Sycamore doubles up on Harley

Business news

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CLOSE BROTHERS

CLOSE BROTHERS MOTOR FINANCE HAS added online electronic signing to its hire purchase bike financing product. The new function allows customers and guarantors to sign an HP agreement from anywhere, at any time. It’s designed to offer complete flexibility and to speed up the application process. Witnesses need to be present with the customer, and acknowledge they have seen the customer physically sign – but this is also done electronically. All Close dealer partners will have access to the electronic sign solution, which aims to streamline processes and make buying a vehicle as flexible as possible for both dealers and customers.

IVENDI

IVENDI IS ADVISING CAUTION ABOUT THE NEW Google Vehicle Ad technology that is about to hit the internet – saying that dealers need to work to make their bike description pages more ‘sticky’. Rob Severs, senior VP at iVendi, said that the structure of new customer journeys involving GVAs meant it was easy to click straight from a search engine to a specific bike page but to then click straight back out.

“We’ve seen data from the US, where GVAs have now been in effect for some months, showing that the visit for each customer to the dealer website involves only 1.2 to 1.4 pages. That indicates many are looking at a vehicle and then hitting the back button. The challenge for dealers is to find new ways of making those vehicle pages ‘sticky’ so that potential buyers stay on the website, looking at other stock and, importantly, options such as vehicle finance and value-added products. “It could mean something of a redesign for the kind of standard vehicle pages we see most dealers using today, moving towards approaches used in other areas of online retail.”

Rutland-based Sycamore Harley-Davidson has doubled its portfolio of dealerships, taking over the Wolverhampton HarleyDavidson dealership last month. The new West Midlands store complements the firm’s existing branch in Uppingham, which has been operating for almost 20 years.

“This is a hugely exciting move for Sycamore,” said MD Andrew Winham, “and I’m delighted to be on board with the new site. As a family-run company, we strive to provide the personal touch that comes from having a team that are very passionate about the products we provide.”

“It’s pleasing to be able to extend our partnership with Sycamore Harley-Davidson,” said Harley sales and operations planning director Paul Lilly. “We can’t wait for them to bring their unique blend of customer experience to our customers in the Midlands.”

The new Wolverhampton site was officially opened on 2 July, with a well-attended BBQ and live music event which saw Sycamore staff handing out free T-shirts to the first 150 customers through the doors.

BikeTrac recovers stolen bike on BBC TV

BIKE CRIME RARELY GETS A sympathetic hearing on mainstream TV. But security firm BikeTrac earned some welcome publicity last month when it recovered a stolen Husqvarna 701 on the BBC One daytime crime-fighting show Frontline Fightback.

The show focused on the threat of bike theft and outlined the advantages of tracking devices. BikeTrac’s Bill Taylor provided us the background to the story: “The theft featured was of a Husqvarna that had been stolen from Fulham and had been missing for 24 hours. That’s an unusually long time for a bike to be missing for us, but the thieves had driven the stolen bike around in a van, so we had to wait for the signal to come to rest. When it did, we deployed our radio frequency technology, using the signal to check several vans in a car park, until it led us to the offending silver Ford Transit.

“We were very proud to be asked to feature on Frontline Fightback, but importantly it’s a great educational piece for viewers with scooters or motorcycles. Bike security should be a layered approach, and while we have obvious confidence in our own technology, we always suggest that owners lock their bikes securely and try to minimise exposure to potential thieves.”