It feels like only a few days since a knackered Batch and I were stuck in a lift at the end of the first day of Bangers4BEN 2011.

But today we had to put that horrible memory behind us as we had our first meeting to plan for 2012’s event with BEN.

This year, B4B is going to be bigger and better than ever before and participants will be helping not one, but TWO charities on the trip.

So what’s the plan? Well, as usual, participants will be expected to buy cars (which can make the trip) and at the end they’ll be sold in aid of automotive industry charity BEN at a trade auction.

However, the twist for 2012 is that we’ll be asking everyone to fill their cars with gifts for orphans which we’ll hand out at our ultimate destination – ROMANIA!

It’s a country that still has serious problems with poverty, we thought burning all that fuel for a reason would make sense so we’ll be asking participants to fill their cars with gifts for orphaned children.

We’ve hooked up with an ophan’s charity in Romania who are delighted teams will be helping them with donations.

The event will take seven days – a little longer than usual – but it’s a 2,500 mile (ish) round trip. We like to think the fact that competitors will be making an amazing difference to so many people’s lives should make it worthwhile – that and the fact it will be an amazing adventure.

The route could see us travel through Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania.

The cost of the event is likely to be only around £700 per car – that includes accommodation, evening meals and breakfast, plus ferry crossing for two people. On top of that you’ll need a car (which will be sold for BEN at the end) and will have to cover expenses.

Entry is open to absolutely any one. It doesn’t matter whether you’re connected to the car industry or not – we’ll have any one along for the ride!

We’re still ironing out the final details of the plan with BEN, but if you’re interested in taking part, put October 13-19 in your diary as that’s when we’ll be going.

If you want to be put on the First To Know list, email me your details via this page and I’ll make sure you’re informed as soon as registration opens.

BATCH hates it when I get ‘an idea’. It normally involves lots of emails, stress, and a headache. And this month’s cover story was the recipe for the perfect migraine-inducing storm.

As a regular reader of Car Dealer you’ve probably guessed we like to do things a little differently. So when I floated the idea of putting people on the cover, instead of a car, for the first time it was met with a muted response.

But then these weren’t going to be just any people, I explained – I wanted to get together 10 of the biggest names in the motor trade, those in positions of power with a direct ability to influence the automotive world.

I mentioned some names and the team warmed to the idea (they had little choice). My plan was – in my mind at least – a simple one: Quiz the business leaders and find out what they really think 2012 holds for dealers.

We’ve all been watching the news and hearing the rumours – that this year we’d slip back into recession. I wanted our interviewees to answer five simple questions that couldn’t be spun, or manipulated, but simply got their opinions on the points that really mattered.

SHOOT

It was no mean feat getting these guys together either. We wanted all 10 to be at our photoshoot and as you’ve seen on the cover pictured above, two of the top 10 had to pull out (but still answered our questions). That said, eight top-level chief executives, chairmen and MDs of some of the UK’s most forward-thinking firms isn’t bad going, is it?

One by one our influencers arrived for their date with our snapper Matt at our London location. All interviews had taken place before the shoot so they knew they wouldn’t be grilled, which put most of them in a relaxed mood.

I spent the first 40 minutes chatting to Pendragon boss Trevor Finn. He’d arrived two hours early and in between showing me projections on his iPad and fielding calls from people trying to sell him Porsches, he was amazingly open and candid.

His stories could fill a book, but it was his enthusiasm for the trade and for cars that really struck me. Finn is a petrolhead – just the kind of dealer we like to cater for with Car Dealer – and he told me how much he enjoyed poring over the latest cars in the mag.

As the other influencers trickled in, I got the chance to chat with all of them over tea and biscuits. Tony Whitehorn, boss of Hyundai UK, joked about me trying to catch him out for a story.

‘It’s funny, James,’ he said. ‘When I read your pieces I never quite remember saying what you say I said.’ ‘That’ll be the wine I’ve plied you with first,’ I replied.

