Category Archives: Industry News

Top 5 Tips : Selling your car on Ebay.

Top 5 Tips : Selling your car on Ebay.

  Five Things you should do to make selling a car on Ebay easier and more profitable. (1) Provide a clear and accurate description. Seems like common sense but the amount of people who people who frame their listings as “2008 Audi for sale. Good car call Tony” Amazes me.  Tony here will be answering emails and taking phone calls for the rest of the week.  He will also have to do a load of viewings and his car will not meet its reserve. Take the time to provide all the detail you can. Think of questions you would … Continue reading

Top 5 Tips:Lower your Insurance Costs

Top 5 Tips:Lower your Insurance Costs

Five Things you can do to try and save some money on your car Insurance renewal. (1) Use the online Aggregator websites. Its a little bit time consuming but worth the effort. Once you have filled in one you will be able to copy and paste your details into the others. We have had good results from confused.com but you can also try comparethemarket, moneysupermarket,go compare etc. (2) Get quoted for Fully comp. Sounds like an anomaly but most Insurance companies want to insure fully comprehensive only so you may actually end up paying a premium when you try … Continue reading

Top 5 Tips:Part exchanging your car

Top 5 Tips:Part exchanging your car

A Car dealer is not providing a public service. They are not obliged to offer any set rate for your car and they are perfectly entitled to make a profit. Heres how the transaction works.. (1) Give your car a wash and a vacuum. If you are serious get it valeted or give it a coat of wax. Why do this ? See how keen you would be on buying the dealers car if it wasnt looking smart and shiny on a forecourt. Imagine how interested in the car you would be if the boot was full of shopping … Continue reading

Top 5 Tips:Buying a car from a Broker

Top 5 Tips:Buying a car from a Broker

The customer that will benefit most from a new car brokering service is the cash buyer who is ready to move on a deal today. You can still use brokers if you have a part ex to clear but it complicates the matter. We will cover how to get rid of you old car in another tip section but for now these tips are for people in a position to buy a car straight. (1) Do your research and know exactly what make,  model and spec grade the car you want is.  Spec levels and options can get confusing … Continue reading

Tesco Find There was no Fat left to Trim.

Tesco Find There was no Fat left to Trim.

I wrote an article about Autoquake when they went belly-up a few years back which brought me a lot of positive feedback. When Tesco cars got into bed with the struggling Carsite operation, I again wrote a brief piece about how they should be able to bring some fresh knowledge to the market and how using Carsites experience of a tough few years of online retailing might be able to make it work. I did point out at the time that I believed Tesco only viewed Cars as a gateway product to Finance,Servicing,Insurance etc,  this was based on my … Continue reading

UK Used Car Market Jan-Mar 2012

UK Used Car Market Jan-Mar 2012

If ever the gulf between trade auction prices and forecourt retail prices was closing then the current period is increasingly tight. So tight in fact that many Retail supermarkets have actually stopped the buying of usual stalwards such as Corsas,Insignias, Golfs and even Ford products. Many of these sellers were finding that unless a suitable Finance package was being sold with the car the deals were not adding up. Despite record numbers of cars being available at auction the recycling of cars which we have seen since mid period 2011 continues and vendors are just unwilling to wash out … Continue reading

UK Market View June/July 2011 A to D.

UK Market View June/July 2011 A to D.

Market view by brand A through D.  June/July 2011   ALFA ROMEO: Fear of running costs is not helping Alfas at the moment and once they go over 3 years or start approaching above average miles they are becoming a less viable retail proposition for dealers. The GT Coupe Blackline with the 1.9 JTD diesel unit is sought after. The Mito has been well received and is holding up well, Like the fiat 500 it is selling best in solid colours red,Black and White. Too early to pass comment on the Giulietta with most cars remaining  within the dealer … Continue reading

Autoglass Spin over the cracks

Autoglass Spin over the cracks

This week we heard of more Job losses in the car trade.  The sad news this time is almost 400 technicians are set to lose their jobs at Autoglass.  While the company has to scale back in general, I don’t think anyone in the P.R department will be losing their jobs.  An outstanding bit of work managed to divert attention from the company and any possible problems it may be facing, by selling us the far more interesting story that redundancies were being forced  because people have responded to recession  by slowing down and driving more carefully.  Just about … Continue reading

Car Dealer do’s and don’ts for Social Media.

Car Dealer do’s and don’ts for Social Media.

In the year 2011 It still fazes me how so many car dealers have little or no web presence.  Many small dealers still rely on the Auto trader self host three page spread. This is understandable for a two man operation with 15 cars in stock, it still doesn’t make it ok. What actually shocks me is how, what I would consider large companies i.e. several staff, large or multiple premises have an un-promoted sad sack of a basic html website and no further interaction with the public through social media. Lack of understanding of technology is a tired … Continue reading