• ROCKAR DISPROVES ONLINE SALES MYTHS
• RETAILERS COULD GET BLACK FRIDAY BOOST
• AUTO RETAIL INSOLVENCIES UP THIS YEAR
• ARNOLD CLARK OFFERS ‘END-TO-END’ EV PACKAGES
• TRANSIT CUSTOM OUTSELLS MOST CARS
• WORLD NEWS – VW to unveil EV plan this week, Chinese auto banking crisis
• STOCKWATCH – Inchcape continues recovery
• COMING UP – Auto Retail Economic Forum
• LAUNCH DIARY – Citroen SUV, Mercedes-Benz PHEV
• MONEY MATTERS – PNB Paribas enters car finance
• OUR  BLOG – Manage what you can, not what you can’t

Rockar disproves online sales myths

Online car sales specialist Rockar has claimed it has disproved several myths about digital sales surrounding buyer age and vehicle price.

In a wide-ranging interview for sister publication Auto Retail Bulletin, Rockar founder, Simon Dixon said the Jaguar Land Rover dealership in Westfield shopping centre was now profitable and was also one of the highest selling franchises for the brand during September.

Mr Dixon claimed this was in part down to attracting a wider range of ages both younger and older to the online process.

“The average buyer age, across the Land Rover network, is 59, I can show that we’re tracking at 44.2 years old,” he said.

Figures seen by Auto Retail Agenda show this is down to an even spread of customer age, not just additional younger buyers.

Mr Dixon also said that the average online transaction for the JLR franchise was £56,800 and the highest he’d seen was above £130,000.

* The full interview will be published in next month’s Auto Retail Bulletin.   Sign up for a free trial here.

Retailers could get Black Friday boost

Retailers can get a Q4 sales boost later this month if they use tactical campaigns to get buyers into the showrooms before, during and after Black Friday.

The national price-cutting event is being held on Friday November 23 and last year 91% of retail stores took part in it.

Rebecca Clark, Manufacturer & Agency Director, Auto Trader Group plc, said in Auto Retail Live’s Q4 briefing that more businesses are getting an uplift from it, saying “Consumers are looking for offers out there…the momentum is building each year”, adding that the effects are felt in “the week leading up it and the ‘Cyber Monday’ afterwards”.

* If you missed the broadcast you can watch again here.

Auto retail insolvencies up this year

The rate of insolvencies in the auto retail trade in England and Wales is growing with 111 in the first three quarters of this year against a total of 116 for the full 12 month period in both 2017 and 2016.

In Q1 there were 42 insolvencies among vehicle retailers, 31 in Q2 and 38 in Q3. In Scotland there have been five so far this year and a total of six in each of the two previous years.

The new figures from The Insolvency Service reveal that the underlying number of business failures overall rose in Q3 2018 both on the previous quarter and on the same quarter in 2017.

Arnold Clark offers ‘end-to-end’ EV packages

Arnold Clark has teamed up with Scottish Power to offer EV buyers at its dealerships an ‘end-to-end’ EV package which gives them a home charge point installed and access to the power provider’s tailored energy tariff. It is smart charge enabled so users can remotely control it to take advantage of off-peak energy.

https://bit.ly/2T1Nssu

WORLD NEWS

VW to unveil EV plan this week

VW is due to unveil plans this week for a new range of EVs costing from around £17,500 with an annual production target of 200,000. The board will also discuss an alliance with Ford and battery cell manufacturer SK Innovation.

https://reut.rs/2QuBXZ3

Chinese auto retail giant faces banking crisis

A Chinese auto retail group with more than 1,000 outlets and 30,000 staff is selling dealerships amid a growing banking crisis in the country.

Hundreds of billions of dollars of loans have been secured by Chinese businesses using shares as collateral but with values collapsing, lenders are facing a catastrophe.

Pang Da Automobile Trade Co’s shares have crashed 40% and it is now selling dealerships.

https://reut.rs/2T2LAQD

STOCKWATCH

Closing prices at November 9 and weekly movement

BCA 213.0p (+19.4p)

Cambria 52.0p (+1.5p)

Caffyns 405.0p (+3.0p)

Inchcape 585.0p (+86.0p)

Lookers 98.7p (+3.7p)

Marshall Motor Holdings 142.0p (+19.5p)

Motorpoint 217.0p (+7.0p)

Pendragon 26.3p (no change)

Vertu 37.5p (+0.5p)

COMING UP

Wednesday. Consumer price inflation, October.

Friday. Auto Retail Economic Forum (London) https://bit.ly/2PXOcwu

LAUNCH DIARY

December 3. Order books open for Citroen C5 Aircross SUV. From £23,225

Spring 2019. Plug-in diesel/hybrid Mercedes Benz E-Class. From £47,700.

MONEY MATTERS

BNP Paribas enters car finance

BNP Paribas Personal Finance UK has launched its range of car finance and leasing products including HP, PCP, PCH and personal loans, as well as bundled ‘value-added products’ such as cosmetic insurance and warranty and the funder will also offer stock financing for car retailers.

https://bit.ly/2PSAYVq

Pension drawdowns at record levels

Pension drawdowns are at record levels as new data from HMRC shows that the number flexible pension withdrawals hit a new high between July and September this year, with a record 585,000 payments made to 258,000 people. The total value stood at £2 billion and the average amount £3,350.

OUR BLOG

Manage what you can, not what you can’t

I listened to this week’s (excellent) Auto Retail Network’s Q4 webcast and one message I took was that while retailers can’t change Brexit, the diesel issue or WLTP, what they can do is focus on the things they do well within their own business.

It’s about managing the situation, of being straight and upfront with those customers who want to buy but may now have to wait thanks to WLTP, making sure they feel welcome and valued, are confident the sales staff know what they are talking about on product, part-ex and finance and that the workshop – so often the maker or breaker of customer satisfaction – gets as near 100% first-time fix as possible.

It is all those elements we bundle up into that phrase, customer care.

With margins being wafer thin where they exist at all and with so much competition vying for business it often seems hard to justify spending time or resource for someone who hasn’t yet committed to buying a vehicle or a service.

Retailers run a business, not a social club, and while you are sitting down in the showroom talking to a prospect who may or may not buy, you are not actively looking for another. Running a fleet of little courtesy cars is no guarantee that it will generate repeat business if your customer finds a better deal somewhere else the next time.

But our panel of guest speakers representing the retail sector (Bill Dobie, of Dobie Cars in Cumbria) manufacturers (Alison Jones, MD of Volkswagen UK) and the major advertising platforms (Rebecca Clark, Manufacturer & Agency Director of Auto Trader Group plc) all emphasised the point that customer care does matter and does pay off.

There is still a lot of business out there but getting it depends on making your company an attractive one to spend money with in terms of the three Ps – people, product and price.

Occasionally it is helpful to have the view of an outsider looking in. This morning we drove past a Vauxhall retailer where the stock pen was full of new cars and vans wearing the NU 68 CAR reg. The thing is, I swear those vehicles have been in exactly the same position overlooking a main road for several weeks and it makes the place look dead. A little further on we went past a JLR showroom where from a casual glance at the sales exec slumped in the corner you might think his target for today was to stay awake.

You can’t affect, change or manage events outside your business but you certainly can inside it.