Business Improvement You Can Measure

Polk is a key partner in helping improve our clients’ business operations. In the areas of remarketing and used car management, we help you build greater residual values, increase brand loyalty and achieve a higher gross profit per unit. And that is good for your sales and your bottom line.

Without exception, our services help you grow your market share; increase dealer efficiencies and business returns while reducing working capital requirements and promoting conquest business.

It’s the Measurable Benefits that Count

Our expertise speaks for itself: Since 1996, Polk used car specialists have worked with 14 manufacturers in 12 European countries to achieve:

• Increased used car sales volumes
• Used car stock reduction
• Stock rotation acceleration
• Retained gross profit per unit increase
• Improved return on investment

These performance levels have been achieved by applying our proven approach of improving used car standards and training whilst working closely with OEMs/NSCs and dealers to benchmark best practices, network-wide. We also provide key market performance information which highlights opportunities for better matching dealer stock to market demand.

Polk’s Virtual Consulting Used Car Programme

Polk has also developed the exciting concept of a “Virtual Consultant” electronic tool which is web-based and enables dealers and NSC to self-analyse their used car operations. The system is hosted by Polk and dealers can enter their monthly and annual targets, and then compare actual performance data against plan. The tool then produces Key Performance Indicators and highlights shortfalls in performance, showing a “value gap” which equates to the lost profit as a result of the shortfall. Dealers can then access other tools and procedures, and create best practice solutions to resolve their problem areas. The system is ideal for dealer groups and franchises wanting to increase market penetration.

Maximise the Use of Your Used Vehicle Working Capital

Polk’s used car market intelligence lets your dealers determine the right inventory size and mix to meet market demand and optimise the use of working capital. Now you know what to best stock and where to find the biggest potential, so you can leverage this new insight to create better-targeted marketing programmes - and move more vehicles than ever before.

Polk’s offering consists of complementary products and services, including:

• Europe’s leading used car change management programme
• Polk’s used car market intelligence
• Used car demand forecasting and stock planning

Used Vehicle Dealer Development

We can help you improve your dealer standards and achieve measurable increases in residual values and dealer network profitability - ultimately growing your customer retention and downstream profits. And when dealers increase their used car stock turn, they make more profit to invest in representing your brand professionally - and ultimately, you sell more new cars, too.

After improving the used car business of over 10,000 retailers around the world, we can confidently say we have the proven capability to build a used vehicle brand and significantly improve the used car business within a dealer network.

Our programme covers key success factors, including:

• Presentation standards
• Raising dealer standards for vehicle appraisal
• Reconditioning standards
• Showroom activity controls and sales process improvement
• Stock profiling and evaluation; over-age stock reduction and liquidation
• Marketing and advertising
• Sharing stock across the network
• Remarketing and direct marketing

Polk UsedReg , Forecasting & Stock Optimisation

Polk is committed to inspiring clients to become more effective in managing their used car business. An important development is our used car market intelligence offering, which makes it easy to improve the profitability of your used vehicle department.

UsedReg is a query based information system. It enables the analysis of European Used Registrations at the model level and by age class for 14 countries.

One of the key features of this product is a mapping component. It identifies the primary target audience with a used vehicle registration overlay by model group, to help you visualise consumer demand and market opportunities as well as seeing your sales performance against your top competitors.

Other features include information to validate your market intuitions with dealer sales data and competitive registrations to track consumer preferences and buying patterns.

What Should I Stock? How Many Cars, and What Models?

Our used car portfolio incorporates our service in analysing used vehicle sales and registrations data to create dealer-specific market reports. These provide retailers with the insight they need to buy and stock the right vehicles in the right quantities in order to ensure faster inventory turn, and increased profits.

Our reports give an enhanced understanding of the demand for used cars and competitive sales activity in the market local to the retailer - giving a strong competitive edge by answering questions including:

• How are we doing against the market opportunity and the competition?
• What models are in demand?
• What should we stock? How many, what kind, what colours?
• Where should we sell? How can we best spend the marketing budget?