What do we do?
CarBuyingAdvisor provides a reputation management service focused solely on the motor industry. The business was created by the owners of a successful, independent automotive vehicle supply company (Fleet UK) who were determined to find a way to demonstrate the high standards of their service in an industry which is stereotyped with a poor reputation. Unable to find anything that did what they wanted, affordably and to a high enough standard they took the decision to create it. The inspiration came from a combination approaches adopted in other countries, in particular the USA (primarily Dealer Rater), and other industry sectors through the likes of trip-advisor and check-a-trade plus pier based review and reputation management used by on-line organisations such as Amazon and eBay. The approach has been to develop a simple effective solution and work with a small set of automotive dealers to establish and grow the proposition within the UK market.
What is our focus?
The focus of the company is to make it possible to demonstrate good reputation in the retail automotive supply sector by giving real, transparent insight into the quality of advice and service consumers feel they have received. All reviews, good or bad, are published – only ones that cannot be verified as being from a real customer, are potentially libellous under UK Law or contain indecent or insulting language are taken down from the site.
Our Reviews
All reviews are independently moderated to current industry best practice standards, these standards are clearly stated on the site and adhered to rigorously. Car Buying Advisor gives no dealer the option to ask for a review to be taken down, they can only reply to reviews. We consider it paramount to the credibility of the service that this principle is not compromised.
The Team
The diverse team of people that have been involved in getting the idea this far are:
- Kelvin Hackett – 30 years career of sales and marketing in the motor industry. Owner of Fleet UK.
- John Scott – Management Consultant by background, UK and global business leader, founding director of disruptive start-up company that was ultimately FSTE 250.
- Jacqueline Greene – Moderation and expert on the discipline and the legal aspects of publishing people's opinions publicly. Also a champion of design, usability and sensibility.
- Phil Gray – Expert in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software and .NET development. Owner of CRM-UK.com Ltd.
- Suzi Stedman - A background in sponsorship and marketing, client liaison and management and delivery of large contracts.