Dear Colleagues s7

NAMA NEWS AUGUST 2014

Dear Colleagues

Please find below this month’s NAMA news. I am pleased to see that the NAMA data reports continue to be well received and we are seeing a considerable amount of coverage in the trade press. All of which promotes the profile of the Association.

In this month’s news we have included HR and legal updates which you might find of use. In addition to that we have included a bulletin from the DVSA referring to the online checking MOT and tax disc status.

On the issue of tax discs, it is probably timely to remind members that from 1 October the tax disc will be abolished. At the same time there are changes to the taxation of vehicles which means that on the sale of a vehicle the tax ‘dies.’ This means that any of your customers buying a vehicle at auction will need to either use a transporter, trade plates or re-tax the vehicle before it leaves your premises. From 1 October there will be the ability to tax the vehicle online and to notify of the change of keeper which should help.

Louise Wallis Head of NAMA Tel: 01788 538336 Email: [email protected] NAMA CAR DATA REPORT - JULY 2014

The National Association of Motor Auctions (NAMA) has published its monthly market report for July.

The report shows that during July the average value of used cars sold at auction across the board increased 4% from £5,381 to £5,595, a 14% increase versus July 2013 and reflective of the higher proportion of younger cars now in the mix.

Overall volumes were down 5% versus June at 101,190, but up 1% versus July 2013, and volume decrease was greatest for older PX profile cars (6.6-10.5 years old) and Budget (>10.5 years old) at -7.6% and -10.2% respectively. This contrasts with Late & Low, which continued its increase by 5.3% to 12,797 cars.

First time conversion rates for sold stock continued its upward trend, increasing from 77% to 79% with improvements across all age profiles as market interest increased. The premium of first time sold vehicles over those sold at second/subsequent entry held firm at around 7% (£325). After three successive increases in average days on site for sold stock, this indicator fell back slightly for July from 9.2 to 8.7, but still remains higher than July 2013 where it was 8.2.

Price changes in July compared to June by age profile Jun-14 Jul-14 Diff % Late & Low £14,575 £14,550 0%

Fleet £8,575 £8,525 -1%

PX (Young) £5,175 £5,225 1%

PX (Old) £2,525 £2,550 1%

Budget £750 £775 3%

Falling volumes yet steady buyer interest contributed to the average price increase in the PX and Budget profile segments, although rising age and mileage amongst Fleet profile cars resulted in a net average decline in values achieved. The original cost new percentage for all profiles remains substantially below the value attained during July 2013.

Paul Hill, NAMA Chairman Comments, “Retail activity during July was an interesting mix for both franchised and non-franchised dealers alike. The early part of the month seemed to be quite active with plenty of calls and good footfall. However, this changed around the middle of the month and interest waned with dealers citing the improvement in the weather, the Commonwealth Games and the start of the school summer holidays.

“The beginning of August saw a change in fortunes once more and retail activity improved notably for the trade as a whole. This looks set to continue through to the end of the month and into the first weeks of September. August is traditionally a month of limited defleet activity as buyers wait for the new plate in September. As such, this creates a challenging environment for the trade buyer and an opportunity for the trade vendors. Trade buyers have to fill empty spaces on the forecourt and as such will buy just about anything they can to attract buyers.

“ In summary a reasonably good month is expected from a retail perspective, although finding the stock to feed the retail demand will be a little more difficult than usual. Naturally this means that trade vendors will also benefit from the opportunity to sell the lower quality and repeatedly unsold stock that has been clogging the trade for some months.”

NAMA COMMERCIAL VEHICLE DATA REPORT – JULY 2014

The National Association of Motor Auctions (NAMA) has published its Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) market report for July.

The report shows that during July the average values of used LCV’s at auction across the board increased by 2.2% from £4,839 to £4,945 between June and July. Volumes saw a 3.8% rise, and the average ages of LCV’s sold at auction fell to 63.9 months.

