00:49
John, reckon you could beat Carwell's Matt Watson in a drag race?
00:53
Probably not with any of your stock, James, but I'll give it a go.
00:57
Well, John, it's funny you should say that.
00:59
Right now, Carwell is offering dealers the chance to win one of 20 spaces for a day on the track with Matt.
01:05
All you need to do is source stock in Carwell's daily online auctions in September.
01:11
So you're saying just by buying a couple of picantos, you could win a day on the track with Matt Watson?
01:17
That's right, John. Every vehicle bought and collected via Carwell's auctions in September counts as one entry.
01:24
So the more you buy, the more chances you get to race against Matt Watson himself.
01:29
You can sign up today, John, at carwell.co.uk slash partners slash win.
01:35
Terms and conditions apply.
01:38
Welcome back to the Car Dealer Podcast, where we pick our favourite stories of the week
01:46
and ask an industry guest to choose which were the best.
01:50
I'm John Ray, and joining me this week, as usual, it's, well, actually, how can I introduce you this week?
01:56
Last week, I introduced you as a Premier Automotive electrician.
02:00
Well, you could say, I've got one for you, electric car owner.
02:04
I can say that, can't I?
02:06
It depends. Have the funds cleared from one bank account to another?
02:10
No, they haven't actually, but they will be. The finance will clear, I'm sure.
02:15
I should probably explain that, shouldn't I?
02:17
Last week, we talked about that ridiculous part exchange that I took in, which was, well, I say ridiculous.
02:23
It was for a ridiculous price. I bought that Renault Zoe for £500.
02:28
And you've been down this week, John. We've had some fun and games with it.
02:31
I introduced you to the world of very cheap electric cars, and were you quite impressed?
02:36
I was very impressed, actually, for the sake of, I mean, what else can you get for £500 a week nowadays?
02:41
A £500 electric car.
02:43
I spent £100 in weight shows last night.
02:45
I mean, it's a fifth of the price of the electric car.
02:52
I thought it was very impressive.
02:54
I think it was rarity that you managed to get one with the battery actually owned in the car, not owned by Renault.
02:59
So if it wasn't owned by you, I think it would be worth a lot less.
03:04
Well, I was impressed by James.
03:07
It was a 10, 11-year-old electric car.
03:10
Sorry, an 11-year-old Renault.
03:12
And it all felt tight and brand new.
03:15
It's done 80,000 miles, hasn't it?
03:18
So I don't think an 80,000 mile, I don't know, 0.9 litre Cleo would feel quite so tight.
03:26
I've been really impressed with it so much so that I've bought it off the company because I needed a sort of third car, which would be quite useful.
03:34
It means that Rebecca can use it and I don't have to ride my bike all the time.
03:39
So yeah, perfect opportunity.
03:41
But yes, yeah, a bit of a bargain there.
03:43
Had a bit of a weird one this morning, though.
03:45
I plugged it in to charge it up for the first time at home.
03:47
And I sat here in front of my computer and my computer started making the weirdest buzzing noise.
03:53
And I'm thinking, what on earth is that?
03:55
Is the screen's gone wrong or something?
03:57
And did a little bit of Googling.
03:59
I say I did, you did.
04:01
So you know, what about this, John?
04:03
You did a little bit of Googling for me.
04:05
And it turns out that one of the things that can set off your computer screen's buzzing is an electric car charging.
04:11
And I thought that cannot be connected.
04:13
So I went downstairs, unplugged the Renault Zoe from the house.
04:19
Nothing buzzed anymore.
04:20
I mean, very, very strange.
04:22
I mean, it's quite, I just, yeah, couldn't really, couldn't really imagine that was going to be the case.
04:26
So yeah, that's been, that's been quite fun, John.
04:29
Isn't it this week?
04:30
We've got a video coming out all about that tonight.
04:32
Yes, not about your screen.
04:34
No, not about screen, about the car.
04:36
But I've had a little bit of success car sales wise.
04:39
Sold two of those new Jimneys.
04:41
They've gone out the door, literally left us.
04:43
Both of them, both of the chaps, very, very happy with them.
04:47
So yeah, the imports seem to be doing quite well for us.
04:50
I'm quite impressed.
04:52
Well, I'm trying to encourage you to buy some more.
04:58
The ones you're encouraging me to buy that are quite strange, aren't they?
05:05
Anyway, what have you been up to?
05:06
You've been driving any weird Chinese cars or?
05:09
Although I might be in two weeks time.
05:11
That seems to be my life.
05:13
You are now a Chinese correspondent, aren't you?
05:17
I don't know how I've managed to wrangle that particular title, but it's just,
05:21
there's, you know, like of the percentage of new car launches at the minute,
05:25
I think it just so happens about 75% of the Chinese.
05:28
So yes, I think that's why.
05:30
No, no, I do have a new Chinese car arriving in a few weeks though.
05:37
Well, it's evolved though.
05:38
But does that count?
05:40
It may or may not be made in China.
05:42
I'd need to check them in.
05:43
But yeah, I've got an EX 30 arriving at some point.
05:47
That is the sort of thing you do, isn't it?
05:51
It's a kind of owners group thing.
05:53
Anyway, should we stop boring our listeners and introduce our fantastic guests?
05:59
So our guest this week is Stephen Douglas, director of really easy car credit
06:04
and co-founder of Dealerway.
06:05
Stephen, thanks for joining us.
06:10
How are you, James?
06:15
I know there's lots to talk to you about, but I think we should probably just sort of
06:18
set the scene for those people listening.
06:20
I mean, tell us a little bit about the car dealership side of your business first.
06:25
I mean, give us an idea of how it's all set up.
06:30
So we're a little bit different from your traditional car dealer, I suppose.
06:36
And that we don't advertise on Auto Trailer, which is maybe a shock for some.
06:41
Because I know Auto Trailer is obviously the leading driver of most Motor Trade businesses.
06:46
And it's not something that, you know, would do out of spite or we don't have anything
06:51
against Auto Trailer.
06:52
It's just sort of how it's sort of come to be.
06:55
I did, I set up the business maybe 13, 14 years ago under a different guys.
07:02
I'll be honest with you.
07:04
You're a traditional Auto Trailer dealer.
07:06
And I was selling a lot cheaper cars back then.
07:09
I didn't have the money behind where that we've got now.
07:13
And I was just getting a little bit delusioned with, you know, what I found was sort of like
07:19
the race to the bottom on Auto Trailer.
07:22
And I just felt like I was competing on price and everyone was doing the same thing.
07:28
And it was just regurgitating all the time.
07:30
And I just, I wanted to just be a little bit different.
07:35
Look would have it.
07:36
One day a finance rep came in into the dealership.
07:39
And it was just me running the whole thing, balloting cars, picking cars up, you know,
07:45
selling the cars, doing everything really, which I'm sure you're aware about recently
07:50
James with the old dealership that you've just recently started.
07:54
So I was in a bit of a rush and I was like, I nearly sort of shushed him out the door.
07:59
And he says, no, no, give it, give us two seconds of your time.
08:01
And he says, we're a new finance company and we're finance people with really bad credit.
08:07
So anyways, I heard him out and we had a little go of it.
08:11
It's not someone I'd thought about before.
08:13
And we sort of done really well out of it straight away.
08:18
And the company at the time was called Credit for Cause C4C.
08:23
They're not here anymore.
08:25
That business model wasn't exactly great if I'm honest with you.
08:30
Oh, you've got a pulse. All right. You're approved.
08:33
So let's just leave it at that.
08:36
So anyway, around about that time, I must admit, I've always been a little bit techie and a bit geeky.
08:43
And I started learning Facebook and Facebook ads.
