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Blog Entries about "bodyshop market"
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Automotive Mark-ups & Margins
If you buy something for £100, what do you have to sell it for to make a gross profit margin of 33%? The answer is, of course, £150. Certainly every reader of Auto Retail Network’s Bulletin where this article was first published, would have got this simple example of ‘mark-ups and margins’ correct. However, our experience running training courses for sales executives and aftersales personnel is that the mathematical skills of dealer staff are often sadly lacking, and many would come up with £133 as the answer – how would yours fare? Furthermore, our research on gross margins strongly suggests that this lack of knowledge has an impact on profits.
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And so it begins
Previously we have explained how the number of cars on the road up to four years old has a knock-on effect to the aftersales market. As new car sales fall the so-called 'four-year car parc' diminishes in size and franchised dealerships, which rely on younger cars for servicing business, start to feel the effects. Then as time passes this dearth of cars becomes a problem for independent garages targeting older cars. What is less well understood is that a falling four-year car parc impacts on the market for car body repairs too, because it is generally newer cars that are repaired after an accident.
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Death and Taxes
The saying “Nothing is certain but death and taxes” has been attributed to various authors including Daniel Defoe and Benjamin Franklin. Almost as inevitable as 'death and taxes' is the way the UK's population is ageing. This evolving age profile will be a key factor in car purchases in the future. And it is not even the distant future that politicians baffle us with when they talk about pension provision. Your customers' needs will be changing quite dramatically within ten years.
The chart is our interpretation of data freely available from the Office of National Statistics and shows the age profile of the UK's population now and in five years. Noticeably the two lines are almost identical in shape reflecting the certainty that people who are around now are quite likely to be here in five years - give or take influences like immigration and emigration. -
Nineteenth Motor Trader Industry Awards 2009
Trend Tracker director, Chris Oakham, was amongst 830 people at the Motor Trader Industry Awards 2009 held at the Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane, London yesterday evening, 8 July. The 19th Motor Trader Industry Awards celebrated the achievements of companies and individuals challenging the worst recession in the UK retail motor industry since the early 90s - and succeeding. Trend Tracker would like to add their congratulations to the winners of the 18 categories: