motor trade recession

Caution pays when buying a used car

September 8, 2010 By In51der Leave a Comment

During an economic downturn or periods of economic uncertainty it is more important than ever to ensure that any car you buy or service you pay for is legitimate. We in the trade always look a little more closely at part exchanges and all the supporting paperwork. For example when someone says their car has a “full service history” is that … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Car Dealers, Consumer Tagged With: Car Dealers, car sales, consumer advice, customer service, economy, Featured, motor trade recession, Used car buying, used cars

Diesel do nicely

August 18, 2010 By In51der Leave a Comment

With fuel prices spiralling out of control once more, car drivers are being hit where it hurts more than most. What with VAT set to rise and new car prices having already creeping upwards It makes the job of finding a car which will not cost the national debt to maintain that much harder. It seems it is either price hikes or cuts but no increase in … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Consumer, Environmental, Manufacturers Tagged With: buying a new car, car manufacturers, economy, european diesel prices, Featured, motor trade recession, new car buying, new car prices, Used car buying

September could be bleak for new car sales

August 16, 2010 By In51der Leave a Comment

New car sales numbers are down for July by some 13% and not likely to improve much for August. The real worry however is September. According to our sources forward orders for the new reg plate are a fraction of what would normally be expected. However, for the consumer, this could be good news because there will be a reaction from both the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Car Dealers, Consumer, Manufacturers Tagged With: Car Dealers, car makers, car manufacturers, car sales, Featured, motor trade recession, new car buying, new car registration, new car sales, part exchange valuation

Flexibility is the key to car sales these days

August 4, 2010 By In51der 1 Comment

As we go into August the world of car sales has been yo-yoing, with some industry insiders saying business is brisk with plenty of buyer demand while others saying its tough out there and getting tougher. Certainly cars which really have unique selling points are still making a premium whereas run of the mill volume type examples are selling … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Car Dealers, Consumer Tagged With: Car Dealers, car sales, economy, Featured, internet marketing, motor trade recession, Used car, Used car buying, used car prices

Latest predictions foresee tough times ahead for used car market

August 2, 2010 By In51der Leave a Comment

People in the motor trade love to make predictions and, of course they are not always. That said, I predict many more predictions by voices within the trade before the year is out. The latest batch come from car dealers, especially those in the franchised sector, who are predicting tough times ahead for the used car sector in the coming months. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Car Dealers, Consumer Tagged With: Car Dealers, car sales, economy, Featured, motor trade recession, new car buying, new car registration, new car sales, Used car buying, used car prices, used cars

The scrappage scheme has ended, get over it

July 30, 2010 By In51der Leave a Comment

Dealers are really feeling the effect of the end of scrappage. The good times certainly rolled whilst the scheme was in place to the extent that many dealers would be excused for thinking that the recession was happening somewhere else. Those good times have long since passed but it seems many sales execs just haven’t switched on to the fact … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Car Dealers, Consumer, Manufacturers, Scrappage Tagged With: Car Dealers, car makers, car manufacturers, car sales, consumer advice, customer service, Featured, motor trade recession, new car buying, new car sales, Scrappage

If you always do what you have always done you will always get the same results

July 22, 2010 By In51der Leave a Comment

Someone once said 'if you always do what you have always done you will always get the same results' (it was American success coach Tony Robbins - ed) and this is probably more relevant in the motor trade than any other business. Despite numerous attempts to evolve and change, if you ask veterans in the trade many will still say “we have always … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Car Dealers, Car Repairs, Consumer Tagged With: Car Dealers, car service, customer service, economy, Featured, motor trade recession

We’re not doomed….

July 21, 2010 By In51der 1 Comment

The auctions, like the proverbial rubber ball, always come bouncing back. After weeks of the oversupply of high mileage basic and distinctly uninspiring ex-fleet cars clogging up the sales, the word on the street is that buyers are getting their debit cards out and conversions are on the way back up. It appears that after the shock of the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Car Dealers, Consumer Tagged With: car auctions, Car Dealers, car sales, economy, Featured, motor trade recession, new car buying, new car registration, new car sales, Used car, Used car buying, used car prices

Fun, indiscretion and “dad dancing” at the Motor Trader Awards

July 16, 2010 By MTI Leave a Comment

The Motor Trader awards were attended by a couple of our insiders on Wednesday night, and it certainly seems a good night was had by almost all. The sound of ssshing became quite tiresome as Ray Stubbs tried manfully to control a fairly good natured but large and pretty inebriated crowd. The awards were handed out like confetti and the people … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Car Dealers Tagged With: Car Dealers, Featured, motor trade recession, motor trader

VAT’ll do nicely!

