Hi and welcome to another episode of Selling in the Motor Trade.
In partnership with Cazana, improve your margins with real-time, data-driven, retail
valuations backed by the largest rule of data set in the UK.
There are an evidence-based guide valuations for main dealers, car suit markets and independence.
Along with sim code training, where we took that training in the real world, what's happening
in the market today, not 10 to 15 years ago.
Together, we're going to share tips and ideas on how to sell more cars, improve your service
and parts operation and generally put more profit into your department, dealership or dealer
group.
Now I'm your host, Simon Bowkett, or some of you might already know me as Skippy.
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Hi, welcome to another episode of Selling in the Motor Trade.
Today we've got a panel discussion with Mark, Derren and Ian from Cazana.
You might think, who's Cazana?
Well, Cazana is our new partners.
And I'm really excited to talk about why Symco training and selling in the motor trade
we're working with these guys.
You see, I interviewed Derren, Derren Martin, and must have been about two months ago.
I got really excited about actually some of the data he talked about, some of the knowing
how to value a car, not just from wholesale up, but retail down.
It really hit a nerve with me about how so many sales managers, they haven't got access
to the data.
And I've got to be honest with you.
So who's Cazana?
Who are they?
What are you actually doing there?
He introduced me to Ian and actually one thing's led to the other.
And we just had lots of common ground.
And we both want the same things.
We want to improve car dealerships.
We want to improve profitability.
And that's why they're the new partner in the podcast.
So I just need to say, welcome to everyone.
Thanks.
I have to be honest.
So I'm going to start off with you, Ian, if this is right, in a few words, for someone
who's under a rock and doesn't know who Cazana was, who someone like myself, in a sentence
and what can you tell us?
Who's Cazana?
So Cazana was, well, it started back in 2012 by a guy called Tom Wood, who's well known
with everybody within the motor trade.
He built a platform that was sold to Cazoo Data Services in 2021.
And we bought that platform off Cazoo in 2023.
And with the demise of the demise of Cazoo, we bought the platform.
We dusted it down.
I've got some experts involved in looking at how we could improve it technically and with
all the products and services, two of them are on the podcast today.
And yeah, we're just about to launch it back into dealer world, really.
Yeah.
So it's one of the things my agency and I thought, because I know it was part of Cazoo,
but it wasn't.
They actually acquired it.
Is that right?
It is indeed.
Yeah.
So we actually launched into the automotive landscape.
This is where it gets in more complicated, 18 months ago with motors who are now Cazoo.
So they are a key partner of ours and we share data with them.
So Cazana and Cazoo are back together in a way, but not how it was before.
It's a full circle.
Full circle is good.
And Mark, how did you get involved?
Tell us a bit about yourself, Mark.
So I worked for Experian Automotive and then Cap HPI, which is where I met Darren and in
when they acquired the Cazana tech from Cazoo, needed somebody to help them take the solution
to be market ready and then help them launch it back into the dealer world, the automotive
space.
And that's the background that I've got and my business partners have got at ADS.
And so in contact with us and said, would we be interested in taking a look at this and
helping them?
When I'd been at Cap, I'd looked to try and get something very similar built.
So I was actually quite excited when I first saw the solution, knowing the power that it
had, the dates to it had and what it could do to help dealer's.
So we were really keen to get involved and we've been involved for the last couple of years
now.
So Darren, if I know Sal's measure, listen this, okay, who is your competition, okay?
Is it Cap you're replacing, is it order trader, how are you guys different?
We're pretty much retail valuations, we do do trade valuations as well, but we firmly
believe that retail valuations are basing your purchasing decisions of what you can advertise
the vehicle for and then sell the vehicle for it from your forecourt or your website is the
way forward.
So what you can advertise it for and sell it for, then work your way back down for what
you should pay for it, bearing in mind the margin that you want to make.
The reason we're different is that we've got more data than anybody else.
We get the data from every website in the country, we don't purely base it off trade
and off what's happening in the auctions, we base it off real world and what's happening.
There's a fantastic data science behind it and machine learning that produces the valuations.
We've also got information on days to sell because we're independent, we have no vested
interest in pricing vehicles, people pricing vehicles too high, it's too low, we want them
to price their vehicles optimally, we haven't got what auto trader have got with their selling
to dealers hoping that they'll put their cars on their website, we're just advising on prices.
Yeah, to auto trader, they definitely did create some friction with all of their clients
and whether they're trying to change the way they're doing.
Mark, you're smiling there, there was definitely some friction out there on what they're doing
that way.
