from the press for being safe, well equipped and stylish, but was criticised for lack of brand appeal, inadequate sporting character and high depreciation.

The car we see here is being sold by Canterbury Motoring World in Kent. It’s the Vector SE specification, which is the lower of the 9-5’s two trim models, but it’s hardly sparsely equipped, with Bluetooth connectivity, a full leather interior and climate control, as well as a number of other useful features.

This 9-5 is fitted with a 2.0-litre diesel engine – which produces 157bhp and 350Nm of torque – and a six-speed automatic gearbox. The 0-60mph

dash is achieved in 9.8 seconds and the Saab will carry on to a top speed of 130mph. It’s a fairly economical car too, with a fuel consumption figure of 43mpg and CO2 emissions of 179g/km.

The only real disadvantage of this example is that it has quite a hefty mileage with 137,028 miles on the clock, but for £5,500, it’s still a real bargain, especially considering it’s bound to be a classic in the future and shoot up in value.

This car really does have a huge number of advantages. It stands out from your average BMW or Audi, but it’s not ostentatious in the slightest.

As drivers of German saloons spend their motorway cruising time tailgating some innocent, slow-moving driver, you can glide along in a cloud of refined Swedish style.

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

Professional buyers focus their attention on ready-to-retail vehicles Average values are still at near-record levels, notes Simon Henstock, BCA’s chief operating officer for UK remarketing, but the headline figure has fallen by £229

A

verage used car values remained at near-record levels at BCA in May as professional buyers continued to bid strongly on a wide range of stock.

However, with high volumes of stock continuing to reach the wholesale sector and a slight change in mix that saw greater numbers of dealer-PX cars reaching the market in May, the headline figure fell for the first time since December.

Average values for fleet and lease stock and dealer part-exchange vehicles were also down marginally month-on-month, while values for nearly-new cars rose slightly.

At £8,861, the headline figure in May fell by £229 (2.5 per cent) from the record value of £9,090 achieved in April. Year-on-year, average values rose by exactly £600 (7.2 per cent) – a result of ongoing steady levels of demand and BCA offering a richer mix of stock with a lower age and mileage profile. In essence then, May generally saw a very similar price performance across the board to April, with comparable conditions holding sway.

Professional buyers remained very selective, often buying to order and focussing their attention very firmly on the ready-to-retail vehicles that can be churned quickly.

The best presented and specified cars are selling quickly, and may well exceed guide expectations.

The budget end of the market is relatively strong, providing the condition is good and vehicles are sensibly appraised and valued.

As we said last month, we are seeing high volumes of stock reaching wholesale

channels and this impacts the dynamics of the marketplace. Buyers have plenty of choice and it is critical to price vehicles correctly at the point of sale. Conversion rates will quickly suffer if vehicles are over-valued and we are working closely with our volume vendors to ensure their stock is competitively priced to sell the first time it is offered.

For the third month running, average values in the fleet and lease sector remained at or near record levels.

This sector saw values average £10,446 in May, a small month-on-month fall of just £27 from April’s highpoint.

Retained value against original MRP

Average values in fleet and lease sector

£10,446

(Manufacturer’s Retail Price) fell slightly to 42.63 per cent, while year-on-year values were up by £540 (5.4 per cent), as both age and mileage continued to decline.

There was a similar small fall in the dealer part-exchange sector, where values averaged £4,658 in May, down just £18 on April’s record figure of £4,676. Longer-term values have been relatively stable, with year-onyear values ahead by £168 (3.7 per cent), with average age and mileage little changed over the period.

Values for nearly-new vehicle values rose by £318 in May to £18,346, equivalent to a 1.7 per cent increase. Model mix has a significant effect in this low volume sector, as we always point out.

Dealer part exchange values

£4,658

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 117

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AUCTIONS.

Smartdriverclub gets used car dealers GDPR ready. bit.ly/GDPR-112

Henstock AUCTION STATIONS

Stock management that is flexible and scalable

New BCA hybrid and EV sale proves popular High demand reported and good prices achieved

D

ealers have shown a growing appetite for electric vehicles, according to BCA. An EV and hybrid-only sale has outperformed expectations with high levels of demand and good prices achieved.

