12:43 pm, June 17, 2020
The owner of used car dealership Redgate Lodge has reported that despite hearing of the popularity of click-and-deliver during lockdown, his business has seen most customers still wanting to visit the showroom.
Speaking to James Batchelor on Car Dealer Live on June 16, Scott Sibley said that when the showroom closed he sent a survey to customers asking them how they felt about buying cars. Around 90 per cent responded that they would still want to visit the showroom despite the dealership adding a delivery service.
That has been backed up since the showroom has fully opened again, as Sibley explained: ‘We’ve done 70 deals already this month and it’s the 16th. We usually try to do 100 a month. Of all of those we’ve only delivered three.’
Redgate Lodge has been implementing lots of changes at the site in Newcastle upon Tyne, of which one was the addition of a new delivery truck that had been fairly underused. Sibley commented: ‘Everyone was saying click-and-deliver would be the future, but the customers who bought cars from us came to the showroom to collect.’
He explained how they stocked up on sneeze screens, barriers for the handover area, plus markings and signs for when they could reopen, as well as new procedures for staff on site.
Another change has been in consumer attitudes too, with Sibley saying: ‘We’ve been selling cars that we wouldn’t normally have sold before. Certain brands we’ve thought “They don’t sell well and we won’t stock them again”, they’re flying out the door.’
To watch the interview in full click play at the top of this page.
Coming up this week on Car Dealer Live we have:
- Wednesday: Collecting Cars’ Edward Lovett
- Thursday: P&A Wood’s Georgina Wood
- Friday: Auto Village’s Paul Boyce
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