Mark, can I also ask you as well, it's the bit that really I love the idea of days to sell.
So instead of just giving me a price as a sales manager, I can see that particular car,
that Cayman, the average, what's the average number of days to sell, surely that's going
to help me make the right decision when I'm valuing that car as a trade-in or I want
to buy it?
It certainly is, yes, in terms of how things used to be done, the deal would say that vehicle
owes me or I've got a gut feeling about this car and that would then influence how they
were prepared to take it in as a part exchange, what they would offer for it or what they
would advertise it for.
Now we're providing some science to this now in terms of being able to look back through
the recent history using the Kuzana data and actually see individual vehicles that are
the same make model derivative and how quickly they sold or how often the price was changed.
But when you amalgamate all the data, you get a market view as to how quickly that vehicle
is likely to sell and that can then give you a better indication as to how to price it
or what to offer for it as a part exchange.
Yeah, I suppose Ian, every now and then, long comes a miracle.
I suppose as a sales manager, used car sales manager, I always remember the miracle.
I had that car in stock for 90 days, okay, everyone's telling me to get rid of it, but
some poor customer walked in and said, I'll have that full up and I was thinking, hold
on, I remember that car four years ago, it actually sold.
I suppose the data you have really does make the difference.
Is it 900,000 unique VRMs every day?
Is that number right, Ian?
Is that what you scraped?
It is, Simon, not all scraped, I mean, as I mentioned earlier, we have a good relationship
with Cazoo, they provide us with over half a million vehicles a day and we have fees coming
in from other areas and we also scrape as well.
So, you know, 900,000 is where we're at at the moment and we want to get to beyond a
million, but we're not too sure, I don't know anybody knows what the full market size
is, but we're certainly closer than anybody and that's expanding every day.
I was just thinking about that number, when there's what?
2.1 million new vehicles were sold, how many used vehicles are on sale at any one point?
We know how many used cars were sold, but that's got to be close to the whole market,
hasn't it?
It's not far off yet and, you know, these are the unique VRMs that we pull in every day
and obviously they're going to be the same day on, until they sell or whatever, all new
ones come in.
Yeah, I think probably overall car park, circuit 1 million, I would say.
OK, and again, I suppose you're giving regional variations as well, because in the middle
of Wales that IZooZoo pick up is something that's going to move quicker, I'm guessing,
then it's going to, in the edge where road, for example there, sorry, yeah, we don't,
you know, it's all about the data, so we can show where vehicles are for sale, what vehicles
are for sale, within your dealership, within 10 miles, 50 miles, 100 miles or nationally,
so, you know, an independent dealer or dealer can just put his postcode in, pick up, you
know, pick up radius to him and see what similar vehicles are for sale in the market and
also what prices they're at, so we don't tell dealers what to price that, we just show them
what prices are there currently, what's your live market price within your area for
that particular car spec?
Is it fair to say that when I was a sales manager, I'm looking at really what auction
prices were, I suppose both Mark and Aaron working for some of those other providers,
that really is the information that from the old book and yes, I'm old enough to have the
books, all of my marks laugh and at me now, you're right though, I used to have all the
books lined up on my desk, I took pride in them all there, but it's always what's happened
hasn't it?
It's old news.
And I think the reason the trade valuations, you know, have been around for so long is,
back in the day, a source of volume of data in order to produce a market value, the auction
sites were the only place you could get it, the technology wasn't there, the websites
weren't there to be able to get retail values and it's only in the last maybe 10 years that
retail values have been accurate enough because of the volume of data that you can now get
to power them.
Okay, so you're not a new company, okay, your parent company, it's been around for a while,
but Ian, you've got this 500 dealers, can you just talk me through what the programs you're
about to launch, the 500 dealers and a little bit about what you're launching there?
Yeah, certainly, so as I say, we have launched into automotive 18 months ago, we've got some
key partners on board, you know, we've partnered with some big piece of the likes of Experian
and others, Motor Check and Carter Trade, or a few other smaller partners that we've
already partnered with over the last 18 months, but we want to offer our dealers direct, we
want to get a direct offer into 500 dealers of which we've aptly called it the Qasana 500
and that's going to be a promotion to initially the IMBA, who will get some exclusive benefits
on price and various other things, and this is giving them access to our SUS platform,
which will, you know, provide the full range of valuations, market insights, comprehensive
vehicle history, all of that, which is going to be launched within the next couple of weeks.
Okay, interesting.
I too, Uma S is going to love that, he does such a good job, the IMDA does such a great
job for independent dealers out there, and I think that's going to be absolutely brilliant
for them.