Following a trial, a regular specialist sale for EV and hybrid vehicles will take place on BCA’s e-Auction platform on the first Thursday of every month at 2.30pm.

Early results for some of the UK’s largest fleet operators and manufacturers have shown strong demand, with vehicles achieving more than 102 per cent of CAP Clean. The e-Auction allows vehicles to be sold from a variety of locations, offering buyers a wide range of stock.

Max Brough, e-Auction manager, said: ‘A focused approach to the sale of electric and hybrid vehicles has delivered some strong

results. The sales are open to anyone with a live online login, and all bidding is done remotely.

‘The prices achieved are a testament to the quality of the vendors and growing popularity of our online platforms.’

The sales have seen a range of stock go under the hammer, Cars such as the Nissan Leaf, Renault Zoe, Toyota Prius and Mitsubishi PHEV have proved popular.

BCA recently reported record activity on its Live Online platform, with an average monthly penetration rate of 27 per cent and more than 1,000 active bidders taking part. During peak times, BCA has seen 1,000 bids placed through the system in a five-minute period. The growth of digital sales is supported by ongoing expansion and investment in the infrastructure of BCA’s physical network.

Two-year exclusive remarketing deal agreed with a BCA Assured report and are preCAMBRIA Automobiles PLC and BCA sale prepared to a high standard. The have agreed a two-year exclusive majority of vehicles have the V5 and remarketing deal. The arrangement service history present and are offered will see around 7,500 vehicles a year with a warranted mileage. The group sold at weekly sales in Blackbushe and Car dealer newvehicles strip are adoffered 3/16 26/9/16 14:32 1 operates 46 outletsPage nationwide.

Bedford.

Cambria

THE FLEET AUCTION GROUP - THE UK’S

N1 O

TRADE ONLY AUCTION

A

s sourcing good-quality stock becomes ever more competitive, identifying and retaining retail-quality part-exchange cars is essential.

With fewer customers stepping through dealership doors, it’s important for dealers to be able to offer a quick and efficient valuation process.

It’s also important that this doesn’t add to the proliferation of systems a dealer is expected to use, but fits in seamlessly with existing systems and processes.

Advances in technology continue to accelerate the used vehicle sales and remarketing process, meaning the accurate appraisal of a vehicle has never been more important.

BCA Dealer Pro allows dealers to maintain inventory at the touch of a screen, with the freedom to see what is available across the entire dealer group where applicable.

After all of the car’s information is entered into the system, BCA Dealer Pro can offer market values to the user, allowing them to relay accurate prices back to the customer.

Should they need to, the vehicle can then be sent directly to the BCA online catalogue straight from the device.

Now BCA Partner Finance has launched a new service to fund part-exchange vehicles. Operating within BCA’s Dealer Pro platform, it allows dealers to appraise a vehicle and be automatically provided with the BCA MarketPrice, a real-time view of the trade price, before applying for funding.

Now with a single application, a dealer can appraise a vehicle, receive the BCA MarketPrice and secure funding for the vehicle, while the customer is still on site.

It creates a unique stock management solution for the market. The Dealer Pro platform enables dealers to monitor stock levels, refresh valuations and decide which vehicles to remarket through BCA, while BCA Partner Finance offers dealers secure funding to purchase used cars at BCA and through part-exchange. Together, Dealer Pro and Partner Finance create a stock management solution that is flexible and scalable.

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 | 119

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RECRUITMENT.

New design director is delighted by promotion

HENDY GROUP

Extra responsibilities for Rob Melville at McLaren Automotive

M

cLaren Automotive has announced the promotion of Rob Melville to design director with immediate effect.

Melville, right, joined McLaren Automotive in 2009 as senior designer, rising to chief designer in 2014. During his time at McLaren, he has worked on the McLaren P1, the evolution of the 12C into the 650S, the 675LT, and was responsible for the Sports Series which won the ‘Best of the Best’ category in the coveted Red Dot design awards in 2016. Most recently he led the design of the 720S, the first model in the second-generation Super Series.

