F&I Management & Training

General Motors remained the world’s bestselling carmaker in 2007 after beating rival Toyota by just 3,000 units.

The US giant reported global sales of 9,369,524 yesterday, while Toyota said its total was 9.366 million.

GM has been the world’s bestselling car brand for 77 years.

DATED: 24.01.08

FEED: MT

Motor Traders awaiting outstanding VAT payments on demonstrator models should now see their claims paid in full.
Following a House of Lords judgment that has discredited a claim deadline imposed by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, dealers can expect to receive all outstanding payments.

The House of Lords has decided that pre-existing rights to VAT before 1 May 1997 are protected despite a three-year cap on claims introduced by HMRC.

DATED: 24.01.08

FEED: MT

Koelliker UK Ltd, the new importer and distributor of SsangYong vehicles, has appointed Nigel Unwin as marketing director from Kia Motors UK, where he was events, promotions and sponsorship manager.
Unwin will be heavily involved in the relaunch of SsangYong in the UK, with responsibilities including advertising, sales promotions, sponsorship, incentive programmes, external events and exhibitions.

He joined Kia four years ago and was part of the successful launch team for the new cee’d, Cerato, Sportage and Picanto models.

DATED: 24.01.08

FEED: MT

Cambria Automobiles has snapped up the remaining four sites from the struggling Caledonia Motor Group for an undisclosed sum.
Following its acquisition of the Summit Auto Group earlier this month, the acquisitive Cambria has bought four Fiat sites in the north west.

Caledonia went in to receivership last week and Cambria has moved quickly to snap up the sites in Blackburn, Preston, Warrington and Oldham.

DATED: 23.01.08

FEED: MT

The Bank of England will cut interest rates at least three times this year in a bid to avert recession, according to the Ernst & Young’s ITEM Club Winter forecast.
Rates will be lowered by a quarter of a point “at least three times” in a bid to avert the onset of recession, the economic panel said.

The economists believe that the risk of an outright domestic recession remains low given the momentum in growth, the strength of the world economy (outside the US) and the recent prospective easing in monetary policy.
The economy will, however, undergo a “painful rebalancing” as it stabilises in 2008, the panel said.

DATED: 23.01.08

FEED: MT

eBayMotors.co.uk has teamed up with insurance comparison website insurancewide.com in a deal to provide customers with “a comprehensive choice of car insurance options”.
Jody Ford, head of the eBay Motors site, said: “The needs of the eBay Motors community are wide and varied.

“We believe insurancewide.com provides the right level of choice, service and value to address these needs.” Insurancewide.com claims to offer drivers access to 98 per cent of the UK’s insurers and brokers. Chief executive of the site James Harrison said: “This is a very exciting partnership. “eBay has been incredibly successful in helping people buy and sell cars simply, quickly and inexpensively. “Offering car insurance comparison is a natural follow on from that.”

DATED: 23.01.08

FEED: MT

Despite the squeeze of the credit crunch, there may be a glimmer of hope for dealers, according to industry analysts.
Research conducted by Mintel has estimated 9 per cent of the UK's 16.5m mortgage holders could be considered sub-prime by lenders – potentially bad news for the car market.

Motor industry finance analyst Graham Filmer said, however, that dealers can help themselves out of such looming crises by focusing on their own finance and insurance offers to consumers.

DATED: 22.01.08

FEED: MT

BMW is considering plans to launch an exclusively green car brand in addition to its BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce businesses.
According to a report in Automotive News Europe, the new US fuel economy standards are hitting the carmaker so hard it may be forced to create a fourth brand to sell environmentally friendly cars.

The new business would sell vehicles of a kind considered too extreme to sit comfortably within the company’s existing ranges.

DATED: 22.01.08

FEED: MT

The automotive industry has been ranked as one of the best sectors for customer satisfaction, according to a new study.
The industry was ranked joint second along with the food sector, following a survey of 6,000 people by the Institute of Customer Service.

The Customer Satisfaction Index (UKCSI) asked consumers to rate 12 key public and private sectors on consumer priorities such as professionalism, complaint-handling, quality and competence and friendliness of staff.

DATED: 22.01.08

FEED: MT

Renault-Nissan yesterday signed up to begin mass production of electric cars, part of an Israeli-led scheme to cut oil dependency.
Chief executive Carlos Ghosn said the company chose Israel for the launch because electric vehicles would fit motorists’ lifestyles there.

Around 90 per cent of Israel’s citizens drive less than 70km a day and all urban areas are within 150km of each other. Ghosn said the cars would operate with a range of about 100km in city driving and up to 160km on the motorway.

