Guest Blog

Pressure on motor finance companies looks set to see changes in the months ahead and lenders and dealers must adapt. This is the view of MotoNovo CEO Mark Standish as he surveys a number of pressure points across the industry leading to significant decisions being made by major lenders, including market exits. Standish said: “The automotive sector must pay attention ...

The new car market may be down as a whole, but the picture is not as bleak as we may think. Not all brands are experiencing the same level as downturn, in reality, what we’re seeing is that it’s a select few manufacturers whose results are impacting the market overview. In fact, the numbers could have appeared a lot lower ...

Increasingly, consumers are carrying out most of their car-buying journey online, with fewer visiting dealer forecourts and taking test-drives. The internet offers consumers a superb virtual showroom, with a plethora of videos, photos, reviews and social media posts. So what should dealers do to improve their websites to ensure consumers have a great experience and recommend them onto friends and ...

Despite extensive negativity in the press towards diesel following the emissions scandal of 2015, and a sudden resurgence of interest in petrol, used diesel values have held up very well. Diesel cars remain a popular choice for consumers due to their excellent fuel economy and generally, they look good value for money. While new diesel car registrations collapse, in the ...

In its recent report on motor finance, the FCA made clear that it would be consulting with the industry on long term changes to the market and that further scrutiny should be expected. The report was also clear on the FCA’s expectation that action should be taken now to improve compliance with current requirements and ensure fair treatment of customers. ...

I’m often asked about selling service plans. Quite simply, when it comes to selling service plans don’t sell them. Invite people to engage or enjoy the convenience of having a service plan. Customers may ask “how much it is?”. The typical response they get is the “monthly price”. The reality is that the cost of the service plan is zero. ...

Despite consumer uneasiness, fuel-type confusion and economic uncertainty, the used car market has remained stable in Q1, the largest quarter of the year. However, when you drill down further into fuel type, a different story is told. Although diesel transactions on the whole are down, they have not dropped significantly, despite the confusion that has flooded the industry in recent ...

There needs to be a sweeping change in the role of technology both at the point of sale and online, placing consumers in control of their finance experience and just as importantly to provide lenders with a rigorous record of the customer’s finance buying experience. We need to make it more customer-friendly and accountable. Moving beyond the potential changes to ...

In motor retailing carmakers routinely enforce a long list of minimum standards for dealer showrooms and print and online marketing. But it’s still rare for them to stipulate standards of any kind for dealers’ outbound digital marketing activity. This is surprising. Purchase decisions are now increasingly made in the digital, not physical realm. It’s increasingly likely that the first impression ...

With Brexit looming and the uncertainty of what that will mean for the industry it’s fair to say that Q1 2019 has been like no other for UK automotive dealers. It is my belief that if Britain does exit the EU, it is likely cars will become 10%-20% more expensive to consumers, depending on what happens to the value of ...