Car Dealer Podcast Live 2025 – with Vicky Hart, Matt Galvin and Alex Bradley

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Welcome back to the car dealer podcast live and welcome as well to our live studio audience.

This is where you make some noise.

We are delighted as ever to see you all here today for our second podcast live

sponsored by Motorway, of course. Motorway, make some noise as well, wherever you are.

At what is possibly the second best hotel in the Didcot area, so I hope you're all enjoying it.

I'm John Ray and asking the probing questions today.

We have, of course, James Baggert. James, nice to see you.

Nice to see you, John.

We're also blessed to have Quentin Wilson's stunt double here, James Bachelor.

I don't know what you mean.

That was quite bad.

I'm doing Quentin Wilson.

In the audience as well with a roving mic somewhere we've got Rebecca Chaplin at the back.

Is your mic on, Rebecca?

Okay, Rebecca is at the back with a mic, but hopefully we'll work.

I am in the back corner hiding, but I will be jumping out if anyone has any questions.

Very good. So yes, if you want to put any questions to the panel or us,

pop your hand up and she will sprint over.

Joining us today, we're not very important, but joining us today are three proper guests from across the motor industry.

So in the franchise dealer corner, please welcome Vicki Hart, head of marketing and digital at Waylands.

Thank you for joining us, Vicki.

That's a good welcome. Let's keep that going.

So representing independent dealers, we've got Alex Bradley, founder of Small Cars Direct.

Nice to see you, Alex.

And from the manufacturer world, it's none of the Matt Galvin,

managing director of Polestar UK and Ireland.

Hello, Matt.

So we're going to do things a bit differently this time.

There's no particular stories or voting.

So James can't hold that over my head, which is quite nice.

So we're just going to have a good old chat really, ask lots of questions and then go eat some corn on the cob.

Is there a meat option?

There is. Yes, there is meat.

Our presenters will be having a chat to each of our guests as we go through about their areas of automotive expertise.

But feel free to get involved along the way, as we keep saying.

If you've got a point to make, stick your hand up and James, Rebecca will come over.

So James, let's just get this out of the way first.

Are there any moans you want to have?

You know, if you bought a Ford Monday, if I revealed.

No, but I have just lost out on a Suzuki splash in the motorway auction.

So I'm frustrated.

You know, I'm not going to love a Suzuki splash.

Apparently so. But seriously, seriously, as in my script.

You've been running your tiny, tiny car dealership now for two years, haven't you?

What have you learned?

Actually, I'm going to ask first, knowing now what you do know, what would you have done differently?

Maybe not done it.

No, what would I have done differently?

I would have got help sooner, if I'm honest.

I would have got a couple of my colleagues in the audience today.

And since they've joined, it has been a lot easier because running a small dealership,

like many people in the audience do, well, actually a lot bigger dealerships.

It's stressful. It's incredibly hard work.

And when you're doing that just on your own and dealing with the pressures of buying cars and dealing with customers and warranty claims,

I've had a huge amount of respect for those people who do run a dealership now, having done it myself.

And I just like the fact that I can bounce off other people.

The old saying of problem shared is problem hard.

It really is true.

And just being able to pick up the phone to someone and say,

what should we do about that warranty claim or what should we do about buying that car really does help?

Because you can be isolated in this industry.

And I think what I would have done sooner is expanded a bit quicker with some help.

Yes, Joe and Luke are here in the audience somewhere, aren't they?

Yeah, so thank you.

There we go.

They've been forced to come.

Yeah, pretty much.

They're not washing any voxels and stuff.

Well, these are the chairs from the dealership, so they've got nowhere to sit.

Joe Luke, if you want to ask about your next pay pack here, this is a great time to do it.

Yes.

We'll cut there.

I'm going to batch now because I'm bored of James.

So what about you?

You've been on plenty of car launches, I assume this year.

We haven't seen you on the podcast for a while.

Where have you been?

I've been never relieved to be honest with you, but I've been very, very busy.

I feel like I'm talking about this all the time now.

But the theme of this year really has been Chinese car launches.

And only last week there was a totally new brand that was launched.

I didn't even know what it was.

It appeared at a driving day for journalists.

And on that precise day, the brand launched in the UK.

This is Cherry, is it?

No.

It's Chang'an.

Oh, yeah.

2007.

And we are now in this very strange world where these brands are appearing in the UK

thick and fast.

And I'm really getting an insight into what car buyers are feeling because quite frequently,

I haven't got a clue who these brands are.

And I have to rapidly do some research.

And you kind of realise what consumers go through, particularly those who are not particularly car savvy.

They don't know much about brands.

I think we all assume everybody knows about cars, don't we?

But lots of people don't.

So that's been a real theme for me this year.

It's just getting to grips with all of these brands that seem to be appearing every single week.

Quick question on that.

I haven't driven lots of these different brands, which is the one that really stood out for you.

I think it's Cherry, actually.

And Cherry, they launched last year with the Modron J-Coup.

And now suddenly, Cherry have decided, hey, we want to slide to the action as well.

And it was quite interesting because I was on the launch of the Cherry T-Go 7 the other week.

And the executive was there standing in front of me.

And I said, look, where does Cherry fit amongst the Modron J-Coup brands?

Because as a journalist, I'm trying to work out where they sit, which customers are going to be buying them.

And basically, the executive said, it doesn't really matter.

Why are you so interested in trying to have this hierarchy of brands?

That's what we used to do in the past, and having this hierarchy of brands.

And that's just not a thing at the moment.

And they think that's not a thing moving forwards.

It's going to be strange, isn't it?

How it's going to change the automotive landscape so quickly, I think.

Well, I mean, interesting as that was, Batch.

Very much.

There are more interesting people up here than us.

So I'm going to start asking some questions.

So Vicky, I'm sorry we're coming to you first.

But tell us a little bit about yourself.

Tell us your automotive journey.

How did you get to where you are now?

My automotive journey, OK.

So as I sit here today, I've been in head of marketing roles

in the number of AM 100 retail groups for 10 years.

So prior to that was in a SaaS company providing software

to the automotive retail industry.

Before that, various marketing agencies outside of automotive.

So within automotive industry for 13 years now.

Fantastic.

So you find yourself at Waylands now, of course.

I do indeed.

Your boss is in the front row.

Absolutely.

On strict instruction.

So how has the year been for Wayland so far from where you're sitting?

I think it's fair to say a really, really strong year for us,

particularly in the use car space.

If we look at year on year performance and some of that

has come through acquisition, but we've moved forward

really quite credibly in terms of use car sales volume.

New car has been perhaps more volatile this year,

but actually we've got really good.

We're very fortunate to have excellent brand partners.

All of whom are doing really great things

and bringing exciting product to market.

So, yeah, Waylands is feeling like a really good place to be.

Fantastic.

I mean, well, since you mentioned brands,

some of which are joining us today.

