9:20 am, February 8, 2023
Used car savvy salesmen will come together to give their opinion on the future for car dealers at our special event on March 9.
Dealers including those running one of the largest car supermarket groups in the UK, a luxury supercar dealer and two independent showrooms will join our panel at Car Dealer Live, held at the British Motor Museum in Gaydon.
The event – sponsored by Auto Trader – will also include exclusive research sessions from our headline partner as well as Google, Cox Automotive and Close Brothers Motor Finance.
Our independent car dealer panel will take centre stage at 12.15pm on the packed day of talks.
Some 75 per cent of the tickets to the event have now been sold. You can book your tickets here.
Joining on the panel will be Nigel Hurley, CEO of car supermarket group Carshop, the Sytner-owned used car giant that operates 13 showrooms across the country.
Hurley has run the Carshop business since 2020 and has worked for parent company Sytner for more than two decades.
He said: ‘I am looking forward to hearing the wider discussions from all the panels at the conference, any insight is always welcomed.
‘For me, it’s about what is happening around anything that could influence stock acquisition – positively and negatively.
‘Without stock we have no business so being able to navigate through all the changes ahead is critical. For example, how will agency affect used vehicle supply? How is the consumer’s behaviour to part exchanging changing now they have more options?
‘How will the recent drop in confidence over electric cars change and in what timescales? What have we learned about the threat of pure online retailers? Not to mention navigating the cost of living crisis.’
Also on the panel with Hurley will be Jamie Caple, the man behind used car dealer Car Quay.
His business, based in Derby, won Used Car Sales Team of the Year at last year’s Used Car Awards.
He said: ‘I’m very much invested in hearing what Google has to say and learning more about how a customer starts their journey for a used vehicle via their search tools.
‘I – probably incorrectly – assume people head straight for a dedicated classified listing site, like I would if searching for a car, so it’ll be insightful to learn what actually happens in the real world.’
Caple said he was also looking forward to hearing from the event’s headline interviewee, Mark Lavery, CEO of formerly listed car dealer group Cambria Automobiles.
Caple added: ‘I very briefly met Mark Lavery as a salesman when I’d only been in the trade a few years or so and I’m wondering if he’ll remember our brief meeting and the backhanded compliment he paid me, fully warranted I may add, when I was a slightly cocky used car sales executive at Reg Vardy Vauxhall in Nottingham.’
The Car Quay boss is also looking forward to sharing his ‘passion and enthusiasm’ for the industry with guests and why he thinks ‘lowly human beings’ will always play a huge role in the sales process.
Also joining our panel will be David Trigg, the owner of serial award winning supercar dealership Premier GT. The West Sussex based firm has won a number of Used Car Awards, including the Social Media User of the Year award in 2022.
Stuart Saunders, a founding member of the Independent Motor Dealers Association (IMDA), and boss of the Urban Car Company in Cambridge, will complete the four-person panel line-up.
Saunders said: ‘As a founding member of the IMDA our core values have always been to support independent dealers and the Car Dealer Live event is very much the same.
‘It’s an excellent opportunity for all dealers to gain knowledge and learn from other dealers through the various Q&As and workshops throughout the day.’
More on Car Dealer Live:
- The franchised car dealers appearing at Car Dealer Live
- Why physical car dealers are crucial to car buying – Google session
- How much car buying do consumers want to do online? Cox Automotive session
- 11 reasons to book your tickets to Car Dealer Live
The full agenda for Car Dealer Live and tickets can be found at the dedicated website CarDealerLive.co.uk.
The event will also feature a headline interview with Mark Lavery, CEO of previously listed car dealer group Cambria Automobiles.
A franchised dealer panel and car manufacturer panel will also take place on the day with the bosses of Polestar, MG and Suzuki set to give their opinions on the future.
Partners Auto Trader, Google, Cox Automotive and Close Brothers Motor Finance will all deliver exclusive research in special sessions during the day.
