Close Brothers Motor Finance (CBMF) has partnered with Auto Trader to launch an industry-first data tool to give dealers invaluable insight into consumer demand in the marketplace.
The tool will be powered by Auto Trader and delivered by Close Brothers Motor Finance and will collect and analyse dealers’ forecourt statistics to allow dealers to manage their forecourts more successfully and achieve their own objectives.
Auto Trader’s best in class automotive data, and Close Brothers Motor Finance’s in-depth, award-winning knowledge of dealer partners have combined to create a powerful insight tool which aims to aid better understanding of regional trends, stock inefficiencies and consumer behaviour. This knowledge combines to enable dealer businesses to unlock their full potential for buying and selling vehicles.
The partnership marks an industry first, with CBMF becoming the only finance provider to surface this scale of data and intelligence for its customers. At a time when the retail market is moving so quickly, with changing consumer preferences, accelerating levels of demand, ongoing supply constraints and rocketing price growth, the tool is designed to provide dealers with the insights necessary to quickly adapt their stocking and pricing strategies to better reflect market conditions.
This tool will be available to CBMF’s funded dealer partners, and will be accessible through every dealer’s Account Manager, who will facilitate analysis and compile the key points to create a bespoke dashboard. The dashboards will simplify the vast amount of data available to create digestible but important take-away knowledge which is specific to an individual dealer’s business goals, enabling them to manage their forecourt more effectively.
Funded dealer partners who don’t have access to an Auto Trader account will still benefit from an enhanced dealer funding dashboard using data from CBMF partner APAK, helping them to better utilise their stocking facility.
Seán Kemple, Managing Director of Close Brothers Motor Finance, said: “We are delighted to announce this powerful new partnership with Auto Trader. It’s rare to see a genuine industry-first and the power and depth of Auto Trader’s market leading intelligence will combine perfectly with our market knowledge and strong dealer relationships. We have always seen dealers as true business partners, and this tool enables us to even further align with and support the business objectives of those dealers, whatever those objectives might be. The intelligence provided will bring powerful data to life and help dealers make more informed decisions around managing their forecourts. Working smarter, not harder is arguably the ethos behind this partnership and product. Identifying the right data and distilling it into clear to understand actions will help dealers maximise their profitability. In an increasingly competitive market, using data to maximise opportunities and streamline business is a natural next step for our dealer partners. At a time of rapid change and increased uncertainty, it’s never been more important to understand true consumer demand and price accordingly, so such a tool will give them the edge they need.”
Nathan Coe, Auto Trader’s Chief Executive Officer, commented: “In September we saw over 65 million visits to our marketplace. This coupled with the 13,500 retailer partners that work with us, over 400,000 vehicles listed, and daily analysis of circa 900,000 vehicles across the market, enables us to generate the highest quality insight to support our customers’ businesses. Surfacing insights alongside CBMF’s intricate knowledge of their customers, will provide a powerful tool to help retailers capitalise on the opportunities in this incredibly fast-moving market.
“A retailers’ experience will always be invaluable, but we consistently see that the very best performing businesses are those that complement their expertise with data. Today we’re recording significant changes to price, supply and demand on an almost daily basis and so it’s never been more important to be up to date with these market dynamics.”