08:48
And this was well, well before anyone, obviously it's massive now.
08:53
It was well before anyone in the motor trade that I knew certainly was doing that.
08:58
And I got really into it and taught myself how to do it.
09:01
And we quickly using this one finance company, this Credit for Cause,
09:07
and using the new platform Facebook were promoting with the advertising.
09:12
We're just skyrocketed.
09:14
And I took on a salesperson.
09:16
We took on a couple of validers in fast forward two or three years down the line.
09:21
We've got a couple of more companies, finance companies involved.
09:23
But we went from doing me one man band on my own.
09:26
I was probably doing 20 to 25 calls a month.
09:29
And we're doing like 90 to 100 deals a month at a start of 17.
09:34
And the way we worked it was really dropped over through that.
09:40
And what typically you would say is like a finance led dealer.
09:45
So we didn't for a long time, we do now, but we didn't advertise cause first.
09:51
We didn't advertise cause we're advertised finance.
09:53
And it was all done through the Facebook platform, the advertising platform.
09:58
And would have like landing pages built with a special form on how long made and,
10:04
you know, direct people through the through the advertising flow to put the details
10:09
into apply for credit.
10:10
And, you know, the hook was, you know, do you have bad credit?
10:14
And luckily for me at that time, like I say, we had this funder who was
10:17
literally just willing to sign the life away on it on any customer.
10:20
You know, so the great thing about it was it at the time, this,
10:25
this particular funder was, was lending massive, massive amounts on cause.
10:31
So we were achieving like 120 to 125% of glasses or cap retail,
10:36
whichever was the greater.
10:38
So it enabled me to pay a lot more for cause than, you know, your typical dealer.
10:44
So obviously back in those days, it was, you know, all traditional auctions.
10:48
This was pre COVID.
10:49
So there was no online auctions at the time.
10:52
And I used to go at the auctions, you know, every other day, I suppose.
10:56
And I would literally make a point of standing in the middle of the auction
11:02
ring with me, my catalogue rolled up and I would call me bid and stick.
11:05
And I would make a point of everyone because I'm quite well known locally,
11:09
you know, I've been the motor for me whole life.
11:11
And I would make sure everyone knew that I was bidding for these cars.
11:14
And eventually they'd say that I would give more money for anyone,
11:17
anyone else in the cause because I wasn't on auto trader.
11:20
I wasn't competing with everyone else on price.
11:23
And I was able to give more money for these cars.
11:25
So eventually people got sick of bidding against this because I just
11:28
was to keep going and going and winning cause.
11:31
So eventually people used to, to come into the auction.
11:35
I'd sit and be having a cup of tea or a sausage sandwich or something.
11:40
Oh, Steve, you see that, that course are out there.
11:44
And I would be like, yeah, God see, can you leave us that one?
11:48
And enable this really to sort of have car planche locally anyway,
11:53
until this started.
11:55
I started having to bid against the telly where it would be seen in Manning.
11:58
What have you bought the screens out so you could, you could bid online.
12:01
But I was having me cake and internet.
12:03
I was getting the cause eventually cheaper because no one was bidding
12:07
against us because it was, you know, to them it was pointless.
12:10
I was able to, to get this, you know, massive retail valuation back
12:16
So when you pair that with the influx of the leads that were getting
12:20
at the time, which were buying them for a pound, you know,
12:23
for a finance application at the time, it would just grew
12:27
exponentially and we had a really good go at it.
12:31
And I suppose the company's bank balance grew exponentially.
12:35
And then then COVID hit and some of the companies that were
12:39
using hit the wall and everything changed and sort of chasing
12:43
that fight dream back down to reality now with everyone else.
12:47
But we're still working the same way.
12:49
We don't use our trailer.
12:51
We're not on car gurus.
12:53
We're not on motors.
12:54
And again, it's not that I've got anything against those platforms.
12:57
It's just my business isn't the traditional motor dealership.
13:00
We're more like a hybrid of an in-house broker slash dealer.
13:07
And fast forward to today, we're sort of down to eight staff
13:11
will move premises.
13:13
And I'm actually looking to move premises again to be honest.
13:16
We haven't really got the facilities that I want, but we're doing
13:19
around 45 to 50 deals a month spread across eight or nine
13:25
different, different funders who have got direct relationships
13:30
But like my team that I've got, they're all literally
13:33
the snow car financing side and out, you know, Steven,
13:37
what sort of value are you getting above what these cars
13:41
would be advertised in order to trade it?
13:43
Because are you sort of setting your own price for these vehicles?
13:50
It's not it's not so much like that now.
13:52
I'm honest with you.
13:53
The car model is your well aware has changed dramatically
13:56
since COVID in the last five years.
13:59
And obviously, as we know that the price of cars
14:02
have just gone up and up and up.
14:04
And the problem that I've had, the funders that we did have
14:09
pre COVID are now not there anymore.
14:12
Or the funders that were doing large volumes of business
14:15
have tightened up the belts, so to say.
14:19
And where is and everything's all on affordability
14:22
for a customer now.
14:23
So where is the funders used to see our rate?
14:25
Well, this customer can have seven grand for a car.
14:29
I would have a pitch full of cars for seven grand
14:31
because their affordability would only allow them
14:33
to have seven grand.
14:34
But now because the way the car market shifted,
14:37
that those, let's say a seven grand focus back then.
14:41
Isn't the seven grand focus now that focus is like a nine grand
14:44
or a nine and a half grand car.
14:46
So these customers that we're still getting approvals
14:49
for, we can't find cars for them.
14:51
I physically can't make enough margin in the vehicles
14:55
and finance commission as well to buy, prepare,
15:01
if a vehicle to a good standard to sell someone a car
15:04
for that seven grand, seven and a half grand, eight grand.
15:07
When we saw what cars have sort of shifted up in value,
15:12
what average margins now is more,
15:14
sorry, not what average margin,
15:16
where average retail value of vehicle now is more like
15:21
And because of that,
15:24
the prices sort of level out at that price point
15:29
and what, I mean, are we achieving a little bit more
15:31
than what you would on all three days?
15:33
Yes, but it's nowhere near what we were previously,
15:36
what caused a price a lot more competitively now,
15:39
but there's still enough margin at that price point
15:42
that we're happy with, you know.
15:45
Where do you get the cars from?
15:47
I mean, it's very competitive out there, isn't it?
15:50
I mean, you must spend a lot of your time bidding
15:52
and trying to buy stuff.
15:54
Yeah, so basically that's my role
15:56
inside the business now, that and the market inside.
15:59
I'm a full-time car buyer
16:02
and I'm sort of chained to this desk,
16:04
you know, all the usual suspects.
16:07
I was buying a lot of cars out of BCA for a long time,
16:11
but I just found I was getting bogged down
16:14
with issues on those vehicles
16:17
and obviously with the advent of motorway and car wow,
16:20
I've dipped me into that a lot.
16:22
And we're probably buying 45, 50 cars a month
16:27
for motorway car wow
16:29
and now obviously dealer way as well,
16:31
because, you know, since starting that off,
16:33
I've built up a lot of contacts
16:35
and doing the dealer podcast that we've done.
16:37
I've got a lot of contacts that way,
16:39
so we'll buy a few that way.
16:40
So that's been good and that's been a good help.
16:42
But yeah, basically everything's online,
16:45
you know, and we've now got drivers
16:48
that were sent up and down the country
16:50
picking cars up on the road every day, you know.
16:53
The motorway's changed.
16:55
It's totally not what it once was, you know,
16:58
even five, six years ago.
17:00
It's a totally different animal now
17:02
and, you know, my days are spent totally different
17:05
from what they were back then.