The average number of days that LCVs remained on site went down to 14.3 days, and the average mileage decreased -3.5% from last month to 81,393 miles.

Price Changes by age

Apr-14 May-14 Jun-14 Jul-14 <2 Years £11,215 £12,395 £11,685 £10,985 Previous month Diff -6.6% 10.5% -5.7% -6.0% 2 - 4 Years £7,135 £7,065 £6,740 £6,550 Previous month Diff 1.6% -1.0% -4.6% -2.8% 4.1 - 6 Years £4,885 £4,780 £4,715 £4,585 Previous month Diff 9.3% -2.1% -1.4% -2.8% Over 6 Years £2,370 £2,465 £2,470 £2,485 Previous month Diff -3.7% 4.0% 0.2% 0.6%

In July, the average price paid for an LCV rose from £4,839 to £4,945 (+2.2%)

Volume Changes by Age

Apr-14 May-14 Jun-14 Jul-14 <2 Years 375 449 424 614 Previous month Diff 6.2% 19.7% -5.6% 44.8% 2 - 4 Years 2,539 2,433 2,684 2,921 Previous month Diff -13.9% -4.2% 10.3% 8.8% 4.1 - 6 Years 2,361 2,158 2,353 2,459 Previous month Diff 1.9% -8.6% 9.0% 4.5% Over 6 Years 3,945 3,051 3,354 3,255 Previous month Diff 10.2% -15.0% -3.0% -6.3%

The total number of LCVs sold at auction in July increased by 329 units (+3.8%).

Alex Wright, Chairman of NAMA Commercial Vehicle Group commented, “Despite predictions that with increased volume prices would decrease, we are seeing the opposite happening. July saw volumes up by 20% and prices up by 19%. The economy is growing and this is reflected in the commercial market.

“The 8 year and over market has dominated the sector for a long time starving buyers of younger stock, but the yellow line is finally shrinking and later plate vehicles are slowly appearing. We predict this trend will continue and 4-5 year old vehicles will take over as more enter the market.

“ Once again the market data presented in this NAMA report illustrates the underlying strength of demand for LCVs at all years and clearly bodes well for sales prospects over the coming months.”

NAMA VEHICLE GRADING

The National Association of Motor Auctions (NAMA) is pleased to see that almost 1.5million vehicles have been sold through the NAMA grading scheme since its launch 2 years ago.

The scheme which consists of 5 grades has been introduced by NAMA members, and is designed to facilitate the buying and selling process of a new car by giving both parties a better understanding of the vehicle condition. The grades are determined on a points system allocated by type and severity of damage which are assessed by specially trained inspectors at each auction. There is also an unclassified grade for vehicles that are badly accident damaged or require high levels of repair.

Head of NAMA Louise Wallis comments, “NAMA grading has become hugely important in the sales process of vehicles at auction.

“It is encouraging to see that such a significant number of vehicles have been sold as a result of the scheme, and we hope that more auction houses will adopt this method going forward”.

JULY NEW CAR REGISTRATION FIGURES

It is extremely encouraging that new car sales continued to improve in July with year-to- date growth now at 10.1%. New car sales figures, released earlier this month were up 6.6% from last month - marking the 29th consecutive month of growth. Dealers are reporting increased footfall in showrooms as consumers are drawn in by new products and services offered by dealers and manufacturers. With such strong manufacturer and finance offers currently available, dealers are reporting that it is proving much easier to close a sale. However competitive pricing and strong incentives remain important if the sales trend is to continue throughout 2014.

If you would like to receive a copy of the monthly new registration figures please email [email protected]

MILS LEGAL UPDATE – CHANGES TO FLEXIBLE WORKING REGIME NOW IN FORCE

Members should already be aware that the statutory provisions on flexible working changed on 30 June 2014. Previously, in order to make a statutory flexible working request, an employee had to be the parent of a child aged under 17 (under 18 where the child is disabled), or be the carer of a specified adult aged 18 or over, and be making the application in order to enable them to care for the child or adult. These care requirements were repealed with effect from 30 June 2014.

