Apr 19 2005 -The changing face of the UK car industry

The growth of the Internet has brought greater transparency to the UK car market, allowing information regarding pricing and availability of cars to be within easy reach of buyers. With new-found bargaining power, buyers are increasingly demanding greater discounts in response, as they try to pitch suppliers against one another to drive the price down.

A new Department of Trade and Industry award winning reverse auction marketplace has developed, allowing the consumer to dictate all the terms of their purchase when buying a new car as well as the terms on which they dispose of their used car. This shifts the balance of power from the supplier to the consumer for the first time.

With Forrester Research predicting the European online auctions and trading hubs market could be worth a staggering £58 billion by the end of 2005, this could have major implications in the dealer network as suppliers adapt to new trading conditions.

The Department of Trade and Industry commissioned a case study on AutoeBid.com
on “achieving best practice in your business”. It found AutoeBid to be “a brilliant idea of applying a reverse auction model to the world of car sales”.

With the motor industry bearing a reputation for pushy salesmen, AutoeBid provides a mechanism for buyers to place an order for the specific car that they wish to purchase without having to negotiate with dealers. Once the order is in AutoeBid’s reverse auction system, suppliers compete against one another to win the order by bidding the price down. The winning supplier at the end of the auction contacts the buyer to proceed with the order as normal at the agreed auction price.

This means that the customer controls the entire purchase, dictating the entire terms of purchase without having any hassle. The service saves customers time and money with the knowledge that suppliers are competing against each other to win their business in a real time reverse auction.

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