I mean, we talked about Chinese cars there, haven't we?

You guys have got a couple of Chinese brands.

Yep.

I mean, how are you getting on with them?

Are they a bit of a runaway success?

Not to put words in your mouth.

Not to leave the witness.

So very, very new additions to Waylands.

So we acquired an Amoda Jaku site in Bristol

on the 9th of July, I think it was.

So we are very new to working with the brand.

I think one thing that's really impressed me

is the energy behind the aggression almost

in terms of that pursuit of market share.

They're really willing to kind of stand by that

and are very supportive in terms of helping us

drive that forwards, drive local awareness.

Response to the product has been fantastic.

But I think that the point that you made

that was a really, really interesting one

around this kind of hierarchy of brands

and which customers buy which products

in the marketing space.

Of course, that's a real interest to me

in terms of understanding how do we segment that audience

and which of the brands in the portfolio

are right for which customer.

And I do think that one thing

the Chinese new entrants are doing,

they're really challenging brand loyalties

in terms of consumer.

I think what it also means is fundamentally,

price isn't a point of differentiation anymore.

So in terms of that kind of hierarchy of brands,

actually there's much more choice

than there ever has been before.

So the point around who buys these cars

is a really interesting one.

Some of the early profiling work I've done

suggests we're actually seeing

high levels of affluence amongst that customer base

and people are making decisions based

on perhaps value rather than price.

So I think the point you make there

is a really pertinent one when you start

to look at those new entrants for sure.

When it comes to these consumers

that are buying these new brands,

I find them particularly interesting.

I see lots of them around.

I went to China with them this year

and I was amazed at what they've done there

and what they're going to be bringing here,

obviously I mean it wasn't a surprise

when they launched Cherry.

Do you have to market that differently?

I mean how are you targeting these buyers?

Because it's, like you say,

it's very hard profile who they are.

Absolutely that and I think it's fair to say

that given our relationship

and representation of the brand

is still in its infancy,

one thing we're very mindful of in our targeting

is at the moment we're starting quite broad.

We're learning as we go.

We are very much digital first

because I guess afford us the benefit

of is great data.

So we're scrutinising really heavily

everything that we do for those brands

right now when we're learning.

We're adjusting and we're just having to be

more agile than ever because again

I think that's one thing within the quarter.

I don't think I've ever seen so many overlays

and enhancements to the campaign

as the brand responds to the market

and I think we as a marketing function

need to be equipped to go with them.

So yeah, I think for me

at the moment the targeting is fairly broad.

We're hypothesising, we're testing things

and we're making sure that we

fail fast and learn and move on.

Sorry, John.

Just jumped in.

When it comes to these Chinese manufacturers

as Batch pointed out

there's loads of them coming to the

market now

and we've talked about a lot in the podcast

about when they take over

and whether they have already taken over.

What's your take on

these Chinese brands in total?

Do you think they're going to be dominating

the automotive market in the UK very soon?

No, I don't.

I think that what they're doing

is they're providing customers with more choice

but I think one thing we're seeing is that

actually they tend to sit in a basket

with a lot of the volume brands that

we would know and expect to be on the shopping list

so I don't think we're at a point where

we're going to see domination of those brands

in a very short period of time.

I think what they are doing is perhaps

extending that buying decision, extending that purchase journey

because now more than ever

there is more choice

but I think absolutely

there is still an opportunity for

the mainstay brands that we continue to see

I don't see them dominating

any time soon though.

I mean they really have

particularly Mojo and Jacob, on the way up here

they, you know, starting to sound like Alan

Partridge now, but up on the A34

just as the M4 crosses over

they were, I saw

so we're about genuinely

six car transporters full of JQ7s

no Land Rover

transporters

no Ford Transporters

I know

but

it seems like there is no

shortage of stock

and what is it from a marketing perspective

I mean is there a huge amount of support

from those manufacturers

to dealers to try and get

these cars

to appeal to new customers?

Absolutely, I think

we recognise that in that brand

we have the disadvantage

if you like of no established base

so from an after sales point of view clearly

we have a challenge but from a sales point of view

there's no renewal opportunity there

so in terms of marketing activity

we know it's costly, we are ultimately

looking to conquest customers from other brands

so I would say that

in terms of asset provision

in terms of financial support

to that extent

they absolutely put their money where their mouth is

and are very supportive of the dealer network

Just moving on to marketing a little bit

because we will do another Chinese car podcast

and have to sit here and talk about this for a minute

I'm sure we'll come back to more Chinese cars

in today's subject matter

but in terms of advertising channels

for you guys I mean there will be a lot of people

in the audience and listening

who are constantly scrutinising

where to put their money in terms of marketing activities

and so on

and the biggest channel for you guys

what's performing the best

are the brands are available etc

Yeah so as I alluded to

earlier

our strategy is digital first

so in terms of our marketing spend

digital as a whole probably represents

around 80-85% of our total spend

so it is significant

in that sense

we absolutely recognise

the role of the classified platforms

in terms of driving inquiry

but we are absolutely

focused on driving our paid

and organic presence

Waylands.co.uk is by far our

highest converting enquiry source

so in terms of what I want to do

I want to drive more of that enquiry

I want to get people to Waylands.co.uk

because that's where we'll drive

a higher or customers with a higher

propensity to convert so we've got

customers that are lower funnel

coming to us via our own website

sort of figures right at that point

they're looking at you know actually

what deal can I get

they absolutely are looking for their local dealer

what stock we've got if it's a used car enquiry

or what kind of tactic offers we've got

for a new car enquiry so for us

we've been trialling a lot of different things

with Google in terms of our paid search presence

this year organic has been a real

focus for us

so for me anything that enables us to

drive high quality

lower funnel traffic to Waylands.co.uk

is our focus.