DATED: 22.01.08

FEED: MT

An Inchcape Retail Mercedes-Benz dealership, part of the group that wants to be the world’s “most customer-centric business”, has been accused of quoting £4,376 for a service job that cost £36.25.
Mark Cornwall, a director of mail order company Car Parts Direct, says Inchcape tried to “cheat” him, an allegation rejected by Inchcape and Mercedes. They both say the dealership dealt with Cornwall correctly.
His six-year-old Mercedes C-Class was towed to Mercedes-Benz of Mansfield in Nottinghamshire after breaking down. Cornwall says the service manager gave him an estimate of £2,654.75 for parts and £1,700 for labour.
Instead, he asked SW Auto Services of Mansfield to investigate the breakdown, caused by water entering the fuse and module box. The protective lid was missing.
Steve Ward, a self-employed mobile mechanic who trades as SW Auto Services, said: “I used a specialist spray for cleaning and drying parts to resolve the problem. The car is still running, and what I did was a repair to resolve the problem, not a quick fix.”

DATED: 21.01.08

FEED: AM

Daihatsu UK is testing a five-year warranty on two models, hoping the ‘peace of mind’ approach initiated by Kia and Hyundai will help to continue the 24% sales growth achieved in 2007.
Dealers were briefed on the idea at a conference in December when plans were drawn up to protect Daihatsu’s position in what is likely to be a testing year for all brands dependent on retail sales.
Five-year cover on the Terios compact SUV and five-door Sirion are described as permanent, but spokesman Arthur Fairley said the initiative would be reviewed at the end of June.
“If it’s a great success, we will extend it – if not, we’ll withdraw it,” he said. “We’ll judge success on Daihatsu’s performance against the market as a whole.
“Our retail network is supporting the idea.”

DATED: 21.01.08

FEED: AM

Vertu Motors has completed a lease for a new Motor Nation used car centre in Doncaster.
The Doncaster site will open in March and add to Vertu’s other Motor Nations in Birmingham, Coventry and Widnes.
The group also announced that all the Motor Nation sites will be rebranded and share the Bristol Street name like Vertu’s dealerships.
Robert Forrester, Vertu CEO, said: “We’ve delivered on our strategy to expand our Motor Nation brand into this new geography for Vertu Motors.
The outlet has significant potential and is the group’s first entry into Yorkshire. It is our intention to continue to identify additional sites with which to expand Bristol Street Motor Nation.”

DATED: 21.01.08

FEED: AM

Is Lotus the Good Samaritan of the motor industry? Its engineering division undertakes work for practically every one of the world’s carmakers – but it has to stay mum about the top-secret engines, suspension and technology it develops.
Confidentiality clauses prevent the Norfolk engineers talking about their work, so we only occasionally hear of their triumphs – like the Vauxhall VX220 Lotus built for GM, or the aluminium chassis system it developed for the seminal Aston Martin Vanquish.
Chairman Mike Kimberley is gentlemanly discreet about his manifold clients, noting merely that “there is only one well-known Japanese firm that we don’t work with – otherwise, we work for every carmaker out there.”
He reveals that Lotus is developing five hybrid production cars and seven electric vehicles (best-known is the much-delayed Tesla sports car) for third party clients.

DATED: 21.01.08

FEED: AM

Vertu Motors, the UK’s tenth largest dealer group, has expanded its used car business into Yorkshire.
The group has acquired a site in Doncaster, which will operate under the Motor Nation name, and is eyeing up further acquisitions to help grow its used car division.

Motor Nation already operates sites in Birmingham, Coventry and Widnes.

DATED: 21.01.08

FEED: MT

Balverona, the largest shareholder in HR Owen, has grown its luxury brands down under and is preparing to bring Chinese cars to the Australian and New Zealand markets.
Through its subsidiary, European Automotive Imports, the Australian car retailer grew its domestic and New Zealand Maserati businesses year-on-year by 25 per cent and 50 per cent respectively - a record year for Maserati in both countries.
Like Maserati, Balverona’s Ferrari business has also seen substantial growth following the company’s takeover of the two brands in 2005.

DATED: 21.01.08

FEED: MT

The cost of the Government investigation into the collapse of MG Rover has risen to more than £11 million with no end in sight. The figure was revealed by Enterprise Minister Stephen Timms in response to a question from Great Grimsby MP Austin Mitchell. The inquiry into MG Rover was launched following its collapse in April 2005 and has now been running for more than two years.

DATED: 21.01.08

FEED: AW

Lookers, one of the UK's largest dealership groups, has predicted a 'significantly dampened' car market this year because of lower consumer spending. The company expects both margins and volumes of new car sales to be lower this year than last year. Chief executive Ken Surgenor said: "Any growth in the business will come from the acquisitions we made last year." Lookers added 31 dealerships to its 111-strong network when it bought Dutton Forshaw in October. (Financial Times)

DATED: 21.01.08

FEED: AW

Ian Cooper has been appointed as sales director for RAC Warranty, a new range of warranty products offered by the RAC in partnership with The Warranty Group. He will retain his role as sales director for The Warranty Group's Motorplan division, one of the UK's leading car warranty products. His new brief is to establish and develop the sales operation for RAC Warranty with both franchise and independent dealers across the UK. Ian's motor industry experience dates back to 1989, when he joined the Camden Group. He originally joined The Warranty Group eight years ago when it was owned by Aon, overseeing the developing of a finance and insurance programme for First National Motor Finance and eventually heading up the corporate motor team.

