Motor Codes managing director, Chris Mason, joined industry experts at the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders International Automotive Summit yesterday – a 250-strong gathering of the automotive industry’s most influential leaders, meeting to discuss the key issues affecting the future growth of the sector at the UK’s most high-profile industry summit.
Adding insight to debate led by speakers including Business Secretary, Vince Cable, BMW’s Dr Ian Robertson and Peter Tyroller of Bosch, Chris spoke on a panel chaired by SMMT Chief Executive, Paul Everitt, alongside Robert Forrester, Vertu Motors CEO, discussing the customer experience at car dealerships.
Following opening remarks from Paul Everitt addressing the importance of personal relationships between dealership staff and customers, Chris highlighted the value to motorists of transparency and online consumer interaction – precisely the benefits offered through the OFT-approved Motor Codes scheme.
As Chris pointed out, it’s important for the automotive retail industry as a whole to help guide consumers to the right garages and the weight of personal recommendation should not be ignored – 73% would choose a garage based on the say so of friends and family. Motor Codes collects feedback from customers of its network and shows in excess of 40,000 customer reviews of garages on its postcode-driven garage finder.
Reflecting statistics outlined earlier in the day by Google, the increasing use of search engines by motorists researching dealer services and reliance on the opinion of other customers was evident in that Motor Codes forecasts in excess of one million views of its network profile pages in the coming year – a significant business proposition and a measure of the use of online retail recommendation tools.
