With the UK looking certain to go into recession in 2022, which the Bank of England forecasts will be prolonged, if shallow, sentiment among retailers over the country’s economic prospects has hit a...

Increases in inflation, interest rates and higher cost of raw material and staffing have knocked the early optimism for a swift bounce back in the automotive industry, and fleets and automotive...

Retailers have found themselves in something of a purple patch over the last year, despite the shortage in supply of new vehicles, reaping the benefits of an increasingly strong used car market. And...

Despite April and May bringing an upturn in year-on-year new-car registrations, the trading environment remains difficult and SMMT predictions for 2018/19 still forecast a reduction over 2017’s...

With new car sales volumes under pressure in many parts of Europe, aftersales as a driver of overhead absorption will remain of critical importance. Demographic and consumer changes mean the...

The results are in. 2016 has set a new record with 2.69 million new cars registered, presenting 2017 as a challenging year. With political uncertainty, Sterling depreciation and the SMMT forecasting a...

The pressure to self-register new cars has lessened slightly since last summer where it was a major concern for 95% of retailers, but 78% still think it will be an issue over the next six months. And...

Skoda is going back to basics for 2017 with a huge push on its accreditation programme for all retailer staff. At present, what the VW-owned brand describes as “a relatively low proportion” of the...

I recently stumbled across a publication discussing the thorny subject of succession planning. It’s certainly a departure from the current talk surrounding Brexit, registration numbers and the threat...

There is a new initiative from the IMI to bring together the big three i.e. the IMI (the people), the NFDA (the dealers) and the SMMT (the manufacturers) to address a general lack of appeal identified...

We’ve said it before; it can cost as much as five times more to acquire a new customer than it does to retain an existing one, there is no doubt customer retention must remain a priority. So here are...

For some time now at conferences and dealer forums there has been talk and discussion about the importance of recruiting people from outside the automotive industry. As a result a number of specialist...

Jeremy Hicks, Jaguar Land Rover UK’s managing director, is encouraging the 35 retail partners running its combined 201 outlet network to pay staff, particularly sales executives, higher basic...

Jardine Motors is aiming to switch its sales staff from low basic salaries with large bonuses to a larger basic salary with smaller bonuses in order to improve customer service and staff retention....

US auto retail managers, many of whom built their businesses from scratch, are struggling to get to grips with a new generation of employees who don’t want to work the traditional 60 hours a...

As an industry it’s interesting how little the HR side of the business seems to get discussed. Yes, when we talk about recruitment we mention the fact that it’s people that sell to people, but...

Technology news has been pouring out of every corner of the media in recent days. From news about Apple’s latest software update for its phones and tablets to the BBC’s themed series of programmes...

You can have the best sales process in the world, but you still need staff that are genuinely helpful and who can think of others’ needs first in order to do well. Highlighting this point this week...

Christmas has never been a great time of the year to sell cars but the week after can be a retail frenzy. Lots of high street sales, lots of bored families out and about and your end of year targets...

Halfords has appointed former Superdrug marketing director Gerry Murphy to become its first group brand marketing director as the company looks to grow its retail and car service businesses. Murphy...