I'm going to give you a difficult question which is

where do you think dealers should focus their spend

obviously it's very dependent on what kind of dealer they are

the local area etc but let's

actually let's say where do you think James should

focus his spend

I guess for me there are several

elements to that there's one

area that I think we don't talk about

enough but is incredibly important in terms of

longevity and that's building brand

so for me we operate in a space

where I referenced earlier

price is no longer a point of differentiation

product as

a retailer

isn't a point of differentiation in so far

as somebody can buy a new pole staff

from us they can buy a new pole staff

from another retail partner

so actually the Waylands brand needs to carry real weight

why do I choose to buy that

product from you and actually

that's about experience that's about the

trust signals we talk a lot about

the importance of reviews but that really

plays out when you look at customer decision making

so for me building

brand equity should be a real area of focus

for all retailers because

that can be the only point of

differentiation and actually that's where

you start to gain long-term competitive

advantage rather than just

winning the month or the quarter

I think other than that my focus really

is on then looking at quality

of inquiry because

quantity of inquiry can

so easily become a vanity metric

and we

talk often about traffic levels

inquiry levels but for me

absolutely has to be a layer deeper than that

and looking at your inquiry sources and where that

conversion comes from hence our focus

on our own website property

for the quality of inquiry

do you find that you get customers

coming into the show who just

want to buy from Waylands because of who

Waylands is because that's a very

expensive thing to push isn't it pushing

your own brand rather than the one

that goes above the door a mode of

jaking for example it's

hard to do isn't it because

I'm not sure whether customers connect

the fact that these

manufacturer dealerships are owned

by individual dealer groups

oh no absolutely and I think for me

it's about driving

awareness of the Waylands

brand clearly articulating

our value proposition but actually

in synergy with the manufacturer

brand because for us a big part of

the value proposition is that these great

manufacturer partners choose to partner with us

we are you know excellent

ambassadors of their brand as well

so I think for me you're absolutely

right it's an expensive investment

but when you start to move into the

after sales space for example if you move

away just from the sales element again

reputation becomes so important

I think the challenge is

in terms of many of the marketing

conversations that we have it is just

it's much harder to quantify

and that can be when the challenges come

when you're sitting around the table and talking

about allocation of budget you have to

find the compelling reasons to invest in

brand because it is an expensive exercise

I absolutely think that we see

people who choose to buy from Waylands

and we know that because sometimes if

people have decided that the product

there isn't right for them to continue

they will speak to us about is there

anything else you can help me with

so I think absolutely people do choose

to deal with this because we're Waylands

and that's gold dust really isn't it?

I mean if you've got people coming to you

because they want to deal with you

it's worth the time and investment in that marketing

interesting to see that's working

I'm just going to move you some briefly to the

electric car grant

which is a topic

topic

I'm good at this

so I just want to talk about how it's kind of

how you guys have found it

how's it been on the ground

you know because we've talked

about the confusion in implementation

and what does it mean for

people wandering into showrooms are there

I guess I'm asking are there customers wandering

in saying can I have my three and a half grand

off please

and you're having to say I'm afraid not

because there's not a full puma over there

you know is that kind of thing happening

are they aware of the grant

and are they expecting lots of money off cars?

