Ask a car salesman anything...anything at all.
Discussion
The Mad Monk said:
From my lofty perch, those figures look pretty small beer to me.
30k? Price of a modest family runabout.
15k? Price of a modest used family runabout.
30k? Price of a modest family runabout.
15k? Price of a modest used family runabout.
tipical misconception and total misunderstanding of basic business... 30k /15K turnover is completely irrelevant.. it's the margin... whats left after the costs,overheads and VAT are paid that then dig into what is left of the profit which will be a very small % of the above then the franchise want the business to reinvest into £000's for branding for know obvious gain..£6 million doesn't seem unusual for refurb to the manufacturer-required standard: https://www.am-online.com/news/dealer-news/2020/02...
CRA1G said:
The Mad Monk said:
From my lofty perch, those figures look pretty small beer to me.
30k? Price of a modest family runabout.
15k? Price of a modest used family runabout.
tipical misconception and total misunderstanding of basic business... 30k /15K turnover is completely irrelevant.. it's the margin... whats left after the costs,overheads and VAT are paid that then dig into what is left of the profit which will be a very small % of the above then the franchise want the business to reinvest into £000's for branding for know obvious gain..30k? Price of a modest family runabout.
15k? Price of a modest used family runabout.
£30k is small beer to a reasonably sized business.
CRA1G said:
tipical misconception and total misunderstanding of basic business... 30k /15K turnover is completely irrelevant.. it's the margin... whats left after the costs,overheads and VAT are paid that then dig into what is left of the profit which will be a very small % of the above then the franchise want the business to reinvest into £000's for branding for know obvious gain..Mj2k said:
CRA1G said:
tipical misconception and total misunderstanding of basic business... 30k /15K turnover is completely irrelevant.. it's the margin... whats left after the costs,overheads and VAT are paid that then dig into what is left of the profit which will be a very small % of the above then the franchise want the business to reinvest into £000's for branding for know obvious gain..
A couple of years ago I started a thread on here about unusually small franchised dealerships. Two blokes in a shed types as opposed to the giant glass palaces most franchised dealers are. Most examples given were Ford dealerships.
Stanways in Lytham very clearly used to be a Ford dealer as the showroom and signage are still 1990s Ford style. It couldn't compete with Evans Halshaw dealerships in Blackpool and Preston and has just become an independent used car dealer.
https://www.google.com/maps/@53.7445012,-2.9382049...
The Ford dealership next to where I live was five minutes up the motorway from an Evans Halshaw dealer and became an independent Ford Focus specialist before closing and becoming a Nisa store.
Some dealers ditch the mainstream franchise and take on something more obscure that's less demanding such as Subaru or Ssangyong.
Stanways in Lytham very clearly used to be a Ford dealer as the showroom and signage are still 1990s Ford style. It couldn't compete with Evans Halshaw dealerships in Blackpool and Preston and has just become an independent used car dealer.
https://www.google.com/maps/@53.7445012,-2.9382049...
The Ford dealership next to where I live was five minutes up the motorway from an Evans Halshaw dealer and became an independent Ford Focus specialist before closing and becoming a Nisa store.
Some dealers ditch the mainstream franchise and take on something more obscure that's less demanding such as Subaru or Ssangyong.
Edited by Blakewater on Monday 2nd March 10:08
Countdown said:
Our local Ford dealer is offering various cars (Fiestas, Focus STs etc) on a 20-plate for immediate delivery (so I assume these must be in stock).
Did they order a job lot of 20-plate cars assuming that some people would still buy them even though they can't choose the colour / spec?
I think they have to meet targets to sell the cars so if they can’t meet the targets they decide to buy the cars anyway and hope someone buys them. This pressure selling from the manufacturer then filters through to the end customers as the dealers are under pressure to sell the cars which leads to a poor end customer experience. The car manufacturers are too short sighted to see this.Did they order a job lot of 20-plate cars assuming that some people would still buy them even though they can't choose the colour / spec?
silentbrown said:
I think the JLR "arch" dealerships are costing around £9-10million a pop. Not sure if that includes chairs...
I wonder what the lease cost of a place like that would be - £100K/mth?Those kind of figures make me think the tales of woe from the retail motor industry must be greatly exaggerated - if returns were as poor as we're led to believe, it's a bit of a gamble to put £10M into it.
Sheepshanks said:
silentbrown said:
I think the JLR "arch" dealerships are costing around £9-10million a pop. Not sure if that includes chairs...
I wonder what the lease cost of a place like that would be - £100K/mth?Those kind of figures make me think the tales of woe from the retail motor industry must be greatly exaggerated - if returns were as poor as we're led to believe, it's a bit of a gamble to put £10M into it.
MG CHRIS said:
jamoor said:
Ford to close half of it’s dealership network,
I’m right as usual, other manufacturers to follow
Although I kind of expected them to shut down due to going broke rather than closing due to an announcement.
It's the small ford dealership that will be axed the big ones will stay. Tbf within a 25 mile radius of me I can count 7 ford dealers without any effort. Also there are over 700 ford dealers over twice as many as the beast nearest brand. So even after half do close ford will still have the market share in the ukI’m right as usual, other manufacturers to follow
Although I kind of expected them to shut down due to going broke rather than closing due to an announcement.
In the 70s Ford had around 2000 dealers. It's a long term trend to move to fewer but larger dealers and it's mirrored across every kind of retail trade.
Jamoor's tone suggests that he's quite pleased about it, but will having fewer but larger dealers increase or decrease competition? Will service become more personal or more impersonal?
SpeckledJim said:
Manufacturer Brand Standards Departments are often out of control and make unreasonable demands which cost dealerships a fortune, and make no difference whatsoever to the final customer.
It's crackers. My local MB glass palace offers a free collection and delivery service so I never see their new chairs/fish tank/coffee machine/receptionist anyway!It's odd as when you travel through Europe you'll see numerous tiny back water dealerships (without the over priced corporate chairs), yet in the UK it seems to be a case of bin the small places off and get huge dealerships instead.
We lost our small (3-4 car showroom) independent VW dealer 18 months or so ago, they had a great reputation locally and now you have to travel half an hour in either direction to a huge place to buy a new VW. Luckily they're still approved for aftersales, otherwise we probably wouldn't have bought a Polo for Mrs FB
We lost our small (3-4 car showroom) independent VW dealer 18 months or so ago, they had a great reputation locally and now you have to travel half an hour in either direction to a huge place to buy a new VW. Luckily they're still approved for aftersales, otherwise we probably wouldn't have bought a Polo for Mrs FB
Wooda80 said:
This ^^^
In the 70s Ford had around 2000 dealers. It's a long term trend to move to fewer but larger dealers and it's mirrored across every kind of retail trade.
Jamoor's tone suggests that he's quite pleased about it, but will having fewer but larger dealers increase or decrease competition? Will service become more personal or more impersonal?
Do manufacturers want there to be more competition between their own Franchises? Surely they would be competing for the same profit?In the 70s Ford had around 2000 dealers. It's a long term trend to move to fewer but larger dealers and it's mirrored across every kind of retail trade.
Jamoor's tone suggests that he's quite pleased about it, but will having fewer but larger dealers increase or decrease competition? Will service become more personal or more impersonal?
jamoor said:
I think they have to meet targets to sell the cars so if they can’t meet the targets they decide to buy the cars anyway and hope someone buys them. This pressure selling from the manufacturer then filters through to the end customers as the dealers are under pressure to sell the cars which leads to a poor end customer experience. The car manufacturers are too short sighted to see this.
So I assume if they don't sell during April they would get pre-registered (so that they count as a sale)?Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff