Carpe Locus! The New Year forecourt mantra.

Despite that fact that just over a third of people set New Year resolutions (and less than ten per cent of those that do smugly go on to achieve them), there's plenty of reasoning to support that using key dates, such as New Year, birthdays, quarters, etc. dramatically improves your chances of success when setting goals.

Research also suggests that reinforcing those goals or resolutions with slogans and mantras is proven to boost your chances of realising them even further, keeping us focused on our target and priming us to take action.

And not only was it the Romans who gave us the basis for the calendar we use today to set such goals, they also gave us one of the most enduring and famous of ideals "Carpe Diem", adorning countless motivational posters and film scripts, and undoubtedly a staple diet of tattooists the world over (just ask Dame Judi Dench).

So, capitalising on a language that manages to make dull plants sound interesting, makes #YOLO sound almost educated, and manages to make law sound even duller, I'm suggesting a new mantra for automotive retailers to support that age old adage for the New Year of 'out with the old, in with the new'... Carpe Locus (Seize the Space)!

What? Why?

Out of some weird obsession, I always find myself at the start of each year looking at the number of cars that are welcoming in yet another Annus Novus on Auto Trader (there are quite a few) and, supercars aside, I ponder why these vehicles continue to take up space on retailer forecourts across the UK. As an example, one of the longest advertised mainstream cars on Auto Trader today has now welcomed in nine (yes novem) New Years, having been advertised on the marketplace since the 1st of December 2014!

If you take the average cost per day to stock a vehicle (currently ￡13.72*) then multiply that for the 2955 days the aforementioned car has been advertised, that's a wopping ￡40,542.60 of damage to the bottom line... on a vehicle that's advertised at less than ￡8k.

But that's not the end of it... that vehicle has also taken up space on a forecourt for over eight years, during which time they could've used that same space to sell 41 other cars based on that retailers average days to sell. If you work on a lean ￡500 profit per sale, that's another ￡20.5k of lost profit, taking that bottom line damage to just over ￡61k, not to mention the opportunity to resell again to the 41 customers they could've had.

And it's not just the five thousand plus vehicles glued to retailer forecourts that have seen in more than one New Year on Auto Trader... there are tens of thousands of vehicles unnecessarily failing to achieve their expected potential, about to run out of profit or, even worse, that've surpassed their breakeven days on forecourts across the UK whilst, at the same time, taking up valuable space that could be used to house cars that better support stock turn targets rather than drag them down.

In a high number of instances these vehicles have never been touched since the day they were first advertised, and even then a fair few were done so with little or no care for the buyer. A large number have never been repriced either, meaning the market has shifted around them and they no longer sit with the rest of their peers and therefore consumer expectations when it comes to budget... simply re-pricing, re-advertising or re-locating stock (physically or digitally) can be enough to unstick stock for little or no money, with the potential to save you some too.

And despite the doom and gloom headlines, forecasts and rhetoric that serve to distract us, the market for 2023 looks incredibly buoyant, with opportunity out there (if only requiring a little more work)... so, if you're setting your forecourt goals for 2023 this week, make those cars that are seemingly immovable your first port of call (along with your Auto Trader account manager who should be well versed in providing the tools, insight and support to help you).

Carpe Locus!

* cost to stock will vary based on the size, type and overheads of a retailer, but provides a great way to calculate the break-even days-to-sell of a vehicle alongside expected and target days-to-sell.

** is the cost to acquire a customer via a loss making car, but with a future potential profit on their next one, better than a total final loss at auction?