SELLING a car is not only just about getting the customer to sign on the dotted line, there’s a whole number of factors linked to the deal.

But there is one element that is often overlooked – the valuation of the customer’s part-exchange.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the past few months have also been tricky for dealers. ‘The most important thing is getting the customer to the dealership,’ says Daren Wiseman, Manheim’s general manager of valuation services.

‘The feedback we get from dealers of all sizes is that footfall has fallen dramatically in the past few months. In the summer, this normally happens, but dealers are telling us this year footfall numbers have fallen more than in previous years.

‘Dealers are spending a lot of money on advertising to get customers into their dealerships and most of these customers have a part exchange to dispose of.

‘The accurate value of that part-exchange can be a deciding factor in whether the dealer does a retail deal or not. Obviously, this is one of a number of factors – but valuation is key.

‘Dealers are also telling us that accurate valuations will help them for the rest of the year in terms of business,’ adds Wiseman. In light of the importance of valuations,

Manheim has designed a system called Seller Advance. It is an end-to-end remarketing product, and is a simple five-step process from valuation to the car being sold at a Manheim auction.

Step one sees an instant valuation carried out. The dealer appraises the part-exchange and then obtains an online valuation from Manheim. ‘One big thing that dealers are facing is motivating their sales people,’ says Wiseman. ‘This forces the sales person to go out there, examine the car and drive it. That in turn gets the customer more interested because they can see that the salesperson is taking their pride and joy seriously.’

‘Seller Advance’s valuation accuracy is currently 98.5 per cent – and rising all of the time’

Seller Advance calculates the valuation from a number of sources of data including a VRM look-up system owned by the DVLA. This allows the dealer to be reassured that the accuracy of the valuation they receive is extremely high. In fact, the valuation accuracy is currently 98.5 per cent – and rising all of the time.

There’s also another major benefit, as Wiseman explains: ‘Seller Advance also includes an accurate recognition feature. Dealers are facing up to 60,000 different model derivatives in the market place, and one of the biggest issues facing dealers in the valuation of cars is mis-identification.

While a Ford dealer might know his Ford models very well, that Ford dealer probably won’t know too much about a BMW and might misidentify the customer’s part-exchange. That in itself can create a inaccurate valuation – we are narrowing down the room for error in the valuation process.’

Once this has been carried out and the dealer decides the customer’s part-ex is not for retail, they can then set a projected delivery date for the customer. Step two occurs as soon as the customer has dropped off their part-exchange. The dealer can then ‘push’ the car into auction all online, therefore saving time.

Step three happens once the car arrives at a Manheim auction – the firm inspects it and pays the dealer the agreed valuation. Meanwhile step four allows the dealer to set a reserve price for the car.

Once the vehicle is sold, step five kicks in. If the vehicle made money above the advance payment, Manheim will pay out the difference. If the car loses money, Manheim will debit the dealer.

‘Seller Advance has been live for dealers for the past 18 months and we are finding that dealers are expressing more and more interest in it because of the help it can give to them.’

To find out more about Seller Advance, log onto selleradvance.com or call 0844 856 4545