By Mike Macaulay, Head of Corporate Sales, AutoProtect
Can you highlight key trends and developments when it comes to GAP sales? Does anything stick out?
To a certain extent there is a natural link between car sales volume and GAP/RTI sales. However, the key trend that dealers must recognise is the one between a dealer who is fully committed to the value of GAP/RTI and those where it is simply important or a ‘nice to have’.
For us, commitment is not pushing the products to every customer, but rather in ensuring every person in the dealer’s distribution chain understands the details of the product, especially the breadth of cover on offer and how that compares to others and how to promote it with integrity and in a manner that builds value for the customer.
Commitment for us is centred around the ‘400% rule’; Present 100% of products to 100% of customers, 100% of the time and 100% compliantly.
Buying into and seeing this ethos through makes a difference to the dealer in sales, service and reputation terms.
In late 2017 MT reported that some GAP products did not include Finance Deposit Allowances or scrappage incentives on offer by carmakers? What’s your take on this?
When we highlighted these issues, we were surprised and disappointed, but at the same time reassured that our products covered both of these areas. What it highlights is that dealers need to scrutinise the products that they are promoting; it is very clear, all GAP/RTI products are not the same. Choosing a lower specification product may bring with it future claim and reputational risks.
A year on, I am doing an update on online sales. Are you seeing more competition from online GAP suppliers?
Certainly, regulation has given consumers the opportunity to assess online options, but it seems few take up the option. We encourage dealers to provide a full overview of the product scope, having confirmed the level of cover provided; it appears this transparency helps sales and provides a level of reassurance that customers value in the POS experience.
I have asked Dealerweb to look at GAP sales volumes over the past year. What is your experience?
Our sales of GAP and RTI have both grown in terms of policy sales and penetration.
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