17:07
I mean, I still enjoy it, don't get me wrong,
17:09
but I do sort of pine for a time when, you know,
17:12
I know there is still physical auctions,
17:14
but they're just not the same, you know.
17:16
I pine for a time going to the auction,
17:18
meeting the lads, you know,
17:20
getting the gist of what's been going on with everyone.
17:23
And I find myself sort of sat here on my own
17:26
and not really having anyone to interact with a lot, you know.
17:31
Yeah, no, but it is.
17:32
What do you think of those platforms, most of the way,
17:37
I mean, a lot of people buy cars that way.
17:39
We buy a lot of our cars that way too,
17:41
but it is incredibly competitive, isn't it?
17:43
And actually the margins have been squeezed all the time.
17:47
I think the great platforms, I really do,
17:50
you know, which is why myself and Scott,
17:53
which I'm sure we'll get on to,
17:55
start a deal away to sort of fill like a gap
17:58
that we've seen in that sort of market.
18:02
I don't think they're without faults though,
18:04
but the problem that they've got,
18:06
I think the faults that they've got,
18:08
I don't think they can ever overcome them.
18:10
The problem that you've got with motorway,
18:13
or anything of that like,
18:15
is you're relying on a private person, a customer,
18:18
who doesn't really know the way around a vehicle
18:20
to describe a vehicle to you.
18:22
Now, I'm sending drivers up and down the country daily
18:25
to 300 mile journeys,
18:27
you know, we're based in Newcastle, you know,
18:31
and we're sending drivers sometimes to London,
18:33
you know, Birmingham, in the Highlands,
18:35
in Scotland, they're going all over there,
18:37
and we're sending them off the back of what,
18:41
all I can see is eight or nine pictures
18:43
on one of these platforms,
18:45
and whatever's come out that customer's mouth,
18:47
and the problem that we run into,
18:49
and it's getting more prevalent now,
18:53
the problem that we're running into is we're turning up the car,
18:55
and the car's nothing as described,
18:58
and then in a situation where
19:00
you're paying a driver a day's wage,
19:02
you might have paid him a train fare
19:04
to go up there, or the fuel to go up there,
19:06
and you've got to make a decision
19:08
because, yes, you can haggle with the customer,
19:11
but not all customers won't haggle
19:14
over the price of the car,
19:16
but it's like, do I waste
19:19
the 300 pound that it's cost
19:21
is to send someone on that journey,
19:23
and just bring them back,
19:25
or do I try and get money knocked off
19:28
for X, Y, or Z, for whatever
19:30
we've found on the vehicle,
19:32
and then, but doing that,
19:34
you know, you're always taking a risk,
19:36
and then you get the car back,
19:38
and you then sort of
19:40
you're making your in-house prep,
19:42
or, I mean, we haven't gone to in-house prep,
19:44
we've got so much work out now,
19:46
but you're putting yourself under strain
19:48
because the more and more work that you buy
19:50
and the horror it is to get the cars up by sale,
19:52
we haven't got an endless pot of money
19:54
that will just keep accumulating cars
19:56
and leaving them there for weeks on end,
19:58
we need to turn these cars, you know,
20:00
so it's hard, it's a difficult juggling act,
20:02
you know, that there's been times
20:04
where we've sent drivers all over,
20:06
and like I say, we've had to walk away,
20:08
and it's cost, I mean, there's been times,
20:10
there was a day, three or four weeks ago,
20:12
we had three collections,
20:14
and every one of the collections was no good,
20:16
the cars were totally mis-described,
20:18
one turned up and there was no water
20:20
in the head of tank,
20:22
you know, straight away,
20:24
no good, one, the car
20:26
was just scratched,
20:28
dented, damaged beyond belief,
20:30
and very cleverly photographed
20:32
by the private person
20:34
to not show those issues,
20:36
I can't remember what the other one was now,
20:38
but it's a big cost of the business
20:42
and I know a lot of dealers have fallen off
20:44
these platforms because of,
20:46
you know, issues like this,
20:50
how much we all call wow,
20:52
can put that right,
20:54
because the more stringent
20:56
they are with customers,
20:58
the less customers they'll get put their cars on,
21:00
so it's a tough one,
21:02
and I have recently actually
21:04
started buying the odd one from
21:06
BCA again, but like you see,
21:08
the margins aren't there,
21:10
the margins aren't there at all,
21:12
that we need, you know, so...
21:14
It was going to be my question,
21:16
like how do you think they could improve it,
21:18
but the one thing that sort of springs to my mind
21:20
is perhaps a video walk around
21:22
of the cars, I mean,
21:24
the Motorway app in particular
21:26
asked for these specific pictures
21:28
I mean, surely a video walk around
21:30
where we can start, pause, zoom in,
21:32
would solve some of these issues,
21:34
because I'm, you know,
21:36
I get cheesed off with turn up at cars
21:38
and they're not described, and a lot of the time
21:40
it's Joe or I going personally
21:42
to pick them up, it is incredibly
21:44
frustrated when you send a driver,
21:46
because having that negotiation
21:48
remotely is really difficult, isn't it?
21:52
Funny you should see that about the video
21:54
about three or four months ago,
21:56
we started a system where
21:58
when we bought a car from one of the platforms
22:00
we actually made our own video now
22:02
showing a customer how to
22:04
make a video, how to send a video
22:06
and ask every single customer
22:08
to do a walk around of the car
22:10
showing all the wheels,
22:12
showing the car starting from idle
22:14
showing the radio working,
22:16
all the windows working, you know,
22:18
showing the engine bay
22:20
and we're trying to mitigate everything
22:24
In other instances where customers say,
22:26
oh no, well I've already put me pictures on,
22:28
you've agreed to buy the car, I'm not doing a video
22:30
and we'll just cancel it then, we'll just cancel it
22:32
because at the end of the day,
22:34
if they're not willing to do a two minute video
22:36
and we're willing to send someone 200 miles
22:38
then there's a rabbit off somewhere, isn't there?
22:42
So we'll just cancel them there and then
22:46
it probably does save a few trips
22:48
but again it doesn't,
22:52
video from a customer, you can't keep
22:54
going back to that person and say, oh, can you do this?
22:56
Can you do this? They just get sick
22:58
so you've just got to go with what they send you
23:00
and you don't always get it right,
23:02
you know, unfortunately.
23:04
Yeah, it's definitely tough.
23:06
I mean, let's talk about Dealerway
23:08
because I was perfect timing
23:10
because I sold my first car on it this week.
23:16
that for some reason was just
23:18
performing incredibly poorly
23:22
They were like that from New James.
23:26
how day John, it was a very nice car this
23:28
but just for some reason didn't sell.
23:30
I thought perfect first time driver's car
23:32
when we bought it in as a park exchange, couldn't sell it.
23:34
It was getting towards the top
23:36
end of our days to sell.
23:38
I wanted to move it on
23:40
and I thought I'd try Dealerway.
23:42
Uploading it was really simple. The team
23:44
are incredibly helpful. You set up this WhatsApp group
23:46
and you can share details of the car.
23:48
They actually listed it all for me.
23:50
Which saved me a huge amount of time
23:52
and very, very quick
23:54
and easy to do. Sold within
23:56
three days for what we paid for it.
23:58
We got our money back. I mean, couldn't ask for more.
24:00
The guy picks it up yesterday, lovely chap
24:02
drove up from Devon and
24:08
I haven't done the review yet.
24:10
That's my next step.
24:12
I do like the fact that you can review him
24:14
and he can review me and you can build up
24:16
that trust and rapport.
24:18
Give me an idea then.
24:20
You're one of the co-founders, you and Scott Sibley.