Yes I think it's fair to say that

there is a good level of awareness

around the car grant but I would

say mixed with a healthy dose of skepticism

I think

that the initial announcement

whilst you know considered a very

great exercise from a PR point of view

came with a real lack of clarity

and actually all that served to do was drive confusion

so we had customers

who'd heard about this car grant

but actually what does that mean

and if I am exploring my options

I mean for us the EB car grant

doesn't apply to any of the models that we represent

one thing I think that

our manufacturer partners have been really good

at doing is come into the table

with their own proposition

so that they are still competitive

albeit not necessarily through the EB car grant

so I think yes

absolutely those conversations are taking place

in showrooms today

and for us it's been

about as much about educating

the customers making sure that our colleagues

are fully informed because of course

they walk in and they expect us to be

product experts

they expect us to be able to help them with that

so the pressure has been on us as well

to make sure that the team are on the journey

and understand how to advise customers

I mean I've moaned about the car grant

quite a lot

I think it would affect you James

I know

but I have moaned about it quite a lot

because I just feel that

there was a good idea there

but the execution was awful

and what they were trying to do

is incentivise people into electric cars

when they ended up beating up manufacturers

when they didn't really need to do it

what would you have liked to have seen

as a grant

I mean how would you have liked to have seen something implemented

because you've just said there that

you've got a lot of electric cars

but none of them are eligible for this government grant

what would you have done

I think it's important to address customer concerns

and actually whilst

cost of ownership is a factor

there are lots of other customer concerns

we see playing out as well

whether or not that was support to be used

for home charging installation

whether or not that was support

actually to move people into plug-in hybrid

because we do see a lot of customers

dip their toe in the water with a plug-in hybrid

and then their next vehicle will be

a fully electric vehicle

so I think supporting people on the journey

and acknowledging that that will look different

for lots of different customer groups

rather than being quite as prescriptive as they have been

which actually

the net result is actually

there's almost a disengagement in terms of

the value of that scheme

I think a bit more flexibility

in summary would have been

a really positive thing

Matt's going to hate me for asking this

but

now the grant doesn't apply to you guys at Polestar

because you're kind of priced above it anyway aren't you really

what do you think

looking from the outside at it

would you have liked to have been included in it

do you think the limit is too low for example

I guess that's my first question

and then what do you

that's also one of my questions

I'll hand over to you after this

I just want to claim the glory of that

thank you

of course the limit is too low I would say that wouldn't I

of course we'd love Polestar to be illegible

but

it's a good idea

absolutely it was executed terribly James

I agree with you there was far too much confusion

and could fuffle for almost two months

before it was really clear for consumers as to

which cars it applied to

and which cars it didn't I mean I've probably got a slightly

different perspective as to how they could have approached it

you know for me it's about giving

more people choice in terms

of their transition to an EV

and most of you in here are used car dealers

the used car market

for EVs has been it's fair to say

challenging with residual

values plummeting

first adoption of those cars

and the ownership of those cars has been a really terrible

experience so the Netherlands

recently did something they supported used cars

and actually in terms of adoption of electric cars

which is if we believe in electric cars

being part of a sustainable future really important

that lower price point

that a used car provides

might have been a more interesting way

as well as a new car but might have been more interesting

way to use some of that some of that money

but also of course there's these Zev mandate

fines you know big fines for people that

don't comply with the Zev mandate

that's not taxpayer money they could

reinvest that in some kind of incentive

that does do new and used cars or maybe

it levels the VAT on charging

for example domestic to

20% it's quite a big gap

so there's lots of different things they could have done

but I am an advocate of it

I think it's a good thing you know we do need to

we need to get on this journey of EV

adoption it's not not changing it's coming

for all of us so

anyway we can smooth the transition is a good thing

I mean from a PR perspective

it was a disaster wasn't it

I mean to launch the scheme

with four citrons

each of which

are average at best

anyway

we're sorry

sorry

oh citron's calling me

it's happened before

but to launch it in that way

I mean I know you're not

covered by the graph but from a manufacturer

perspective that must be

you must be thinking why isn't the

government actually having a serious

dialogue with us

and you would have thought the obvious thing to do

would be to do the preparation and the homework first

and say the grants here these are the cars it applies to

from day one you know that had far more traction

because what the industry saw

was a stalling of consumers wanting to make that

choice you know because quite obviously

they're going to wait to see what the full list of cars is

before they make their decision on that purchase

so it was definitely a big sort of dip

I'm sure in showing traffic

in consumers making that decision

to make that purchase

so yeah it was a bit of a farce

could have been done a lot better

we are where we are

Matt, if you were in

number 10 and you never know there might be a vacancy

soon

what would you do

what would you put in place

to make this work

I think it's a recipe of lots of different

things you know and it's

100 things done 1% better not one thing done

100% better you know so

people don't know this but the congestion charge

is going to be levied

electric cars from December

you know there's a disincentive straight away

and that's not just London that's congestion charge zones

in the UK

there's a disincentive not to buy an electric car

the expensive car supplement

still set at £40,000 not adjusted

for inflation since 2017

which when you do adjust it for inflation is about

£56,000

why are we not doing that you know because again

a disincentive for buying an electric car is that

most electric cars accepting some of the Chinese

entrance are over £40,000

that's I think you had one

over £40,000

so I'd be looking at the smaller

things which disincentivise customers

to go for an EV rather than saying

here's six cars and you have three grand often

can I just ask Alex

we talked there about

used EV

used car dealer we were talking before

we started recording about the success

you're having with the 500E

what used car buyers say

do you think there needs to be

in place for the used car market when it comes to EVs

I think

a lot of the people that are coming to us interested

in our electric used

cars are people that have

already done a lot of their research online so

it's very rare that we're having the

opportunity to actually educate these people

which is a shame because

I think it's quite an easy

piece to kind of get over

the message and the benefits of having a used EV

and whenever people

come to you and they'll say

what cars have you got

typically what cars have you got

small automatic under 2000

don't exist

but if you're looking at a 5-10 grand budget

you're looking at around and you think

actually I've got a couple automatic EVs

you can't

even start a conversation

with these people because

I wouldn't have an EV

so you can't really get going

which is really frustrating but

there are people that are already coming to you

with a decent amount of knowledge that

we can

I've certainly found that people do turn up at

our dealership looking at the small EVs

that we've sold

they know everything about it

they don't need to sell it to them

they know that they want that

I'll tell somebody does James

hopefully someone will buy the 10 year old

new assembly for them

did they say has it got an SD card in it

and you have to say

no that hasn't

we'll add that to your batch

shall I move on to Matt

even though half of my questions have been asked

that's part of your section

it is

I'm going to start things off

very very simply Matt

so

you've been in the top job

just over a year now

nearly 18 months

so I mean you've come into the brand

when the brand

sort of

survived with just one car

now you're developing a range of cars

I mean just give us an idea of what your 18 months

have been like

chaotic

it's been a real

meeting

maybe I can have one

it's been a really interesting

journey actually

and I'm not saying that because I'm trying to be

politically correct it genuinely has been fascinating

actually and you're right a lot's happened

in that time

we've transitioned the business model away from

a service operator

lead agency style relationship with our investor

partners to a non-genuine agency

or active selling model as I prefer to call it

which was a big step

we've launched two new cars

we've expanded our retailer footprint by nearly 100%

nearly doubled sales

a lot's happened in that time

so from my perspective

the EV market is

alive and kicking

you just need to know how to go after it

and yes there's more competition for sure

absolutely and we'll talk about Chinese entrance

a lot I'm sure but the fact is

the market's 2 million cars

as being for a few years will be for a few years more

you know so all these

new entrants coming in and wanting a piece

of that market is doing one thing and one thing only

and that's just creating more competition

and more choice for customers and that's a good thing

because competition keeps us honest

hmm

just describe a little bit more

about the way you sell cars

because you've sort of said

there a little bit how you've transitioned

but just for clarity

Polestar has made a change hasn't it

with how it starts up in 2020 to where we are now

yeah correct so when Polestar

started they were

the brand that didn't sell cars that was their strap line

actually we don't sell cars

so you can come and have a look

and we'll give you a test drive but we're not going to sell anyone

by wanting to go away and transact on the internet

that's how it was

and I kind of arrived and looked at it and thought

well we've got these dealer partners

whose day job is to sell cars

why are we not leveraging

their expertise

how to sell cars

there's quite a quick decision and an easy thing for me to make

was how do we bring the retailers

more into

the selling space for Polestar

and how do we take the handcuffs

often which actually

I had were please just let us go on and sell cars

how do we allow them to do that

so of course it all comes back to a contract doesn't it

and we had to change the contract agreement

to allow them to sell cars

change the margin model and all the things that go on behind it

and actually I think it's been quite successful

you know it's definitely

unlocked more of a retail

focus for us being an EV brand

80% fleet

80% fleet is salary sacrificed which presents itself

in a retail as a retail buyer

9 times out of 10

that changing in our stance in terms of sales

was really important

and we're a year in

it's almost a year to the day

we started in September we're a year on

I'm sure John would comment it's still not perfect

but we're better

than we were before

so are those retail

spaces I mean you started like Battersea

centre the Trafford centre

which are very different

various manufacturers have flirted with that idea

over the years

you know having a sort of

a different kind of dealership within a retail

space are those kinds of sites

still important to you

less so if I'm honest

Vicky you talked about building a brand

you know so in the early days getting pulsed

around in front of as many eyeballs as you could

shopping malls did that job so

you know for sure that was the right thing then

it's not the right thing now

in my opinion and we've been public about it

you know we are going to transition away from the shopping mall

concept and move into more traditional

stock type of real estate

but with the Polestar branding and the Polestar experience

and the Polestar journey

so it's definitely done a job for us but

particularly as we're now into the realm of

the second and third ownership cycles for

Polestar customers we need to go deal with use cars

you know and use cars

are very hard to transact from a shopping mall

space

I'm a huge fan and passionate

of mine it is about use cars and you do need

some real estate

and some four court space because

most of the journeys start online

yes they do

a lot of the journeys end in the dealership in terms of

transacting a used car

I flirted with the idea when I was at Volvo we launched a

D2C used car platform

and actually it was a great experiment we didn't sell loads

of cars from it

doing it direct online it serves

some people but most people still want to come and touch

feel sniff drive check for rattles

has a dog been in it has it been smoked in

and have a deal

that's what use cars are all about so

we want to move away from the shopping centres but also

I just believe that

it's more accessible to come to a car dealership

than it is a shopping centre you know that the experience

that we deliver through our shopping malls are

the best that we can with the tools

that are in front of us but test drive experience in particular

is quite complicated

particularly in some way that Battersea where you're going to go out and sit in traffic

