- November 18, 2020
- By Shannon Fairbairn
MotorVise has responded to an urgent call by automotive benevolent charity Ben to plug its £1m funding shortfall by launching a festive-themed ‘Xmas Do-nation’ appeal. The firm is handing over the £1,000 it intended to spend on its now cancelled staff Christmas ‘do’ to Ben – and says if dealerships across the UK follow suit, it would generate a healthy surplus.
The UK governments must avoid the example of Wales in shutting car dealerships as part of strict lockdown measures, motor trade sales expert Fraser Brown has urged. Showrooms and forecourts across the principality are due to remain closed until 9th November as part of its firebreak lockdown. However, the Welsh government’s definition of non-essential retail has already attracted a 60,000-name petition calling for an immediate reversal of the ban.
Car dealerships can ill-afford a month of zero revenue so it’s time to ensure they continue trading safely, efficiently, and effectively – despite the closure of showrooms, says MotorVise Automotive managing director, Fraser Brown. As England prepares to enter a second lockdown, it’s important for dealers to understand and abide by the rules while, at the very minimum, maintaining order take.
MotorVise Automotive has appointed experienced divisional director Nick Coyle to head up its sales team. Having worked with some of the biggest dealerships across the North of England with responsibility for up to 20 Mercedes Benz sites in a career spanning 40 years, he is tasked with growing the business and improving and expanding upon the services it provides to the UK motor trade.
The fragmentation of larger car dealership groups is set to continue as interest grows in the mergers and acquisitions market, says motor trade expert Fraser Brown. Several significant deals have already been made over the past three months – a trend largely determined by how dealerships chose to respond to the reopening of showrooms following the relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions in early June.
MotorVise Automotive has been named as a finalist in the prestigious Motor Trader Industry Awards in the Best IT Innovation category. The nomination recognises the recent launch of its MotorVise Showroom Solution (MSS) which can save dealerships thousands of pounds a year by enabling them to rationalise the number of systems required to support their Dealer Management Systems (DMS).
Strong public demand for the range of newly launched 70 plate models will make this a profitable quarter for many dealers, motor trade sales expert Fraser Brown predicts. Business in used cars has been brisk and has allowed dealerships to make a strong recovery, especially those that responded to the reopening of showrooms on 1st June by reinstating their sales and marketing teams.
Dealerships are losing up to 25 per cent gross profit on every used car due to the delays in preparing vehicles for sale, according to motor trade expert Fraser Brown. Whilst many have vehicle progressor and paper-based systems charting the progress of vehicles from car auction or trade-in to forecourt, they are often outdated and vastly underestimate preparation times.
The MotorVise Showroom Solution enables dealerships to reduce costs, create efficiencies and improve productivity by replacing multiple systems and software with just one centralised approach. It offers dealerships a fully paperless and contactless system, designed to reduce the need for re-keying of information and duplication of customer data.
A long-term recession is both unlikely and unnecessary – if businesses ignore the normal hard-line approach of financial directors, according to automotive sales expert, Fraser Brown. “The answer lies in the way businesses are managed and changing the preconceptions of how we deal with such a situation.”
MotorVise Automotive has teamed up with Drive Assured and The Compliance Company to form a Motor Alliance to pool their expertise around the key areas of sales growth, insurance, and non-insurance products, and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) compliance for finance and insurance.
Automotive industry expert Fraser Brown is calling upon motor dealerships to lobby the government to adopt a ‘game-changing’ £6,000 scrappage scheme that would ensure a widescale switch to electric vehicles.
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