Peugeot’s Tim Zimmerman told me about his time in China and the surprising similarities between retailing there and in the UK, while Toyota’s Jon Williams seemed delighted to just be back at work. But it was Mark Terry, Chevrolet boss, who arrived at the shoot on his day off that really impressed. That’s dedication to the Car Dealer cause for you!

It was amazing to get together some of the industry’s most-talented brains and hear their opinions. And, to be honest, I actually feel a lot more positive about our prospects for 2012 now, than I did before chatting to them. I hope you do too.

To get a copy of this issue, join Car Dealer Club for £34.99. You get an annual subscription to the magazine, access to free legal advice and exclusive discounts from suppliers. Find out more here.

THIS year’s prestige 4×4 market has failed to bring all it promised back in October and November.

Dealers are well stocked and availability is better than in recent years, which all adds up to falling prices – it seems the 2012 four wheel drive scene is not going to be quite as hot is it was during the previous couple of years.

The reasons are plentiful, but they all come back to the snow… or lack of it. It is always dangerous to assume that two hard winters equal a trend, however not content with not snowing, the weather has been extremely mild.

And an absence of heavy frosts or icy conditions has resulted in a serious lack of pressure for drivers to rush out and buy 4x4s. Many dealers have been left with nowhere to go – the first loss will be the best loss, as prices paid back in late 2011 are unlikely to add up to any kind of margin the longer it is left.

There is one bright spot. BMW’s excellent new X3, is still in high demand. Availability is short, and so stellar prices are still being paid from both the trade and the private punter. However a word of caution – at some point this will change, availability will improve and, with the Audi Q3 landing as a used car in the not too distant future, this looks like a bubble that will burst before long.

For most of the 4×4 sector (especially the lumpy models), next month’s guide sees falls of between one to five per cent – it’s very much a case of buyer beware.

Richard Crosthwaite, prestige car editor at Glass’s

IN this line of work you meet a lot of motivating people – but not all of them are as inspirational as the man we met this week.

Afzal Kahn, creator of Kahn Design – famed for its alloy wheels and bespoke Range Rover designs – took the time to show us around his business on Wednesday.

Over cups of Earl Grey tea, we sat with him in his understated corner of the £2m bespoke head office in Bradford he built and listened to the stories and ideas of a true entrepreneur.

Kahn started his business back in the 90s when he realised he could make more money designing and selling his own alloy wheels instead of simply flogging other peoples.

With a simple five spoke design – the iconic RS-R – he flew to Italy, had a factory tool up for his wheels and took a punt with an order of 1,000.

‘I’d sold them before I landed back in Britain,’ he said. ‘I took two tiny adverts out – one in Top Car and the other in Auto Trader – and the phone rang off the hook. After that I knew it could work.’

CELEB FRIENDS

Now Kahn employs a staff of 70 and counts celebrities like Katie Price and Amir Kahn among his close personal friends. He’s just tied up a deal with Chrysler to modify and sell Jeep Wranglers and his Land Rover models are so popular he gets a discount on cars direct from the factory.

Outside his office sits an envious collection of super exotica that wouldn’t look out of place in a Sheik’s garage.

There are two Bugatti Veyrons, a 458, a Rolls Royce Phantom Coupe, Bentley Arnage and even an Aston Martin Cygnet. All of them for sale. In fact the Veyron has just been sold to a Russian for £756k.

The Cygnet comes in for some typically forthright Kahn opinion too: ‘It’s s***. I just don’t know why Aston Martin did it. If I was them and was to make a small car it would be based on a Mini not a Toyota!

‘Give me £7k and a Toyota IQ and I’ll give you a Cygnet back. Ok, it won’t have the badges but it will look identical. I’m going to do that one out there properly – like it should have been done.’

A self confessed petrol head, Kahn obviously loves his firm and is a true believer in supporting other British businesses. His firm has a partnership with Cosworth and he’s working on many more – the latest could even see Harris Tweed used in his seat designs.

‘Im always working, seven days a week,’ he said. ‘I find it hard to delegate and have very clear ideas of how I want things done. But I absolutely love what I do.’

So what’s next?