for an hour and a half that's not really much of a test drive

experience and even in some of the bigger ones

like Trafford or even Cribs

you've got to go out to the car park

you've got to get onto the roads and then you can have your drive

out or how do I get it back with or leave it

so there's lots of reasons I think why we want to move

move away and we'll do that over the course of the next three or four years

sorry can I just ask a quick question about the agency

you know having gone

into that business and changed that

away from an agency model

we've seen lots of manufacturers say they're going to go

agency drift away from it

cancel it sweep it under the carpet

do you think agency

is as an idea

is going to die of death

I think it depends on your channel mix for sales

you know frankly speaking because we're so heavily

fleet bias

being able to

directly issue

terms to those leasing companies and

control the market is important

so from a fleet perspective I think agency is absolutely right

from a retail perspective

it's got its pros and it's got its cons

but again because

small percentage of our business

20% is retail

at the moment it works for us

new products coming for Polestar

which have been talked about Polestar 7

is coming to the market soon

that will be a great retail car for us

that will certainly unlock the opportunity to sell more retail

cars to more retail customers

maybe then we have a look at how we deal

with the business model

but today right now it's fit for purpose I think

that ability for you

to be able to shift your retail

stance and your focus

is that one of the advantages

of being part of Geely

Polestar is a start-up brand

but you look at the number of start-up brands

particularly from China and some from America

which have started

I mean even Neo, I know you were

which had these grand plans

and then all of a sudden

you realise that the UK

market is a difficult place to crack

it's very difficult to sell cars to people

very brand aware

very snobby you could say to a certain extent

but you've been able to switch your retail

stance because

you've got some support behind you

from a larger conglomerate

if you take the challenges of a start-up

which I am very familiar with

some of the challenges you have

when you're trying to persuade people to trust in a new brand

is what happens if it goes wrong

being part of Geely means

we're very close to Volvo

being close to Volvo means we have the benefit of

97 authorised repair points

so if your Polestar goes wrong

don't worry it's not a problem

take it to a Volvo dealership

in the way that they're really good at doing so

so that's one of the big stepping stones

and big challenges I think

these new brands will have

and especially in the premium car space

is how do I know

that you're going to be there if something happens

and something goes wrong

what are you going to do if the worst does happen

and that's a really key point for being part of Geely

and being part of that family

it gives us that scale

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It's not magic, it's Motorway

I think we have a question

we're going to have to run very quickly so

Play some background music while it's happening

Hi, I'm Martin from EV Experts

we sell electric cars

I was interested to hear about

the retail partner

relationship between Volvo and Polestar

we're real big fans of Polestar

we sell a lot of those units

and we're finding

an inconsistency, and this is really

that and Vicky

from some of the Volvo service centres

we have some locally that are refusing

to deal with Polestar

we have some that are definitely pushing

Polestar further down

because they're not my customer

and I think it's a

challenge because

the one thing that's brilliant is

I've not heard of Polestar

you can get it serviced at a Volvo dealer

and that relationship between the two

is absolute

it's really close to sale

on a lot of the vehicles that we sell

so just want to sort of key to hear from both sides

how you view the relationship between

Volvo and Polestar and how linked

or unlinked are they

Do you want me to go first?

Yes, sure

Thank you for the question

and we are aware

that that's happening

I think all I would say is that

because we're on our infancy as a brand

and our retailer partnerships are growing

the position now where the retailer

relationships we have with our investors

represent around 40% of the after sales

points in the UK

so our Polestar partners who also represent

Volvo I would like to think

are not guilty of that and if they are

then we'll have a chat later

maybe you can tell me some specific names

and I'll deal with it

but how do we overcome it

and this is why our network expansion

is quite so important

because everyone's got some skin in the game

and if you're not

part of the Polestar family

you're probably not going to be that

predisposed to prioritising them

when it comes to fixing the problems

and we've had our fair share

like lots of brands have

so long way of saying we're working on it

and we're aware of it and I think there's some other things

I can do working more closely with the Volvo UK team

to make sure that

that de-prioritisation doesn't happen

From my perspective to Matt's point

we're very fortunate that we are a Polestar partner as well

so in effect

our Volvo centres are in similar

areas of operation

and so our Polestar customers

are as much a priority

as our other brands

I think it's really fair to say that

I certainly don't believe that happens in our centres

they are valued customers

to us too

Just a question

on that front

are customers still connecting the two

do they still connect Volvo and Polestar

because for a long time

Polestar was a

speedy version of Volvo

but now they've obviously been separated

are they still making that connection

is that connection even important?

I believe it is

when you look at the technology platforms that our cars share

it's Volvo

Polestar 3 is underpinned and shared

with the same platform as an EX90

Polestar 2 is underpinned and shares a platform with an XC40

so those ties are still really really important

and actually the businesses

are still linked despite what you might read in the press

Volvo is still a 20% shareholder of Polestar

so that relationship

is still very much there and cemented

From my perspective

I think what we see a lot of Polestar customers

are really into the tech

so actually they've done their research

and I think on the whole are very aware of the relationship

Are you finding

customers are coming into your

Polestar showrooms

and knowing about the brand

or does it take

a bit of convincing a bit of selling

a bit of education to customers

What I'm trying to sort of

find out really whether Polestar's got the brand recognition

which you may

you want

I think absolutely and I think

increasingly so over the last sort of 18

to 24 months we've seen a real growth

in Polestar brand awareness

and I'm sure your brand

or I'll recall brand awareness

and the surveys at Polestar nationally

will support that

we are seeing a massive increase in awareness

and people are talking to us about

I'm always amazed at the amount of people

that are talking to us about

when can we see Polestar 5

there's an awareness that it's coming

and I think that absolutely

people know about the brand

by the time they arrive with us

Part of the strategy has been since I've arrived

is let's just get as many cars on the roads as we can

that is your biggest way

to improve sales and now being the fastest growing

premium car brand in the UK

was a really important milestone to hit

because that does service

more brand awareness

without a shadow of a doubt, more than you can do

by throwing money at TV or any other metric

Just a slightly wider

industry question really

Matt, what are you seeing in the

new car market? What are your predictions

for the rest of this year and next?

The dealers I'm talking to are saying

it's quite tough out there

we've got a budget coming up

which is going to be absolutely critical

to the economy

What are your predictions leading a manufacturer

going forward?