So dealers want to get involved with that, should they reach out to the IMDA, should they reach
out directly to you guys?
And when is it launched, okay, because, am I jumping the gun with this?
You are, it's not launched yet, as I say, I'd like to think in the next couple of weeks
from barely in mind from when this podcast will go out, we made the decision to launch
it initially with the IMDA, because, you know, we've got a relationship with them and Uma
and I think that's the best place to start, it is limited to 500, so outside of the IMDA,
if there's still some spaces, we will launch it to, you know, non-IMDA members, but it
won't, you know, that's, this is all to come, but not too long.
Yeah, again, any independence out there that are not part of the IMDA, Uma, they just do
a great job there, and you're right, 500 is not that many, okay, so I just know the number
of members they have, I suppose people will have to be getting involved very quickly, to
do this.
So what's, this is a question for probably all of you then, what's one of the biggest
misconceptions dealers still have about used car valuations?
And don't you start with you on this one?
Yeah, I don't know about misconceptions, everyone does it with their own way, the dealers
are really good at what they do, but what we kind of believe in is, as I say, the retail
approach, looking at the, what you can advertise them for and sell them for, and data is king
now, so we provide, so we do provide with a guide valuation for a particular vehicle,
but if they're still using other tools like auto trader or cap, then fine, but we want
to become a source of data for them as well, and we think by using us, they will, they'll
realise that our data is better than the others.
One of the reasons I consult for Cazana is because having a conversation with Ian and
seeing their platform, I realised how rich the data is and how good it is, and I'm the
firm believer in the retail down approach.
So I wouldn't say it's misconceptions on pricing or anything like that, I think everyone
does it differently, but we can help them with that.
I think it's the volume of data and the quality of the data that they have access to that influences
the profitability of a particular vehicle or a dealership.
If you've got good data that's close to what's going on in the market and you can make use
of that, then you would expect to make more profit, more margin than if the data's out
of date and not closing them to the market.
Playing devil's advocate now, Mark, and yes, I understand the retail down, this is what
they're selling for, this is how long it takes to sell, this is a number of days in
the market, love that information, okay, regent, love that information, but playing devil's
advocate, you might get the sales manager saying, Simon, you don't understand, if I
don't get the sold in 60, 90 days, it has to go to the block, okay, so I want to know
what it's going to trade, so I don't have my head handed to me on a platter.
What do you say to that dare I say old fashioned sales manager, I'm going to upset
some sales managers there, okay, and I was one of them, you're worried about if you don't
sell it, surely I had to keep an eye on what this is.
And there will be vehicles that the dealers will need to take in as a part exchange in order
to be able to sell them the consumer, the next car, so a trade value is still relevant and
still used, so if you are looking to retail it, having one eye on a trade value is always
useful, if it's a car that you're going to send to the block anyway, then you absolutely
need a trade value, and that's why we do provide a trade value as well as the retail value,
but in our view, you're not really going to want to take too many cars in that you just
have to send to auction, you really do want to retail as many as you can, so our emphasis
is always on the retail price and not the trade price.
I love that retail price, it should be, I suppose what is driving out there is, if
it has to go to the block because I've kept it for 60, 90 days, whatever my policy is,
you just want to make sure that you have that safety blanket there, and two times I get sales
and it's probably relied too much on that, and we would argue that if you see what they're
selling for in the retail world, you're seeing how long they're selling for, price it appropriately,
you won't have to worry about that side of it, and it's seeing how many days it takes
to sell the average one, and I think that's just information that's just so valuable.
I think that the added beauty is with our platform, again, it's about the data, but you
can see so many similar vehicles within a certain radius of your dealership, and you can look
at the history of that vehicle, you can look at it from when it was first registered, how
the owners, where it's sold, what it's sold for, has it gone in and out of franchise
dealerships, has it been sold on bobs under the arches, and all of this data is available,
which ultimately determines the price of the vehicle that you've got, because it's not just
about age, model, and mileage, as you appreciate, so it's just having that rich provenance data
helps to either justify the value, or you have to look at it and go, you know what, we can clearly
see that it's failed, it's MOT, 10 times in a row, and it's had multiple issues, is somebody
going to pick my car to one that's 30 miles away that's had clean MOT history, just as one example?