In practice, this means the right to request flexible working has been extended to all employees, provided they have worked for their employer for a continuous period of at least 26 weeks at the date their application is made and they have not made another application to work flexibly under the statutory right during the previous 12 months. So, any employee with the requisite period of continuous employment will now be able to request flexible working, regardless of their reasons for wanting it – they do not even have to specify their reasons.

Under the statutory right, employees can apply to vary the hours they work, the times they work or their place of work (between their home and their employer’s place of business). However as before, this does not provide an automatic right for an employee to work flexibly – it is only a right to request. Employers have the right to turn down an employee’s application provided they do so for one or more of eight permitted business reasons i.e.

1. The burden of additional costs. 2. The detrimental effect it would have on ability to meet customer demand. 3. Inability to reorganise work amongst existing staff. 4. Inability to recruit additional staff. 5. The detrimental impact it would have on quality. 6. The detrimental impact it would have on performance. 7. Insufficiency of work available during the period when the employee proposes to work. 8. Planned structural changes.

However, members should watch out for flexible working requests that could give rise to other types of claim e.g. a claim for indirect sex discrimination where the request is made by a mother returning from maternity leave or a disability discrimination claim where the request is made by an employee as a reasonable adjustment for their disability.

In addition to the extension of the right to request flexible working, the onerous statutory procedure for dealing with flexible working requests was also repealed with effect from 30 June 2014. Instead, the legislation simply places a requirement on employers to “deal with the application in a reasonable manner” and to “notify the employee of the decision on the application within the decision period”. The decision period is three months beginning with the date on which the employee’s application is made, or such longer period as may be agreed by the parties. This decision period also includes any appeal provided by the employer against a decision to reject an employee’s application.

So, dealing with a flexible working request in a reasonable manner will still involve employers going through some form of fair consideration procedure, involving a discussion meeting, notifying the employee of the outcome and preferably giving a right of appeal if the employee’s application is rejected.

Members should consider updating their flexible working policies and procedures as a result of these changes, however if members had policies drafted to comply with the law prior to 30th June 2014, then those are likely to still be fit for purpose, as the changes have made the procedure less onerous rather than more onerous.

DVSA UPDATE – CHECK A VEHICLE’S MOT STATUS ONLINE You can now check a vehicle’s MOT and tax status online using the brand new vehicle enquiry service. A vehicle can be searched by make and model and shows results like the MOT and tax expiry dates.

You can find out a vehicle’s MOT and tax expiry date by carrying out a vehicle enquiry. Try out the vehicle enquiry service

We think this service will be useful for MOT testers and their customers when checking MOT expiry dates. One of the frustrations for testers is that when logging onto MOT Comp they discover the customer has brought their vehicle in too early for an MOT – more than a month early. The customer then often decides to take the vehicle away, leaving the tester to abort the test and log off.

Over the years, testers have asked why test expiry dates cannot be easily checked. Back before MOT Computerisation was launched in 2005, a vehicles expiry date was classed as personal data and certain information was required to prove a vested interest.

As time has marched on and after a review being carried out, it was decided that an MOT expiry date is no longer classed as personal data. This means that access to vehicle expiry dates will be much simpler in future through MOT Modernisation.

The BETA service is currently being trialled on GOV.UK and DVLA is asking for your feedback. Leave your feedback to help improve the service NAMA MEETING DATES 2014

NAMA Executive Meeting - Tuesday 7 October – Hilton Hotel, Warwick – this is an open meeting which the NAAA (National Automotive Auction Association) from the USA will be attending and will make a presentation.

NAMA AGM – 17-19 April 2015 at the Tivoli Vilamoura Marina Hotel, Portugal

If you would like to attend please contact [email protected]

If you would like more of your colleagues to receive this newsletter or the NAMA auctions reports please contact [email protected] with their details and we will add them to the circulation list.