All articles by Charles Wheeldon
Charles Wheeldon
VRA to hold conference at Silverstone
Themed as Shaping the Future of Remarketing the conference will cover wide-ranging vehicle remarketing influences and activity, with plenty of audience engagement and instant feedback through the use of electronic voting handsets.TV presenter and automotive broadcaster Ginny Buckley is hosting the event for the second time It will feature key figures from the remarketing sector and broader motor industry, including Pendragons chief executive Sir Trevor Finn; SMMT chief executive Paul Everitt; John Lewis, chief executive at BVRLA; Helena Fearon, director of risk and compliance at Trader Media Group; and David Raistrick, automotive partner at Deloitte UK
Premium brands buck drop in used car sales
Premium brand used cars, led by Audi and BMW, bucked a small decline in overall Q3 UK sales volumes with year-on-year increases of 8.6% and 2.8% respectively, according to statistics released by global information services company Experion By contrast, fewer Toyotas and Renaults were sold in Q3 compared to last year, with sales down 7.7% and 7% respectively.
Mazda offers £500 incentive on new cars
Mazda Motors UK is offering all customers taking up any of their current offers an additional £500 if they agree to scrap their old car. The manufacturer has teamed up with car recycling company Cartakeback, which decontaminates the vehicles and recycles as much of them as possible, sending less than 20% of the original weight to landfill at the end of the process.
UK car registrations buck monthly EU trend
New car registrations in the European Union decreased by 1.8% in October, totalling 1,005,976 units From January to October, the region recorded 11,126,436 new cars, or 1.2% less than in the first ten months of 2010. The UK market, however, grew by 2.6% in October, compared to October 2010
Evolution wins twice at awards dinner
Around 150 leading figures from the world of motor finance gathered at the Harben House conference centre in Milton Keynes last week, for the annual F&I conference and awards dinner held by Frontline Solutions Lee Jones of West London Motor Group won the Business Manager of the Year Award (sponsored by Contact Advantage).
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Figures confirm “positive trend”
UK car manufacturing rose by 7.5% in September, compared to September 2010, and is up 4.8% over the first nine months of 2011, compared to the corresponding period last year, according to figures published today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders
HHBF installs Vienna as it plans expansion
Cumbrian independent motor finance provider H&H Borderway Finance (HHBF) has expressed confidence in the north-eastern motor finance market by installing Oyster Bay Systems Vienna product to increase its efficiency as business grows. HHBF managing director David Carruthers said that while several competitors have abandoned the area, HHBF decided to expand by picking up increased market share within its territory and by forging links with dealers farther afield.
Uncertainty ahead in the used car market
Will ageing stock, fewer newer cars or falling demand be the key determiner of future prices?Charles Wheeldon examines the findings of Professor Peter Cookes report on the used car market. Evidence that the UK car parc is getting older, and that fewer newer used cars are entering the market, mean some tricky decisions for dealers
FLA recovery scheme
FLA vehicle recovery scheme statistics, October 2011, in association with HPI Crushwatch
NACFB welcomes dealers
Graham Hill, motor finance director at the National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers has outlined plans to develop the NACFBs membership base to include dealers as well as brokers. Partnership between dealers and brokers is key to their mutual success asserted Hill, who said: The more new cars that are provided by brokers, the more new cars are provided by dealers, and the more used cars are made available to dealers to sell at more affordable prices its a merry-go-round, not rocket science Every time a dealer or a broker loses a finance deal to the customers bank, based solely on the APR that the customer can get via the bank, is a sale that shouldnt be lost.