24:22
We've got Scott on the podcast and they're not too distant.
24:24
Future's talked about his business.
24:26
Give me an idea of where that business came from
24:28
and how it's going.
24:30
Yeah, so obviously Dealerway
24:32
was sort of born out
24:34
of the frustrations
24:38
your park exchanges on, I suppose.
24:44
the original Facebook group
24:46
that was called Port X Gold
24:56
local people in the area
24:58
that watch radars and dealers and what have you
25:00
and he started selling them very quickly
25:02
and he was doing that because he was describing them
25:04
within an inch of the life
25:06
and he'd set up this template
25:10
And that sort of started working very well
25:12
and me and Scott are friends.
25:14
We've stood in Auckland houses together
25:16
for years and years and years and always sort of
25:18
talk between me about starting something.
25:20
We've got together and because I mentioned before
25:22
I'm a little bit techie
25:24
I've got an interest in the internet and computers
25:26
and software and what have you
25:28
we thought we'll come
25:30
on off to sort of turn this into a business
25:32
because we thought there was a gap there.
25:34
We've seen motorway and car wow
25:36
and the stuff they're doing with the customer
25:38
route reduce stuff and we just thought
25:40
there's never really been a trustworthy
25:44
that's allowed dealers
25:46
to talk to each other
25:48
and negotiate with each other and buy and sell
25:50
cars amongst one another.
25:52
Not one that we feel has been done
25:56
and I think a big part of that
25:58
is the trust of transparency
26:00
in the review system.
26:04
got together and started
26:06
set about building the Facebook community
26:08
even large and we're allowed other
26:10
dealers to post their cars in there
26:12
and we changed the name
26:14
from Port X school to dealer way
26:16
and we grew the Facebook group
26:18
over I think it was 13,500 dealers
26:22
opened down the company and there was lots and lots of cars
26:24
getting sold on there and in the background
26:26
we sort of developed this
26:28
application which has obviously
26:30
led to what it is now
26:32
it took had I known now
26:34
sorry had I known then
26:36
what I know now I may not have started it
26:42
difficult than I had ever anticipated
26:48
I had said you know I've got an interest
26:50
in tech and things like that
26:52
I sort of bit off a bit more
26:54
like a chew and you know I'm a car dealer
26:56
first and foremost in tackling
27:00
massive platform that we've
27:02
come to build it's took a long time
27:04
it's took a lot of stress
27:08
a lot more money than what would have anticipated as well
27:10
a lot of sleepless nights
27:12
we've eventually got there
27:14
and today dealer way
27:16
we've got nearly 3,000 dealers on the platform
27:18
buying and selling cars amongst each other
27:24
the only fees that were charged now
27:32
is phenomenally cheap compared
27:34
when you compare it to any other platform
27:36
whether it be a car or a BCM
27:38
or anywhere where the fees are
27:42
£400, £600 sometimes
27:44
so we're trying to keep it
27:46
because we are dealers
27:48
me and Scott are dealers
27:50
we understand the frustrations of dealers
27:52
and we're trying to keep it
27:54
for what dealers want
27:56
I suppose I'll build it for me
27:58
really for what I would want
28:02
everyone else who was like me
28:04
would want the same
28:06
luckily it seems to be paying off
28:10
we're not at the size of a motor
28:14
we certainly haven't had the investment that they have had
28:16
but I think slowly surely
28:18
it's starting to get there
28:20
and we're excited by it
28:24
what I like about it
28:26
is the community feel
28:30
dealers inherently do not trust other dealers
28:32
take my Ford as an example
28:34
I was moving it on because it simply
28:36
had been with me too long
28:38
nobody ever believes that
28:40
nobody ever believes you're moving a car on
28:42
because it just doesn't meet
28:44
you just haven't been able to sell it
28:46
so what I like about the platform
28:48
is you can rate each other
28:50
and then you know who you're buying from
28:52
there's that trust element to it as well
28:54
the other thing I found with it
28:56
it's like you've put a lot of thought
29:00
how the bidding process works
29:02
how you can make offers and counter offers
29:04
that sort of stuff must have been
29:06
incredibly complicated to build
29:14
like I said some sleepless nights
29:16
we didn't get it right at the start
29:18
at the start when we launched it
29:20
we sort of soft launched it
29:22
it wasn't really where we needed to be
29:24
we refined it over time
29:28
I'm not a software developer
29:30
I don't claim to be I know a little bit about it
29:32
but we've had this development team
29:34
that have been helping me build it
29:36
and I've sort of been the person
29:38
because as great as Scott is
29:40
dealing in business
29:42
and corridors he's not
29:44
technically gifted so I've been the one
29:46
sort of driving forward with it
29:48
and Martin who brought on
29:52
he's helped massively
29:56
and it's just even things that you don't think about
29:58
you know you see like a page of an app
30:00
or a desktop version
30:02
and you think right oh yeah that looks fantastic
30:04
yeah build it like that do that
30:06
and move that here and have this here
30:08
and then you get it in your hands
30:10
and you scroll down a page and you're like
30:12
well how do I do this
30:14
and it's like I never thought of that
30:18
and then you get on the phone to develop us
30:20
you see this button here can we just put that
30:22
like up here and turn it yellow
30:24
and do this or whatever and it's like
30:26
yeah that's like three months worth of work
30:32
really really difficult
30:34
I don't think I would get into it again
30:36
what sort of dealers are using the platform
30:42
about selling or is it about buying
30:46
I would say we've got a good mixture
30:48
there's a lot of independent dealers on there
30:54
what I would call doorstep us on there
30:56
you know people who do two or three cars a week
30:58
from home there's a lot of main dealers
31:00
on there now which is what we're really
31:02
sort of pushing for because that's where we think
31:06
are going to come from on the platform
31:08
especially with the overage stocks
31:10
stuff there's car supermarkets
31:12
on there there's a good
31:16
the problem that we've found with it launching it
31:18
is it's like the chicken and egg scenario
31:20
isn't it because it's a two sided platform
31:24
for the platform to work
31:26
both sides have got to be in parallel
31:28
so you've got to have the cars on there
31:30
because if there's no cars
31:32
then you know no one's bidding on them
31:34
and you've also got to have the buyers
31:38
at the very start when we start to get it off
31:42
would get dealers signing up and it would be like
31:44
right yeah get yourself on there
31:46
and they'd be like oh well there's no cars
31:48
we're like yeah I know we're trying
31:50
we're just starting and then
31:52
what would happen is we'd get other dealers on
31:54
oh yeah list your cars yeah yeah
31:56
and we'd get loads of cars on the platform
31:58
and they'd say well there's no buyers
32:00
and it was for a long time
32:02
for the first I would say the first
32:04
six, seven, eight months it was very difficult
32:06
but now we're at a point where
32:08
we're snowballing, snowballing, snowballing
32:10
and there's a strong stream
32:12
of buyers going on there now
32:14
strong stream of buyers logging in every single day
32:16
and it's in a good place you know
32:18
and Scott was telling us
32:20
this week how he's made
32:22
a real profit centre for his business
32:26
exchanges he's making good money out of
32:28
yeah he is yeah but the
32:30
reason he's doing that is because
32:32
he's describing them correctly
32:34
you know the thing is
32:36
that when you said before
32:38
the trust element on dealer way
32:40
we've got what we call a forced
32:42
review system so when you buy
32:44
buy a car of anyone
32:46
after you've collected
32:48
the vehicle you've got 14 days
32:54
if you don't leave a review for
32:56
the seller or the seller doesn't leave you
32:58
a review it sort of
33:00