July 15, 2010 By In51der Leave a Comment

It is widely believed that the increase in VAT from January 11th will stimulate new car sales in the second half of 2010 and that the industry will welcome an increase in sales during the traditionally quieter periods. However some believe that car buyers will merely be bringing forward their purchase decision leaving a hole in the overall … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Car Dealers, Consumer, Manufacturers, Scrappage, Tax & Insurance Tagged With: Car Dealers, car manufacturers, car sales, economy, Featured, motor trade recession, new car buying, Scrappage, vat increase, vat new cars

Buying cars in an economic downturn

July 9, 2010 By In51der 1 Comment

Recession, double-dip recession, depression, global depression, fiscal deficit, higher taxes, spending cuts, job losses, fuel rises. That’s a rather unpleasant list of words which make most people feel uncomfortable. But Britain has experienced the worst recession since the 1930s and is facing the toughest squeeze in generations so there is no … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Consumer, Environmental Tagged With: economy, Featured, motor trade recession, new car buying, part exchange valuation, part-exchange, Used car buying, used car prices

VAT and the Phew! factor

June 25, 2010 By In51der Leave a Comment

The recent emergency budget certainly didn’t seem as bad as it could have been for the motor trade. The VAT rise will of course hurt when it arrives as it affects both buyer and seller. Profit from car sales is subject to VAT but a small crumb of comfort is that at least it gives dealers the opportunity to re-plan budget forecasts with plenty of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Car Dealers, Car Finance, Car Repairs, Consumer, Manufacturers Tagged With: Car Dealers, car makers, car manufacturers, car sales, depreciation, economy, Featured, motor trade recession, new car buying

Emergency budget may turn car buyers green

June 23, 2010 By In51der Leave a Comment

There is a growing feeling in the car retailing business that many more buyers will soon be looking to downgrade their cars into much more economical models. The long awaited lift off for eco-friendly, low emission cars could finally be about to gather pace. Many dealers are reporting an increase in customers looking to offload their gas … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Car Dealers, Consumer, Environmental, Manufacturers Tagged With: Car Dealers, car makers, car manufacturers, car manufacturing, economy, Featured, motor trade recession, new car buying, new car sales

Sticking to effective advertising in a downturn

June 16, 2010 By In51der Leave a Comment

We car dealers when we get together like to chew the fat - well generally moan about most things to be more exact - and in a conversation during a lull in proceedings at auction this week, we heard of a small trader who has always absolutely sworn by advertising on Auto Trader. So much so that he wouldn’t bother using any other way to advertise … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Car Dealers, Consumer Tagged With: auto trader, Car Dealers, car sales, economy, Featured, motor trade recession, Used car buying

Price wars on the horizon as car buyers become scarce

June 10, 2010 By In51der Leave a Comment

You know what? People tend to look closer at the condition of a car when times are quieter. Who knows why that should be but it definitely happens. Maybe it’s because there aren’t so many people around and the car buyer feels they can take more time. Maybe they have a sense that as a potential customer they are a rare breed and are deserving of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Car Dealers, Consumer Tagged With: Car Dealers, car sales, economy, Featured, motor trade recession, Used car buying, used car prices

Long lead times playing havoc with part-exchange valuations

June 8, 2010 By In51der Leave a Comment

Dealers are increasingly worried about new car supply; with less production from factories as a result of the downturn dealers are selling many more factory ordered cars. The knock on effect of this is that, as we have said before, lead times for more highly specified examples from some manufacturers can be more than 16 weeks in some cases. This … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Car Dealers, Consumer, Manufacturers Tagged With: Car Dealers, car makers, car sales, economy, Featured, motor trade recession, new car buying, new car registration, new car sales, part exchange valuation, used car prices

20% rise in VAT could make a tough year even worse

May 25, 2010 By In51der Leave a Comment

The question of VAT rising to 20% is maybe not one of “if” but more like “when?” and according to commentators within the trade the timing of this announcement could have far reaching consequences for the motor trade. For example it may be that if the rise were to come into effect immediately, which seems unlikely given that all the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Car Dealers, Consumer Tagged With: Car Dealers, car sales, economy, motor trade recession, profit, used car selling, vat increase, vat new cars

We’re all in this together aren’t we?

