VW Tiguan embraces people power

VW have come up with an intriguing marketing and PR campaign for their compact SUV the Tiguan. They’re holding a competition – or “online reality show” as they put it – to find a budding car critic and turn them Read Inside »

If you can’t sell your car now, you probably never will

As we are constantly pointing out at MTI, used cars are not only extremely difficult for dealers to come by but prices are reaching boiling point. This of course means that customers will be expected to pay the Read Inside »

Aston Martin and Toyota? What are they thinking?

Aston Martin has just announced that they are to tie-up with Toyota to produce the world’s first super-luxury hatchback. Just before you read on, no, this isn’t a typo. Aston’s CEO, Dr Ulrich Bez, met with Toyota’s Read Inside »

Do dealers need to rethink the way they value trade-ins?

People often ask me in my professional capacity what my opinion is on the value of a car, which by and large I can confidently give. Hopefully the last 25 years mean that I am not a million miles away and nor would, I suspect Read Inside »

London Mayor urged to look again at congestion charge policy

Mayor of London, Boris Johnson is being challenged by Volvo UK to review the basis of charging for the London Congestion Charging zone. The people at Volvo believe the principle of hybrid cars being Read Inside »

Decent used cars simply cost too much

I popped my head around the auction last week for the first time is 3 months, I’ve attended auctions every week for the past 10 years, sometimes every day, so my forced sabbatical has taken some getting Read Inside »

Scrappage party could soon be over

The overwhelming popularity of the scrappage scheme may see the incentive finish sooner rather than later (February 28th 2010 is the official finish date) as the £300 million government funded pot starts to dry up Read Inside »

House prices fall, used car prices rise – what’s going on?

It is well documented that at the tail end of 2008 the market panicked to such an extent that used car values were mostly obliterated. Customers and car dealers, instead of sitting tight, reacted like lemmings Read Inside »

Bargain of the Week- Peugeot 306 convertible

Having been off with tonsillitis for the last two weeks my DB7 hasn’t seen much action. What my recuperation has given me is time to re-jig our Bargain of The Week series and consider selling the Aston. Read Inside »

Don’t be tempted to offload your old car on the cheap

When we hear the phrase fair deal, or good price we usually associate this with something we are buying, however the unique aspect of car buying is that a customer is likely to also have a car to sell. Read Inside »

With used car prices too high are new cars looking good again?

The dynamics of car sales in this country has always meant that, for dealers, selling used cars is at least as important as selling new, although clearly for car manufacturers the ratios would be better reversed. Read Inside »