Blogs

Given the stream of negative headlines, for many people the outlook for 2023 didn’t look promising. But against a backdrop of political and economic uncertainty, the used car market has gone from strength-to-strength this year, fuelled by very robust levels of consumer demand. On our marketplace we saw a record 238 million visits in Q1, which is up 17% on ...

In the April issue of Motor Trader we look at the new Financial Conduct Authority rules on Consumer Duty that come into force on 31 July 2023 and set higher and clearer standards of consumer protection across financial services and require motor finance firms, brokers and dealers to put their customers’ needs first. It will mean that consumers should receive ...

My blog is again a couple days late this week, but it does provide an opportunity to see the headlines from the Shanghai Auto Show with the press days scheduled on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Whilst auto shows in Europe are in decline and looking to reinvent themselves with new formats, venues and focus, the Chinese still put on ...

Dealers and their customers need to be aware that the differences between GAP products. “Dealers and their customers need to be aware that the distinctive nature of Personal Leasing, notably the cost of early termination that would arise in the event of a total write-off, means that offering a dedicated Lease GAP product is the right way to go in ...

Writing this after a four day holiday weekend in the UK, when I had the chance to more or less put work to one side and do other things, it would be easy to start thinking about the options of everyday being a holiday and retiring or at least slowing down on the work front. This was also brought home ...

I have long been enthusiastic for an automotive business model based on usage rather than ownership, primarily coming from the viewpoint of the potential to maximise the profits derived from a car over its lifetime. The traditional model which I nicknamed ‘sell and forget’ maybe an over-simplification off the importance financially of aftersales to both manufacturers and dealers, but it ...

The news last week that an agreement had been reached between the European Commission, Germany and other interested parties who had raised last minute protests about the ICE ban from 2035, might be interpreted as a U-turn. As I’m sure you are well aware, within the EU and aligned states such as Norway and the UK, we have been working ...

As expected the deal was finalised last week for the acquisition of UK based dealer group Jardine Motors by Lithia of the US. It is anticipated that the coming months will see more activity by Lithia as they seek to expand their UK footprint from the upper premium focus that Jardine currently has. Although not published, it appears that the ...

Demand for public transport, which plummeted during the lockdown, has not fully recovered. Falling demand for buses has seen bus networks shrink. At the same time, consumer confidence in trains continues to come under strain due to regular rail strikes, over-crowding and unreliability. The net result is that in an environment where worker flexibility and the emergence of working from ...

The last few days have been busy for ICDP as we prepare for our spring members meeting in Berlin this week. At this point in the year we are wrapping up a number of research streams before launching out with the new programme activity starting in April. The spring meeting is therefore a ‘best of the best’ recap and an ...