As design director, Melville’s new role makes him responsible for further developing the company’s design strategy, philosophy and principles – working with the engineering and manufacturing functions, as well as the customer insights team. Another 14 new models or derivatives are promised under the

Track22 business plan. He said: ‘I am thrilled to be given the title of design director for McLaren Automotive. I remember when I got the call to come and join McLaren back in 2009 and the joy I felt then is the same today. We have developed a fantastic design team and have integrated a design philosophy that I feel passionately about. I have always believed that great design tells a great story and that is what we do here at McLaren. I’m incredibly proud.’

Before working for McLaren, Melville started his career at Jaguar Land Rover where his sketches and clay were chosen for the LRX concept vehicle which led to the Evoque production car.

He later joined GM as senior designer within their UK advanced design group.

As a key part of the creative team, he was responsible for evolving and realising the Cadillac design principles and philosophy across the product portfolio.

David’s transit challenge THE south’s biggest automotive dealership has appointed David Graham to head up its transit centres as the commercial arm of the business continues to grow at a rate of knots.

Hendy’s transit centres sell commercial Ford vehicles, such as vans and pick-ups, and provide additional support services such as mobile servicing, MOTs, tyres and parts. Graham, previously Hendy’s commercial sales manager, said: ‘One of the most rewarding parts of my job has been seeing our customers grow their businesses thanks to the vehicles we sell them.

‘I’m looking forward to seeing more of these success stories in my new position.’

Available on iPad FREE app download free subscription interactive content Powered by

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The way we buy, choose and use technology is changing tips for Choosing your software provider

1

As the next era of finance technology becomes available, being stuck in a long-term contract that means you can’t use it, is not what any progressive dealer wants.

122 | CarDealerMag.co.uk www.codeweavers.net

2

We see the confidence of companies such as Netflix, which offers a simple monthly billing period that can be ended at any time, as a guiding pioneer.

contactus@codeweavers.net

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A one size fits all approach is not enough. The approach must be fresh, exciting and personalised and ensures you are at the forefront of the industry.

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KEY NOTES.

..in association with Traka

Keeping tabs on cars The location and status of vehicles can be tracked with technology, says Paul Smith

T

his month, I decided to take a closer look at which communications technologies could be pressed into service to help keep track of the location and status of any vehicle coming into your dealership. If our key management system can help you find keys more quickly, it would be very helpful if it could be fully integrated into other systems that collect and store exact vehicle location and status – thereby speeding up the processing of vehicles further still.

One such technology is radio frequency identification or RFID. RFID uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. The tags, which might be fitted to a car’s rear view mirror as it enters your dealership, can be easily programmed to gather the number plate, vehicle type, registered owner and time of arrival.

It’s worth looking closely at how RFID-based vehicle location systems could improve the customer experience for those waiting for a test drive, or for the completion of their vehicle’s servicing. There is a great video about the RFID system online, showing how it was configured and installed by systems integrator Dimension Data at a BMW service centre in Munich.

The customer is given an RFID tag as they arrive. The tag contains the details of the vehicle, driver name and number plate, which is collected at the entrance as they arrive. Once the tag is active, it transmits its RFID information and exact location to 70 sensors which are located around the parking areas, workshop bays and elsewhere.

The system is integrated with a WhereCall push-button system which sends the location information to a central point which triggers a driver to move the vehicle onto the next stage in the service. As cars are moved through various

servicing stages, this intelligence is displayed on a real-time dashboard in the customer waiting area so that a customer can monitor progress without having to bother front desk staff with inquiries.

The end result is a very slick, location-based vehicle tracking system which works brilliantly to speed up vehicle processing, enhance workshop productivity and improve the customer’s overall experience.

However, RFID is not the only technology for this sort of vehicle-locating system in dealerships.

You could instead have an IP camera-based system like the sort of systems now being widely deployed in some of the swisher car parks across the UK. One Chinese vendor called Hikvision has developed an end-to-end smart parking solution which shows the potential of network camera-based systems to manage vehicles coming in, going out and moving around your dealership. The system uses the video analytics-based intelligence which is built into the latest IP cameras.

