• Car Dealer Plus
No Result
View All Result
  • Latest
  • Used Cars
  • Live
  • Forum
  • Power 2020
  • UCA 2020
  • UCA 2021
  • CDX
  • Knowledge
  • Suppliers Guide
  • About Us
  • Latest Issue
  • Top 100
  • CD Plus
  • Latest
  • Used Cars
  • Live
  • Forum
  • Power 2020
  • UCA 2020
  • UCA 2021
  • CDX
  • Knowledge
  • Suppliers Guide
  • About Us
  • Latest Issue
  • Top 100
  • CD Plus
No Result
View All Result

July 7 round-up: Hybrid Octavia vRS; Royal Mail goes EV; MG ZS refresh; Chancellor's £3b green plan

Caterham customers say life's too short as sports car maker basks in buoyant used car sales

Home Baggott

Comment: Buying used cars online won’t be the exception but the norm in the not too distant future

James Baggott by James Baggott
July 8, 2020
in Baggott, News
0

Wind back the clock a few months to when the world was blissfully ignorant to the life-changing coronavirus pandemic and the thought of selling used cars online in any great numbers was usually met with a raised eyebrow.

I’ll be the first to admit that I was one of those rather sceptical folk. 

I even said as much in a column similar to this one when I pondered the arrival of Cazoo – the online only used car dealer – that aimed to disrupt the traditional car dealer world.


Set up by serial entrepreneur Alex Chesterman, the man behind Zoopla and Love Film, Cazoo sells used cars online and delivers them to buyers’ homes.

Back in March, just before the real scale of the pandemic was revealed I wrote that I simply didn’t think buyers would swap the ability to tyre kick a used car to buy it online.

How wrong I was. Now, in a world of social distancing and local lockdowns, buying used cars online is a preferred option for many customers. 

This has played into the hands of Cazoo that was recently valued at £800m after yet another round of funding raised £25m.


The online used car dealer has been splashing out too – spending £10m a year on sponsoring Everton and you can’t fail to miss its TV and radio adverts.

During the many hours spent at home recently most used car buyers have spent hours whiling away the time looking for their next used car purchase – and it’s those car dealers with a true online sales solution that have realty benefited from this.

It helped that the government first insisted that dealers could get back to work in some form by selling online and delivering to people’s homes. 

That confirmation – revealed by Car Dealer Magazine – was enough to kick start the trade back into action and dealers grabbed the opportunity to fast track online sales platforms.

Website providers were inundated with requests for help and sales of online sales solutions rocketed. Some suppliers reported sales up 400 per cent.

Home delivery then morphed into click and collect, a hybrid of online sales and traditional dealer experiences. 

The latter was particularly popular with the motor trade and customers. It meant buyers could do all of the boring stuff at home – browse, compare, deliberate and decide, and then head to a dealer to pick their car up and ask any questions.

Dealers are able to offer buyers the chance to view huge numbers of pictures of used cars, get finance quotes and let them take time to learn about other products like GAP insurance and aftercare on snappy videos.

Now the dust is settling and the world is getting used to this new way of going about our daily lives, I’m convinced this hybrid sales approach will be the future for car dealers.

For years, dealers have invested millions into properties in a bigger-is-better mentality that’s designed to wow the buyer when they arrive.

In future, what’s to stop dealers having smaller premises and large preparation and storage centres and concentrate on giving customers the premium experience when they come to collect their car.

Car dealers may become hand over sites where the buying experience isn’t about haggling or deal making – often seen as a negative by buyers – but as a place of enjoyment where they get the new car handover experience.

Huge showrooms for browsing used cars aren’t necessary when buyers can do it all online. 

The lockdown taught many industries that not only are buyers very happy to purchase online, they actively want to.

Not only is buying a used car online convenient, but it also helps give those who are still afraid the option to do everything at home.

Social distancing isn’t going away any time soon. This new way of trading will soon become the normal way of trading and dealers who are yet to invest in an online sales solution for their cars will be left behind.

For every customer that wants to come in to see a car, there’ll be plenty more who will be happy to buy it from afar and only visit your dealership to collect it.

Home deliveries will be an added bonus. I know it’s not possible for every dealer to be able to deliver cars to people’s homes, but for those that can it’ll be a welcome option for buyers.

That’ll put businesses set up for this in prime position. 

Cazoo may have the head start on selling used cars and dropping them off at people’s homes, but with seasoned used car operators like Peter Waddell entering the market soon with his Carzam model, the sector is about to be supercharged.

Waddell – who tells us all about the Caram model in the video above – is even promising same day deliveries to buyers.

I am the first to admit it when I’m wrong and looking back at my column published before the lockdown my predictions online used car sales would be a slow burner was way off the mark. 

Granted, I hadn’t spotted a pandemic incoming, but this transition has happened.

Buyers are going to expect different experiences from car dealers and if you’re not set up to offer it you could very well be left behind.

More Used Car stories can be found here in our dedicated section

Get more from Car Dealer

  • Premium stories
  • Used car data
  • Magazine early access
Register

Or Sign in

Previous Post

July 7 round-up: Hybrid Octavia vRS; Royal Mail goes EV; MG ZS refresh; Chancellor’s £3b green plan

Next Post

Caterham customers say life’s too short as sports car maker basks in buoyant used car sales

Next Post
Car Dealer Live 68: Caterham Cars CEO Graham Macdonald

Caterham customers say life's too short as sports car maker basks in buoyant used car sales

Want the latest news?

Sign up to Car Dealer's daily news email updates

Subscribe
Electrified vehicle registrations overtake diesels for the first time in Europe
News

What is stopping car buyers from switching to EV? Our exclusive white paper reveals all

April 8, 2021
How many car dealerships does each manufacturer have in the UK? Car Dealerships Locations List 2021 revealed
News

How many car dealerships does each manufacturer have in the UK? Car Dealerships Locations List 2021 revealed

March 12, 2021
Used Car Awards with Mike Brewer and James Baggott graphi
News

Who won what at the Used Car Awards 2020? Mike Brewer reveals our winning car dealers

March 12, 2021
Used Car Awards 2021 logo
Used Car Awards

Used Car Awards 2021 will be back in all their glory on November 29 hosted by Mike Brewer

March 17, 2021
The Newcomers: Here are the 10 electric car brands coming to a forecourt near you soon
News

The Newcomers: Here are the 10 electric car brands coming to a forecourt near you soon

March 30, 2021
Trophy Cars forecourt
News

Investigation: Meet the hyper-specialist car dealers making their money from weird and wonderful motors

March 12, 2021
Car Dealer Top 100 – The list in full of the most profitable car dealers in the UK
Car Dealer Top 100

Car Dealer Top 100 – The list in full of the most profitable car dealers in the UK

February 10, 2021
BMW, Mercedes, Audi and Volvo, could they be sold under one roof?
News

Multi franchising: Premium brands rule out selling cars alongside rivals in same dealer – as others remain tight-lipped

March 11, 2021
  • Latest
  • Used Cars
  • Live
  • Forum
  • Power 2020
  • UCA 2020
  • UCA 2021
  • CDX
  • Knowledge
  • Suppliers Guide
  • About Us
  • Latest Issue
  • Top 100
  • CD Plus
Call us: 020 8125 3880

© 2020 Blackball Media

No Result
View All Result
  • Car Dealer Plus
  • Latest
  • Used Cars
  • Live
  • Forum
  • Power 2020
  • Used Car Awards 2020
  • Used Car Awards 2021
  • CDX
  • Knowledge
  • Suppliers Guide
  • About Us
  • Latest Issue
  • Top 100

© 2020 Blackball Media

Log In
Register
Register
Server 1