The market's definitely hardened

it's fair to say Q1 was quite a honeymoon

period I think for everybody, Q2 got harder

Q3 got even harder

What are we seeing? Well at the market

it's 2% up year to date isn't it

F sales up 30%

P have sales up 34%

so you can see where the drop-off is

and a lot of that growth

is being fuelled through high discount business

the statistic from last year

£4.5 billion was poured into the industry

through OEM and dealer discounts

to drive the adoption of electric cars

I put a sizable bet on that being bigger

this year because everyone's

fighting for that market share

and in the market there's not getting any bigger

and there are more entrants

and there is more choice

but the budget I think is a really crucial thing

because there's only one or two levers

that the government can pull in terms of getting more revenue in

and that's tax raises

generally speaking, it can be a raid

on national insurance and or income tax

and that with

uncertainty around inflation

which is still rising interest rates

not coming down as quickly as people wanted to

or thought they might, there is still a cost of living crisis

we don't hear so much of that term

in the press today

but there is still very much cost of living crisis

I see the market is going to be stagnant

this year and probably stagnant

next year, I don't see the growth

but of course we've got the Zevman date targets

haven't we, which say 33% of sales

next year have got to be EVs

so that's okay for me because I sell EVs

that's cool

but the rest of the brands that are struggling to do that

again there's only one lever

and it's more discount

so I think it's going to be really challenging both at the manufacturer level

but I think also for the dealers in the room

because they are going to have to trade harder and harder

to hit these targets

and I know OEM has put in place

one of those horrible people that have set targets based on

government based incentives

and there must be in most car brands

I'm assuming a Zevman

date related mixed target which unlocks some of your margin

and if you're not hitting that

you're going to lose half a percent

one percent whatever the number is

and that's a big chunk of cash

Vicki, similar question

what are you predicting going forward

do you agree with Matt

or do you see the market slightly differently

I think I do agree with Matt

I think the interesting thing

clearly yes we see the decline in petrol and diesel vehicle

but you have to ask yourself how much of that

is pushing in terms of

when you look at what the manufacturers are being forced

to produce in order to meet

those ambitious targets

in terms of EB mix

then absolutely it's about us then trying to get

those products to the right customers

so I think in terms of

what Matt's suggesting

I think we see exactly the same

but we have seen this year

get much harder

so the incentives keep coming

and I think I referenced earlier

Emo de Jaco and the number of overlays

and enhancements but actually they're not alone

and what we are seeing consistently

quarter after quarter now is

increased number of enhancements

increased number of almost testing the water

how do we move more of that

product so I think we're going to continue

to see that real

reactiveness to the market

until they can get that right

in terms of the number of new

EB products coming through

and you see the push don't you in the stats

30% of the business at the end of June

was done in the last two days

it'll be the same as September

sure it's just a coincidence

actually I think you've got time for one more question

if you've got one left

you touched upon it earlier on Matt

this question was rudely taken away from me

by John

but it was about sort of

ZEV mandates and the fines

which the government is taking

I mean is there a better way

the government could be using these fines

money actually putting it to some good use

yes absolutely I mean

I've spoken again in public

forums about this I do believe those

fines those that funds should be

reinvested to support

the transition to electric cars

I work for a car electric car brand

because I do believe that electric cars are the future

I'm also a petrol hood just to get it out there

but if we believe in a sustainable future

electric cars do play a part in that

so we have to go ahead to rounds

driving, using, owning

selling electric cars

and people need

a gentle nudge in that direction

and that is going to be a financial incentive

for some description and the fines to me

seem like a really really great way

to reinvest that money

to achieve what the government is setting out

as really really high objectives for OEMs

and for dealers

to target without some stick and carrot

approach and if the stick's there

the carrot needs to come

a bit more now and they'll say they've done it

in terms of the electric car brand

and yeah okay you could say they have

done it but there are more things

they could and should be doing and those those fines

are a great example of

how that money should be reinvested

is it my go?

it is

Alex let's talk used cars

my favourite subject

as you know

firstly for the people

in the room and those listed

explain a little bit about your business

we can get an idea of what you do

yeah so we

try and specialise in small cars

it doesn't always happen

so yeah we carry probably about

anything between sort of 45 and 60 cars

any one time

average price probably

10 to 12,000 pounds

and yeah we've got quite a broad mix

really petrol diesel and electric

and yeah just a few big ones

chucked in for good measure

but we try and limit those as much as post really

and we're based down in Hampshire

it's sounding very familiar James isn't it

it is yeah that's why I'm doing this one

so I can get some more tips

obviously down in the New Forest

John and I came to see you didn't we

did a video

what I loved about your story is just the way

you've built this business

you started from home didn't you

up to I mean I looked on the website

you got a lot of cars advertising

yeah yeah yeah

auto trade I think they've

allowed you to add a load of cars under

7,000 pounds a little bit cheaper than normal

so we're utilising that as much

as possible at the moment just to get them all online

because

well you've been doing it a little while but we found

over the years that end of September

things do then tell

off probably right the way through until January

so we're just trying to make the most of now really

but yeah started out at my parents

place

and got to about 15 cars

and no one could move for cars

it's the time I got kicked out

and I met my wife

to be anyways then I relocated

and then just actually got a little unit

not too dissimilar to what you're running with at the

moment and then after a couple years there

we outgrew that and then got a slightly

bigger space in the same town so

it's been

fairly slow because we first kicked off in

2016

so yeah 9 years now

but yeah

it's great love it

you mentioned AutoTrader

we've talked a lot about marketing channels

what really

works for you

it is AutoTrader

probably mainly for the selling

but

like I try to explain to people

if you're

you need to kind of take another example

so let's say we're based in

Derby

if you draw 40 mile radius around Derby as a customer

you got a lot of cars to choose from

if you're in Barton on sea

which by the sea

you've got the Isle of Wight over there

half it's a channel so we're struggling

in terms of like our actual catchment

for who we can appeal to

so

yeah it's AutoTrader

that's pretty much the main one

we've been through them all

we've been through eBay motors

car gurus

I'm not going to say too much

more about that

I think everyone's got their own views

on that or did have at least

so yeah there's a few out there

but ultimately AutoTrader seems to be one

that's willing for us

a fair bit of local advertising as well

in terms of sourcing because as everyone knows

sourcing is a big problem and has been for a while

so we try and go direct

and source from private customers

for us as well

so it was just trying to tailor everything to our local market

which is typically

older folk retired

and they've got a lot of cars

under 40,000 miles

and we're just trying to tap into that as much as possible

holy grail aren't they

they're very well looked after

should we just leave

yeah

so when it comes to sourcing

that sourced stock

and what other channels do you use

do you use the likes of

motorway, car, wow, etc

do I have to say yes

ideally

so yeah we do use car, wow

and motorway

but we've managed to

we've got a really good source at the moment

so like Xfleet, high purchase

PCP, stuff like that

so we're buying a lot from them at the moment

so yeah I'll probably say like

I don't know 60, 70%

is coming from them

and they're working well so

just having to adjust margins down a little bit

just to do more numbers

but ultimately it's working well

the bottom line is going up each month

so that's good

and yeah we're just advertising locally

and not any of the free magazines that you just like maybe read

and throw away

they actually work well for us in our local area

so yeah

and a lot of park exchanges but we're trying to keep hold

of a lot of our park exchanges as well

because it saves on travel time

and inspection costs

Did you buy from traditional auctions?

I can't remember the last time we did actually buy

from traditional auction route

six months ago

so it kind of scares me a little

but I need to probably still keep my hand in there

should our feed

kind of get turned off at some point

but yeah

that's how we built the business to where we are today

but not at the moment

I don't miss it to be honest

I don't miss it at all

a small use card business

I mean there are a lot of stresses

as I said in the beginning

how do you cope with that?