DATED: 21.01.08

FEED: AW

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is cutting back on detailed insurance-selling rules but tightening up where customers are not being treated fairly.
Simpler rules came into effect on January 6 and firms are required to meet the required standard by July 6. The FLA’s new Insurance Conduct of Business sourcebook (ICOBS) sets out the standards and requirements for the way general insurance firms deal with their customers.
Neil Ward, of industry consultancy Rocket Performance Group, says: “We need to ensure motor retailers are seen to be leaders in offering insurance products with high integrity, and in a customer-friendly manner that extends to all insurance products.”

DATED: 21.01.08

FEED: AM

The Finance & Leasing Association wants to raise point-of-sale finance sales above the 45% achieved in 2007.
The drift has been to direct and high-street lenders, and the challenge is now to restore retail buyers’ confidence in dealers as a ‘centre of excellence’ in this aspect of car buying.
FLA research has revealed a wide gap between the best and worst dealer groups. Some secure finance business on seven in 10 sales but the poorest performers manage only one in five.
Finance companies in the FLA accept it is their responsibility to make dealer group staff more competent.
Some executives are baffled by the inability of dealers to see the potential of F&I business at a time when margins are being squeezed.
The FLA competence certificate is awarded to candidates who complete a free online test designed to provide the basics. Finance companies are convinced some showroom staff try to make a sale while failing to understand either the appropriate technique or the key selling points in some finance packages.
They are up against slickly marketed finance offers from supermarkets and high-profile brand names.

DATED: 21.01.08

FEED: AM

Despite poor market conditions in 2007 – pressures from the credit crunch, the demise of Northern Rock and falling house prices – Black Horse remains optimistic about 2008 and the future of the point of sale market.
As direct and traditional lenders start to trim back their finance offers, there will be more opportunities for dealers to regain market share, and offer appropriately priced loans to a wider range of customers. That’s why Black Horse will continue to develop and launch initiatives like AutoRate Plus during 2008.
This new risk-based pricing approach to selling finance is expected to deliver more profit for dealers and offer them the flexibility to submit proposals for all their customers and have more finance deals underwritten.
The credit crunch will continue to have an impact on the availability and choice of finance/credit on the high street. Consumers will no longer be able to take “easy credit” for granted. This may find them looking to other sources.

DATED: 21.01.08

FEED: John Woolley, BHMF Managing Director

New general insurance rules include changes to the way PPI can be sold.
The final rules for the new Insurance Conduct of Business sourcebook (ICOBS) were published by the FSA just before Christmas. The new rules differentiate between protection products (term, critical illness, income protection and payment protection insurance (PPI)) and other products (all general insurance except PPI).
The new rules came into effect on January 6 and have a six-month transitional period. There is an exception: the FSA is allowing a 12-month transition period for changes in the initial status disclosure document so that you can plan your printing schedules in advance to minimise any wastage of pre-printed material.
For all products except PPI you can, in effect, choose to carry on as you are. For PPI there are new disclosure requirements and, hardly surprisingly, they reflect the FSA findings from their mystery shopping and inspection visits and concerns about the quality of PPI sales.
The FSA is trumpeting ICOBS as a significant stage in the emergence of principles-based regulation with the removal of many detailed rules and much greater reliance on the 11 principles of business and high level standards and, of course, continued focus on the requirement to fulfil the treating customer fairly (TCF) requirements.
Finally, the Competition Commission is currently considering PPI and, as a result, there could be further changes made to the new rules to reflect this.

DATED: 21.01.08

FEED: AM

Skoda has achieved its best-ever sales year, selling 630,032 vehicles worldwide in 2007 - a year-on-year increase of 14.5 per cent.
In Western Europe, the carmaker retailed 327,222 cars, equivalent to a 2.2 per cent rise.

In Eastern Europe, Skoda sold 95,032 units, pushing sales up by 34 per cent compared to the previous year.

DATED: 21.01.08

FEED: MT

Jaguar has taken top honours at the What Car? awards after its new XF model was named car of the year. The Jaguar beat 14 category winners at the ceremony, which was held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London.

What Car? praised the XF for its driveability and design and said its futuristic interior gave it a “real sense of occasion”. The Green Award went to BMW and Mini for the first time – the brands were commended for producing some of the greenest cars on the market.

DATED: 21.01.08

FEED: MT

Caledonia Motor Group has fallen into receivership with estimated debts of £20m and four of the group’s sites have closed down.
BDO Stoy Hayward has been appointed administrator of the ailing business and has announced 78 redundancies so far.

Dealerships in Blackpool, Newport, Manchester and Chester have shut their doors.

DATED: 21.01.08

FEED: MT