The UK automotive retail sector showed exceptional resilience and flexibility in the pandemic, followed by very strong trading in 2021. But continuing supply constraints, the headwinds of macro...

As the first month of the year, it is always tempting to try to draw conclusions over the remainder of the year from the performance delivered in January. This is normally a challenge in the retail...

January saw retailers offering mixed views of their current situations. Cambria, for example, gave the new year’s first update and reported that its trading performance in the first three months of...

With 2016 now in the past it is wise to reflect on the impact that the year has had to the trade as a whole. Residual value activity has been a very important part of the last 12 months and analysis...

The seeds of decline in the new car market could be seen well before Brexit. The market has been overly forced for some time, and we’re only just starting to get a true reflection of what the level...

Seat is aiming to attract and retain the best staff across its retail network with a new rewards scheme. Badged Seat Rewards the new plan combines a website and pre-pay Mastercard as a way of...

One the face of it the results for the first quarter of the year were very positive. National average profitability was strong at 2.0% of turnover, with the top 10% of dealers approaching a 6% return....

It would seem that 2010 is likely to be an interesting year both from a forecasting and a KPI comparability point of view. The first couple of months of 2009 were very difficult for the industry with...

How often you do assess whether the commission and bonus schemes you have in place are having the desired effect? Presuming your letters to staff laying out the terms of their schemes contain a...

by Brian Milsted One of the main strengths of any franchise dealership is its ability to manage the buying and retailing of used cars. You have to be able to sell your used cars quickly and...

by Ian Allen As we are all too acutely aware, these are unprecedented times for automotive retail and, as such, there has never been a better time to revisit the way in which dealerships are run, and...

by Mark Walsh The greatest challenge to bringing about change is the entrenched culture in your dealership. These are the patterns of behaviours that have been accepted, tolerated, punished, repeated...

While high performance and a prestige badge might seem highly desirable characteristics in a car, The Peugeot 107 is Britain’s best when it comes to fending off depreciation, according to the...

After several months when the general direction of auto retail stocks has been unclear there was a sharp correction in October with widespread fall in values on both sides of the Atlantic. This fall...

A number of news stories recently have highlighted a shortage of consumer finance as one of the key obstacles for auto retailers in selling cars. For sure, the market is undergoing some major changes....

There are literally dozens of performance and activity-related KPIs that help to identify who is – and who is not – performing satisfactorily. That in itself can be a problem if, as is...

Do you and your organisation have a well thought out approach to annual pay reviews and ad hoc requests for more money? Want to read more articles on this website? Sign up for a free trial...

Just over a year ago, Lee Collins and his senior management team made two bold decisions – to more than double their sales staff’s basic salary to £24,000 and to close the...

To generate more sales through referrals, task each member of your sales team with creating a 90-day action plan for the June to August period. Aim to get them fully up to speed in time for the start...

There is now no doubt that we are sliding into a period of considerable financial uncertainty. If you were to believe the major press, consumer spending is dropping through the floor with nobody...