The solution I looked at offers cameras that record the number plates of vehicles as they enter the car park and also uses cameras as motion sensors to detect all cars’ positions, which in this case are programmed to report parking slot

availability and guide the driver to remaining free slots via overhead LED displays.

It clearly requires careful planning (and a good systems integrator) to get the location of cameras correct so that they capture cars passing through key way points and store the exact bay location of the car.

On larger sites where modern IP cameras are already installed, it’s worth exploring whether they can be used to keep track of the exact location of all vehicles on your sites.

Finally, there is an option to use Bluetoothbased Onboard Diagnostics (OBD) devices such as the Innova 3150e OBD2 to keep track of vehicles, thus improving productivity and information flow to aftersales customers.

An OBD device, fitted to all cars as they come in for a service, could provide all key diagnostics information to workshop team members who can view it via their Android or Windows-based laptops, tablets or smartphones.

Armed with this information, workshop managers could estimate the time needed to carry out servicing and repairs and perhaps provide an estimate of works required to customers within a few minutes of arrival.

Following a visual inspection, a video recording of any issues that need fixing can be sent to the customer’s smartphone to reassure them that any work being recommended is indeed necessary.

If customers need further reassurance, they could be walked around the vehicle on the ramp.

As the Internet of (Dealership) Things penetrates deeper into dealerships, we are likely to see much more car location, usage and maintenance data at our fingertips.

It will then be in the dealer’s gift to turn this data flow into value-added services – commanding greater customer loyalty.

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.

Keys can make you money…

Find out how at www.traka-automotive.com The only viable key management solution for automotive Email automotive@traka.com or call 0845 225 2910

traka-auto 1-6pg.indd 1

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 123

15/12/2016 09:56

DATA FILE.

James Litton

TRADER TALES

Right retail experience relies on several factors

L

ater this year, we’re opening a new Volvo showroom that will adopt the latest ‘Volvo Retail Experience’ corporate identity.

As part of the relocation process, I’m spending a lot of time researching customer service delivery and execution.

I am not satisfied that our current retail experience is representative of the brand or of the digital era.

Having looked at many retail industries and businesses, it is very clear that the best experiences are delivered by outlets which manage a perfect balance between client expectation and service performance. For example, I was lucky enough recently to spend a couple of days at the world-famous Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai. While it is incorrectly labelled as the ‘world’s only seven-star hotel’, it is one of the most expensive and exclusive hotels in the world.

As our flight arrived at 8am in the morning, we had expressly requested early checkin or at least a room to leave our belongings allowing us to enjoy the day. The hotel failed to make two rooms available, in fact our delayed rooms were not even available by the standard checkin time. Understandably we were disappointed, but there was an easy way to resolve the issue.

If the duty managers had been empowered to make decisions, the temporary suite we had been allocated would have been satisfactory. However, decisions of this nature in this hotel are only made by senior staff, all of whom were unavailable. I found this surprising.

Conversely, some friends asked if my family and I wanted to visit The Sheppey Inn, a pub near Glastonbury, for Sunday lunch. recently. Once we arrived I wondered if we were at the right place. There was a length of rope holding the door shut, the exterior looked tired and there was no parking.

However, as soon as we walked through the door, we were met by smiling faces who looked pleased to see us. We were given some amuse-bouches and our order was taken.

You have to visit this place to truly understand how quirky yet professional it is. There is a DJ playing music that only John Peel would recognise and the interior design scheme could only be described as local tip meets car boot sale.

The food though? Absolutely delicious.

It is possible that my expectation level was too high in Dubai, and that the opposite was true when I arrived at the pub in Somerset, but I think an objective view of what expectation levels our businesses set, the processes, people and decision-making powers allowed, are key in delivering the right retail experience.

‘As soon as we walked through the door, we were met by smiling faces.’

Who is James Litton?

James is general manager – director of Volvo Cars Poole. He always has something to say about the industry he loves.

124 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

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My bounciness was way over the line...

C

ome on, admit it. Who doesn’t like to think that they’re young at heart? That’s certainly the case with me. I reckon a youthful outlook can help enormously in the showroom environment – well, that’s my excuse anyway, and I’m sticking to it!