it doesn't lock you out of your account
33:02
but the next time you log in
33:04
it forces you to leave that review
33:06
of what happened during that transaction
33:08
before you can progress to having a look
33:10
around the platform
33:14
your bank of reviews for the cause that you're
33:16
buying for the cause that you're selling
33:18
grows and grows and grows and so obviously
33:20
Scott's been using it
33:22
for all of his part exchanges
33:24
Scott's a very busy dealer and he generates
33:26
a lot of part exchange stock
33:28
and he's been getting 5 star reviews
33:30
I think he's on 98 so far
33:32
so if you're a dealer
33:34
you don't know who Scott is
33:36
you don't know who really is he car creditor
33:38
you don't know who I am
33:42
down the country you're 300 miles away
33:44
and you've seen a car
33:46
and let's say it's one of Scott's
33:48
and it's like oh yeah I fancy that car
33:50
if you look at the exact same car
33:52
and dealer X has got that car
33:54
and he's got no reviews
33:56
or he's got one or two and he's got a one star review
33:58
or a three star review
34:00
you look at Scott's car which is the identical car
34:02
and he's got 98 five star reviews
34:04
and his reviews you can read them all
34:06
you can see who he's dealt with
34:08
who's left on review
34:10
you might even know some of the dealers
34:12
that have left on review and dealt with
34:14
and it just builds that trust
34:16
to know that when you do send your driver up
34:18
or when you do go yourself
34:20
if you're a small dealer you jump on the train
34:22
in Newcastle that you know
34:24
that car's going to be described correctly
34:26
and I think that's what's paying off for him
34:28
because we've noticed him
34:30
we've got a few other dealers
34:32
Simpson's Scorer as well
34:34
who are a main dealer that they've really embraced
34:36
the platform I think they've sold over a hundred cars
34:40
and they haven't been on that great deal of time
34:42
they're describing the cars correctly
34:44
really putting the photographs on
34:48
and there because they've built up
34:50
this good bank of five star reviews
34:52
not only are they selling more cars
34:54
but they're attaining more money
34:56
for the cars because people trust that
34:58
you know what they're seeing on the screen
35:00
in black and white is
35:04
and if you compare that to a motorway or a car wow
35:06
you can't get that from motorway or car wow
35:08
because you're buying
35:10
of one time purchase from a customer
35:14
whereas you go on the dealer way
35:16
and you're dealing with trusted dealers
35:18
open down the country who've got
35:20
reputations and we're showing those reputations
35:24
and you know eventually
35:26
we'll foresee the platform
35:28
everyone having that
35:30
you know we've had some rogue
35:32
people on the platform who haven't
35:36
had a few one star reviews and we'll just kick them off
35:40
we want to build this trust worthy
35:42
transparent platform
35:44
and it's touch wood
35:48
wish you the best of luck with it
35:50
just before we move on to our stories
35:52
a couple of questions I'd like to ask all dealers
35:54
firstly any cars you avoid
36:00
one leader ego boosts
36:08
don't buy any GLR products
36:14
I'm trying to think if there's anything else
36:18
no I think that's about it really
36:20
the problem is when you go on
36:22
these motorway and car wow platforms
36:24
just those vehicles
36:28
I would say they're the main
36:30
power shift gearbox
36:36
give me the story of the worst ever warranty claim
36:40
now you're putting us on the spot
36:42
the one that really sticks in your mind
36:44
I mean I've had several
36:46
going back to the GLR
36:50
that I'd purchased for sale
36:52
it was actually wife's personal car
36:54
a range of our sport
36:58
she upgraded the car anyway
37:00
she's got a new Tesla now
37:04
and the car was fine
37:06
driven it for a couple of years
37:08
got a phone call one day
37:10
engine's gone 5 grand later
37:12
that's probably the worst one
37:16
so we'll stay away from
37:20
I'm going to call myself
37:26
well just before we move on
37:28
if anybody wants any information
37:30
on dealer way where can they get it
37:34
www.dealerway.co.uk
37:38
you can sign up there
37:40
and then on the platform you do need to
37:42
provide trade insurance to prove
37:44
that you're in the motor trade
37:46
so if you have that the harm when you do that
37:48
then one of the guys
37:50
be straight in touch and get yourself up
37:52
you can be on the platform the same afternoon
37:54
nice well thank you very much
37:56
good to see you thanks for hanging around for the stories
37:58
but John we should probably do some
38:00
we interrupt this broadcast
38:02
for some breaking news
38:04
John I don't want to panic you
38:06
but the Cardio podcast live
38:08
is coming round really rather fast
38:10
yes I know that James
38:12
because I own a calendar
38:14
but clearly you've been not paying attention
38:18
if I hadn't been paying attention how would I know
38:20
that it's on the September the 24th
38:22
in Abandon that we've got the poll star boss
38:24
Matt Galvin, Vicky Hart from Waylands
38:28
from Small Cars Direct on with us
38:32
well technically it's closer to Didcot
38:34
but I'll let that one go anyway
38:36
I bet you've forgotten how people can book tickets
38:38
no John because on my script right here
38:40
it says head to cardinamagazine.co.uk
38:44
and people listening to this
38:46
can book tickets with the special discount code
38:52
there's a social barbecue after the recording
38:54
and plenty of time for a social catch up
38:56
with other like minded dealers
38:58
we look forward to seeing you there
39:02
this is a paid partnership
39:04
in association with Dealerway
39:08
oh god you've bought more ducks haven't you
39:10
no ducks John wrong there
39:12
I've actually got a new habit
39:14
I've signed up for Dealerway
39:16
alongside more than two and a half thousand
39:18
other rated and vetted car dealers
39:20
to sell my trade part exchanges
39:22
the site is designed
39:24
for dealers to sell their part exchanges
39:26
for more money quickly and easily
39:28
there's no sellers fees
39:30
and buying a car costs just £99
39:32
one of the cheapest around
39:34
and when I haven't got the time
39:36
to list the car myself I can even
39:38
watch out them the details and they do it all for me
39:40
that sounds awfully familiar
39:42
so are you selling all your stock there now
39:46
but if I do have a sudden influx
39:50
I know where to send them
39:52
dealers can find out more
39:56
we'll be right back
39:58
now John I'm really enjoying
40:00
how easy it is to pay sellers on car well
40:02
I presume you'd rather not pay them at all
40:06
but now I can do it with car well wallet
40:08
you can pay sellers, finance houses
40:12
literally in one click
40:14
it's secure, easy to use
40:16
and gets rid of all the pesky
40:18
finance back and forth
40:20
it's a total game John
40:22
that does sound pretty good
40:24
if you want to find out more
40:26
dealers can log on to carwell.co.uk
40:28
slash partners slash car well
40:32
now back to the podcast
40:40
are going to run through our favourite stories of the week
40:42
and at the end Stephen gets to decide
40:44
which one of us chose the best ones
40:46
and who is the winner
40:50
which is nice isn't it
40:54
just remind it 3-2 to me
40:58
but I'll take the extra one
41:02
I'm going to start with
41:04
the rumbling on of the JLR saga
41:10
quite horrible cyber attack
41:12
a couple of weeks ago
41:14
which has crippled a lot of their systems
41:18
put it this way they've not been able to turn their systems back on
41:22
so they simply haven't done that
41:26
the big issue for September of course
41:28
because this happened on the 30th of August
41:30
is that it stopped all registrations
41:34
so if that has actually been fixed
41:36
do you know if that's been fixed James
41:38
I think some dealers have got a bit
41:40
of a work around on it but it's
41:42
still very difficult apparently
41:44
so that's slowing things down in the registration process
41:48
we're now half way through September so you can imagine
41:50
lots of cars that should have gone out
41:54
massive parts issues
41:56
in terms of ordering parts
41:58