‘We want to take Kahn to the next level,’ he explains. ‘We are currently looking at franchising the brand, then we’ll move it to Europe and then global.

‘But I’m always working on other things too. I’ve got a website for the motoring community in the design stages and even designed that bidet (as he points to a model of a miniature bottom cleaner on a shelf by his desk).’

We really didn’t know what to expect when Kahn invited us to visit, but it certainly wasn’t what we found: A successful British business headed up by an inspirational innovator who has no plans to scale back. One built from a tiny shop into a multi-million pound giant by a talented entrepreneur.

And that’s something that can only be applauded.

The full story of our visit to Kahn Design and the offering for UK dealers will be featured in the next issue of Car Dealer Magazine. Subscribe to Car Dealer Club here to ensure you get a copy.

RENAULT has admitted axing a large chunk of its dealer network just days before Christmas wasn’t ‘ideal’.

The French firm’s PR director visited Car Dealer’s offices yesterday, following the publication of the editor’s blog which hit out at the firm for its catastrophic timing when slashing its network.

In the blog, the editor argued that Renault should have allowed those who’ve worked faithfully for them for years the chance to enjoy the festive season without a huge cloud hanging over their heads.

‘We appreciate the timing wasn’t ideal,’ said the Renault spokesman. ‘But the dealer conference was always planned for the end of the December and that’s when the message had to be given.

‘You said in your blog that dealers weren’t told, but that’s not true – all dealers were told it’s just the people you spoke to might not have known.

‘Some dealer principals may have kept the news to themselves for fear of losing good members of staff.’

When the news broke Car Dealer contacted 10 Renault dealers and not one of the staff members we spoke to knew about the models being axed or the dealers getting the boot. Frankly it got a bit embarrassing that we were the ones telling dealers what was going to happen.

‘We thought long and hard about a gap in between telling the dealers and the press, but it would have got out,’ said the Renault spokesman.

‘As it happened, we told the dealer conference on the Thursday, then announced it to the press on the following Monday.

‘This was a huge decision that had to go to the very top at Renault. It was always going to be difficult.’

The PR boss said the dealers that got the chop were mainly because their territories overlapped with others and with the firm’s sales forecasts drastically cut, the brand simply couldn’t support its current network numbers.

‘Dealers just about broke even last year,’ said the spokesman. ‘Clearly it couldn’t continue that way so action had to be taken. The dealer council supported our moves.’

What do you think? Let us know by tweeting the editor.

CONFUSED.COM’S Rob Powell asks can price comparison websites really save you cash?

Everyone knows they should shop around for the best deal, but with that number of insurance brands on the market it’s not feasible to approach every single one yourself. This is where price comparison sites can really help.

Renewal and new business quotes are calculated differently

It’s true – there are different pricing models for current customers and new ones.

Different brands aim at different markets

The most obvious of these are the insurers aimed at women and the over 50s, but other brands aim at different types of people too and they’re not always so obvious. Different age groups, areas of the country, ‘safe’ drivers, families with multiple cars… almost every permutation you can think of has a car insurance brand aimed at it, and you are bound to fall into more than one – if you’re a 55 year old woman which type of insurer is going to be cheaper, the one aimed at women, or the one aimed at the over 50s? You don’t know without comparing.

A change in circumstances can mean your current insurer is not so competitive

Getting older, moving home, getting married (or divorced), it’s all a factor in calculating the cost of your car insurance which means that different brands can become more competitive at different stages of your life.

Playing with the price

A price comparison site will store your details, making it easy to change certain bits of data to see how they affect the price. If you have a £500 excess instead of a £150, by how much will the prices change? What if I add my wife as a second driver? Or take her away? What if I say the car is parked on the drive instead of in the garage?

By making small changes here and there – but still being legal and truthful – you could really get the price down and find the best insurer for you. Here are some hints to help get the price down:

Higher excess – By saying you will pay a greater share of the costs if you have an accident your premium will come down

Don’t park in a garage – You may think that a car is safer in the garage as thieves and vandals can’t get at it, but quite a few insurers will charge you more for doing so. A lot of accidents happen as people drive in and out of their garage or involving other items stored in there, so there is actually an increased risk of an accident.

