Guest Blog

Last week, Arnold Clark filed their financial results for calendar year 2021.  As a private company, there was no press release or media event associated with this – they were just filed with Companies House. We know that the last year or so has been remarkably good for dealers due to the combination of government support during the pandemic restrictions ...

The UK is in a transition to a more sustainable future. Naturally, there is a large focus on EVs, but the infrastructure needed to charge them is just as important. The Climate Change Committee estimates that there will be 18 million EVs in the UK by 2030. We know that the UK car parc is going to change. And we ...

In an unusual move, HMRC have directly targeted motor dealers with an educational email and video aimed at reducing the frequent VAT errors discovered on VAT inspections. Many businesses have been left much to their own devices while HMRC have been distracted by the twin challenges of Brexit and COVID, VAT enquiries at motor retailers have continued apace for the ...

Lithia and Hedin have tabled unsuccessful offers for Pendragon. The group is now ‘very visibly’ in play says Steve Young A characteristic of the UK car retail market is the dominance of the large dealer groups. The Top 10 groups held over a quarter of the total new car market in 2019, and the Top 50 groups held half the ...

I’ve met a few industry contacts in the last weeks, and apart from the fact that we all have an interest in the future of automotive distribution, the other thing in common is that we all have our premium German cars serviced at the same location. Life should be so easy for them – a strong OEM brand, waiting lists, ...

Public charging and car dealerships are in unexplored territory largely due to the fact the dealers are often unwilling to concede parking spaces from which they can sell used cars. There are elements of benefit to the dealer worth considering. Ultimately, the dealer is future-proofing against significant infrastructure cost, as charging point operators (CPOs) will cover any grid upgrade costs ...

At the beginning of the year the Driver ~& Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) ran a campaign urging drivers to check their MOT dates and avoid heavy fines. Months later, we are still seeing dates being missed and a level of customer confusion about how much leeway is still being granted as a result of the pandemic. This presents an opportunity ...

As we pass the half point of the year, we take a temperature check of the UK Automotive Retail sector, looking at the key themes and how these impact the PLC dealers. The sector showed exceptional resilience and flexibility in the pandemic, followed by very strong trading in 2021. We expect that dealers will once again prove resilient to supply ...

Most manufacturers have some ambition in their strategic plan to generate some billions of additional profit in a few years from the sale of digital services. Inspired by companies like Apple, these are seen to be very high margin products delivered over-the-air throughout an extended period of the life of the car. This is not totally new, as GM launched ...

Julian Rance, MD Paragon Motor Finance. Proposals floated recently to tax electric vehicle (EV) drivers per mile shows that the current attractive tax treatment of electrified driving won’t last for ever. Today, we are in the ‘carrot’ stage of the electrification journey. The Government wants to transition drivers to EVs and there needs to be a compelling financial incentive to ...