all that sort of stuff
42:00
but I think the biggest problem
42:02
with the company having is that they can't
42:06
so staff have now been told
42:08
they can't come back into work
42:10
until September the 17th
42:12
and I'm assuming that when
42:14
JLR say September the 17th
42:16
that's a hopeful estimate
42:18
you know it's not that they've gone right
42:20
we'll definitely have it fixed by September the 17th
42:22
because it doesn't quite work like that does it
42:24
you know you need to be sure everything's up and running
42:26
because they'd originally thought it was going to be a couple of days ago
42:28
they'd have everyone back
42:30
well as of tomorrow
42:34
of no production of any JLR products
42:40
and around the world
42:42
about all of their plants
42:46
well you're better informed than me James
42:52
doing a bit of maths on it I reckon that's about 15,000 cars
42:54
haven't been built since
42:58
they do a thousand cars a day
43:02
so good maths John there
43:04
I think that is 15,000
43:10
and no GCSE maths as you can tell
43:12
so real massive problem
43:14
we've written lots of stories about this
43:16
because it's sort of a developing story
43:20
Business Minister Chris Bryant
43:22
Sir Chris Bryant I should say
43:24
spoke about this in the House of Commons
43:28
and so much of it seems to be
43:30
I mean he basically wasn't able to say anything
43:32
more than what we already know
43:36
could this have been
43:38
a state sponsored attack
43:40
and you know he didn't
43:42
he didn't say yes he didn't say no
43:44
effectively he could say I've had no idea
43:46
I can't say who's responsible
43:48
can't jump to conclusions
43:50
can't say if it's related to the M&S
43:54
I'm not going to speculate here in Cardila Towers
43:56
which I'm more than happy to do
43:58
but it all just seems
44:00
you know so much of this
44:02
is unknown to the general public at the minute
44:08
what's the word a ransom
44:12
style attack where all these people want
44:14
lots of money in bitcoin etc etc
44:26
happen when you have a bit of data
44:28
stolen or accessed by people that shouldn't
44:30
have access to it you have to inform
44:32
the ICO information
44:34
commissioners office that right
44:38
that was made public so they have
44:40
some data has been accessed
44:42
but in the grand scheme of things
44:44
I don't think data is their big problem
44:46
really it's you know the fine
44:50
averaged upon them for losing some customer data
44:54
the issues they're having
44:56
with lack of production
44:58
lack of parts all that sort of stuff
45:02
what we don't know is what kind of data that is
45:04
that's the other interesting thing
45:06
you know is it just customer data
45:12
well I mean they've got tons of data haven't they
45:14
it will be data about where parts are in the system
45:16
where cars are in the production line
45:18
but could it also be
45:20
confidential kind of
45:22
let's say development stuff
45:24
about the cars we don't know
45:26
it's all yeah it's all going to
45:28
come out in the wash but it's a horrible time
45:30
for JLR at the minute isn't it James
45:32
I honestly may not mistake
45:34
this is quite possibly the most
45:36
serious hack the automotive industry
45:38
has ever had this is
45:40
this is very very serious
45:42
indeed and I think the fact that we're not
45:44
getting much information at all
45:50
you only need to see to see how serious it is
45:52
is the production lines are not starting
45:54
you know I mean that is
45:56
absolutely critical
45:58
there is some experts saying that's costing
46:02
pounds a day in lost profits
46:06
it's probably the sum will be far
46:08
greater than that but you've got
46:10
just imagine this I mean you've got all of these
46:12
production lines that just stopped
46:14
with all of the cars
46:16
still in place all of them
46:18
have obviously have individual vins you're a fan
46:22
all have different specifications
46:24
they're luxury vehicles they need
46:26
specific parts that arrive from
46:28
this huge network of supplies
46:30
in the West Midlands who
46:32
you need to remember are also affected by this
46:34
because you know I wrote about this in my
46:36
sub-stack JLR catches are cold
46:38
they get flew you know
46:40
they very very serious thing
46:42
affecting a massive part of the automotive
46:46
see this being fixed any time soon
46:48
I mean you only have to look back at the M&S
46:50
and the co-op you know
46:52
those carp shells were empty for a long time
46:56
couldn't couldn't do home delivery
46:58
could they for a long long time and
47:00
that's because when you have a hack
47:02
like this you have to very slowly
47:04
build it back up turning the parts of the
47:06
system back on and checking their secure
47:08
can you imagine how many
47:10
parts and how many different parts
47:12
to this JLR system there
47:14
are all linked together
47:16
that are going to need to be checked
47:18
I mean this I don't think
47:20
even throwing money at it and JLR
47:22
has got lots of that I don't even think
47:24
throwing huge sums of money at it will fix
47:26
it because it's the time
47:28
it's going to take to
47:30
get this sorted I mean I was reading
47:32
this week that even
47:34
GCHQ's National Cyber Security
47:36
Centre has been involved in this
47:38
talking to the company
47:40
and as you mentioned they're not ruling
47:42
out state involvement in this hack either
47:44
I mean it is incredibly serious
47:46
I mean this is one of the biggest stories I think
47:48
for the motor trade for years
47:52
I do feel for all of those people in JLR
47:54
I mean you've got all of these people sat at home
47:56
I mean just imagine the money that
47:58
this is costing imagine the bills
48:02
not just for JLR but the entire
48:04
West Midlands economy I mean
48:06
it's very very serious indeed
48:10
completely unfounded opinion about who's behind it
48:14
I don't think it's state sponsored
48:16
I think the state sponsored thing has just come from
48:18
obviously we've written a story along those lines
48:20
but the state sponsored thing has just come from
48:22
that question in the comments
48:24
I don't personally think
48:28
who would gain from that and who would
48:32
I suppose you're kind of some nations
48:34
in the world who are not remotely
48:38
the way the rest of the world works in terms of capitalism
48:42
I think the Russians are pretty cheesed off at the moment
48:44
the Russians are pretty cheesed off at the moment
48:50
I can't see it I can't see
48:52
let's hypothetically say it was China
48:54
I mean JLR is quite heavily involved in China as well
48:58
it's not really China's style I don't think
49:00
there's no unless it's for
49:02
you know basically what would anyone gain from this
49:04
unless it was theft of intellectual property
49:06
and that being the case
49:08
well I don't think you would
49:10
decide to cause quite so much disruption
49:12
as this I think you would
49:14
perhaps do it a little bit more under the radar
49:18
I think it's probably just economically
49:20
minded I think it's
49:22
a ransomware thing that would be my guess
49:26
yeah I mean it looks like there might even have to be a bailout
49:28
I mean there was for
49:30
those companies connected
49:34
Sunderland plant during Covid wasn't there
49:36
they were really hit
49:38
and helped out by the government
49:40
and every day that this goes on
49:42
these companies are going to be hit
49:44
even further I just
49:46
I can't see them being able to sustain the losses
49:50
very worrying indeed
49:52
I was just going to say as well
49:54
taking this down to a
49:56
used dealer level I mean I wonder what
50:00
Steven has a problem with his Range Rover
50:02
what actually happens from our point of view
50:04
if we're trying to find a part now
50:06
is that all it's a knock down effect
50:08
on regular dealers as well not just
50:10
franchise presumably
50:14
what have you been following this story
50:16
what's your take on it
50:18
I must admit James I actually haven't
50:24
need even work so I've kept me head
50:26
so it's the first time I've heard of it
50:28
I'm a bit shocked actually that
50:30
that just like a cyber attack
50:32
you know like what world
50:34
we're living in now we're just totally
50:38
the whole company in industry
