Buying a new car can make sound economic sense

To attract more customers during the tough times dealers need to demonstrate not only that they can supply cars that best suit the needs of their buyers but also of how those buyers can afford to fund that purchase.

Many potential car buyers are delaying the purchase of their next car and plodding on with their existing one, even though it may actually be starting to be uneconomical to do so.

Car dealers need to show buyers how buying their next car could actually be a more cost effective way than deciding against it.

For example many new and used cars will currently come with free insurance for a year, or free 3 year service plans or 0% finance and these are all really good ways of attracting customers but if they do not shout loud enough about those benefits customers may not even get to know about it.

With the steady decline of print advertising in favour of more immediate and direct marketing car dealers are often complacent about how they market their cars. Of course they are now often presented beautifully with multiple pictures and movie technology and can be updated and changed at the click of a mouse, along with sophisticated tools that assist in ensuring that their cars are all priced competitively.

However by communicating great examples of value added products on top of a really attractive example monthly payment they are far more likely to attract a buyer to realise that extra value than by just advertising a sticker price and description.

PCP finance deals have overtaken traditional HP agreements because buyers, looking to keep cots to a minimum, recognise that by protecting their investment and having an affordable monthly payment and balloon a PCP will do that for them. In addition the introduction of free service plans, free insurance and similar incentives means there is a compelling reason for a buyer to take up the offer, especially if it’s put in front of them in an easy to understand format.

There are clearly more car buyers taking up PCP deals as they are up more than 10% year on year. After a shaky start, all those years ago, PCP’s are now recognised as an efficient way of funding a car whilst helping the dealer retain their customers by introducing buyers to their next car when they are at parity or better within their agreement so that payments can still be flexible and deposits manageable.

There are deals out there at present to suit all pockets from as little as no deposit and £100 per month so, for the car buyer, researching these deals before they buy the car is almost as important as the car they actually decide to buy. This is especially so in time of economic uncertainty when keeping hold of an existing car just that little bit longer may actually end up being a false economy.

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