What a lot before this, and this is part of Darren talking about you guys, he said,
give me a registration number, I gave him a registration number on my son's car, and we had
look, he said, right, these are the cars that sell in the marketplace at the moment, within this
region, way up to, and just as it sells, measure to value your car to have confidence, it just is,
actually, is it too strong word to say game changer, but for me, it really did feel like
that game changer, I just had so much confidence exactly what I'm going to bring that car into
stock for, if I had to bring that car into stock for, or if I'm actually buying it.
So Darren, lots of use car measures, listen to this now, what's hot out there in the market,
right now, we're in June, 2026, okay, can I ask you what's looking strong right now?
Well, you've used the right word hot there, because it certainly is, it certainly is,
but I would say the EV world is really going well at the moment, it has been strong, we predicted
it and obviously we weren't alone in predicting it, but demand was always going to improve this year,
as more and more people start to look into buying EVs and consider EVs, and if you look at the whole
total cost of ownership of an EV, it certainly makes sense, people are still put off by
range anxiety and the complete range of a vehicle, if you can't charge it at home,
but what's happened since the unfortunate events in the Middle East with the war there and the
petrol and diesel prices and the pumps going up is more and more people are looking at EVs,
and we're seeing that EVs are going up in price, certainly on the retail world dealers are buying
them, they're putting the prices up, they're selling them, they're replacing it with a similar one,
and they're putting the prices up again, I was speaking to a dealer a couple of weeks ago
who just said I just can't find them, I just can't get them, they're being snapped up so quickly
these cars, so if you can get EVs, now do your due diligence for them, look on our platform,
look at how much you think they're worth, look at how quickly they're selling, but they are great
news, hybrids similarly, especially plug-in hybrids, they're going well as well, but electric vehicles
and I know some independents are scarred by, they don't particularly want to, want to stock them,
but they should be not, they don't want to, they don't need to film their forecast with them,
their shirt certainly should be dipping their tie-in and seeing how quickly they sell, because
they will sell. See it's amazing, it is June 2026 and it was just my father-in-law, there's another
guy down at a club this weekend and said oh you drive an electric vehicle, it's my wife's car,
so don't like about that, they're going to catch fire, you know that, you don't pile that in a garage
and it's like come on guys, this is June 2026, I mean you remember the airport where the car
park burnt down three years ago, I mean that was a diesel Range Rover, but still the press jumped
on about an electric vehicle, the same guy said oh if you have an accident, okay electric cars,
you can't open the doors, okay they just won't get along, and you think where does this come from,
but I'm going to say he's less and less now, because when people go electric they don't go back,
if people can charge at home it's almost a no-brainer, but here Mike, is it a situation where
electric vehicles prices have come down to a point that they just make good sense for customers,
is that why we're getting the used EV vehicle? Resurgence in EVs, absolutely, I think the view
from the press seems to have improved, so me people are more comfortable in looking at an EV,
I think the prices as you say have come down, the technology has improved, so at the moment
used EVs up to three years old perhaps are good news, and those older EVs that don't have quite
such good tech in them, they're going down in price and they're attracting a different sector of
the consumer who perhaps hasn't got the ability to buy a newer one, they're now in a price
bracket where they can buy an EV, so the whole market is moving and everybody is now in a position
where they can actually seriously consider moving to an EV. Again, trying out from a sales point of
view, because we're a sales training company, I'm sorry I can't help doing this, but what we're
doing at the moment is just using simple technology, Claude and AI with all the sales people, when
customers saying it's my first EV I'm not sure, yes there's so many fuel consumption calculators
out there and savings, but all you need to do is speak to AI, Claude if you want, I love a
Claude I think it's better than chat GPT, hit the little microphone button, you can do this in
front of a customer and say I'm driving a BMW 440i doing 25,000 miles a year, okay I'm thinking
about going to an AX2, whatever it is, okay can you tell me what am I likely to save every month
in fuel costs alone, but again the AI will go and find out the average price of electricity
per kilowatt, the average price of fuel there and in front of a customer, so the independence
listen to this, it's just such a great sales tool, just to let people know that yeah you might want
to spend a little bit more on an EV, but actually look what you're saving every month in fuel,
especially with the Strait of Humas, which I've never heard of three months ago, I still can't
pronounce it correctly, but that's got to help as well isn't it with the resurgence, is it a
resurgency in or has the prices just got to a point that they make real good sense?
I think so yeah as Mark said you know they work historically expensive right, so more Chinese,
more price you know appealing vehicles coming to the market, more second-hand vehicles on the
market, I mean look personally you couldn't sell me one regardless of how good a salesman you are
because I'm not into EVs but that's because I like ice engines you know sorry polar bears and everything
but I feel running through your blade, yeah I just well you know I like the style, I like dials
and I don't want to be sitting in a square box with a screen in front of me because that but that's
totally my own opinion and there will always be people that like you know there'll be people
that like ice cars and there'll be people that like electric cars and more people will start to
move over to electric cars definitely as you say they get cheaper they get more reliable or people
perceive that they're more reliable and you know all the things that we're learning now.