As such, I’m always on the lookout for ways to keep bouncing along – and one day, that happened quite literally. So, this isn’t so much a confession of a guilty secret, more an admission of an incident that started out with good intentions but ended up somewhat embarrassingly. I guess I’m simply seeking a light-hearted absolution just like those people who write in to Simon Mayo’s Drivetime show on Radio 2.

The dealership employing me at the time had held one of those family fun day affairs at the weekend. You know the sort of thing – where special deals are merrily accompanied by bunting, balloons, facepainting and the like in an attempt to get punters in a jovial mood with the express purpose of parting with their cash to help us hit our monthly sales targets.

For this particular fun day, our sales manager suggested space hopper racing outside at the back of the dealership well away from any vehicles.

To cut down on costs, staff were asked to provide any of the large orange inflatables they might be able to prise off their kids and we managed to come up with three in decent condition.

On the Monday morning, I found that one had been left behind for some reason, and as things seemed somewhat quiet, I just couldn’t resist getting in touch with my inner child once again. I grabbed the space hopper by its ears and gleefully took myself off on a spirited bounce-along.

It was wonderful! So wonderful, in fact, that I got carried away with it all and decided to bounce my way inside to show off my expertise to amuse my colleagues.

Unfortunately, I’d completely forgotten that our area manager was due to pay us a visit to discuss performance and... yes, you guessed it. He turned up just as I came space-hopping merrily into the showroom – and this was one performance he wasn’t happy with! Cue one major telling-off and narrowly avoiding a P45. Never again!

‘I just couldn’t resist getting in touch with my inner child again.’

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 | 125

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LONG-TERMERS. LATEST FROM THE FLEET...

Seat Ateca Can this smart Spanish SUV be an adequate replacement for ‘our’ Seat Ibiza Cupra? Let’s find out . . .

by JACK EVANS @jackrober

Y

ou may have read recently that I was rather fond of ‘my’ old long-termer, the Seat Ibiza Cupra. It was fun to drive, relatively practical and – in my eyes – it looked almost spot-on.

I’ve handed the keys over for the last time, though, and taken delivery of something far larger and more grown-up: an Ateca.

Sitting as the Spanish brand’s latest SUV, it’s based on the same platform as the Volkswagen Tiguan – a car I’ve spent plenty of time in and have found to be a pretty decent all-rounder.

So, what is ‘our’ Ateca, then? It’s a top-of-therange XCellence model, which means it’s loaded with standard equipment and a reasonably powerful 2.0-litre diesel engine driven to all four wheels (this is an option, too) via a dual-clutch automatic gearbox.

I was lucky enough to choose the specification for this car so picked a variety of worthwhile options. A 360-degree overhead view camera was a £475 add-on, while a panoramic sunroof came in at a hefty £945. Adaptive cruise control was another must at £505. I held back on paint shades, though, opting for standard Mediterranean Blue. Resisting the urge to specify another red car, I can’t help but think the Ateca looks a little underplayed in this colour. It may be one of those shades that grows on you, however.

Finally, a bike holder was essential for me. This didn’t break the bank at £150.

That said, these options still amounted to a reasonably large total of £2,075, pushing the car’s price from £30,645 to £32,720.

It’s a lot of car for the money but is the same amount you’d pay for a top-spec Volkswagen Tiguan without any of the option boxes ticked.

The list of standard equipment is pretty impressive. XCellence trim brings sports leather seats, automatic rain-sensing wipers and 18-inch ‘Performance’ alloy wheels among other features.

In short, there’s little that has been left out.

So, what’s it like to drive? First and foremost, there’s the ride. It’s just on the right side of firm and feels well judged for UK roads. Of course, I’ll only find out what it’s really like over the next six months. The steering lacks any real feel, but that’s something that comes with the vast majority of cars on sale today.

Jack is handed the keys to our new long-termer, a top-of-the-range Seat Ateca...

