Dealers are continuing to increase penetration in used car warranties recognising the need to both sell more warranties and upsell the level of cover during the recession.
Clive Sutton’s Motorati website, which acts as an online matchmaker between consumers and dealers, has signed a deal with Auto Trader to introduce its uses to the website.
The Automotive Council, co-chaired by Lord Mandelson and Professor Richard Parry-Jones CBE, met for the first time today to discuss the future of the automotive industry.
Bill Parfitt has postponed his retirement from GM UK and will stay on as chairman to support Duncan Aldred’s recent appointment as Vauxhall managing director.
Renault has welcomed Alistair Darling’s Pre-Budget Report in relation to the exemption of company car tax for electric vehicles from April 2010 for five years.
The Bank of England has kept interest rates at 0.5%.
A car dealer jailed last week for contempt of court orders arising from a judgment obtained by the Revenue over €10 million in unpaid taxes has been freed after promising to provide information on his assets to the Revenue.
The RMIF has welcomed several measures in the Pre-Budget Report however said it is "disappointed" with inaction to extend scrappage and defer the first year VED tax.
Alistair Darling has confirmed in his Pre-Budget Report that the rate of VAT will return to 17.5% from 15%.
Mazda UK has launched a new accident aftercare service to help retain customers to its authorised repairer network.
Volkswagen is to buy a 20% stake in Suzuki Motor for 222.5 billion yen (£1.5bn).
Black Horse Motor Finance has been Specialist Automotive Finance (SAF) approved after completing its competency test.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has revealed that high street sales grew by just 1.8% in November showing little growth in consumer activity in the lead up to Christmas.
Chris Newitt will take over as Skoda UK’s new head of marketing on February 1, 2010 following Mary Newcombes appointment as Volkswagen Group UK’s head of learning services.
Hodgson Toyota in Gateshead is trialling a new ‘eco scheme’ in partnership with Search2Drive which will offer driver training to maximise efficiency behind the wheel.
Perrys has announced it will offer the new Mazda3 as part of its driving school programme in addition to giving driving instructors access to low-rate finance.
Ling Valentine, car leasing entrepreneur behind lingscars.com, has won Natwest’s Everywoman award IT and Communications.
Murketts has opened a Vauxhall dealership in Huntingdon.
Nick Reilly, who was named as president of GM Europe last Friday, says the plan to restructure Vauxhall and Opel is almost finished.
An independent motor trader committed fraud and sold counterfeit porn DVDs while running a used car lot in Hull.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders has called on the Government to keep fiscal pressure and regulatory burden off automotive businesses to help the industry sustain a recovery.
Vertu Motors has acquired a Renault and Seat dealership in Darlington through the purchase of the entire share capital of Typocar Ltd, trading as David Penman Cars.
Ford’s new Fiesta Van Econetic has gone on sale priced from £11,635 with emissions at 98g/km of carbon dioxide, returning up to 76.3mpg.
China has revealed that its new car sales exceeded 12 million units from January to November.
The owner of Godstone Cars has been jailed for selling cars with bogus warranties and falsified mileages.
Van registrations are starting to stabilise with units down by 0.7% to 15,164 in November.
New car registrations were up by 57.6% to 158,082 units in November compared to a weak 2008, but the figures are in line with 2007 volumes.
Auctioneer Aston Barclay Group has successfully completed the rebrand of its three auction sites with a view to increasing market share in the remarketing sector.
A Surrey used car salesman sold vehicles with faulty mileage and worthless warranties to unsuspecting customers, a county court heard.