Well I just want to talk about the residual value of these cars, this comes from the
Financial Times okay if you look a car that's three years old okay an EV car is actually
retaining 38% of its original list price. A petrol car is retaining 45% of its original list price
and a plug in hybrid is retaining 51% the highest. So I suppose from that data the
used electric vehicles are still depreciating quite a lot but is that just because the newer
models are coming out is the the ranges are getting better and better all the time which
again this is the UK it's not America it's not Canada it's not Australia it's a small island right
there's there's not too many places you couldn't get to without charging on a day-to-day journey
okay and but is that reflecting that I don't want to get your views maybe Darren this is one for
you looking at day in day out these figures here is it because the newer EV vehicles come
along and BYT at the moment has just launched a new car what's their slogan they can ready to go
in five fully charged in nine or something like that that's quick Darren is that going to have an
effect on my car that's just 18 months old that's not going to be fully charged in nine minutes
it's going to be fully charged in two hours well I think firstly that the stats there that
no one buys a car off a percentage of your list for a start so that that's sort of 38%
51% is is almost irrelevant really and they're looking at the list price a lot of list no one
buys a car off list price at the moment anyway you're buying it off a monthly payment or you're
you're buying a discounted car the new brands that have come in over the last
couple of three years they have hugely changed the landscape they were working in
EVs used to be expensive as a list price now they're not anymore not and the legacy brands
they've reduced their prices so that 38% I would imagine is based off cars that were more expensive
a few years ago what we have to the three years ago they were weren't they let's just have a look
at what's happened across the board yeah yeah so what what you have to look at is a petrol car
and a similar EV they'll have to have some sort of hierarchy there people won't go and pay
two or three grand more than a petrol car for an EV if it's the same size and does the same sort
of job for them they'll look at almost like parity with those so that's what you need to look at is
whether those cars are comparable with each other whether a I don't know a golf and an e-golf
they have to have a hierarchy that the e-golf has got a lower range than the petrol car so
that's what what they need to look at I wouldn't be concerned that EVs are depreciating quicker
they are just having to having to fight with petrol cars in the used car market and be it's
be similarly priced for a consumer to to consider them when you ask the question about tech yes
tech is improving all the time you could you could almost argue that the tech is almost over
engineering them now you're getting a car it's like getting in a spaceship especially some of my age
trying to work out what's going on give me a button back please just give me the buttons
absolutely yeah yeah I don't want to say it but everybody likes a knob don't they but
something something you can turn so sorry I just got a jump in there sorry I know you work with
oj okay chinese brand and they're they've done brilliant okay was it j7 was number one selling
new car in march i think it was four percent market share great great car but even when i have
to adjust the mirrors through the screen it's just like no give me a knob because yes everyone
loves a knob as you said there it's just surely they're gonna come back now aren't they
I think i think they consider obviously what the consumers want and yeah if you want to turn
the radio up you want to twist something probably don't you well i certainly do but yes who knows
whether that's where that's going to end up but what i guess the point is that on an older
tech vehicle even a Nissan LEAF people still buy an old Nissan LEAF a 10 or 15 year old Nissan
LEAF though the only ones in the market so if you if you've only got a few grand to spend you can
still get an EV and the batteries are great on them still and those those EVs those Nissan's you've
got them out there you've got Teslas that have done 160 000 miles and they're still running you
those sorts of stats are out there so um the tech is improving all the time but that doesn't
mean that people won't still want to buy an older one with with less tech might be a bit more simple
to use might be a second car might be a little run around or something like that it works yeah okay
and on the show we had Oli who is developing and working with the IMDA as well
talking about how very quickly and easy a dealer can test the health of a battery and i know that
and Umash he'll be listening to this he always does last time i interviewed him he was still
reticent to get involved with the used EV market okay because of what if i buy the car with the
batteries not right and there's lots of ways you can test it nowadays very quickly and cheaply but
in the real world the electric battery markets got eight year warranty on right okay are they
degrading as as bad as some people might be nervous about i think so i think the
the research that's being done shows that you know for a three-year-old electric vehicle for example
the degradation in the battery is minimal so somebody buying and driving a three-year-old EV
and probably quite a lot older would really not notice the difference the certainly isn't the
degradation that people were expecting in them five years ago and you know you weren't going to be
able to drive very far on them if they were that old and there'd be that much degradation that's
just not happened in your views and this is probably for the three of you i've got a view because
in i have to tell you it's i've reviewed give me horizontally opposed air-cooled six i would
love that all day long okay electric vehicle but hey maybe i'm a dinosaur okay i'm 52 years old now
