9:43 am, November 12, 2024
Car dealers could be missing out on vital funds to buy stock because they are spending too much on their utility bills.
That is according to one leading expert, who is encouraging dealers to check whether they are paying over the odds for gas, electric and water.
Former car dealer Nathan Cumiskey now works for Consultiv Utilities Ltd, which has come up with a new offering aimed specifically at helping the motor trade.
The Consultiv Utilities MOT is completely free of charge and sees experts analysing business’s bills to make sure they’re getting the best deal.
A full ‘MOT certificate’ is then issued with any advisories about where money could be saved.
The scheme has already helped several businesses within the industry, including Mike Brewer’s One Automotive, which saved 36% on its gas bill and 24% on its electricity as a result of the service.
Cumiskey has now appeared on the latest episode of the Car Dealer Podcast to explain exactly how dealers can benefit from the offering.
He told hosts James Baggott and Jon Reay: ‘What we’ve done is we’ve launched something called the Consultiv Utilities MOT – so sort of playing on what the industry knows.
‘Everybody knows what an MOT is – that dreaded time of year when you’ve got to take your car to go and get checked over by professionals.
‘What we’re doing is free of charge for any customer. What we ask you to do is send us a copy of your latest energy bills, water bills, waste bills, whatever it might be, and we check them over, just like a mechanic would do with an MOT.
‘We make sure that things are right, so you’re not out of contract for one, and you’re not paying higher rates. Is there a better deal on the market that you could probably look up at the moment?’
He added: ‘Water is a big, big thing at the moment and Scotland’s very, very good at it. I think a lot of Scottish businesses know that they can actually save money on the water but in the England, not many people know it’s deregulated, and that they can move and can save money.
‘For companies that have got valeters, they’re using water all the time and there’s quite a substantial saving.
‘Even on the energy side of it, showrooms, workshops and body shops, everything runs off electric. Whether it’s lights, car batteries are getting charged or workshop tools. Everything that you touch and do in the dealership or a workshop needs this.
‘What we’re trying to do is simplify for everybody because we get, it’s not a priority. It’s admin, it’s boring, it’s not exciting, and it’s not the core of your business.
‘With the free utilities MOT, we look at your bills and make sure everything’s in order because there’s things that can be wrong.
‘You could be in the wrong band and again, you wouldn’t know that unless you know this industry and you could be getting charged more than what you need to be paying.
‘We check all that, do a bit of an MOT on it. We’ll give you an MOT certificate as well, which is basically like a pass advisory field. And on this certificate, it will show you where improvements could be made.’
The Car Dealer Podcast, sponsored by Carwow, sees an industry guest join our hosts to discuss the motor trade’s biggest headlines of every week.
A full list of the stories discussed on this week’s episode can be found here.
You can listen to all episodes of the Car Dealer Podcast on Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
