Motor Trader The award-winning and longest running UK magazine for car retailing professionals. Your first stop for News, Jobs and Reports for the motor industry.
The September plate-change is an important one for dealers, typically accounting for around 400,000 new
car sales compared to between 150,000 and 200,000 registrations in an average month. But while big numbers are important, so is the quality of business. We asked dealers how their sales performed during the month, taking a close look at retail business and focusing on the extent of self-registrations to meet targets and achieve end of quarter bonuses.
Dealers preparing for the plate-change’s sales rush had another aspect to contend with. On 1 September the new FCA rules on how GAP insurance is sold came into force, demanding a two days cooling off period between providing the GAP information and concluding the sale. This has required changes in showroom procedures and caused concern among some dealers.
So how well, or otherwise, did dealers do in September? Motor Trader spoke to some recent Dealer Insight subjects to obtain their views on this most important of sales months.
We spoke to five different dealers to get a broad range of views.
Neil White (above) heads Surrey-based TW White & Sons, a six-outlet, £30.7m-turnover group with Mazda, Hyundai and Suzuki franchises, a Kia aftersales business and a major trade parts supply operation.
Nigel Hayes (above)returned from nine years outside the motor industry to become general manager of Volvo Poole, a new site that opened in the Dorset town in May and is owned by Ocean Automotive, which also operates an Audi outlet in Yeovil.
Peter Smyth (above)heads Swansway Group, based in the North West and representing 10 franchises. In 2015 the company was rated 34 in the Sunday Times top hundred best companies to work for listing.
Paul Wilkinson (above)is one of the four directors of Just Citroën, launched in May 2012 having taken over a dealership in Keighley, Yorkshire and which increased its volume by 50% in the first year. A second site has since been taken over in Harrogate.
And Nathan Tomlinson (above) heads Mitsubishi outlet Devonshire Motors, based in Barnstaple, Devon and a regular on the awards circuit.
How have year-on-year new car sales performed during the September plate-change?
Neil White: “I think it’s better to look at the retail order take rather than our actual registrations, as we are under the usual pressure to pre-register, which distorts the real figures.
“On Mazda we are up by 12% over 2014, helped by the arrival of the new MX-5 and CX-3 models. Suzuki has risen 31% over last year, helped by the new Vitara, but our Hyundai take is down by 4% over last year.”
Nigel Hayes: “This is a difficult question to answer for us, as we are a new Volvo dealer having only opened in May and so had no previous evidence to go on. But we certainly had a good month, better than we expected.”
Peter Smyth: “We have noted a move to Personal Contract Hire, though not to PCP, whilst our retail figures are very similar to 2014. Pre-registered cars, which are necessitated by manufacturer targets, are skewing the figures by taking new business to used business.”
Paul Wilkinson: “Compared to last year they are up, but we were slightly disappointed. We had hoped to do slightly better but demand tailed off towards the end of the month.”
Nathan Tomlinson: “We are up across the board, other than on the Mirage which ran into supply issues. The original variants were on run-out and the Mirage Attivo wasn’t released until October.”
Have you seen an increase in showroom footfall and website visits during September?
Neil White: “We’ve seen an increase in footfall for both Mazda and Suzuki. With the success that Mazda has enjoyed with the MX-5 over the last 25 years and the amount of positive press on the new model, the footfall on this car has been quite remarkable.
“However such footfall consists of both genuine customers who are considering the MX-5 as a purchase and both past and present customers genuinely interested in how the new model differs from either the current MX-5 that they own or a previous one that they may have owned in the past. Some will consider the new model as a future purchase and others who have moved on will not but nevertheless want to see this car in the flesh.
“Suzuki has benefited from a heavyweight media campaign on the new Vitara, resulting in increased showroom traffic and interest in the brand.
“This explains why both brands are bucking the trend and experiencing very healthy increases in footfall. I am pleased with the results to date.”
Nigel Hayes: “We definitely have seen an increase across the business in both footfall and website visits. The registration plate change is clearly important to customers.”
Peter Smyth: “There has been no appreciable uplift either online or in our centres.”
Paul Wilkinson: “There was in the middle of the month. It didn’t help that we had a late start, in our area the children went back to school a week later than in others and tour operators were offering family holidays at half price during that week. We then saw footfall tail off at the end of the month.”
Nathan Tomlinson: “Showroom footfall was down 5% in September compared to the previous year. This was likely due to the fact that we weren’t able to advertise Mirage as effectively due to the stock limitations. Our web leads were up 20%. which probably reflects the launch of Series 5 L200 and the amount of pre-launch digital marketing we did across our Social Media platforms.”
How have GAP sales been impacted by the new FCA rules which came in at the beginning of September?
Neil White: “To date we’ve seen no real impact from the new GAP rules.”
Nigel Hayes: “The new GAP rules have had no noticeable impact, in fact if anything they have benefited us. Because there is now more emphasis on ensuring the customer is fully informed as to their options with GAP, it has a positive effect – they feel more knowledgeable and as a result less pressurised because it’s a slower sales process.”
Peter Smyth: “I’m afraid the short answer to that is that it is too early to say.”
Paul Wilkinson: “The new rules haven’t affected us at all because we had the correct procedures in place already. Our sales process is designed not to pressurise the customer and it works really well.”
Nathan Tomlinson: “This is an interesting one. We haven’t seen a negative impact on sales, but the anecdotal feedback from customers hasn’t been particularly positive so far. It is clear that we need to work hard to ensure that the sales procedure is compliant, but still remains an enjoyable and exciting experience for the customer.”
Andrew Charman
