11:33 am, November 19, 2025
He is one of the leading voices in the recent revolt against Auto Trader and car dealer Tim Atkinson has now set his sights on forming a new organisation to represent the motor trade.
Car Dealer reported last week how Atkinson is planning a complaint against the advertising giant via the Competition and Markets Authority and he says the work has opened his eyes to the need for better representation.
The Sports & Touring boss says that existing bodies have failed to deliver and the time is right to form a new group, which will allow dealers to speak with once voice.
While he does not yet have a name for the organisation, he believes it could represent dealers of all sizes, funded by members paying a small annual fee.
The 58-year-old, who has been critical of the likes of the IMDA over recent days, is now looking to gather the opinions of existing retailers before deciding how to proceed.
He made the announcement in his Facebook group – The AutoTrader Trade Customer Group – which has now swelled to over 1,200 members.
In a lengthy video post, he told members: ‘We need representation to deal with those frustrations. I don’t just mean Auto Trader, I mean all the other things which are more difficult about being a motor dealer than they should be.
‘I don’t need to list them I am sure. There are organisations within the industry, within government and elsewhere, who make our lives unnecessarily difficult and complex.
‘There are opportunities to improve the industry by having a body representing us, speaking for us and making things happen in our favour. There are a couple of organisations already in that space but they’re not delivering and they haven’t delivered.
‘Even now, when they’re trying to give some semblance of delivering, I don’t feel any sense of being impressed about what I am seeing and hearing.
‘The time is ripe and the time is now for a new organisation representing the motor retail trade, large and small. From the big dealer groups down to the little one-person independents, we need a voice.
‘Looking at the practicalities of it, how we might fund this and how it might work, those things are eminently sensible.
‘I think if we find a few thousand dealers willing to contribute a small sum every year, we can build a very powerful organisation with intelligent people leading it and working within it to the benefit of the whole community.
‘It has therefore been my decision to take that step and announce now that I intend to form a new motor retail organisation.
‘I don’t yet have a name that I’ve decided upon and I don’t have a structure that’s decided upon – partly because I want those things to fall out of consensus and agreement that follows from conversation.’
‘Lean and kean’
Atkinson says that he is open to discussion about whether his new group should be a limited company or a community interest firm.
However, he did insist that the group should not be a ‘lumbering behemoth of an organisation with 20 committee members’.
Speaking directly to dealers, the former senior inspector of air accidents admitted that the idea of setting up the organisation was ‘scary’ but asked for their views about how best to continue.
He said: ‘I would like your ideas please. From simple things like suggestions of a name, to your thoughts on whether we should be a limited company or a community interest company. I’ve considered whether it might be a charity but I’m not sure that that particular platform works.
‘I think it needs to be lean and keen. We don’t want a lumbering behemoth of an organisation with 20 committee members, but nor is the task at hand something that one or two people can undertake alone.
‘I’d be very interested in hearing your experiences good and bad of being members of other trade organisations, whether inside or outside the motor trade.’
He added: ‘Another time, we’ll talk about the things we want from it beyond this action against Auto Trader but for now, I’m very focused on the fact that our objective is Auto Trader. Other things will, of course, follow.
‘I’m sure that this organisation can bring very considerable value, it will perhaps be capable of delivering pastoral care, although we already have some excellent networks there.
‘It will certainly be a conduit through which things like training in best practices can happen. I’m hoping that we can fill that void in motor retail, where there is no organisation representing us, speaking for us and ultimately improving our lot as motor retailers.
‘I’m proud of this decision. I’m frightened of it as well. I have to say! It’s a scary idea but I’ve done I’ve done things before that seemed like a scary idea at the time, and they generally played out pretty well.’