THE KNOWLEDGE Model: Seat Ateca XCellence Price: £32,720 Engine: 2.0-litre Power Power: 187bhp Torque: 400Nm Max speed: 132mph 0-60mph: 7.3 seconds MPG (combined): 53.3 mpg Emissions: 135g/km Mileage: 3,100 THIS MONTH’S HIGHLIGHT Getting used to the Ateca’s high-riding driving position.

To sum up then, first impressions are, all in all, very good. Sure, it’s a lot more ‘grown-up’ than the Cupra – and it’s a darn sight slower too – but it’s looking like a fine replacement.

...after bidding farewell to the Seat Ibiza Cupra CarDealerMag.co.uk | 127

LONG-TERMERS. LATEST FROM THE FLEET...

Mazda MX-5 RF Waves of joy abound driving around in the convertible but the lack of rear visibility is a pain

by AIDAN RENNIE-JONES @AidanRJ

B

eing the new boy in the office, I was happy indeed when they tasked me with taking the Mazda MX-5 RF home and living with it for a little while.

In my time with it I’ve done quite a few lengthy journeys and it hasn’t missed a beat.

On first impressions it’s a handsome-looking little car. Curvaceous styling and an elegant sweeping bonnet make it very head-turning too.

Put the roof down and you feel eyes burrowing into you as you drive by, but they aren’t looks of hate or jealousy – quite the opposite: they’re looks of approval. ‘Nice car, mate,’ one guy shouted as he cycled by, and that’s the thing with the MX-5 RF: everyone seems to love it.

I’ve also now experienced something other colleagues have mentioned: the MX-5 wave.

If you see another MX-5 as you drive along, just stick your hand up and wave at them, or vice versa – they will wave at you. Be as subtle as you like with it or, if you’ve got the roof down, why not stick your hand up high and wave wildly, acknowledging a fellow MX-5 driver?

This is something I’m used to now and think is great fun, because it makes you feel like you’re part of an exclusive community of drivers who just love their MX-5.

Point this car at any road and it delivers every time. From motorway cruising to twisty country road blasts, it handles them all with ease.

However, it feels most at home on A and B roads. It feels so planted and is such a blast to drive that you have a Cheshire cat grin constantly plastered to your face. This is partly thanks to the super-slick six-speed gearbox that is simply a joy to use and could possibly be the best manual available right now.

The MX-5 RF is at its best with the roof down, seat heaters up full blast and a back road to enjoy driving on.

A few weekends ago, I decided to take the car up to Kent to see if my 88-year-old grandmother would approve of it – plus it would also give me an opportunity to experience what it’s like on longer journeys.

On the motorway it’s fine but it can become unbearably blustery with the roof down. Put it up and the wind noise is surprisingly loud, and

128 | CarDealerMag.co.uk

When a car goes down well with your grandma, below right, you know you’re driving a winner

overall it just doesn’t feel as refined as you’d expect it to be, especially in comparison to an ordinary MX-5.

Inside, it feels comfortable most of the time, although after a few hours around central London my back was achy, and the cabin is definitely not designed for anyone over six foot.

Luckily, though, I’m only 5’9.

The infotainment system is great to use if you’re a passenger, as my girlfriend pointed out, but on the move it’s very fiddly, and actually finding a radio station without taking your eyes off the road to look at the screen is impossible.

Another irritation is the rear three-quarter visibility – or rather lack of it. Not only do cars become invisible, the mirrors are also too small.

You therefore have to constantly rely on the blind spot detection system that our car is fitted with.

The boot isn’t exactly enormous, but it easily swallowed up all the shopping and an overnight bag, albeit not at the same time. You could certainly live with it, though.

On arrival, my nan’s first words were ‘Oh what a lovely little car’. And from there the deal was done. She loved it, and pretty soon she was in the passenger seat with the roof down for her first experience in a convertible.

If your grandmother approves of it, that’s surely an excellent sign that this car can win over literally anyone.

The MX-5 RF isn’t flashy or garish in the same way that other more expensive convertibles can be; it’s just a pretty little drop-top that’s brilliant to drive and makes you smile.