Have another driver – If you are an inexperienced driver, adding a parent to your car cover as a named driver could bring down the cost: insurers may think this reduces the risk associated with your policy, even if the named driver isn’t going to be using the vehicle all that often.

Beware, however, of putting this experienced driver down as the main driver in order to reduce premiums further still: if you lie to your insurer about who the main driver is, it might invalidate your policy, which could lead to you driving uninsured. If you are going to be using the car most, you have to say so on your application.

Check your occupation – What you do for a living is a rating factor in calculating your insurance, especially if you want cover for commuting or business use. There may be different occupation descriptions that apply to you, such as writer vs. journalist or builder vs. construction worker.

Some insurers will be happy with a generic term such as nurse whereas others will want you to be more specific using midwife, ICU nurse, surgical assistant, or one of many other possibilities. This is why price comparison sites often appear to list occupations several times – the different insurance companies need them listed differently.

COMPARISON website Compare The Market gives advice to dealers on the best practices to bear in mind when their offspring are trying to purchase car insurance.

Shopping around for car insurance is one of those tasks that, while being far from anyone’s favorite activity, is one that can save you substantial amounts of money.

Searching for car insurance for young drivers is particularly important, though, because teen drivers may see the most differentiation between the rates that car insurance companies offer. The quotes for some companies may be based strictly on the driver’s age, while another company takes into account discounts for such things as good grades, school attendance, and a host of other things.

Teens should do the shop…

HAVING your teen driver shop for their own car insurance is a valuable life lesson that teens will have to learn as they leave the safety of school and enter into the real world. By doing their own shopping, they will learn that not everything is as simple as it appears on paper. Different coverage levels, for instance, will carry a vastly different price from insurance company to insurance company. In addition, having your teen driver shop for their own car insurance will begin to teach them how to negotiate for the best deal possible on their insurance, even if they end up with a policy connected to their parents’ policies.

…but shop around

THE best place to begin shopping for car insurance for young drivers is with your household’s current insurance company. In many cases, you will find that adding an additional line of coverage to your policy will result in lower premiums across the board, and your teen driver will benefit from that multi-policy discount, as well.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll automatically get a better rate, though. Don’t forget to check other insurance companies for their premiums, as well. Failing to be aware of the rates offered by other companies could lead to your significantly overpaying for your insurance, not to mention your car insurance for young drivers.

Compare apples to apples

Rather than just trusting what your insurance agent has to say, have your teen driver obtain a minimum of three different quotes, or more if possible. Be sure to compare ‘apples to apples’ when this shopping is taking place, though. This means that you’re going to want to compare equal coverage as often as possible. For instance, avoid getting a quote for insurance from one company that includes roadside assistance and comparing it to a quote that doesn’t include roadside assistance.

Review Review Review

Once you’ve got the best rate possible on car insurance for young drivers, it’s important for the teen driver to maintain the best rate possible. They should be made to understand that a wide variety of things, such as accidents and tickets can raise their insurance rates, impacting their monthly budget or even their ability to purchase certain vehicles. This means having your teen review their policy yearly to make sure that they’re still getting the best deal possible.

The Budget

Learning to budget their money is perhaps the most challenging aspect a teenager will face financially. By showing them how to shop for the best deal on car insurance before making a purchase, you’ll teach them that in every budget there exists a bit of ‘wiggle room,’ if you only know where to look for it.

To find more advice, click here

THERE’S a time and a place to deliver bad news – and the week before Christmas is categorically NOT it.

Renault really dropped an almighty clanger on Monday when it announced to the press it would be chopping half its model range, a third of its dealers and slashing its sales forecasts for 2012.

I haven’t really got a problem with all of that. Times change, products fall in and out of favour, and brands lose their appeal. Sadly, Renault has suffered the feat of all three.

What I have got a problem with is the fact it delivered the news just a few days before Christmas. And before you tell me ‘that’s business’, well hear me out – it’s quite frankly not ‘business’ at all.

