New digital car showrooms
THE use of digital platforms during the series of COVID lockdowns has and is providing an important shop window for people to buy a new or a used car.
The SIMI’s Director General Brian Cooke, says that with vehicle manufacturers and retailers offering generous incentives to buy a new ‘211’ car, the industry is hopeful that activity will pick up in the coming months, spurred by online activity.
The latest COVID restrictions have dented hopes of any significant early boost in sales, but once things return to relative normality, there is little doubt that the market will start moving again.
Barry Devereux, the Marketing Manager of Audi Wexford, said that while digital services had made it a lot easier for people to do their research online, it will take time for Irish people to change their car buying habits ‘because Irish people like to view the article, test drive and negotiate price in person, ‘it’s in their nature’. ‘People are doing all their research online which is wonderful and when they come in, they know what they want, they are very, very informed, but I don’t see people going out and buying a car for 30k online that they haven’t driven,’ he said.
Despite low sales volumes because of the pandemic, Mr Devereux said it was not all doom and gloom.
‘People are buying, Levels are significantly down, but enquiries are coming in,’ he said.
And with showrooms closed for the rest of the month, the only way to buy a new car is online.
‘The vast majority of dealers are e-capable and have invested significantly in e-commerce over the past few years. How it works is a personalised presentation is sent to you phone, you can then reserve it and put down a deposit.’
Head of Ford Ireland John Manning said the new COVID restrictions will curtail the normal business activities of car dealers across the country for at least the first four weeks of January and perhaps, for even longer into February, however, he hoped the market would return to buoyancy by then.
‘It will be really tough on our business, as new car sales will now be much lower than what they would be for a ‘normal’ January, we will be limited to providing new vehicles to customers within the guidelines of ‘click and collect’ services that both our dealers and other dealer brands will be providing. However, these are necessary steps and we fully support the restrictions as the number one priority is to protect people from the spread of the virus.
‘Everyone needs to get on board and obey the tier 5 restrictions, as this is the only way that we can drive down new cases of the virus and keep our communities safe in the short term.
The more people that fully comply, the sooner we will be able to see businesses opening up again.
‘As we have seen over the past year, our economy and indeed, the car sales sector, is resilient and can rebound from the restrictions but it requires all of us to play our part. My hope is that February can be as buoyant as a ‘traditional’ January in the new car sector if the conditions are such that businesses can reopen at the end of January.
‘With this in mind, we would request of the government that the current VAT reduction be extended to the end of March. In this very tough environment, we need all the help we can get to boost vehicle sales and the continuation of the VAT reduction would be a great asset in this regard.’
If you are considering buying a new car, look on the next few weeks as an opportunity to refine you choices, ready for when the new normal is a thing of the past.