THE KNOWLEDGE Model: Mazda MX-5 RF 160PS Sport Nav Price: £27,165 Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol Power: 158bhp Max speed: 134mph 0-60mph: 7.4 seconds Emissions: 161g/km MPG (combined): 40.9 Mileage: 6,812 THIS MONTH’S HIGHLIGHT Finding out my 88-year-old grandmother loves the MX-5 RF

REST OF THE FLEET

Skoda Superb Mileage: 14,783 The Skoda Superb has been getting on our nerves this month, largely because of its incredibly intrusive safety systems. We don’t need to be screamed at every time we pass another car…

Volvo S90 Feeling deflated? Not a problem, thanks to the handy ‘On Call Button’ and helpful operators

by MAL HAY @Malcolm Hay

Y

ou’d think two ill-timed punctures in quick succession would dampen one’s enthusiasm for any car, no matter how fancy. But when that fate befell our Volvo S90 long-termer it had quite the opposite effect. Sure, a burst tyre’s nothing to do with the car itself but I was pretty peeved to be stuck at the side of the road to begin with.

However, my spirits were soon lifted when I pushed the clever S90’s hope-you-never-have-touse ‘On Call Button’ located near the rear-view mirror. No sooner had I pushed it than I was connected to a friendly operator who checked I was OK and safe before taking charge of the situation in a way that immediately lowered my stress levels.

A roadside assistance option was offered, but rather than wait I opted instead to fit the spacesaver and head to my nearest dealership.

While I drove there, the Volvo operator called the dealership on my behalf, checked they had the correct tyre in stock and made all the necessary arrangements before calling me back promptly to confirm. All I had to do was get to the dealership and sign on the dotted line.

The efficiency of this service and the friendly, supportive and reassuring manner of the operator turned what could have been a thoroughly stressful and wholly negative experience into a

Still turning heads months after joining our fleet, the S90 is an absolute dream to drive

positive one – and one that elevated my opinion of the Volvo brand still higher.

That, combined with the many positives of the car itself – great engineering and fantastic build quality among them – makes the S90 well worth considering for anyone in the market for a premium executive saloon.

Volvo, it seems, just gets how to look after a customer. Not just up to the point when they drive their new car off the forecourt but throughout the entire ownership experience.

I don’t want to take away from the inherent

quality of the car itself though. It still turns heads every time I drive it, and after several months living with it, I’m still as enamoured with it as I was on day one.

I’ve done several long journeys recently and the S90 is a dream on the motorway, where I’d say it’s most at home.

The cabin’s comfortable and thoughtfully laid out, and everything from the easy-to-use infotainment system to a suite of driving aids such as Pilot Assist and adaptive cruise control make the journey much more relaxing.

In recent weeks I’ve taken the time to install many apps on to the system – including Spotify, Yelp and TuneIn Radio – and these too help you while away the hours behind the wheel.

The S90’s great on A roads and around town too, although its sheer size does sometimes make parking a bit of a challenge.

All things considered though, this is a car I like more every time I use it. It may not be as spectacular or flash as some competitors, but it does everything well and with ease and gives you a real sense of reassurance.

I love this car and am going to be very sorry when it leaves our fleet after what seems like all too short a visit.

Audi A6

Citroen C3

Lexus NX300h

Mileage: 4,971

Mileage: 7,122

Mileage: 6,987

We’ve found the Avant’s comfy white leather seats and heated steering wheel a reassuring friend in all circumstances. There’s an annoying whistle, though, when the ski carrier is removed.

This stylish supermini is proving a useful and flexible member of the fleet. We have a small problem with the Airbump trim to report – more details next month – but nothing too major.

We’ve waved goodbye to the Lexus this month and it’ll be sorely missed! With a great combination of comfort, practicality and performance, it was popular with all our writers.

THE KNOWLEDGE Model: Volvo S90 D4 Momentum Automatic Price: £38,905 Engine: Four-cylinder twin turbo-charged diesel Power: 187bhp Max speed: 140mph 0-60mph: 7.9 seconds Emissions: 116g/km MPG (combined): 64.2 Mileage: 7,500 THIS MONTH’S HIGHLIGHT Finding that punctures fail to put a hole in the S90 experience

CarDealerMag.co.uk | 129

BAGGOTT.

