NEWS

CONFUSED.COM’S Rob Powell asks can price comparison websites really save you cash? Car insurance is something we begrudgingly buy every year. It is one of the few commodities that we are legally obliged to purchase, and as it often costs three or even four figures it causes a dent in all but the biggest of [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

TUCKED behind a huge red garage door on an unassuming industrial park in Japan is a mecca for Nissan fans. In neat rows, glistening under bright neon lights, 405 cars chart the Japanese manufacturer’s past in a home dubbed the Nissan DNA Garage. Le Mans race cars sit alongside rally stars, punctuated by many milestone [...]

MAD concepts, future tech and incredible scenery – a trip to Japan was always going to be a landmark trip. This week I’ve been in the Far East for the 42nd Tokyo Motor Show, thanks to Nissan, and the whole experience has been somewhat a surreal one. Nine hours ahead of UK time, I’m writing [...]

TIMES are hard but sales are booming at on-line sites such as Amazon and eBay as savvy punters look to stretch their ever diminishing purses. So with a large purchase item such as a car, wouldn’t it be easier and cheaper to simply cut out the middle man and get the car of your choice [...]

LAST day in Taiwan today. I’ve been in the Far East — along with press colleagues from Japan, Germany and Canada. We’ve been visiting and learning about companies taking part in next April’s EV show in the capital Taipei. Today we have two more factory visits lined up. So… after joining my colleagues in the [...]

Reg Rix, managing director of Netcars.com, offers advice to dealers to combat the effects of the latest Google update, Panda 2.5.2 The most recent Google update, Panda 2.5.2, which took place last month, means dealers could now notice a significant effect on the organic rankings of their websites. Panda, which is a new algorithm that [...]

IT was all going so well. The flights had gone according to plan, my luggage and I had arrived safely together in Taipei and the hotel was lovely. In fact the towels were so fluffy I wondered how I’d ever fit them in my case. (Old Frasier gag, sorry.) But then, out of the blue [...]

WELL, it’s 9.30am in Gosport, but 4.30pm where I am: Thailand. I’m in a transfer lounge at Bangkok Airport waiting for a flight to Taipei, Taiwan, after arriving here from Heathrow an hour or so ago. I’m heading to Taiwan to get a sneaky peek at some of the technological innovations that will be taking [...]

CAR DEALER Magazine would like to invite you to a very special event – and you could win an iPad2 just for turning up! The Car Dealer Profit Clinic will be held on December 14 at the Heritage Motor Museum, Gaydon, and is completely FREE of charge to attend. Here are the details: One-in-75 chance [...]

REMEMBER that video when our man James Batchelor got scared witless in a Caterham R400 a few months back? You may have seen it. We filmed it during this year’s Road Test of the Year and Batch somewhat lost his nerve a bit in the passenger seat. Well, now we’ve managed to film a sequel. [...]

CAR Dealer Magazine has won a major award for its work raising money for automotive industry charity BEN. The awards, held at the charity’s Town Thorns care centre on Thursday, saw Car Dealer pick up the Trade Journal of the Year award in recognition of its charitable work during 2010. Bangers4BEN III, held last year, [...]

DECISIONS, decisions: red or yellow, comfort or looks, sporty or plain? And no I’m not talking about clothes or shoes. On his 50th wedding anniversary a man of certain repute was said to have told his audience that when he first got married he and his new wife made a pact. It was this: ‘In [...]

‘WHAT car is this, please?’ says the marshal in a fluorescent jacket that does nothing for his complexion. ‘Infiniti’, I reply. ‘Who makes that?’ yellow jacket man replies. I was tempted to be frightfully flippant and say ‘Infiniti’ and but resorted to replying with ‘It’s made by Nissan’, as I wait to be told where [...]

This year’s RTOTY was a pretty awesome affair for all concerned. We had some of the best metal on sale to play in. We had bendy, twisty Welsh roads and we had Batchelor’s wit to keep us giggling when the weather turned from bad to build-an-ark. Which it did. Personally, my favourite of the bunch was the [...]

Pre-registration. A motor-trade term which strikes fear into the heart of every franchised sales manager in the land. Despite the stifling effect this process has on a dealer, the bonus payments are just too important to banks and budgets to be ignored. With two weeks left of any quarter, a sales manager will know their registration [...]

IT IS not very often that you get an invite from a two times World Championship winning Formula1 outfit, but that’s exactly what Car Dealer received this week. Red Bull Racing have a couple of things that they want to shout about at the moment. Not least the fact they’ve just retained the Drivers’ and [...]