okay the younger generation coming in if the EV mandates i think it's no way at the moment
the new car market they sold zero ice vehicles everything was electric i don't know how much that
is legislation i'm guessing it was a lot push that they're definitely taking them on board more
so the question is and this is for all of you is an electric vehicle going to become like a mobile
phone and what i mean by that is how quickly does a mobile phone seem quite old now because there was
a time there where the iphone three and then five and then said i mean it's up to iphone
probably 368 now okay but they keep on changing all the time because the technology changes quick
therefore the old iphone is almost worthless do you find a 10 or 15 year old EV vehicle is it
going to be worthless is it something a dealer should worry about i don't think a dealership would
worry about it particularly because they will either buy an EV or not and if they buy it they'll
know what they're buying and they will turn it fairly quickly so it'll be in and out it's more
a consumer concern in terms if i buy this car what's it going to be worth in two three years time if
it's quite an old EV already but as as we've alluded to earlier in the in the discussion
there's there's probably going to be a market for older EVs where people then they will know
what they're going to be getting but they prepare to buy them because they don't want to spend as
much as they would on a newer one so i think you know you look at various resale markets for
mobile phones people can still buy the iphone eight the iphone eight and they still do and i think
the the EV market will go the same way i was just driving out are they going to continue to devalue
quicker than what the ice vehicles were in the past and will that affect residual values
Darren for people shaking his head at me there the thing is with um with a an electric vehicle
it's got a big lump of metal in it called the battery and that battery will probably outlive
the rest of the car so you could argue that an EV has got sort of floor value say of um of an
ice vehicle that's got is scrap yeah that's it's worth the metal that's in its scrap whereas
an EV will still have a battery that could potentially be have a secondary use so ignoring
the fact that it's a car it's still got a battery in there that the in future will be used for other
things so i wouldn't worry too much about the the depreciation of them and them dropping down to
almost zero because i don't think that will happen and i think they're always going to be worth
something even if the rest of the car is falling apart they will still have that battery as
we've said it will still have use it will still have a value based off the fact that people want to
buy it and as long as it's drivable we'll still use it and the difference between a battery and a
car and a battery and an iPhone is that they don't degrade anywhere near as much iPhone batteries
if you charge it up all the time all night every night and by the time you've got you've finished
your car on track it's not as good cars online they're different batteries there's different
tech i'm not going to get into all of the chemical side of things but they are they are different
and the i know you're talking about ollie from generational it's great yeah yeah they they have
a very important role to play especially at the moment and there are other companies that are
measuring battery health it's to give the consumer peace of mind my view is going forward battery
health will not be an issue but initially when you're buying your EV it is and you want to have
that peace of mind but as i think my heart said i've got eight year warranties and
that type of thing but they they don't degrade like an iPhone does and the tech will potentially be
less than in the new ones but it would still be good tech and it would still be useful and people
will just want it because it's a car and it will have a floor value at the end of it as well
isn't it great for what we do as dealers and this is what you help dealers the overall trend
who really cares if you're selling the car within 30 days that's what you want right
okay and there's the trends going up or down it doesn't matter i suppose the reason why i'm
harping on this i i just know for the independence they need to get involved with that market and
there's still some out there scared and reticent about it and maybe they've been caught years ago
but i suppose what you're doing you can actually see exactly how long that car is taken to selling
the marketplace okay what's the price of them and it's um you've got that data that information to
make the decision there and then the other the other thing away from EVs is that we see
estate selling quicker now because there's fear of them in the market we see saloon selling
quicker now because every car is an SUV that gets built now that gets sold over two sides of the
market is SUVs yeah so a small course or a small fiesta um as long as at certain age and certain
mortgages and things like that they sell well so those I mean could you describe them as niche
not really but you know what you're saying yeah it's a small hatchback small petrol hatchback
sells fast and that's what our dates will show and estate will sell quickly and if you want an
estate as a consumer you've got to pay the price so dealers can buy them and put the prices up those
sorts of things within our data it's not all about EVs EVs are obviously important
deputarian but the bread and butter stuff still there's some real opportunities with different
body styles and engine sizes and your first car is still still going to likely to be a course or
a fiesta or a clear note or something like that so um this is for all of you what's some best
practices now now I'm a sales manager listen to this okay yes I know I'm used cars I need to
get sold I need to get money back in the bank okay what's some of the daily weekly monthly
disciplines you'd recommend and and how can your system help for me to look at this okay um so
