umesh

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Everything posted by umesh

  1. umesh
    Strange two things have happened this week regarding Main Dealer service dept. 1st - Had a Hyundai serviced by main dealer this week , 2nd service - on time as its only done 5900 miles - got the car back going through the invoice for curiosity of breakdown of costs - replace spark plugs !! now looking at the list of ' 2 year /25,000 mile ' service technically its due but doesn't common sense come into the equation at times ? [ I didn't pay the full ' menu' price as I got a deal ] but when i booked it in surely the receptionist could have said about the spark plugs etc etc ! 2nd Just sold an MX5 to a customer and he asks me if the ' bottle for the puncture repair kit is up to date as its an MOT failure' I said I've never heard of that being part of the MOT. He went on tell me he's just had his Honda MOT'd at the main dealer and they rang him to tell him that would want replacing as its out of date for the MOT. [ The Mazda MX5 Bottle says best before 10/11 -serviced by Mazda and sold my Mazda Main dealer in 2012 , so you'd think they would have replaced it during the servicing or prior to selling to last buyer - wouldn't you? ] I just asked the workshop next door - they thought i's lost the plot as its nothing to do with the MOT [ Had to ask just in case new rules had crept in and I wasn't aware ] Any comments !
  2. umesh
    Interesting to offer Free, Think we all know Free or not IF Consumers are not searching the RAC website dealers wont make a sale! so pointless However if they get the SEO right and the marketing then the sales may come ! a tough challenge .. but its all about where ' buyers' are looking - isn't it?
  3. umesh
    James, That's a MASSIVE list of suppliers ! How are we supposed to see them all in just one day Will be a great day and interesting day !
  4. umesh
    Either no one has experience or its a booming business and no one wants to give their secrets away! Personally I can't see it working - a lot of very competitive deals already available from dealers , would need massive investment to get the name out in the market place. any thoughts anyone else?
  5. umesh
    GTC to me 'Coupe' ! #confusing we have to second guess what the customer is searching for !.
  6. umesh
    So what did we all think of the #secretshopper with Mary Portas and the car dealer 'Gatehouse Motor Group - Aylesbury' If you missed it here it is : http://www.channel4.com/programmes/mary-portas-secret-shopper/on-demand/59476-004
  7. umesh
    very interesting as we all know most of the buyers do their research in the evening and Ling your stats show it. You have more of a unique business model than most / all dealers - used cars are very different and some new cars too , as customers want part exchange values etc . your target audience is simply buying a rental - they (most) already know what they want when they arrive to your website , some get seduced into payments. No question you have a great business but a bit different to being a 'dealer'. was trying to upload the stats from yesterday but not sure why it wont let me ... steady visitors all day then between 6.00 -8.00 pm it shot up.. 9.00-12.00 a a few - quite a lot back at 4.00am ....
  8. umesh
    Just in case you've not seen this , Mary Portas visits a car dealership and shows how its done with some changes to be aired on 17th March 8.00 pm - Will be interesting , I do love watching her programmes , she always has an interesting angle and it will be great to see her perspective on 'retailing of cars' Attached is the official article
  9. umesh
    Great to see motor dealers in the 'Sunday Times Top 100 employers' but what do you think makes a good employer? This is the article for those who might have missed it: Swansway group was the top rated dealer group in the just published Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For 2015. Over 1,050 organisations with over 2.5 million employees submitted applications for the 2015 Best Companies to Work For assessment. The 100 Best Companies to Work For in the 250-3,500 employee range included motor finance company MotoNovo as a new entrant in 14th position. MotoNovo employs 297 staff and has annual turnover of £804m. Motor dealer Swansway was in 34th position. Swansway is rated 32 in the Motor Trader Top 200 with turnover of £290m, employing 670 staff. The Car Finance Company was in 74th slot and used car retailer Motorpoint was in 92nd position. Motorpoint is rated 2 in the Motor Trader Top 50 Independent Dealers with annual turnover of £361.7m. The final two automotive firms in The Sunday Times listing were car distributors Toyota (GB) and BMW GB. Employees assess their company on leadership and how they feel about the head of the company and its senior managers Your thoughts?
  10. umesh
    Underselling or maximising FULL profit potential. Here’s an interesting bit of info for anyone interested. Hopefully everyone on here likes to make the’ maximum profit’ on any car you've bought, don to the last £25/50 [They all add up just think if you’re selling 25 cars per month – extra £25 per vehicle = £7500 year-end profit, sorry I digress] Just trying to do a deal on a Golf Plus 2011-11 – 17000 miles, one owner FVSH + Few extras. I've valued the car with Autotrader Price £8650 Glass Guide £9060 CAP Clean £9375 [Live today £9475] Slight variance; happens on them all but what is the Retail price for this car? I use Glass Guide and the useful feature is ‘Radar’ For those who don’t know about ‘radar’ it shows same/similar vehicles either for sale or sold throughout the country , who is selling it/ sold it and days in stock and on average how many days that car takes to sell. So I check who’s got one and what they’re selling for or have sold for. Hopefully not boring you but the 1st 4 cars sold as follows £8999 14 Days in Stock Suzuki Dealer £9490 93 days in stock VW Dealer [£10490 – 2 months £9490] £8950 92 days in stock Ford Dealer [£9450 – THEN £10,000 –Reduced to £8950] £9995 86 days in stock VW Dealer [£9995 – 2 months then £8999] Is it that the car has been undersold? or is that the correct retail price , if that’s the case then are the trade values wrong? After that we have to think DO - GG/ CAP/ Autotrader ++ collate this info , look at the ‘retailed prices’ and adjust the ‘trade values’ down due to the retail values being lower? Retail values according to Autotrader £10825 GG £10800 CAP £10950 [Live £11095] So I’m sure we’d all agree retails are £11000! Have these dealers missed ‘ extra profit potential ‘ would they have been better simply ‘trading’ these cars from day one and even made more profit than retailing them ? Your thoughts ? Hope it all makes sense ? Over to you ! *PS the mileage of all the cars is not 17,000 but even taking the variance at most of £500/600 - I feel the retail value would have been £10500. Also note the vehicle i valued is today the cars were for sale since November where the trade/ retail values would have been higher ?
  11. umesh

