How are you approaching the September plate-change?

The September plate-change ushers in the second biggest sales month of the year and a welcome opportunity for franchised car retailers to engage with customers in showrooms and online.

New car registrations for the month are on an upward trajectory, with the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders reporting a 21% jump last September to over 272,600 units, a welcome surge but still a long way short of pre-Covid volumes.

The debut of the 74-plate comes at a challenging time for the car retailing sector. Although new car registrations have been growing month-on-month for the last two years, we know this has been driven by the fleet sector with retail sales under pressure as consumers grapple with a challenging economic backdrop.

However, one thing’s for certain. Car retailers will be doing everything within their power to create a buzz around the new plate with attractive finance deals and added value offers to attract retail customers into showrooms.

Traditionally the plate-change also gives retailers a chance to maximise on opportunities to drive profitability into the last month of Q3, leaving them in a good place to finish the year as strongly as possible.

The importance of part exchanges

A key determining factor for all franchised retailers in September will be their approach to the influx of part exchanges from customers ready to trade-in old for new.

However, this plate-change could bring two industry trends into play: an increase in older used cars and customers expecting to spend more of their buying journey online.

Firstly, the near collapse of new vehicle sales during the pandemic, led to replacement cycles being extended as retail owners and fleets held on to cars for longer.

Shoreham Vehicle Auctions (SVA) recently highlighted it is seeing an influx of older part exchanges in the market, requiring more expensive repair work to get them forecourt ready.

In this scenario more thorough and accurate valuations are crucial. While there is undoubtedly a market for older used cars, margins should not be wiped out by repair costs.

Secondly, research by iVendi highlighted the growing value customers place on being able to get online valuations for their cars from retailers.

It found over half (56%) said they were unable to carry out an online part exchange valuation and that over a quarter (28%) of those went no further with their purchase because of that.

Part exchanges present an unrivalled opportunity to engage with car buyers online, while also sourcing desirable stock for the used car forecourt, an important consideration for Q4 planning.

It’s a win-win and we have just the solution to ensure your part exchange strategy takes advantage of these changing market conditions and consumer trends.

Remote, accurate vehicle appraisal

Our solution to the many challenges presented by part exchanges, from condition to pricing, is CitNOW Appraise.

This powerful tool enables you to increase conversions and retain more customers during their purchase journey, by delivering fast, accurate and competitive vehicle appraisals through a simple, seamless digital process.

We’ve digitised the remote vehicle appraisal experience, which has delivered time savings for customers and retailers, resulting in fast, accurate and competitive part exchange valuations.

This appraisal tool, conveniently accessed through a browser, simplifies the part exchange process and helps retailers to grow their used vehicle stock inventory.

With no account creation or app download required, your customers can simply submit video footage and photos online which you can review remotely – saving you time and money.

You can then provide fast, accurate, no hassle, first time valuations, avoiding the need for any awkward customer conversations.

We know this service resonates with customers but don’t take our word for it. This is what Martin Rowley, General Sales Manager of Porsche High Wycombe had to say about how his business has benefitted from CitNOW Appraise.

“Conversion rates based on customers using the tool themselves is well over 60%. It is a great tool – our clients trust us at the early stage of our communication.

“It helps build our customer confidence about our own processes and the high standards we hold when preparing our own vehicles,” he said.

Engaging customers early on

Our most recent showroom analysis of new car sales data identified a year-on-year drop in enquiries and orders, a worrying trend which, with the challenges currently facing the retail market, could persist into the September plate-change.

All the more reason to ensure you have the best possible digital assets on your website, as these will increase the number of views and enquiries for new cars as well increase conversion.

CitNOW Imaging addresses the main challenges associated with the creation and deployment of digital vehicle assets: quality, time to web and cost.

This powerful app-based tool empowers retailers to create consistent, professional-grade imagery and video.

With its AI-powered quality control and real-time guidance on image-taking, it helps retailers adhere to OEM and group standards, while stock feed integrations and APIs allow you to leverage content seamlessly into quick, consistent, online listings.

With CitNOW Imaging, retailers can capture and deliver high quality, consistent images – super fast, as well as attract potential buyers with fully automated, engaging dynamic video content which is complimented with live vehicle data.

The result is a reduction in the amount of unadvertised stock and days in stock, decreased time to web and showroom sales teams benefit from a more efficient overall solution to marketing new cars

Discover more about how CitNOW Appraise can supercharge your part exchange process and how CitNOW Imaging can deliver speed to web for your new car stock.