NEWS
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Vehicle values and prices set to fall by more than 10%...
Latest research also asked dealers what they thought would be the biggest challenge facing them during the New Year. The cost of living crisis was the top response at 85%, followed by continuing poor vehicle supply (66%), stricter motor finance criteria (38%), reduced motor finance availability (32%) and demand for electric vehicles (26%).
Honda appoints Roseblade as Head of Customer
With over 20 years of experience at the company, Roseblade has worked both in head office and in the retailer network. Having started her Honda career working in the warranty team, she has worked in Customer Relations, Sales and Aftersales Operations, and most recently Retail Quality.
LEASING & FINANCE
Help is available for those who need it, says FCA
Where firms haven't supported their customers properly, the FCA has told them to make changes. It reminded 3,500 lenders of how they should be supporting borrowers in financial difficulty and told 32 lenders to make changes to the way they treat customers. This work has led to £29 million in compensation being secured for over 80,000 customers.
FCA warns of impending Consumer Duty deadline
Review finds that firms had carefully considered the FCA’s price and value requirements, but that some firms have more work to do to meet the rules. The FCA has set out 4 key areas for firms to focus on which include collecting evidence that demonstrates products represent fair value and having clear oversight of actions to take if products do not provide fair value.
AFTERMARKET & WORKSHOP
JCB Group invests in digital customer experience
iStoreDOCS was developed for dealers to help better manage customer documentation. The platform integrates with sales and dealer technology systems to reduce the need to re-enter data and provides an audit trail of activity for each customer. In addition, documents are stored in the cloud for extra security.
New COO aims to drive growth
Rob Williams joined in February and believes RAMP’s products offer a way for dealerships – as well as car brokers and fleet companies – to maximise profitability at the point of sale, while also focusing on a customer-centric sales experience and high levels of customer retention.
DEALER INSIGHTS
Vehicle values and prices set to fall by more than 10%...
Latest research also asked dealers what they thought would be the biggest challenge facing them during the New Year. The cost of living crisis was the top response at 85%, followed by continuing poor vehicle supply (66%), stricter motor finance criteria (38%), reduced motor finance availability (32%) and demand for electric vehicles (26%).
Lower prices needed to attract people into used car market
Startline Used Car Tracker also looked at the impact of the current cost of living crisis on how people were buying used cars. Almost six out of 10 (58%) said they were much more conscious of monthly costs while 30% reported they had less money to use as a deposit and 21% that they were more likely to use their own savings.
JOBS
VWFS Fleet appoints new EV expert
David Watts joins as Fleet Product Manager for Electric Vehicles, with nearly 27 years in the Fleet industry, and 17 years of experience developing Fleet sustainability and electrification strategies to support businesses' carbon reduction objectives. He specialises in helping fleets navigate the challenges they face in order to successfully make the transition to electric.
Promotions for more high-achieving managers at Snows
The company operates more than 50 franchised car dealerships. As well as Toyota, it represents brands such as Kia, Mercedes-Benz and Vauxhall, and runs five approved service centres and 12 used car centres, operating under the banner ‘Too Good To Auction’.