February 10, 2012
Car Buying Guide
It’s hardly surprising that car buyers are struggling to get an accurate price for their trade in, the market moves rapidly and today’s hero car is potentially tomorrow’s betamax. The trade guides rarely find common ground on the values of many cars and many professional buyers use their own skill and experience to value cars without … [Read more...]
It just goes to show you how tricky the emotive issue of valuing someone’s car can be, as the OFT investigation into webuyanycar.com demonstrates; dig a little under the surface and perhaps the “we buy any car” strap line might have to read “yes we will buy any car but we will dangle a carrot first and then take it away when you are … [Read more...]
Car dealers will potentially be competing for far fewer customers this year as austerity measures bite hard into the retail sector. It will therefore be vital that they not only offer tremendous service and value for money but they also ensure that customers are offered the very best price for their part-exchange. Many prospective buyers are … [Read more...]
The pressure is on, there will be fewer people looking to change their cars this year and fewer still looking to change into a brand new car. Buyers are looking for bargains and the thousands of scrappage customers who papered over the cracks and gave the business a big shot in the arm last year are unlikely to re-surface for quite some … [Read more...]
It does seem that every time we turn on the TV or radio there is more bad news. Today unemployment up again, inflation up, economic growth down, interest rates likely to rise again, jobless figures for 18-23 yr olds at an all time high and so on. This kind of bad news will probably test our will for some time yet as this bunch look to justify the … [Read more...]
As many businesses in the car retail sector wrestle with selling cars to a better educated market, we thought it would be interesting to explore how modern car dealers present themselves to their more knowledgeable clientele. They have to be completely customer centric but at the same time still need to employ traditional selling and closing … [Read more...]
Being part of a merry band of 'insiders' can be quite fun at times and gives us an opportunity to tell tales and give away some trade secrets, and unlike the magic circle we hopefully won’t get thrown out for revealing the more darker examples. We have thankfully not sworn an oath to never disclose tricks and sales techniques, and at the end of … [Read more...]
Sometimes, as we all know, things can go very wrong, despite the best efforts of all concerned. The following tale of woe does actually have a happy ending but the whole sorry mess could easily have been avoided had attention, as always, been applied to the detail. The story begins with an enthusiastic car buyer (we’ll call him Mr. Smith) … [Read more...]
Decembers’ new car registration figures are in so we can take a look at the final table for 2010. Who won the league? Who made it into Europe? Who got relegated? All will be revealed but firstly let’s take a look at the Car Makers Premier League for December 2010. This month’s Car Makers Premier League (based on the SMMT figures for UK new … [Read more...]
The much lauded scrappage scheme may not have been quite the saviour of the UK motor industry than perhaps it might have been. Word is reaching us that many manufacturers and their dealerships are being hit with big demands for money from the government seeking to claw back funds for what it calls “non-compliance”. It could very well be … [Read more...]
Industry insiders from Automotive News are calling the US new car market at 11.5 million units for the year. This is based on year to date figures for sales of cars and light trucks of 8,573,732 units, a rise of 10.4 percent. A final figure of 11.5 million units would amount to a 10.2% improvement on last year but it should be remembered that … [Read more...]
How much has changed at Seat in the last 60 years? Not a great deal it appears since its humble beginnings. A tie-up between the Spanish government and Fiat saw Spain’s first car manufacturer take off. By re-badging the Fiat 600 and later the Panda, Seat struck a chord with cheap and affordable motoring and by 1967 Fiat increased its shareholding … [Read more...]
Many of the car dealers we speak with are becoming increasingly worried about the experience given to customers in showrooms. Believe it or not, as the profile of salesperson has evolved businesses are struggling to attract what we would call actual sales professionals into the car trade. Not only has the demands of the customer changed but … [Read more...]
Oh dear, hot on the heels of our story the other day about the car dealer who hit back (literally) and the customer who carried out a dirty protest at the dealership comes the following tale of woe from an honest punter who just wanted to, believe it or not, buy a car. We have remarked recently about how hard certain salespeople are going to … [Read more...]
As you may be aware we have been bringing examples of bad dealers and their equally bad service but to balance it we need examples of bad buyers and this one may just fit the bill. Running your own business certainly has its ups and downs and making your own decisions but being ultimately responsible for your own success means that, at least … [Read more...]
With the recent problems besieging Toyota and the terrible publicity that surrounds their massive global recall program we thought it might be interesting to take a deeper look into the whole recall issue that affects all manufacturers at some time or another. In car manufacturing recalls come with the territory and millions of vehicles are … [Read more...]
All car sales people will use silence in the car selling process. They use it because it is powerful and effective, so why not turn the tables and use it on them? A car salesman is just that, a salesman and in your dealings with him you will inevitably be asked to buy a car. In sales parlance this is referred to as “the close” and you … [Read more...]
Should you go for a finance deal or opt for leasing? And what is the difference anyway? First let’s talk about the difference between … [Read more...]
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Car dealership customer service stinks!
Firstly those with a sensitive disposition should probably stop reading at the end of this first paragraph because what I am about to recount has a particularly unpleasant denouement but is definitely a tale that needs to be told. Before I start I should mention that this is a true story recounted to me the other day by a still clearly bemused … [Read more...]