    Workshop

    umesh posted a topic in General Dealer Chat

    Just thought I’d see what thoughts everyone has on this topic. I don’t have a workshop, there is a separate business attached to my premises with workshop, they do pretty much all my work, servicing, repairs, mot, tyres etc. Like most of us, these modern cars are sometimes just too complex – the diagnostic machine doesn't always tell us what’s wrong, so the odd one or two are trial and error, not ideal [After saying that, I’ve had some cars sent to the main dealers and they have also been trial and error] just a general few questions about repairs / workshops to see what happens out there. • What do most of you do with repairs/ diagnostics? • Do you encourage customers to come back for serving repairs back to you even if you don’t have your own workshop? • What marketing do you do get them back? • Do you provide courtesy cars? Free? Collect & deliver etc? • If you have a workshop what qualifications do your staff have and do you send them to any training courses [main dealers obviously do] which ones? • How do you keep your staff motivated in the service dept and do you pay them on performance or simply hourly rate? • Is there any diagnostic equipment you would recommend or not recommend? • Do you find main dealers helpful if you have problems with cars that you/ your workshop can’t find faults with?
  12. umesh
    yeap ! Seems every manufacturer is 'buying' the deals ! £19k - some shocking 'dealer deposit contributions' even on run of the mill cars ! no wonder the ' finance penetration' figures are going through the roof !
  13. umesh
    So many platforms, which or which ones do you choose - a difficult decision and its trial and error in some respect , you have to see what suits YOUR business - think we've all tried them all - but in the end it all boils down to who gives the best ROI , Its as simple as that.
  14. umesh
    Saw the last 10 Mins as I switch over to watch dragons den ..... when I say the Peugeot's been wrecked - I thought I'm so glad i don't watch this rubbish ... what a waste of time ! pointless driving the cars into the house is this the best they can do ? #UtterRubbish
  15. umesh
    So we’re in the final week of February, Talking to lots and lots of dealers it’s been a tough month for leads, sales, profit (According to the majority!) So who, what do we blame – the climate, the stock, the advertising platforms i.e. Autotrader, Motors, eBay, Piston heads, local press, Google, Gumtree ,sales staff (for those who have staff!) or ourselves or maybe the weather – whatever we all blame it doesn’t change the fact we’re all not happy with the results. Sometimes I guess we need to look at what we are offering to our customers , I’m no marketing guru but I try and put myself into the customers shoes , IF I was looking for a car searched the net from where ever and eventually landed at the dealer website what do I want to see. Well believe me it’s shocking, dealers trying to sell cars with poor images , quality and quantity , dirty floor mats in the foot well, dirty cars, stains on the seats, flat tyre ( Oh Yes!) and the list continues .. Would YOU even bother to call or visit that dealer? NO! Then why do these dealers expect the customer to even call never mind visit or buy the car. Back to basics! Preparation and presentation has to be 1st surely? Now I probably go overboard with the number of images between 25/60 ! and a Full HD Video walk around of every car..But It SELLS CARS ! Only last night a customer collected a Galaxy and he told me about his experience, his words “ You would not believe the state of some of the cars I've seen , some dealers have 2/3 pictures and not even been valeted , when I saw the video of your car I knew you had nothing to hide , and that made me buy the car – I've not seen anyone else do that , think it’s a fantastic idea†I've sold quite a number of cars simply down to the video ( Now I should keep that secret to myself) In all honesty if it helps some of you guys sell more cars – fantastic ! Some of you may think waste of time and don’t have time to do them, that’s fine , some may be saying I sell loads without doing all these ..great continue with what works for you. Please feel free to check out my website and video’s AND Please shout if you think i could improve on anything – all feedback appreciated – positive or negative ! Happy Selling guys and remember keep smiling and enjoying what you do , most of all have FUN ! www.autochange.co.uk
  16. umesh
    http://www.driving.co.uk/news/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-supercar-supersalesman/?CMP=Spklr-145352301-Editorial-TWITTER-ST_Driving-20150216-Driving&linkId=12380741 Not had chance to read it yet, but thought it may be of interest ! Any Thoughts ?
  17. umesh
    Just wondering who's who ? I have no issues with anyone know who I am , where my location or contact details are - so anyone is free to talk / contact me directly if they so wish . Are others worried about rest of the forum members knowing who's who? Any particular reason ? #JustAsking
  18. umesh

