BMW is following the lead of Apple and o2 by putting a ‘Genius’ product expert into many of its retail outlets. The company has just made public large-scale plans to boost the levels of...

I sometimes feel the auto retail industry spends rather too much time looking inward and not enough looking outward. And last week that’s how I felt while attending a meeting to discuss the...

Sturgess Jaguar in Leicester has been named Franchised Dealer of the Year at the Motor Codes annual awards. The winning franchised and independent garages were picked from 20 regional champions after...

New customer service and retention initiatives will be one of the overriding themes for the automotive industry in the next few years, according to a survey of global car maker bosses by PWC. The...

Showroom point of sale finance penetration is currently running at a record level in the UK, at almost 68% for new cars according to the FLA. This is an excellent achievement for the motor retail...

Many motor retailers are, quite naturally, worried about what might be said about their products and services on the kind of open, sometimes anonymous, forums that social media provides. Certainly it...

I bet you didn’t know there was such an organisation as the ‘Word of Mouth Marketing Association UK’. But I’m grateful to Steve Barton (its president, no less) for the...

 Marshall Leasing, the vehicle funding and management arm of Marshall Motor Group, has been named Fleet Service Company of the Year by the Association of Car Fleet Operators (ACFO) at its annual...

Skoda is planning to build on its good showing in customer satisfaction surveys, such as Auto Express Driver Power, with two key aftersales initiatives. The programmes are designed to further boost CS...

This time last year, we all thought we were about to embark on one of the most difficult times the motor trade has encountered for many years. I don’t think anyone could have predicted such a...

by Robert Bonser Winning sales is more important than ever during this recession. And I mean ‘any’ sale – be it a vehicle, a part or a warranty. My contention is that time spent...

The Motor Block Exemption Regulations specifically relating to the aftersales sector are currently being reviewed by the European Commission and it now appears likely that some aftersales-specific...

The latest Which? Car dealer satisfaction survey shows that the big name, prestige brands aren’t always best when it comes to sales and servicing. More than 77,000 Which? members told the...

Consumers are fairly satisfied with the overall vehicle buying process, but there’s plenty of room for improvement – starting with the retail negotiation process, according to the latest...

Nikki King, the MD of Isuzu Truck UK, was presented with the Customer Focus award last month at the prestigious European Business Awards on behalf of her company. “Customer care has been at the...

New freedoms under Block Exemption have given auto retailers the opportunity to multi-franchise and removed territorial restrictions on sales. But, selling across several brands and outside your...