that's a question for all of you what some of the daily disciplines there we'd look at
Mike maybe I can start with you on this so I think one of the key things is to know your market
and know what's going on in your market so if you've got a load of vehicles in stock you need to know
what's happening around you with those vehicles and using the Cazana solution and the Cazana data
it will automate a lot of that for you so you you can see what we would call an exceptions report
where the market is moved and you need to pick up those top six of your hundred vehicles or 50
vehicles in stock and do something with those based on what we're telling you in the market
so I think I think it's just being on top of your stock and using a system that will allow you to
manage the ones that are at risk to you and leave the others to later on in the day or later on in the
week yeah it reminds me of uh umesh he wants everything to be in the red can you just relay
that story and sorry umesh we're picking on you again but we just I just love the way that you
think about this it's not a race to the bottom it really is people still buy people okay do you
want to realize that's true we talked about before we hit record mark yeah so so from umesh's
perspective he he will look on um auto trader or look at the Cazana data and he will be comparing
his stock to the market prices that are produced by the systems and effectively he doesn't want
a race to the bottom he believes because of the service that he provides his customers
because of the quality of the prep work that he does on his vehicles he his view is that they
uh attract a premium so he's looking to price his vehicles right at the top of the pricing bracket
in terms of what you see in the market so I think there are dealers out there and they will have a
strategy in terms of where they want to appear in in the the listings and some will some will
make the decision we're going to be right at the top some want to be slightly below the the likes
of oomish and some will say we want to pile them out and sell them cheap and they will look to be
towards the bottom of that so it's not only just having the data it's having a strategy
around the data and implementing that and keeping on top of that that I think is so important
yeah you write about the data when it comes to the sales process I'm going to be old-fashioned
now but people still buy people okay it's still when that inquiry comes through how quickly it's
dealt with how a sales person gets the video to the customer straightaway how they get a bomb
in a seat how old-fashioned is this Ian but bombs and seats still sell cars they still raise
desire there and it's so don't take the wrong I love the idea of the day there to help me make
that decision the right decision but I suppose it's having the ability to say no I have price
this car right I know where it is in the marketplace this is fair value and that people buy from
people isn't just between dealer and customer it's also dealer and partner and data supply so you
know we're here we're easy to talk to that's the way we approach the you know that's how we will
approach the dealers that will be part of the kazara 500 and it's how we work with all our
existing dealers and partners that we've been working with for the last 18 months in the sector people
do like to to buy off people but they you know people need to you know be quick to respond always
open to have a conversation and listen to issues if issues arise yeah but but again having the data
to back it up not that gut feel that's what I just love what you guys are doing and it just makes
makes so much sense there so if I suppose this is probably Mark and Darren for this one if you're
sitting with a dealer board tomorrow what three data points would you want to talk to about these
people before they start talking about reprising cars or anything that are there three data points
you'd really want to focus in on who wants to take that mark Darren do you want to take that
I'll jump in there first off and I think if we're going in to see a dealer's board for the first
time we would want to know what stock they've got by model the valuation movements for those
vehicles and their stock turn at the moment so that we can gauge what they're doing how good
they are compared to their peers and then we can then tailor the solution that they want
by providing them such things as the volume of local stock to them or you know we can see what
the valuation movements have been over the last few months for the vehicles that they've got
and then there's also the click through data so that we can identify that the vehicles they've got
the consumers are actually interested in and then really it's a partnership in terms of moving
forward and helping them address the issues that they've got and finding out what's important
to them in terms of you know what markers they put in place to make sure that they're
adhering to their strategy for stock turn and things like that good advice Darren do you want
to add anything to that? Mark's pretty much covered it but I think obviously you want to
you've got the due diligence on service history on provenance on but I think looking at your local
area that our tool that's our companion tool it's there for them just to look at it they don't
need to talk to us about it you don't need to go in and see at board level they can see the
values of theirs cars versus the value of all of the cars in the market however we've talked about
regionality and all that sort of stuff that's all there for them if they want to talk to us we're
here to see Ian's point about people buying off people but the information is a website they'll
go on to a website they'll put a registration number in they'll put the mileage in and they'll
see how much that car is worth a market a market figure on how quickly that car is going to sell
and all of the history around that car with its past its MITs whether it's got advisories on it
and what's what's happened with its history and in the local area so there's a lot of data there but