Business is about personalities, it’s about relationships, it’s about lives – and there are now a damn sight more people out there entering the Christmas period with an almighty cloud over the heads.

CHRISTMAS CLANGER

Why should that matter? Well, it’s because people make a business. Those dealers, the sales people who’ve worked damn hard selling products that aren’t simply up to the job, even the valeters who’ve worked hard keeping the shapely-bottomed cars clean have just been dumped on from an almighty height.

And it’s those people who now have to contend with a Christmas worrying about what’s next. What difference would a few days have made – why not deliver the hammer blow on the 27th? It would still be pretty crappy but at least those involved could have enjoyed a few sherries without worrying.

You’ve probably guessed this news has struck a bit of a bit of a chord with me. That’s because I’ve worked for an employer that – probably because the management didn’t think about the actual people on the ground working for ‘the company’ – decided to deliver redundancy news just days before Christmas.

Three years on the trot.

Have these people got no idea of the effect that has on people?

I don’t have a problem with Renault axing the Laguna, the Wind (good riddance) the Espace or the Kangoo (car version, always remember, the car version). What I do have a problem with is telling your dealer network – mostly it seems via the power of the press as the ones we spoke to didn’t even know anything about it – that they’ll be out of jobs in a few months.

The news was sad, yes, but not unavoidable. The timing, however, was heartless – and it doesn’t matter how big your company is, there’s always place for a bit of common courtesy.

ONE of the speakers at Car Dealer Magazine’s inaugural Profit Clinic was Motor Codes managing director Chris Mason who had some exciting news to share with his audience.

Mason was thrilled to hear in November that the Service and Repair Code had been given full approval from the OFT.
He told us why it means so much.

‘A couple of weeks ago, I received a call from the policy director at the Office of Fair Trading advising me that the Motor Codes Service and Repair Code had been awarded full approval status under its Consumer Codes Approval Scheme.

‘This call came after six years of industry hard work and wrangling. No straightforward task (the initial paperwork is 32 pages long before anything’s even been written in it!). This decision followed a whole lot of jumping through hoops, examining all aspects of consumer protection and trying to demonstrate the quality of our industry – one that government saw as existing in a 40-year black hole of consumer neglect.

‘Back in 2005, things were so serious that we faced a ‘supercomplaint’ and the threat of costly regulation. The Code was last-chance-saloon stuff and, in giving approval, OFT described this as one of the most important developments in consumer protection for many years.

‘As an industry, working together through Motor Codes, we’ve diverted government attention and proven that there are plenty of professional, responsible garages out there.

‘In no small measure, this has been a personal triumph for me. For the last decade I’ve been trying to put in place a mechanism that best reflects our business – to reduce complaints by directing people to the good guys.

‘Now we’ve got that rubber stamp, it’s more about success for you. What better endorsement of your business than to be able to put an OFT-approved logo on the sign over the door. Join us, and make the most of it.’

THE next issue of Car Dealer Magazine has a very special cover – created exclusively for us by a famous car artist.

Ian Cook – more commonly known as Popbang Colour – creates amazing pictures of cars using remote control cars, toy car wheels and tyres.

He applies the paint, mixes and spreads it across the canvas with a selection of miniature cars and the results are incredible.

For Issue 46, Cook agreed to paint the Car Dealer logo as well as a Corvette and Chevrolet Volt for our special on the American brand.

Over a period of three days he produced the three artworks which have merged together to create the stunning ‘Picarso’ cover you see revealed here before publication next week.

Car Dealer was on hand to capture our logo being created on film and you can see how Cook produces the amazing work below.

Or, if you’ve got a ticket to the Car Dealer Profit Clinic being held at the Heritage Motor Museum at Gaydon tomorrow (Wednesday) you can see Cook create an artwork live.

‘Creating a cover is something I’ve always wanted to do,’ said Cook. ‘That and a billboard were two of the things I wanted to tick off my list.’

Car Dealer Issue 46 will be with subscribers on or around December 19, Christmas post allowing. To get your copy you can subscribe by clicking here and joining Car Dealer Club.