Whilst motorists in other countries do attach importance to the type of car they drive, in the UK the car appears to be of far more importance, even in some cases more important that the type of house someone lives in. Britain sells on average 2,500,000 cars per year and the contract hire and leasing industry has been built as a result of the British motorist acquiring a new car with such frequency.



So what changed and when? In the 50's they were still building things to last; people saved up for years to buy an item that they fully expected to last them a lifetime and the motorcar was no exception. Now hardly anyone saves to buy a car and many motorists cringe with embarrassment if their car is five or six years old.

In the 50's cars were sturdy and definitely built to last. Unlike today, very heavy gauge steel was used in the body panels; it took quite an impact to dent a car panel. Head on collisions were best avoided. The cars were heavy; there was very little give in the panels.

The British used to hear about the American "throw away society" and it all seemed quite disgraceful; buying things knowing that they were not going to last and then after what seemed like an indecently short period of time, just throwing them away

It didn't take long however before the British found themselves going down the same road; seeking out the more modern and newer designs of just about everything. Slowly but surely we followed the American consumer in wanting newer and more modern, in preference to durability. All this seemed to reach a peak in the late1980's when something more than a year or two old, seemed to be viewed as a relic. Many motorists today choose a 2-year term rather than 3 even when all the indications are that a 3-year contract hire term is more appropriate for their circumstances.

Previously everything was repaired, rather like they do in Third World countries now; in Cuba following Fidel Castro's revolution, Cuba was prevented from importing cars from America. As a result of this, in Cuba today, you can see a wonderful selection of 1950's American cars, in running order and some of them in beautiful condition.

Before long the British motor manufacturers realized that as long as they continued to build cars to last and didn't change the models, the motorist had no incentive to buy a new one.

The 50's saw the launch of Ford's Mark 2 Zephyr which followed the American design style but of course was a much smaller version of the typical American car. Vauxhall introduced the Cresta, it's style was very American right down to its white wall tyres and tail fins and it appeared to be a copy of the Packard. Two-tone paintwork was introduced with this model, which was popular. Class was not the first word that came to mind when describing this car but there were no shortage of buyers.

It also had the effect of making the cars around it, which were mainly black in colour look rather dull. The body panels of these new American style cars were thinner than they had previously been manufacturing.

Then in 1963 the first registration plate came out that identified the year of the car, sixty years after the very first British registration plate was issued in 1903. It was an A registration, at first it wasn't introduced countrywide, but before long new registration plates throughout Britain had a letter showing the year a vehicle was first registered.

It looked rather odd at first, then some motorists decided they quite liked the idea of showing everyone that they had a brand new car. So they bought a new car and proudly drove around in their smart A registered car but, in what seemed like no time at all, the B registration was introduced and then they weren't so proud and this was the start of the "latest registration" trap that many motorists found themselves in.

The E registration plate came out in January 1967 but was replaced on 1 August 1967 with the F registration. As August had always been the quietest month of the year, it was designed to boost sales in this month of low car sales.

Manufacturer found that with a combination of changing models more frequently and a new registration plate each year, they had the motorist on the run. The system wasn't without its problems, it caused a massive bottleneck with regard to deliveries; the first day of August was when almost every motorist wanted his or her new car delivered, it was almost impossible to get anybody to take delivery of a car in the months prior to the change of registration. Some motorists seemed obsessed by having the latest registration.

It was claimed in the 1990's that cars were being stockpiled by the manufacturers, in aircraft hangers and fields in remote parts of the country. It was also said that in certain cases when motorists bought a new car to get the latest registration, their "new" car was actually older than the one they were changing.

Having the latest model in everything was very much fuelled during the Thatcher years of the 1980's, when people became embarrassed about owning anything that was more than a year or two old. Some motorists not wanting to feel under pressure to change their car so frequently discovered that a personalised number plate, that had previously been adopted by the rich and famous, or those who would have quite liked to be rich and famous, was a very effective way of disguising the age of the car.

Having a personalised number plate and holding onto the car for a number of years was short lived, the manufacturers started introducing facelift models. This usually took the form of changes to the headlight display or grill, small changes but enough to make the driver of the pre facelift model embarrassed enough to buy the latest version. Some models proved more difficult than others to facelift and in some cases the manufacturers just left them as they were realising that there was little they could do to improve the appearance and changing it might make it worse.

2001 saw another change to the registration system; September and March were to be the months for the new registration plate, the first being the 51 plate in September for example LC 51 GWJ. Nowadays you can not only see the year of registration but also the month. It was felt that this would spread sales more evenly as motorists would be less aware of the registration plate but as any contract hire company will tell you, the peak sales months are March and September. So perhaps motorists continue to be aware of their registration plate.

Diagnostics have gradually become a more important aspect of fault finding in cars, making it more difficult for a motorist to hold onto a car over the long term without it becoming quite expensive; calling into to the local mechanic to sort out a problem is often not an option, he will frequently tell you that you will need to go to the main agent, because they have the diagnostic equipment or in some cases the special tools that are needed to carry out a repair.

The small garage cannot compete with this as the find themselves, in many cases having to tell the customer to go to the main agent. This is having a major impact on the cost of running a second hand car.

Another consequence of this change is that the life span of second hand cars will become shorter, when owners discover that they cannot work on their own cars. As maintenance costs go up, cars will be scrapped sooner. This is what the manufacturers would like to happen, because it is an essential part of the cycle, for there to be buyers of the second hand cars coming onto the market, when they are replaced by new cars.

There will however always be some smaller workshops that specialise in a particular marque such as BMW; they will have the tools and the diagnostic equipment and will survive after other small garages have gone out of business. Their charges reflect the fact that they have had to invest in special tools and diagnostic equipment but they are nevertheless, less expensive than the main dealership.

For those who have perhaps a BMW or Mercedes and the vehicle is outside the manufacturer's warranty, these specialist garages can be ideal, although for many it does mean travelling to find their nearest garage specialising in their particular marque.

Complicated electronics in cars today is another example of how manufacturers have cleverly pushed the motorist into changing their car more frequently. Motorists are, with justification, fearful of having electronic problems with their car once the warranty has expired.

Certain manufacturer's vehicles have become increasingly unreliable and many motorists fear having one of those electronic faults that in spite of all the diagnostic equipment, the dealership cant seem to cure and dealerships charge you for diagnostic time, as much time as is necessary to find the fault.

Not unnaturally the motorist starts to imagine what the cost of all this would be if the car were outside of the warranty. One solution would be to take out the manufacturer's extended warranty, although only a minority do so, with many more opting to change their car.

There are many people who would like to be less conscious of the car they are driving and not be led into buying the latest model and having the newest registration plate. However they are unlikely change unless everyone else does. But everyone else isn't going to change, human nature is what it is; cars are very important to many motorists' image and self esteem.

One has to recognize that motor manufacturers have been very clever with their strategy and advertising and it seems that the motor manufacturers and contract hire and leasing companies will, for the foreseeable future, continue to be multi billion pound industries.

Should you have any queries or questions with regard to Fleet Management, Licence checking Contract Hire, Personal Contract Hire, Lease Purchase or vehicle Hire Purchase, please do not hesitate to contact us. Bowater Price plc 01494 536 536. www.bowaterprice.com.