Making a commercial difference

The strong performance of commercial vehicles has continued unabated throughout the first half of 2011 with low de-fleet numbers keeping prices correspondingly high. This has been accompanied by a distinct flight to quality, with the emphasis now firmly on condition and presentation over mileage.
“High quality, well presented vehicles have been out-performing book values significantly and we see no reason to believe that this won’t continue,” said grs Commercial Specialist David Fildes.
“Condition and preparation are two keys to achieving strong returns and are definitely more important than the distance a vehicle has covered. On the other hand, poorly presented or poor quality vehicles are consistently selling for a lower percentage of book value. Without doubt, today’s market is all about quality, more so than ever before”.
Car-derived and medium sized vans such as the Ford Transit and the Vauxhall Vivaro are proving particularly popular, and grs has noted another interesting trend in 2011 – a strong growth in demand for different colour and higher spec vehicles boasting features such as air conditioning and parking sensors.
While seasonality may account for the importance of features such as air conditioning as buyers look for additional comfort during the hot summer months, this doesn’t explain the growing demand for different colours.
Ben Harvey, Commercial Vehicle Team Leader explains: “At first sight, this may seem hard to explain. However, vans can be quite an emotional purchase and for a small business they can also be a valuable shop window. When money is tight businesses may not be spending so much money on traditional advertising, but they do appear to be investing in the appearance of their vehicles, which can say a lot about a business to potential customers, as well as acting as a permanent mobile advert.”
Continued Ben: “That’s why good presentation is so important in today’s market, along with anything that helps a vehicle to stand out from the crowd, such as a different colour and metallic paint too. Add to that some professional sign-writing and businesses have a really valuable opportunity to advertise their business on the move”.
With this in mind, commercial vehicles – especially those with some additional bells and whistles – should be borne in mind by retailers, to help make their forecourt stand out and to tempt customers through the door.
The number of commercial vehicles sold by grs has risen ten-fold over the past five years, with more than 2,000 sold last year alone. This year has started strongly too, as more and more retailers realise the opportunities they can present.
Retailers looking to dip a toe into this market can call on the expertise of the grs team who are always on hand to talk them through the process and provide advice on the most popular vehicles and specification at any given moment.
“The shortage of high quality, well presented commercial vehicles makes them a terrific profit opportunity. Retailers who haven’t traditionally focused on this area might want to consider putting one on the forecourt to test the market and wet the appetite of customers,” said Ben.
“Retailers can treat grs stock as their own, offering their own customers access to the entire grs database online, making it entirely risk-free for them. And we don’t charge retailers a penny for buying from us – the price they agree is the price they pay for the vehicle.
“We really do make buying trade vehicles as easy as possible”.