CAP launches tool for motorists

After 34 years as a ‘trade-only' partner for motor retail professionals CAP will begin providing information to motorists, designed to improve the conversation and relationship between dealers and their customers.

The free ‘Total Cost of Motoring' tool available at cap.co.uk will enable motorists to find all the long-term car ownership cost information they need in one place.

It will provide comprehensive, accurate and independent comparisons between the long-term running costs of cars.

Results will be provided to motorists who register their details.

Registration information will then be cleansed, analysed and transformed into genuine ‘hot leads' for motor retailers.

A strong consumer appetite for such a service was identified in extensive research among private motorists, conducted independently for CAP.

It revealed overwhelming evidence that motorists want high quality, independent information from one single source, to help with their car purchase choices.

CAP believes that dealers will enjoy a ‘win-win' advantage from the provision of its consumer services.

Not only will dealers win more sales, based on the leads generated by CAP's Total Cost of Motoring tool, but they will also benefit from a smoother negotiation and transaction process when motorists are more confident about the best choice of car, based on their long-range budget.

Ben Maguire, head of consumer at CAP, said: "We were struck by one of our research findings that nearly one in three motorists had previously regretted a car purchase on the grounds of overall long-term costs.

"Helping motorists to avoid such disappointments can only benefit everyone in the market.

"We believe that providing better ownership cost information to consumers will assist in smoothing the car sales process by helping motorists feel more confident about the best car choices to investigate with their dealer.

"Ultimately our aim is to help elevate the quality of the discussion between good dealers and motorists so that sales are increased for dealers and satisfaction is higher for motorists."