50:40
I suppose and you know
50:42
those figures that you're talking about they're five million a day
50:50
how do you recover from that
50:54
I honestly don't know
50:56
I mean I think it's going to be
50:58
very very painful for them and I think
51:00
there's talk that it could go on for weeks
51:02
I wouldn't be surprised if it goes on for mums
51:06
of the people at the top must be
51:08
I'm not getting stressed at talking about it
51:10
they don't know how to deal with it
51:16
we wish them all the best I think
51:18
because I mean that is something very very difficult
51:22
actually I'll try and move us on
51:24
can you have anything more positive that would be lovely
51:28
no haven't got any of that
51:32
but I'm going to stick on a JLR
51:36
and this is news that the Harwoods group
51:38
a large family run dealer
51:40
group down here near us
51:42
has sold five of its Jaguar Land Rover dealerships
51:48
they are a big Dubai based
51:50
business that is very focused
51:54
a big retail group in the UK
51:58
formerly of ASC now an automotive
52:00
consultant is helping them out
52:02
posting about it on LinkedIn today
52:04
saying that they are very serious
52:06
about building a big
52:10
in the UK and this is the start
52:16
for me was the fact that Harwoods
52:18
have made this decision
52:20
they have had a tough few years
52:22
just six months ago we reported on
52:24
their accounts for 2023
52:26
which showed a loss of
52:28
11.8 million pounds
52:30
and they said at the time that they thought
52:32
2024 was going to be
52:36
and they'd be clocking up a loss last year
52:38
we haven't seen their accounts for that yet
52:40
I wouldn't be surprised if that's transpired
52:44
especially considering these
52:48
it's quite strange to sell
52:54
we had Nigel McMinn on this podcast
52:56
not long ago talking about how
52:58
JLR business would be one of the ones
53:00
that you desperately want to have
53:02
because they're normally very profitable
53:06
that they're selling five of them
53:08
Bays and Stoke, Chichester, Brighton, Crawley
53:10
and Croydon as part of this deal
53:12
and they've also handed over
53:14
authorized repair operations
53:16
for BMW, Mini and Volvo
53:18
in separate locations
53:20
good news is no job losses
53:22
are expected they're all going to be transferring
53:24
to this new owner DXB investments
53:26
and they're going to be
53:28
up and running soon
53:30
so yes interesting to see some change
53:32
in hands there John
53:34
and can I slightly just
53:36
bring this on to another JLR
53:40
Lloyd Motor Group buying
53:44
I was just about to say James
53:46
I think you've slightly contradicted yourself in your own stories here
53:48
because you said I think
53:50
it's quite unusual to see JLR dealers being sold
53:54
god damn it yes that's true
53:58
do you not think this sold it off though
54:00
because they knew about the same attack coming
54:04
quick sell sell sell
54:06
Lloyd Motor Group bought three from Stratstone
54:10
it's unusual to sell JLR
54:14
you don't see it very often but
54:16
maybe they got a very good price both of these businesses
54:20
another group of JLR or a selection
54:22
of JLR dealers that were sold
54:24
a couple of weeks ago as well I was just flicking through the website trying to find them
54:26
see if I haven't imagined it
54:28
just to contradict me further
54:30
yeah exactly what I live for
54:34
it wasn't a you know
54:36
so Harwoods is a local
54:38
group you know they've
54:40
perhaps they've just decided the time is right
54:44
but the Lloyd Motor Group one
54:46
is buying three from Stratstone
54:50
that's the unusual thing is when
54:52
enormous dealer groups offload things
54:54
that's when I start to raise my brows slightly
54:58
which I'm still able to do because I haven't had any of your Botox James
55:04
I'm just saying that's you have appointments
55:08
um yeah I don't know
55:10
I'm not I'm not hugely surprised about the Harwoods
55:12
bit but the yeah the Lloyd Motor Group
55:14
deals a bit of a bit of an eyebrow
55:20
think you know we've been very nice to JLR
55:22
in this instead of having a horrible time
55:24
but they've not put their dealers through very
55:26
nice times in the last
55:28
I don't know two years have they
55:30
you know to suddenly rip to make
55:32
them all as we've said before
55:34
build your gin palaces half Land Rover
55:36
half Jaguar and then
55:38
what two three years later
55:40
go uh yeah you know that
55:42
half that says Jaguar on it well
55:44
number one you're not going to get any new products
55:46
number two um we're not
55:48
actually going to let you sell Jaguar anymore
55:50
whatever Jaguar becomes a year after we've
55:52
stopped making any of them so
55:54
I can imagine if you're you've hedged
55:56
your bets on selling you know X number
55:58
of Land Rovers and a certain amount of Jaguars
56:00
um and then suddenly that's ripped away
56:02
from you you perhaps will make a decision
56:04
about whether you want to continue
56:06
to run that franchise
56:08
hashtag just saying
56:10
I mean maybe it was the suits that they
56:12
make them wear with those white trainers
56:14
maybe these uh maybe Harwich just decided
56:16
they don't want to buy them anymore
56:18
well unfortunately my smart casual ensemble
56:20
is a blue suit with some white trainers
56:22
so I become the JLR employee
56:26
in the main just covered the other day
56:28
Steven what are your thoughts on these
56:30
couple of sales or JLR dealers
56:36
the first I've heard about this
56:44
question would you like
56:46
a JLR franchise yourself
56:54
well I think you've just spent the last 20 minutes
57:00
I mean I'm not saying
57:04
I've been driving a nice cherry this week
57:06
or I've been driving a nice
57:08
Pomoda this week or whatever not I've been driving a nice
57:10
Range Rover uh but the amount of coverage
57:12
we give Land Rover might in this
57:14
regard have some bearing on whether
57:16
we're invited on things I don't know
57:18
I'll be honest I'll be honest I don't think that was a good
57:28
I'm going to talk briefly about
57:30
the FCA and the Miss Old
57:34
inverted commas Miss Old
57:36
car finance um situation
57:38
so the boss of the FCA
57:40
the chief of the FCA
57:42
Nikhil Rathi has been
57:48
about the situation
57:50
and what they're looking to do etc
57:52
and what it looks like for a redress scheme
57:56
he reckons it could begin
57:58
next year of redress for
58:02
quote unquote car finance
58:04
um they're looking at a period between
58:06
2007 and 2020 so that's
58:08
about 30 million deals
58:10
he says not all claims will
58:12
be successful of course
58:18
to keep using these
58:20
claims management firms or lawyers or
58:22
whatever um who will happily
58:24
tell you that you're going to make
58:26
four and a half grand back
58:28
from that car finance deal you had on
58:30
a Ford Fiesta in 2007
58:32
he says that is very much not
58:34
going to happen in a lot of cases
58:36
um you know he he suggests
58:38
the redress for most people
58:40
if they're entitled to any
58:42
he's going to be in the hundreds not in
58:44
the thousands of pounds um
58:46
which is what we've sort of suggested isn't it really
58:48
because you can't I don't think
58:50
there's someone um redress
58:56
more money than the dealers actually
58:58
received in the first place James do you
59:00
see this story I did see a story
59:02
but I'm I'm not going to give my take on it
59:04
I'm going to I just want to get Stephen's
59:06
opinion on this you know as a
59:08
as someone who deals with finance and
59:10
real life dealer what's your
59:12
take on this whole finance
59:14
commission do you know what it is
59:16
when are we going to start making
59:18
consumer responsible for their own actions
59:22
that that's my thoughts on it
59:26
you know regardless how much money a
59:28
dealer's paid in commission for doing the deal
59:32
the customer's signed a contract at the start
59:34
knowing how much money they're borrowing
59:36
how much money they're paying back how much it's
59:38
going to cost them overall how much the monthly
59:40
payments are it's just
59:42
ambulance chasers it's just PPI
59:44
all over again and it's just pencil
59:48
you know for the next
59:50
the next bit of red tape that they want to exploit
