Paul C

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Posts posted by Paul C

  3. Posted

    I think a lot will depend on the returns policy. Its the thing a dealer can do to differentiate themselves from dealer Y next door. I think people will be happier (in months to come) actually travelling out and visiting eg a car dealer to look around; and be happy enough to remain socially distanced and outdoors, mainly. They'll be less keen to sit in a car and do a test drive, but there is bound to be some element of demand. Make it easy to return a car, and they'll be more likely to buy it.

    Do a decent PDI, don't sell something unaffordable or unsuitable and I think it will work out. I think (not 100% sure) you can cover "reasonable costs" if the car is returned based on something other than faulty. So you can cover for mileage, another owner on the V5 and re-preparing it. There will always be piss-takers but there's nothing to stop you screening out who you sell a car to (or maybe removing the returns policy eg for <£1000 stuff). I'd happily buy a very cheap or very expensive car sight unseen - its the middle I'd be unsure of.

  4. Posted

    The posh showroom people lobbied the government quite a lot. Did the open car sites assume they'd say car dealers can open, rather than car showrooms can open?

    Anyway...its not 1st June yet.....expect a change or update.....because I agree, its bonkers and doesn't make sense from a risk point of view. I don't think they'll be letting customers into an 8'x20' metal office though!

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  5. Posted

    Its pretty simple - posh dealers with indoor showrooms can open from June 1st. The plebs with a shipping container as an office, have to wait until June 15th. You didn't expect it to be clear, or simple, or fair, from the government after recent events did you???

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  6. Posted · Edited by Paul C

    Yes its car showrooms - https://www.gov.uk/government/news/prime-minister-sets-out-timeline-for-retail-to-reopen-in-june

    "Car showrooms" and "auction houses" were listed as businesses and venues which must be closed to the public, under retail: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/further-businesses-and-premises-to-close/further-businesses-and-premises-to-close-guidance . Also as part of that, it said "all retail except ..............." (and car dealers weren't on the exemption list, but repairs/MoT were).

    The guidance document linked from the BBC article https://www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19/shops-and-branches applies to all retailers (ie those essential ones currently open, as well as those currently closed) and is where "car dealerships" wording is used instead of "car showrooms". (And also mentions auction houses).

    Does this mean if you're a car dealer without a car showroom, you can't re-open on 1 June (and will need to wait until 15 June)???? Answers on a postcard.....

  8. Posted

    Some dealers remained operating but with suitable measures in place, there were a number of critical workers who needed a car and they sorted them out. Nothing wrong with that IMHO.

    If it were dodgy, the customer would have definitely known about it, the fact that non-essential retail was/is closed is very well publicised. I say, let them get on with it, if they're happy to give their money to a dodgy dealer.

  9. Posted

    19 hours ago, Lakeside said:

    There’s pitches near me that have never shut, been open all through lockdown but for viewing on appointment only.

    I'm surprised they got away with it (do you know they did though?), they would have stuck out like a sore thumb, most places were like a ghost town in April.

  11. Posted

    1 hour ago, MarkTVS said:

    Ordered the book but anyone seen there online reviews? Surprisingly awful

    I suspect they try to "vet" their potential customers to save time, so those with £70k budget looking at £80k cars are going to be somewhat frustrated.

    Some of his answers to James' questions were incredible too!

    I sense James has a soft spot for supercars (which is great). Personally for me, these kinds of dealers and interviews are good entertainment but somewhat irrelevant to day-to-day life.

  13. Posted

    2 hours ago, BHM said:

    Surely this is a wind-up?

    I'm not seeing it? It seems a genuine and relevant issue for the OP?

    One way to know for sure.....look at the options code sticker. If it has QG0, it would have come from the factory new, set for normal services. If it has QG1 then it was longlife - so you'll be okay for up to 20k/2yrs. Some dealers set the service interval from longlife to normal on the PDI though - but even if they did, the vehicle's fluids etc would be okay for long intervals if it has the QG1 option code.

    In 2017 the vast majority were on longlife, certain engines/models and territories never had the option though.

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  14. Posted

    8 hours ago, Casper said:

    Might be 2 year service intervals . Worth checking 

    Might be worth checking it might be 2 year i know the golf of that year is on long-life  and theres no service book all held on dealer computer 

     

     

    This.

    I believe VWs on longlife service are up to 2 years/20,000 miles. I can't remember if they are on an inspection only after 1 year though.

    Its fairly obvious on the dashboard if/when a service is overdue, so I don't see how an average user would be able to miss it.

  15. Posted

    In reality, you'd not "reinvent the wheel" over and over, there's companies who sell web platforms which can do this kind of thing. They would keep abreast of any exploits and issue (and probably apply or auto apply) patches to stop them. You'd only need to develop your own website if you wanted something sufficiently custom which couldn't be found "off the shelf".

  17. Posted

    If that's a concern then you could use some kind of technique to limit the number of enquiries, ie limit per day, or per IP address, or per email address. And/or use a CAPCHCA to prevent someone else screen scraping your paid-for service.

    No method is perfect but it would dissuade casual attacks such as the above. The trick is to find a solution which isn't intrusive to the people you want to give the info to, but prevents abuse. No doubt CAP-HPI have an overall throttle anyway.