there's also if they only want to use one bit of that data look at the price of that car and we give
a figure a guide figure for independence for supermarkets and for franchise dealers use it as a guide
gut feel is great use your gut feel but we've given data to help them with that gut feel as well
and if you are on a board of a big group we we also have data that will show
whether lookers are pricing similarly to Arnold Clark and similar to Vertu and things like that
we've got so much data that we almost don't know what to do with it there's so much there we just
want to speak to people but it can be very simple oh it can be a bit more complicated
Ian just the quality of your data am I right in thinking that you're dealing with insurance
companies now because every year there's so many complaints people get about the price they're given
because insurance companies have just gone from a trade value customers are complaining and
you're actually getting involved with more and more insurance companies now is it right in saying
eight of the top 10 insurance companies will come to you guys to get exactly what a car is selling
from the marketplace have I got that right yeah I mean when Percayso when we purchased
Cazana from Cazoo what we put it into insurance because you know that's Percayso's sector is
insurance so yeah we deal with you know eight the tops and largest insurers provide them vehicle
data for you know write-offs write-off valuations and things like that the historical valuations
of vehicles the financial ombudsman uses as probably as this primary source I would say to double check
vehicle valuations I mean looking sure as they've been pulled over the coals over the last couple of
years you know three years probably with the valuations they were giving to people at write-off
right and we're all aware of that so they now need to be very realistic with the with those
with those values so that's where Percayso originally started to use this data set it was as I say a
couple of years ago when I introduced ourselves to Mark and more recently Darren that we've we've
gone into the automotive sector because now we're dealing with you know leasing finance some some
really large customers other than avenues yeah yeah so listen I've really enjoyed this okay use
cars close my heart because I just think you got to use car department working in a car dealership
it flows on to everything else uh successful dealers they know how to retail use cars okay and
of course buy it right it's almost sold before you buy it right and that's where I just love
what you guys are doing don't don't worry about the problem once you've got it buy it right this
is very wrong but my very first boss said if you buy the cars right you can have monkeys selling
the cars okay that's not the issue it's buying it right there and that's why I've always loved
the idea of tracking it looking at the individual return on investment on each use car tracking
this top turn all the time and daily checking it and that was bloody hard work to do you guys
you have just just access that straight away so Ian if I'm a dealer here how do I reach out
to you to be one of these 500 club members the first 500 because I love the idea of this data
how do I get hold of this okay well as I said it will be for IMDA members initially so we're going
to offer that through their usual route of promotion which within a couple of weeks they'll all get
emails and you know they'll be able to look at videos and also take a trial of the platform
for seven days free trial the beauty of all of this is you know we get we we're basically giving the
first 500 members access to our platform for a hundred pounds a month wow so 200 pounds a month
yeah and that's fixed for two years so they haven't got to worry about price increases they can use
all the data they can see what it does for them and it's a bit of a no brainer but we want to get
this as I say core of dealers that we can talk to directly we can help launch new products and
services with them and you know it gives us the opportunity to build a relationship and to see how
things are going in the market directly for as you probably you know I think you'd probably agree
not too much money yeah yeah no again the gut feel is that it's not even the price of an old
super guard or something like that a month okay I thought it at least me the price of a
super guard but but a hundred a month it's like why wouldn't you have a go at that
can they look like what are you paying we know the dealers have you know are using other
companies or and you know they may not have heard of us so just put put us in with those
have a look at the unique data that we've got and have a comparison and you know let's not make
expensive let's just give get get it out there and let people see the benefits themselves
guys listen thank you very much that it's um as I said before I love the motor trade
you guys come from a tech point of view okay and also you got mark and again love the motor
trade and pricing they are it's as I said it's the use car department it's get that right in the
dealership every other part of the dealership so much easier so I've really enjoyed that today
and look forward to working with you guys not just over the next 12 months but going forward as well
so thank you very much all for your time I really appreciate it thanks so I thank you so much
we look forward to seeing how we progress and let's get some dealers on one so use the platform
and tell us what they think about it that's the real proof that put it on great to have some case
studies here that sounds absolutely brilliant excellent thank you that just leaves me to say
that all details of this episode and other episodes on the selling in the motor trade can be found on
our website Symcotraining.co.uk go there to get a copy of our book words that sell cars go there to sign
up to a free trial of our sales fitness online sales training program easiest way to get hold of
me is Simon Bowkett through LinkedIn thank you