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Well I guess it's this time of year that we all look back at the joys and triumphs , wondering where 2015 went ..it only seems 5 minutes since we were welcoming 2015 never mind waving goodbye to it. For me business has been challenging in 2015 compared to the 2 years of great results, so I have to think was it the market, was it me, the strategy ..we all do it and wonder what we did right /wrong or indifferent , so many things to take into account. In trying to see if I make next year absolutely awesome , I've been looking at Autotrader iControl system , lots of interesting data and a totally new way to sell cars, but one of the things that it shows is desirability of cars in areas, especially in my area, this would obviously help to sell cars faster and more profitable ! I also use motors.co.uk and asked for some data on my stock , now you'd think that would match AT desirability chart , wouldn't you ? Both give me different information , call me old fashioned but I've always worked on what I think I can sell from my business profitably , doesn't always work as its gut feeling , not actual science. Majority of the time gut feeling works ,but the odd few just do not work out , but then again if it was that easy everyone would be selling cars! Curious to know · How's your year been in comparisons to say last 2 ? · How do YOU buy cars ? desirability ? value? ?? whats on offer at the time? · will YOU Change the way you buy/sell cars in the coming year compared to 2015? · Do YOU Price your car at 'the price' as opposed to higher and then lower it if it doesn't sell ? · Do you have an overage policy or till it sells? · What ONE thing did you learn this year that you believe will significantly change/help you business next year ? Thanks for your input guys, wishing you all a happy new year and a very prosperous 2016.

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 ?

Just read this article , not sure if everyone has see it by Glass's Guide -AM interesting Reading , but what do you think? By Dr Richard Parkin It’s a competitive world in the used car sector, but despite the more positive news that the industry is predicted to grow this year, many dealers are still too focused on used car margins and aren’t paying enough attention to stock turn. Richard Parkin, Glass's Dr Richard Parkin is director of valuations & analysis at Glass’s, where he coordinates the editorial and analysis team. Prior to joining Glass’s in 2012, he spent six years as a strategy consultant at Ernst & Young, with a focus on the automotive industry. To maximise profitability, dealers should be focused on the profit made per forecourt space each week rather than on the margin made on a vehicle. Glass’s studied a basket of vehicles over the course of 2013, monitoring the trade and retail prices in each month for a three-year-old/36,000-mile example, along with the average selling days. Astonishingly, the typical difference between trade and retail prices in any given month varied by as much as 25%, or about £500 for a typical B segment car. However, once the average time elapsed between trade purchase and retail sale was allowed for, the actual achieved gross margin showed a more consistent picture. Such findings reinforce our view that trade and retail guide prices need to be derived from independently moving sources of data, otherwise this true behaviour is not captured. Why used car margins do not give dealers the full picture The chart, below, shows the trend in both the actual achieved gross margin and the profit per forecourt space per week for typical B and D segment cars. Glass's stock turn graph Notably, despite a broadly flat gross margin, the financial return on the B segment car to the dealer appears to have declined by about 40% over the course of 2013, from a rate of over £500 to just under £300 per forecourt space per week for a Ford Fiesta Zetec petrol as a consequence of a steady lengthening in the time needed to secure a buyer for such a car, most likely caused by the plethora of great new car deals for private buyers in that segment. By contrast and despite greater volatility, a typical D segment vehicle did not show the same level of decline, with a gross margin potential for a Vauxhall Insignia Exclusiv remaining around £600-£700 per week throughout 2013. However, “hidden discounting†through retail PCP deals has been less aggressive in this segment. It appears that dealers are unaware that the level of profits from certain vehicle segments has been in decline, and many have not adapted. This really brings into question what a dealer should be stocking; however, it will be necessary to stay ahead of the game as once enough dealers make the connection, prices and selling days will become less attractive as retail supply increases and consumer demand shifts elsewhere. Without the right data and systems, there is a real chance that the less informed dealer will be left with only the weaker opportunities.

How much difference do YOU put on a value of a car with & without service history? Customer came in last week to look at an Audi A3, Liked it didn’t have time to test drive and didn’t come in the car they wished to Part exchange BUT wanted the Audi, so they put a deposit on subject to test drive and me inspecting their car today ( One week from putting deposit on it) price for their car I had said between £5000 -£5500 ! Happy with those figures ! They’ve just been in want my car...but their car is worth the £5000 which they would accept, However the FSH – Mercedes B Class- has no service book – they have not removed it from the car since buying it 18 months a long , all other books present – How much adjustment would you make on the value of the car? Any? And would you hold the car for any further time whilst they go and see if Arnold Clark will supply the full service history which they thought the car had when they bought it ?

Pre-Reg – Surplus Stock – Special Offers May be this could open up a can of worms or help ALL dealers out there. I get asked many times to source specific cars or even sometimes not a specific car but a general type/price range of cars ( I’m sure lots of others do too) I use ATM to try and source / request cars – requests normally fall on deaf ears (still don’t know why?) I get lists from various companies of their stock and try to sometimes sell from that or even buy for stock. I hear of lots of ‘pre-reg’ cars with great savings, or new cars with ‘support’ but whenever I want or try and find any of these , no one ever comes forward with them , but the retail customer always knows who’s offering what/where & how to get it. I’d be interested to see what others think about cars /deals being shared /offered with this forum with obviously secure login so that only us dealers can help each other. Its simple I might have a customer in stoke for that ‘pre-reg’ sitting in Aberdeen which needs to be moved rather than collecting dust/ costing money ! Any thoughts ?