Guest Blog

Nagging doubts, alarm bells and research fatigue are familiar to most people who are in the process of buying a new car, but our research shows that for young people, car-buying anxiety is even more acute. Almost half, 49%, of millennials feel anxiety about buying a car, In fact, many young people want the car purchase decision taken away from ...

In the UK, around 1.56 million people are employed in the NHS, making it the largest single employer in the UK. Comparatively, the UK automotive industry, including manufacturing, retail and repair employs around 850,000 or 55% of the NHS. The NHS costs around £116.4bn, whereas the UK Motor Trade in 2015 added £12.4bn in value to the UK economy, or ...

  From Trump to Brexit, 2016 was a year full of shocks and surprises, with experts and commentators wrong footed.  Predicting 2017 is, therefore, difficult at best, if not foolhardy. There are, though, some trends and flashpoints which we can be sure will impact on the motor trade next year. Firstly, demand for property is likely to remain high with ...

Recent research showed that the automotive sector is now bottom of the league table for customer service, below insurance and utility companies. The Engine survey also showed that honesty is the most valued trait in the way a company deals with customers, cited as a top three trait by 50% of people, followed by efficiency (48%) and reliability (44%). One ...

I’m a big fan of blended retailing, but what is it exactly? Put simply, it’s a sales model which fully integrates online shopping. Apple does it brilliantly. But there’s an even greater logic for it when you’re talking big-ticket purchases like cars. Buying habits have been transformed by digital. Customers can do all their research online and confidently create a ...

The pound fell in value by about 20% against the euro following the BREXIT referendum and has not really recovered to any great extent, nor is there any reason to think that it will do so in the medium term. This places considerable pressure on the profit margins being seen by many manufacturers who import cars from Europe into the ...

It’s a widely-held belief that most people only use LinkedIn to find employment but as a social media platform there can be huge benefits to you being engaged with it and using it to your advantage. A picture says a thousand words. LinkedIn is for professionals, so use a head shot if possible and if you don’t have a professionally ...

Last year, Facebook reached an important milestone in its history with one billion users logging on to the site worldwide in a single day. By the end of 2016 there will be an estimated 35 million Facebook and 16 million Twitter users in the UK. Add to this the millions who use Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn, YouTube and Pinterest then social ...

Customers all encounter moments during the car buying process that test their commitment to see the purchase through. It might be lack of parking on the forecourt or perhaps employees don’t offer customers a hot drink even though they’re enjoying one. We call these moments Tripping Points. Large or small, all tripping points matter. The stress they cause can make a ...

With the average age of cars on Britain’s roads now more than seven years old, it’s no surprise that demand for extended warranties is on the rise. Increasingly, consumers are looking for longer security on their purchases and are more aware of the products and services available. There is a bounty of product and pricing information online, enabling consumers to ...