    email leads

    umesh replied to umesh's topic in General Dealer Chat

    Wheelerdealer1 even if they don't lead to any thing , like some phone calls - it is not polite to reply even if just a thank you but I can't help you or its sold .... etc. I get the odd one or two like everyone i.e. car advertised at £12000 - they bid you £10000 - I still reply and without being rude tell them they need to get realistic that they WILL Not be buying that car .... the odd one or two have come back and bought ! so personally i reply to all #justSaying
  19. umesh
    Interesting and wanting to see what everyone thinks ! David @The_Marques_Man And Duncan @CarDealerDunc recently posted they inquired by email about possibly buying a car - / requesting info - But neither received a reply back from the dealers ! Could it be 1- The dealer didn't get the enquiry 2- why ? if they didnt 3- if they did why not respond? any thoughts - and how much value due to put on an email lead as opposed to a telephone lead?
  20. umesh
    Preparation, display , marketing it correctly has to be right ! as said i'm told too many times by potential customers who have seen a car much cheaper , driven to see it only to be a wasted journey ! There are still many customers who want a proper car and pay the money AND want to be treated as a valuable customer. The guys who think they can buy a car add small profit but not prepare it correctly , thinking the car will sell because its cheap are disillusioned .. how many times do we all see cars on trade systems i.e. ATM - Overage - but needs £XXX spending ! guess what - Majority of the time had it been professionally prepared, marketed correctly it would have sold and not become an overage / unsalable problem ! Well thats my thoughts
  21. umesh
    It is difficult to try and sell used cars on line , although I now do full walk around Video of All my cars , there is something about touch, feel smell.! The videos do work very well for me - have definitely sold cars to many customers from further afield and local , they all say " we know you have nothing to hide as you're walking / talking us through the whole car " and the guarantee I give that Full refund of their deposit should the car not be as described gives them confidence to at least reserve the car.
  22. umesh
    Where is the motortrade / dealership going? Just wondering what thoughts everyone had on the future of retailing new & used cars. I was watching Alex Polizzi last week explaining to a couple who were running a kids fun cresh / cafe business and how if they didn't keep up with the changes and what customers wanted their business would end up like Blockbuster ! BUST! as they hadn't changed with the times with the introduction of Netflix , on demand movies etc. Any thoughts?
  23. umesh
    GREAT story indeed ! customer for life comes to mind and probably family for life ! Great PR Well done to Sytner team.
  24. umesh
    I'll definitely be coming along again this year ! very much looking forward to meeting everyone and seeing what you guys have to share with us from the NADA Convention ! Can't wait ! Thank again James and ALL the team for putting this event on , for those who've never been don't make excuses be THERE ! Its one very important day not to be missed !
  25. umesh
    Never watch it ..might have seen the very, very odd episode but Top Gear does nothing for me!!