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A great new home for CDX – and two fingers to the terrorists

I

must admit that when it was first mentioned I hated the idea. Let’s face it, most of us have an irrational fear of change that means we instantly baulk at the very notion of something new. It took me long enough to get used to Marathons being renamed Snickers (showing my age there), but when I realised they tasted the same I came round to the idea.

Not so much the post-Brexit, missing triangles of Toblerone, but that’s another story.

Forgive my chocolate tangent – I’m not talking confectionery here, but CDX. The idea of moving our industry-leading motor trade expo from its Silverstone home, where it’s been based for the past three years, to a whole new location was a big enough decision. But when the team suggested Manchester as the new base I simply wasn’t convinced – it seemed too far north.

But then things changed – in more ways than one. On the eve of CDX17, the cowardly attack that claimed the lives of 22 innocent men, women and children took place at the Manchester Arena. I, like everyone else in the country, was shocked by what happened. I couldn’t stop thinking about those poor children and their parents, killed and maimed by a murderous extremist. I’m not ashamed to say I wept when I read the reports in the paper – hearing the story of one of the girls with the same name as my daughter rammed it home.

We simply cannot let these cowardly thugs and their disgusting campaigns of terror prevail.

The horrifying story unfolding in Manchester was hard to follow on the day of CDX – but that didn’t mean it wasn’t at the forefront of everyone’s minds. As I thought about what had happened, and what those poor people had been through, it made me all the more determined to make our event in that city a success next year.

Just a week later, I decided to travel to Manchester to see the venue for myself for the first time. I wanted to experience the place so when it came to planning for our showpiece next year I had all the facts. I travelled up late afternoon and drove straight to the venue from our office in Gosport in just over four hours. There were no traffic issues and I parked directly under the Manchester Central Convention Complex in the giant underground NCP that nestles beneath it.

The venue is huge. Formerly the Manchester Central railway station, it has a beautiful, huge curved roof and a whopping 7,300 square metres of exhibition space.

Within a stone’s throw are more than 2,500 hotel rooms and a host of fantastic bars and restaurants. A tram pulls up right outside, which has stops at the international airport and the train station, and as a hub city it has simply brilliant

Who is James Baggott?

transport links. Silverstone, although steeped in motorsport history, does not. We know the car parking on the day of CDX was quite frankly a disaster, we know people struggled to get in, and we know the buses laid on were woefully inadequate.

We also know that the lack of accommodation nearby causes many people a headache, as does the fact it’s pretty much slap bang in the middle of nowhere.

Silverstone served a purpose for CDX, but the time has come to move on. And move on we shall.

At Manchester all of those issues will be resolved. There are 3,000 car parking spaces within a five-minute walk of the venue, but we expect many people will fly or take the train.

What’s more, by making CDX a two-day event, we hope many people will stay over. Our exhibitors are already planning a number of pre, during and post-event parties at the many brilliant nightspots around the city, all of which

James Baggott ‘Silverstone served a AGAINST OUR BETTER JUDGMENT, WE GIVE OUR CEO THE LAST WORD EACH MONTH

purpose, but the time has come to move on’

will give attendees even more chances to network – and even more reason to stay.

We’re also convinced a two-day event is needed. This year CDX was packed with so many excellent workshops and Live Stage sessions it was simply impossible to do them all.

This frustrated a few delegates who wanted to be able to attend more. Next year we’ll repeat the workshops taking place in the forums on each day so you can attend the ones you missed on day one, on day two.

Spending 24 hours in the brilliant city convinced me we’re doing the right thing. Manchester feels like the cool, trendy parts of London, but with the added flair of the north.

With a pick of kooky breakfast spots, quirky bars and fabulous restaurants, delegates are going to be spoilt for choice outside CDX as well as in.

We’re determined to make it a festival of motor trade expertise and a solid two fingers up to those pathetic idiots who use violence to prove a point.

We’re proud to be supporting Manchester, proud to be moving our event to a fantastic city, and proud to be working with the motor trade to cement CDX’s position as the biggest and the best motor trade expo in the UK. Just like a Snickers bar, CDX might be wrapped in different packaging, but on the inside will taste just as glorious.

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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