  18. Posted

    You'd need 2 main things:

    1. A cap-hpi subscription, with the relevant access to used car valuations. I'd imagine you'd also want to be able to lookup by VRM, instead of/as well as make/model etc. CAP don't publish prices online but there is some info here and an enquiry number: https://www.cap-hpi.com/products-and-services

    2. A website which is designed to look pretty at the front end and can communicate in the background with the CAP HPI webservice. There's a bunch of documentation online: https://developer.cap.co.uk/webservices Typically this is bread & butter work for a web developer but obviously they'd need to be given a fairly accurate description/specification of the work. I'd also strongly recommend they're involved in deciding which type/features you sign up for in the cap-hpi subscription, since there may be other things of interest which you'd want to incorporate; or alternatively, you could just offer something basic and slim down costs as much as possible there too.

  19. Posted

    Only vaguely related, and I can't decide if the message is "we don't care about car owners" or "get in your car but not in London" but this: https://cardealermagazine.co.uk/publish/mike-brewer-dont-penalise-motorist/192638 is a good illustration of how the government aren't suddenly going do to any U-turns resulting in a flood of consumers back into their cars. 

    I'm a little undecided if Mike is the best ambassador for our industry either. I've kinda never forgiven him after he did that terrible botched Golf GTI renovation on Wheeler Dealers and stuck the side stripes on upside-down!

  20. Posted

    If the government (can afford to) provide an economic stimulus in the future, I think it will either be in the form of specific help for certain sectors - for example airlines, pubs/restaurants, performing arts. The car industry is somewhat lower down on the list and is expected to "get on with it themselves". And/or, a VAT drop to 15% or thereabouts to provide a more general stimulus.

    Worrying times ahead for franchises, I feel. I think auctions are going to undergo something of a revolution too but I'm not sure quite how it would end up.

  21. Posted

    See https://cardealermagazine.co.uk/publish/is-new-scrappage-scheme-coming-in-2020/192471

    On first reading, it makes sense......but then, its only really the view of ICDP (International Car Distribution Programme). Of course, car manufacturers will like it, because its basically targeted free money which helps them get closer towards their 95g/km target which it looks like they'll miss - badly - and face a bunch of huge fines for.

    Manufacturers and new car dealers can do what they like to sell/promote the cars they want to, but at the end of the day its the actual Government, not them, who are going to set the parameters of a scheme (if any materialises). And.....the government are a bit busy with other stuff. Its well known that the car industry as a whole is important but somewhat oversized, does it really help to just throw money their way, long term, anyway?

    I think the general public will be as keen as ever to be pro-environmental in years to come after CV19, having had a taste of what its like during the reduced economic and transport activity. But the obvious way to achieve that is to greatly reduce the amount of those polluting activities and do something else. The mindset has changed, where before there was a "need" to travel, that might be a bit diluted now too? So the desire for eg electric cars is kinda the same (they balance out), not bolstered by this crisis.

    Is it so great to continue propping up the car industry? Who loses out if the scrappage scheme is introduced? Does it really benefit consumers and the environment?

  23. Posted

    I think in the next few - well its going to be months - short term price variations are going to be very difficult to predict. CAP have said they won't even adjust prices until there's 15% of a normal market. Auto Trader have commented on prices (see James's latest video) but that was based on the 10% or so of dealers who had done trading of some kind, through the lockdown (not sure how).

    It would be fair enough to give any weight to those predictions if it were a typical 10% of the market, but its not, its the 10% who had everything in place to work around,  (or ignored!) the relevant restrictions. So its a bit of a distortion.

    Its interesting they say dealers control the price trend (ie keep prices same.....prop up the market) but they all recognise supply and demand is there too. I have a funny feeling we'll be in a deep recession BUT the UK's will be shallower and quicker, long term, than Europe and USA because with Brexit. Its more important than ever to present the UK as a good place to do business and the government no longer have the constraints to offering the support (eg to various sectors or businesses if it chooses to) which being a member of the EU would have meant. The government really are throwing money at this at an astounding rate.

    What does this mean for prices? Its inevitable there will be a slowdown in demand and a lowering of the average price of a car but that's easily achievable simply by consumers keeping their car for a bit longer, and the average age getting a bit older. New cars and manufacturers will suffer the most, secondhand not so much. But there's plenty of businesses which were structurally not quite right before CV19, it will accelerate their changes/demise.

  24. Posted

    35 minutes ago, Highlinev8 said:

    I think its more like the three times the auction fee that Joe public pays compared to a dealers gold/platinum card 

    Don't worry they'll find a way of putting the prices up and keeping profitable. Or letting everyone do it online.

  25. Posted

    4 minutes ago, Lakeside said:

    I still cant see it that early, even when none essential shops are allowed to reopen social distancing will still be in place.

    How can a tiny auction hall cater for a few hundred buyers all fighting for attention and often in groups of other friends/family/colleagues to all stand 2 metres apart? 
     

    It’s usually as packed as a cattle market and they won’t want to limit the amount of customers allowed in. 

    I guess it varies for different auctions. For sure, they'll be limiting the numbers attending in person to try enforce some kind of social distancing. The ones I know will probably be okay with that limitation, they are quite spacey, but I imagine some might never reopen until 2021 or later if they simply can't comply.