Hi people

so if John's watching this

you can't leave

you're not leaving

so yeah just trying to get people around you

to kind of shoulder the burden

and you know like you said

or alluded to at the start

if you've got people around you just bounce ideas off

whether it's like virtual

minded dealers

if you haven't got

the pleasure of having people around you

then just make use of it

because it can get on top of you

and yeah

a lot of you guys out there that do the job

you'll know that sometimes it all comes at once

so get a few customers

maybe complain in a short space of time

and maybe it's a week

where you're not selling too much

and then yeah it can get a bit much

so you need to really like lean on whoever you can really

because it can be tough

and when it comes to reviews

you've got some fantastic reviews

I've checked them out in Australia the other day

how important are they to you as a business?

they're really important

you know

you kind of get used to forgetting about it

you keep building the reviews

and you start to realise I need to ask these people

are you actually like reading our reviews

and they do

pretty much every single person that comes on

you talk to them about it

it's kind of like

a hygiene fact to like

you have to have good reviews to do good business

so yeah it's vital

and when it comes to

like the opportunities

in the used car market

what do you think is next

for dealers like us

I mean is it

how do we maximise the opportunity

I mean you've mentioned you're doing EVs

but there'll be a lot of people in the audience

and a lot of people watching this

don't do it what would you say to them

I think like Matt said I think it's coming

yes the market

for new ones is two million

it's probably going to be like that for a while

but two million

plus two million plus two million from the last

few years we're going to have a bigger

used vehicle park to go at

so if you're not doing it now

it's going to come because the used vehicle park

is growing

and we'll probably continue to grow

a much bigger rate over the next three

years so if you're not doing it now

then you've got to

because it's an EV as well really

so maybe just

start small maybe go with stuff that's still under

manufacturer's warranty try and play it safe

whether that's battery or complete

vehicle if you can or see

budgets might not work for everyone

if you're trying to stick to five ten

ground worth of stock but yeah

just give it a go

in CA get on I think you might be pleasantly

surprised now I spoke to a dealer I think

last week and he said he was loving the job

and the reason he was loving the job was because

he's literally just been selling Tesla after Tesla

after Tesla and

he's not getting any complaints

and that helps obviously

if it's just you or someone else

stress levels you actually need to keep him

nice and low to be able to

operate efficiently

and make the most of your day

do you find you get less warranty claims on

electric cars? Yeah yeah I think we've had

it

you've got to temper it with

how many cars have we actually sold our electric

sure we've probably got

I don't know

15 Teslas out there that we've sold

maybe seven or eight, five hundred

E's we had one called

on a Tesla but then they called

us a few days ago to say it's cured itself

so it's like

best follow up call ever

software defined car for you

it takes it for itself

is it okay that's great

I'll keep buying more of that case

um

yeah so we've

I can't even think of any other

I think we might have a question

oh okay

sounds cool

I was just curious if you think

that there should be a grant for used

car or used electric cars as well

or if you think there's enough appetite for the number that are out there at the moment

good question

I think naturally I should say yes

in case anybody that influences

watching this

but I think touching on Matt's point earlier

what you were saying about trying to get as many cars

out there as possible that's actually

coming into some of the conversations that we're having with people

people are coming to us inquiring on used

cars saying yeah Dave's just got

one and oh my god it's amazing isn't it

so it is literally just all about

awareness I think the more people driving them

sharing those experiences

um yeah grants going to help for sure

um yeah and maybe

is the best way to do it because

if you're putting grants out there on 10 grand

cars rather than say 50-60 grand ones

then yeah the words are going to get out there more

experiences so yeah

well the used car market is what 7-8 million transactions a year

which is four times as big

as a new one isn't it

so I think it's an obvious place to start

yeah

it's not just money off though it's things like

batteries though isn't it and I know

you've been doing some work for this

battery and some dealers in this room have

with battery health checks so it's not

just a grant for money off the

purchase price it's a bit of certainty that

the battery's actually got some life

in it yeah and this comes back to education

doesn't it because I think there's still lots of people

out there that think a car battery is like a phone

battery that is built in obsolescence

after two years it starts to tail off and

you know what we see in terms of the state of health

test that we've done is that cars

are 100,000 miles it's

still got a state of health of well in excess of 90%

you know so the myth that

car batteries are going to die after eight years and it's going to cost you a fortune

that's not

certainly what I'm seeing

or experiencing

Vicky do you use any

battery health tested

when you sell an electric car

do you show those certificates to customers

we do absolutely so

an important part of our used

merchandising is our battery state of health checks

so we present that to any

used vehicle that we present

that's available for customers to view online

as well as when they visit the showroom

but it's actually also an important tool for us

when we're appraising car exchanges coming in

as well so absolutely

battery state of health check is an important part

of the process for us

the one thing I found with the electric cars we have bought

in

service history is very very hard

to come by I don't know whether you've found the same thing out

it's pretty much non-existent

Zoe I bought

the other day hadn't been serviced since

2019 and the guy who chops it in said

boy it doesn't need servicing does it

it does

but yeah I mean

how do you

it's all very well because they do

have less moving parts etc

but the next customer wants

some proof that it's been looked at don't they

yeah they do

or some of them do but the ones that we've dealt with

it's not been

it's not been a topic of conversation

I think a lot of the deals we've been doing recently

have been on Tesla Model 3s

and the conversation is

really around what's it like to drive

they come back off the test drive you show them

what they need to be shown

what they want to be shown

which could run into hours on end

I'm sure you guys know that for well

you just take the lead

by the customer really

and it's just usually it's just wow

this car's amazing

they have no experience and they're just itching to get in it

and buy it and they can't believe

them out that they've dropped in value

and these people are openly sharing this

not trying to drive a deal with you

so service history doesn't really

form part of the conversation at all

we're finding

I was just going to ask so would you switch your business over

tomorrow to EV only

some of our audience

maybe not tomorrow it's definitely something I've been thinking about

this last couple weeks like for sure

but

I don't think I'd switch off

Small Cast Direct

if I was to do that

it's a whole another

conversation thought

to think how do you do that

can you manage that

something for the future

especially if it's going to be the way things are going to go

in the next 5-10 years

just a wider question for the panel

I'll start with you on service history

have you found that

with the cost of living crisis

people are just not doing it now

when John and I have been searching

motorway cars

it's very

unusual to see a full service history car

isn't it

is it just something people have forgotten

or just don't do anymore to save money

yeah I think I'm probably not the best person to ask

on this because the business has been going like 9 years

but people have been doing it

for say 15-20 years

would probably be a better point to say

but I think you're right

I think when we do get a car in

which has literally been serviced annually for the last 10 years

at the same dealer

it's really rare now

and I'm not actually sure that people are appreciating it

because you've got the price markers

people are so driven by price

that actually people aren't

necessarily seeing the value in it

so now I don't think people are servicing them as much

and also I don't think people are actually that

of the buy either

which is right or wrong

we've got a question

for an answer to that

question as to whether it's got worse

EV experts

just want to get back on stage

I think it has to use a change as well post-COVID

people are using their cars less

so they think they need to service them less

do you see it as a manual?

well less takes off to your EVs

but certainly when I talk to our investor partners

to represent other brands and do sell used cars

that's definitely a factor

it's not religious every year anymore

if you're only doing 5,000 miles a year

you can skip a year right

what do you see in your dealerships?

