NEWS

Retirement plan return

BUSINESS owners are now once again able to think about retirement as the economy comes out of recession. There is still a long way to go though, warns Clifton Asset Management. 77 percent of owners reckon their retirement is longer away now than it was a year ago. Sounds disastrous? Well, this is actually an [...]

	Lowest used car sales
USED car sales in 2009 plunged to their lowest level in almost a decade reports data expert Experian. A drop of 5.7 percent saw 6,798,864 used cars sold in 2009. This is comparable to 2000, says Experian, when 6,713,269 used cars were sold – and is a culmination of sales that fell every singe quarter [...]

	Positive used outlook
MANHEIM has predicted 2010 will be a positive year for used car retailers as the recovery continues. However, it has also warned car dealers to start preparing now for future challenges in the used car market. Weak registrations in 2008 and 2009, it explained, will limit the use car pool in 3 to 4 years’ [...]

	Failed dealers halve
NUMBERS of car dealers going bust halved in January over December 2009 – and are 44 percent lower than January 09. Experian has revealed that 0.08 percent of automotive industry businesses became insolvent in January 2010. The figure has not been this low since December 2008, providing further evidence that the car industry is beginning [...]

	Auction beats recession
BCA Nottingham last week recorded a £3.6 million prestige car auction spend in just a few hours of trading. This has led BCA director Tony Gannon to declare the recession a thing of the past – supported by the UK’s official emergence from recession after 18 months. The Top Car auction at Nottingham generated the [...]

		Footballers xmas wrap
		PREMIERSHIP footballers are turning to car dealer Clive Sutton to get the Christmas new car look… … but are doing it on a budget with his new car wrap service. Car Dealer Magazine was one of the first to see the new service, and now Sutton has released further details. Prices start from £2,000, which [...]
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		Business failures HALVED
		CAR dealer insolvencies have dropped by 53 percent over the last year reveals data from Experian. The latest performance is in line with July 2008 levels, suggesting that the heavily-hit car industry is starting to emerge from the recession. Late payments are also now running at the lowest level since July 2008. Mark Nuttall, general [...]
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		Dealers fear recession
		CAR dealer business owners fear the recession may still have a year to run, despite the worst being over. More than half say the recession is set to continue for 12 months or more. The findings are from a new survey by Clifton Asset Management – which also reveals some positive news: more firms have [...]
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		BMW 2010 gentle growth
		BMW board member Ian Robertson predicts 2010 will be a year of ‘gentle growth’ for the firm. ‘It will not be rapid,’ he said, but recent upturns in markets will continue. He was speaking at the firm’s annual press dinner, where he detailed how BMW had coped during the past year’s recession. The company, he [...]
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		No end for recession
		CAR dealers do not expect the market to resume pre recession levels for at least another 5 years, says research. Castrol Professional findings mean long-term planning is more important than ever. ‘The general consensus is that the recovery is likely to be a slow, and possibly painful, process,’ said Castrol marketing manager Nigel Head. The [...]
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		Independents’ fitness
		INDEPENDENT car dealers have responded to the recession better than franchises, say experts. This is because they are smaller and faster reacting, with simpler management structures. Franchised dealers, in contrast, are bigger and more complicated – and the extra layer of manufacturer involvement means changes take time. Network Automotive says that changes demanded by the [...]
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		Fleets deals mix shift?
		RECESSIONARY pressures are causing company car fleets to reassess their policies – with many making big changes. The popularity of ‘user chooser’ fleets is diminishing, as fleet managers look to cut costs and increase safety levels. GE Fleet Services reports that such expensive to run flexible fleet policies are on the decrease, with fleets ‘suddenly’ [...]
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