May 24, 2010 By In51der Leave a Comment

With an estimated £6billion in cuts forecast by the new coalition government, it is inevitable that the car trade will feel some aftershocks from these measures. Although the cuts are mainly directed at public services the knock on for normal everyday people often results in a lack of confidence and this lack of confidence often manifests itself … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Car Dealers, Manufacturers Tagged With: Car Dealers, economy, Featured, motor trade recession, new car buying, Scrappage

A big 4WD and a 20% return on investment in 18 months…you what?

May 13, 2010 By In51der Leave a Comment

A classic illustration of how dramatically the car market has changed over the last 18 months was presented to the offices of Motor Trade Insider recently when an “insider” informed us about the events surrounding his recent purchase of a German 4wd. As you know we have tried to keep our readers fully updated with the ups and downs of the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Car Dealers, Consumer Tagged With: Car Dealers, Featured, motor trade recession, part-exchange, sacand hand car, Used car buying, used car prices, used cars

Lada attempts a comeback just at the right time

May 7, 2010 By Iain Ronayne Leave a Comment

So it’s official, we now have a hung parliament and are set for a period of horse trading before some stability returns (if we ever had it to start with). A double dip recession may very well be lurking around the corner and times of austerity are without doubt on the cards for all of us, whoever seizes the reins of power. When it comes to car … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Consumer, Environmental, Manufacturers Tagged With: economy, Featured, just at, lada, lada back in uk, lada come back, lada comeback, lada new models, lada re launch, lada uk comeback, motor trade recession, new car buying, new lada car dealers, skoda

Car buying in a post scrappage world

May 6, 2010 By In51der Leave a Comment

Motor Trade Insider continuously listens to the market and in doing so we hopefully equip our legion of readers with the type of high quality information and helpful hints which could provide them with an advantage, and a competitive edge, in their dealings with anyone and anything car related. Whilst we attempt to maintain a balanced view of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Car Dealers, Consumer, Scrappage Tagged With: Car Dealers, car sales, economy, Featured, motor trade recession, new car buying, Scrappage, Used car buying, vw buys porsche, what car companies are still doing scrapage deals

Some car sales people still ignoring customers once the deal’s been done

February 7, 2010 By In51der 1 Comment

In our quest for a perfect world, we at MTI try and see the positives in everything. The reason we sometimes cannot take a definite stance is that we always know there are two sides to every story. We believe that this business is working harder than any other to clean up its act, becoming better at delighting customers and giving better value for … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Car Dealers, Consumer Tagged With: Car Dealers, car makers, car sales, consumer advice, customer service, Featured, motor trade recession, new car buying, profit, Used car, Used car buying

Survival of the fittest in a car retailing shakedown

December 17, 2009 By In51der 3 Comments

This year has been a surprising one for the trade in many ways. Even the most optimistic of car dealers could never have predicted the rapid uplift in used car prices between late 2008 and most of 2009. Even though the scrappage scheme was in effect a government subsidy for an ailing business sector and kick started demand for certain new cars, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Car Dealers, Manufacturers, Scrappage Tagged With: Car Dealers, car makers, Featured, motor trade recession, motor trade redundancies, profit, Scrappage, survival of used car dealers, Used car, used car prices

The future looks less profitable for dealers

November 16, 2009 By In51der 1 Comment

Unfortunately there are several factors which point towards car dealers experiencing a challenging time next year and we have already pointed out why, apart from the end of scrappage, dealers will find it harder going. The fact that, despite this year being better than expected, there have still been twice the amount of closures than this time … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Car Dealers, Car Finance, Car Repairs, Environmental Tagged With: Car Dealers, car makers, car sales, car sales figures, car service, Featured, main dealer servicing, motor trade recession, new car buying, profit, Scrappage, Used car, Used car buying

Customer disservice

October 26, 2009 By In51der Leave a Comment

Who said customer care doesn’t exist anymore? In these recessionist days (is that a word? – no, editor) we constantly bang on about the need to be better than ever and that, in order that we can at the very least keep our jobs and make sure business can keep happening, we have to provide ever greater customer service. Some take heed of that … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Consumer Tagged With: customer service, economy, Featured, motor trade recession