Car manufacturers and the iPhone generation

596 More

Earning the right to be successful

576 More

Knowledge is power

670 More

Selling cars – it’s all about timing

951 More

Truemag

  • Home
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Archives
  • Contact
  • Subscribe

After-market could benefit most from the downturn


Although in the states the recession may be biting deeper and car sales being hit even harder than here, what comparisons can we draw with our American cousins? Although we rely predominantly on imported cars for our industry there are still many cars built in UK based factories from many different car manufacturers which thousands of workers here rely on for continuing employment. Even though there have been many casualties most manufacturers are doing their best in conjunction with the unions to keep building viable cars for the UK and European markets. The long term future of car building in the UK looks to be strong, simply because plants are much more economic and workers appear to be a lot more realistic and hard working than their American counterparts. Let’s face it the unions in the home-grown car plants have contributed to their own demise by not modernising and by holding US car makers to ransom for decades, leading to the inevitable fallout currently being experienced.

The interesting parallels lie in the way many people in the states are holding off buying a new car by fixing old cars up and running them into the ground (recession means more car repairs, fewer new sales). Some are even attempting the maintenance themselves, for fear of getting into debt and not being able to make the payments. They would rather test how good these modern cars are by seeing how long they can keep them on the road rather than replacing, and it seems that the same might be happening over here.

The scrappage scheme has clearly had an effect in kick-starting new car sales but it will be interesting to see what type of customer has taken advantage of it. All the signs are that they are predominantly either people who would probably have the money in the bank but needed a good reason to change, or where a car has been passed around family members and someone has taken the decision to change for something newer, leaving the cars to change around the family in order of age and pecking order. Many dealers are reporting workshops have to work harder than ever to entice customers and the only winners seem to be the ‘Fred in the shed’ repairers who can keep a car road worthy for a fraction of the cost of a larger dealer with the far larger overheads. Like the United States though, there are many drivers who are choosing to do their own maintenance or at the very least shop around for their own parts before instructing a garage to carry out repairs to a car, at the very least then this should keep the recovery companies busy with rectifying all this amateur repair work!

Jul 23, 2009In51der
  • Marketing cars in a downturn….show me some innovation (or even basics)
  • Which way will the used car market go?
  • Buying cars in an economic downturn
  • The changing face of car brand loyalty in an economic downturn
  • Dramatic downturn in new car sales or just a correction?
  • Lazy car sales in a market downturn
  • Magna still favourite for Opel takeoverHeads roll at Porsche
    In51der

    Motor Trade Insider - Bridging the gap between the customer and the Motor Trade

    13 years ago Blog, Consumerafter-sales, buying a new car, car makers, car sales, economy, motor trade recession, Scrappage, used cars68
    Most viewed
    Top 100 UK Dealer Groups
    39,437 views
    The car sales process and the “9 point plan”
    11,455 views
    webuyanycar review – They will buy any car but beware of the asterisk
    5,977 views
    Most commented
    Car sales and the power of silence…
    25 Comments
    Car dealers still not prepared to play the “we buy any car” game
    23 Comments
    A Traders Tale – Part Four
    22 Comments
    Win a pre-loaded Ipod Shuffle!
    19 Comments
    Bargain of the Week – StreetKa 1.6i Luxury
    14 Comments
    Bridal Hair Berkshire
    Fox Body to 2018 Mustang Parts
    and Accessories
    About MTI

    Motor Trade Insider
    is written by people working actively in the motor trade for people on the inside and people on the outside.

    Our aims
    Build a bridge between consumers and the trade, create Interesting and informative content, break down barriers and create better understanding, expose bad practices and rip-offs and promote outstanding products and service.
    Have something to say?
    We are always looking for experienced writers who can write good original quality posts on motor-trade-insider.com. Please contact us if you would like us to consider you. Make sure you give us details of your own blog or a link to some articles you have written.
    2017 © Motor Trade Insider
    Truemag theme by StrictThemes