I think we tend to see that

in that segment one

one to three year old

retention into the after sale space

is still quite good

there's a cognizance around

preserving the manufacturer warranty

and I think that as a main dealer

we do a good job of retaining customers

into the after sale space

I think as you start to move into segment two

three vehicles

we are finding it more challenging

to keep those customers coming back

but I think that's really for us

at the point absolutely

I think since Covid there is

we've got more people working remotely

more people doing lower mileage

so it's about us adjusting our proposition

to the customer and whether that's

low mileage servicing options

or whatever it might be

it's about looking at different ways

of offering the service to retained customers

so I was just going to make a comment

about EV servicing because

we set up our EV business in 2017

and so we do have some history

with people who have cars that are

five, six, seven years old

and what we are seeing

is that manufacturers are turning away

claims on

HV batteries

because the service history isn't

complete

which I don't

criticize manufacturers for doing that

I think it's absolutely actually the right thing

because I do think it's quite helpful

for people to have their cars looked at

most EVs it's every other year

it's expensive actually

and also it's a point

for people to understand

whether other things in their car

are also still up to scratch

whether that's tyres

or brake pipes etc

so good health check

so yeah I think

as we go forward

whether EV has been serviced or not

is going to become more relevant

but of course at the moment most people have quite new EVs

where battery module failures

are a feature

but they certainly are of older ones

but I also wanted to ask

can I ask another question is that okay James sorry

not EV related at all

you'll be pleased to hear

I just wanted to ask

you were talking about

advertising locally

I just wondered how you were finding

or what you were thinking about

market extension

because we're taught to trade our offer

because

we really want to do

because I don't know used cars

I think it's really important to develop our relationship

and for people to understand

it's a good idea to buy a used car

particularly the older it gets

perhaps near the dealership where you bought it from

because there might be a problem

or if it's an EV or a new technology

you might actually need some support

in accessing and getting the most of that car

so we

we're not that keen on distance selling

and also I don't know what it is about used cars

but you know the one that goes the furthest

will be the only one

that has a problem

or you know you've got a really trusted

delivery partner who's delivered like

100 cars for you no problem

but the one that's going to Peebles

is the one that they snag the alloy on

and apparently nobody in Peebles

actually repairs alloys

so yeah we're not

sounds like a therapy session

yeah so we're not

we're not that keen on market extension

I don't see it really

working for consumers I've even had consumers

on the on the forecourt saying that

they've given up

with auto trade searches for example

because it keeps giving them cars that are not

within their

not within their remit they've asked for

and

yeah I'm not convinced it's right for the consumer

I'm not convinced it's right for the trader

but be really interested

to hear other people's thoughts on it

we've not tried market extension

we thought it was quite expensive

of course we would

solve the dream if we have it you're going to sell

40% more cars if you try it

I don't know

it's probably just a bit stubborn on my part maybe

just to be annoyed at our location

it's my fault we shouldn't be based in

Barton on Sea on New Milton

but

yeah it would be nice to try it

maybe obviously free trials they're not a thing

with auto trade anymore it seems

but maybe we try it if it was a reduced rate

expensive but we're good up for it

our name is small cars direct

we will deliver direct we've been doing it

pretty much since we started

we've got transport and we can do it so it's something

that I'd probably quite enjoy to do

I think if you just get as many cars out the door

as possible great I think

we prep them correct I've got no problems

in sending cars to Newcastle, Scotland

if you're a member of the IMDA

there's a

there's like a map where you've got

trusted repairers

but then even then like if there is no one

like that nearby like we just

usually call on a trusted mobile mechanic

so it's literally just google

mobile mechanic probably like four or five

in that customers area we'll look at the highest reviews

4.8, 4.9

give them a call let me know exactly what's going on

be transparent with them and we can get

things resolved like pretty much no matter where

the car is so we've got no mission doing that

so yeah maybe it's worth trying

market extension I don't know how else you can

have you tried boosting any

cars in Australia yeah had any success?

mixed

if stuff's over age

or getting to be over age

we are boosting cars

and sometimes we'll actually get hits

on cars after the boost

send it so it might be that someone saved it

to their garage and then we change the

price by five or a tenner and then they

find a notification and then they inquire

so it's always hard to know

as a result of that that may well be

because we just don't get any leads on cars

we'll have to ask your trader people

after the podcast and I'll

connect you two together and you can

you can berate them

let them have a drink first

right we go

I think we're sort of running out of time now

any final questions?

I did have a final question written here but you both

have edited to the Google Doc and now I can't see it

I'll have to try to remember what it is

so I mean I'm going to start with Vicky

see if I can remember what it was

what do you love about

being in motor trade?

gosh

I said gosh because

I could talk about this all day

it's an incredibly dynamic place to be

it's a fast-paced place to be

I love the fact that no two days

are the same in my job so I'm a huge

advocate for working this industry

and I think the retail side of it

particularly with the amount of change

that we're going through is hugely exciting

place to be so that's what I love about it

it's a very good and concise answer

thank you

Matt, what about you?

all of what Vicky just said but it's the people

for me

the motor trade is full of fantastically

interesting characters

and I never get bored of meeting

new people in the automotive industry

and it's fantastic as well I love it

very good, Alex?

I guess this is the buzz, the obvious answer

the buzz of getting a deal done

it's pretty exciting

and getting a positive review and actually seeing

people genuinely loving their new car

and the experience that they've had

knowing that we've given them that experience

is pretty cool

fantastic, I can see James

is going to be left out for that

James, what do you love about it?

I agree with the set

I find it incredibly addictive

people often ask me why on earth

are you running a small used car dealership

when you should be writing stories

and it's because I absolutely love it

I like meeting

the people

and the general public are a unique breed

aren't they?

it's very diverse

you meet some brilliant people

and what I love about it is

people look at the automotive

sorry, the used car trade

and they end up

turn up in your dealership

and they're normally a bit fighting

I really enjoy

I really enjoy winning them over

and I think

when it goes from somebody who's really

got real skepticism about

buying a used car from a used car dealer

to the point where you've sold them the car

and you get a positive review

there's no better feeling

I really enjoy it

Batch, what do you have about the Rover 75 now?

please

it's a free barbecue

we can hurry up

well, all that's left for me to say

thank you to our panel

you've been fantastic, round of applause for our panel please

round of applause

very good round of applause

thank you as well to Motoway

for making this event possible

and feeding us all afterwards

so round of applause for Motoway

and thank you as well to these two

for saying some words

you're very welcome

well thanks to everyone for coming along

and thank you if you're listening

we will be back

in a few days whenever we publish this

probably the next day

with the regular Friday podcast as well

we talk about news etc

but that's all from me

bye everyone

Car Dealer Podcast Live 2025 – with Vicky Hart, Matt Galvin and Alex Bradley

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