8:00 pm, May 4, 2020
Romans International’s Tom Jaconelli appeared on Car Dealer Live today (May 5) where he talked about the challenges the supercar dealership had faced during the coronavirus crisis.
Based in Banstead, Surrey, Romans specialises in hypercars and high-end luxury vehicles – its current stock including two Bugatti Veyrons, a Ferrari LaFerrari and a McLaren Senna.
Jaconelli and his father Paul recently launched their own finance broker, Elev8 Finance, specialising in the one-of-a-kind, six-figure-sum vehicles that Romans typically offers.
On the show, Jaconelli not only discussed the impact the coronavirus has had on the business, he also talked about the effect that it’s had on the price of collectible and classic cars.
He told of the company’s fears as the crisis began, but said it ended up being surprised by how much interest there still was in supercars and performance cars, with people happy for deliveries to take place after the lockdown was lifted.
However, he reported that inquiry levels had risen further following the government confirmation that online sales and deliveries could take place during lockdown, as revealed by Car Dealer on April 22 – and recent sales have included a near-£1m Porsche 918 Spyder.
He conceded that it was currently a buyer’s market and that they had to be prepared to negotiate, but he emphasised: ‘We’re holding firm to a certain level. I don’t think there’s a need to completely do ridiculous deals and undersell cars, because I do believe there is pent-up demand and once dealers are back open fully you’ll see prices firm up a bit.’
Jaconelli also revealed his most memorable sale and discussed with Car Dealer founder James Baggott the best cars to invest in, as well as the newly launched finance brokerage business Elev8 Finance plus the shock low price that an 18-plate McLaren 720S went for on April 29.
To watch the Car Dealer Live broadcast in full, click on the image at the top of this post. If you subscribe to our YouTube channel you’ll then get a notification when we go live with future ones.
Coming up this week on Car Dealer Live we also have:
May 6 Mike Brewer
May 7 Langley Prestige’s Simon Webb
As May 8 is a bank holiday, there won’t be a show that day.
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