59:52
I just I think it's scandalous
59:56
I just I think anyone
59:58
that puts a claim in is
00:02
there's no way that every single person that puts a claim
00:04
in for missold call finance has been
00:06
missold call finance
00:08
it's just just a fact
00:12
ridiculous absolutely ridiculous
00:14
and I don't agree with any of it
00:16
I kind of I'm with you
00:22
there's a degree of safeguarding all right
00:24
if someone comes in as vulnerable
00:26
perhaps yeah I get that
00:30
instances I think are that I think it's just
00:32
there's an assumption
00:34
that the dealer should be
00:36
anyone selling anything to anyone should be
00:38
giving them the absolute best
00:40
price in any situation
00:42
and that's where it starts
00:44
to get a little bit tricky because someone has to
00:46
make some money out of this at some point
00:50
I don't I don't think people should be
00:52
entitled to compensation purely because
00:54
they have what was the phrase that was
00:58
to regard one of the people in this
01:00
one of the three people in this court case
01:02
I think it was along the lines of not commercially
01:04
sophisticated or something like that
01:06
wasn't it yeah I don't think that
01:08
entitles you to compensation
01:10
another word because you're thick
01:12
because you're thick
01:16
but perhaps didn't do
01:18
you know five ten minutes of looking
01:20
things up to see if they
01:22
could find a better deal somewhere else you know that's
01:24
I mean what what other industry
01:26
is that where you start
01:28
a business and you sell a product
01:30
and then you've got to have run through all this
01:32
red tape before someone buys your product
01:34
like are you sure you want to buy this
01:36
are you see this cup are you sure
01:38
this is the right cup for you
01:42
can you can I just tell you
01:44
that this cup is one pound forty nine
01:46
but there are other cups
01:48
there are other cups that you can buy
01:52
it's mad it's madness
02:00
a lot more expensive than any other
02:02
any other product why should it be any different
02:04
people are still making
02:06
a decision themselves
02:08
you know it can't be
02:10
put on dealers or finance companies
02:12
or brokers or anything to make
02:14
you know to make sure that they're informed
02:16
and that decision is
02:18
best for them why should that be
02:20
put on us the owners should be
02:22
on the person making the decision surely
02:26
hasn't you know done the
02:30
who's responsible for that
02:32
I was just going to say
02:36
what frustrates me as well
02:38
I've got on my high horse now
02:40
but what frustrates me about this
02:42
and there was a news story recently
02:46
and somebody else investigation into
02:50
and how can it be that an estate
02:52
agent I can walk into an estate agent
02:54
and say I'd like to look at that house please
02:56
and the estate agents say
02:58
sure no problem you need to speak to our mortgage advisor
03:00
first and you need to do a
03:02
deal with them first
03:04
and behind the scenes will not
03:08
introduce your offer to the buyer
03:10
until you've gone through
03:12
that process and have an offer from them
03:14
how can that be allowed
03:16
in that circumstance
03:20
scrutinized to this level
03:22
for car finance I don't
03:24
really understand how we can have
03:26
those two separate scenarios
03:32
almost slightly overregulated
03:34
sector when some have under-regulated
03:46
went back and changed the rules as well
03:48
you should have been telling these people
03:50
you should have been informing everyone about what commission you were receiving
03:52
but that wasn't the guidelines
03:54
that were told at that time
03:56
afterwards it's like driving down the road
04:00
50 mile an hour speed limit
04:04
and then three years later
04:06
that road's changed to a 30
04:08
miles an hour speed limit
04:10
and then you're getting a bill in the post
04:12
you were caught speeding will hold on
04:14
that was the speed limit
04:16
at the time that was the rules
04:22
let me try and wait one more story
04:24
because we're rapidly running out of time
04:28
a little bit about the podcast live
04:30
which is coming up very very soon
04:32
on September the 24th
04:36
so we are very soon going to be
04:40
did you need me to do that maths
04:44
you might have got an A in maths
04:46
I've got an E so thanks for your help
04:48
but yes we've written a story this week
04:50
about what we're looking forward to the most
04:52
which I thought was quite interesting
04:54
because what we picked
04:56
was very very different so we've asked
04:58
those people who are going to be there myself
05:00
you John, James Batchelor
05:02
Rebecca about what we're looking forward to
05:04
I'm looking forward to the fact it's quite so sure
05:06
and there's lots of people that you can chat to
05:10
you were looking forward to the fact that I wouldn't
05:12
be talking about Kia
05:14
Picantos I see here in the
05:18
Rebecca I'm going to be looking forward to
05:22
I mean it's lots to look forward to
05:24
on that day tickets are still available
05:28
we've got Matt Galvin who's the boss of Polestar
05:32
Alex Bradley he's a used car dealer down
05:36
and Wayland's Vicky Hart
05:38
he's also going to be coming along
05:40
all three of them are going to be
05:44
with us we're going to be chatting to them about
05:46
all things and everything
05:48
John, we are by which you mean James
05:50
we haven't entirely decided
05:52
on what we're going to talk about
05:54
we will be doing that next week
05:58
planning day to come
06:00
but yes I am looking forward to it
06:02
looking forward to seeing lots of people from the motor trade
06:04
to come along and yes enjoy that
06:06
BBQ among many other things
06:08
so yes tickets still available on our website
06:10
so it's sort of a plug but it's also a story
06:12
on our website so I've used it anyway
06:14
you're very big on plugs today
06:16
electrical or otherwise
06:20
and there is a link down in the show notes below
06:22
of course as I usually say at the end of the podcast
06:26
I haven't got room for any more stories
06:28
so Stephen before I asked
06:30
for your verdict are there any stories you think we've
06:32
missed this week we should have talked about
06:34
not that I'm aware of
06:40
so I'm going to have to ask you who chose the best stories
06:42
or which was your favourite story
06:46
I'm very passionate about car finance
06:50
let me arise like no
06:52
and that story does obviously
06:54
trigger a few emotions from me
06:56
I did like the story about
06:58
G.L.O. in the hack because I wasn't
07:00
I wasn't aware of that and I think that's
07:04
that's the one was that also me I think it was
07:14
I won't take it personally but yes
07:16
congratulations John well done
07:18
thank you very much
07:20
well I will take that win and go and enjoy my lunch
07:22
so all this left for me
07:24
to say then is thanks to Stephen for coming on
07:26
today it's great to chat to you
07:28
and chat about your business and cause D the way
07:32
and I'm sure people will be looking at that
07:34
after this podcast and I've had to go
07:36
myself not that I'm on the app but I've looked at James's
07:38
and I'm actually very impressed with it I must say
07:40
thanks very much yeah
07:42
really appreciate you having us on guys
07:44
have enjoyed it thank you
07:46
absolutely pleasure nice to see you
07:48
welcome back any time as long as you pit me as a winner
07:50
thank you as well to James
07:52
for his very informative discussion
07:54
about why his screen is buzzing
07:58
I will work on my anecdotes for next week
08:02
not a lot has been happening has it
08:04
and thank you as well
08:06
for listening we will be back next week
08:08
with another episode make sure you're subscribed
08:10
take me notified when that goes live
08:12
if you want to check out the stories mentioned
08:14
so take a look in the show notes below and of course
08:16
you can head to cardiganmagazine.co.uk
08:18
to find much more news
08:20
besides probably about JLR
08:22
and the discount code
08:24
for the podcast live event
08:26
is underneath as well
08:28
and a link don't know why I'm pointing down
08:30
because no one can see me unless they're on youtube
08:34
anyway thanks for listening