No barrier to business with upmarket van showroom
Representing Fiat vans - a new franchise for the company - and LDV, and with a Ford parts, service, and Rapid Fit agency, its newly opened £3m LCV centre in Millbrook, Southampton, boasts a spotless, spacious and well-lit showroom that would not disgrace an upmarket car dealership.Service and parts department staff sit behind conventional office desks along with the sales people rather than behind an old-fashioned counter. So far as Adams Morey managing director Steve Mercer is concerned a counter is a barrier between dealers and customers; and that is bad for business.While vans have not been traditionally sold out of showrooms, he believes that creating an attractive environment should tempt in owners of small businesses and self-employed trades people."They all own cars, they've all been to car dealerships and I don't see why we should expect them to buy a van from a lesser facility," he said."We're doing all the usual things in terms of advertising, mail shots and telephone calls and we're going out to see customers as well."Best-known as a Daf heavy truck dealer, Adams Morey is expanding its presence in the van sector by taking on Fiat at its Daf and LDV outlets in Portsmouth and Bournemouth. Aftermarket supportRealising that car dealers are not always effective at providing the level of aftermarket support van owners require, Fiat has already awarded its light commercial franchise to a number of heavy truck dealers representing Iveco, its sister company. Twenty sales and 25 aftersales outlets are likely to have benefited by the end of the year.Adding Adams Morey to its network is an extension of this policy.But why did Mercer want to include Fiat in his portfolio?"We're still committed to LDV - we've created more of a presence for it in Southampton with the new facility - but we felt we needed an extra franchise with a wider range," he said. A chassis cab version of LDV's Maxus van has yet to appear, he pointed out, and an additional model to replace the defunct Pilot is still some way away."Fiat's market share in our locality has been small - only 180 or thereabouts of its vans were registered in our entire area last year - so it's ours to grow. We're convinced we can increase it on the back of our reputation for good aftersales service."What's more, we like the way in which Fiat runs its van activities as a separate business unit."Fiat is rejuvenating its light commercial line-up, with a revamped Doblo Cargo launched in 2005, a new Ducato introduced this year and Scudo's successor due to go on sale in 2007. The arrival of so much new product gives the franchise more appeal.A former Peugeot dealership on a two-acre plot with a long frontage, close to a main road, the Millbrook site was facelifted by the previous owners six years ago, said Mercer. "They spent a considerable amount of money on it," he said. "It's difficult to find suitable premises in Southampton. We looked at a number of locations but none had sufficient yard space. Millbrook, however, has over an acre."Adams Morey sold around 300 LDVs from Redbridge last year."Future annual sales will depend on what LDV does with its range," said Mercer. "We should be able to equal if not better that figure."It hopes to sell 150 to160 Fiats in 2007 from Millbrook alone. "It's likely that we'll add van rental to our portfolio and we're in the throes of becoming a Vauxhall service dealer there too," he said.Ford and Vauxhall are the number one and number two players respectively in the van market, so both marques tend to be heavily represented in used light commercial displays. Hanging out their signs means the dealership will be able to offer second-hand buyers a high standard of aftermarket support, said Mercer.The group sells half as many used vans as it does new and he wants used sales to rise."What we're trying to offer is a cradle-to-grave service," he said. "We'll take the customer's old van back in part-exchange regardless of what it is. If it's on contract hire we'll put it into a condition acceptable to the lessor prior to its return." So the operator is unlikely to be hit by high refurbishment costs. Opening hoursTruck dealerships open early and close late and Adams Morey has transferred that culture to the new site. Hauliers are used to having their vehicles serviced out-of-hours, and Mercer is offering that facility to van owners too."Our service and parts opening hours are 7am to 10pm five days a week, and 7am to 2pm on Saturdays," he said. "We've got 16 technicians, 16 workshop bays and a Class 4, 5 and 7 MoT bay. We'll be putting another MoT bay in, plus five further bays."Because of Adams Morey's truck background, Mercer believes the dealership has an advantage when talking to customers about specialist conversions; tippers, dropsides and so on. "We've got the facilities and ability to assemble, for example, Luton bodi