Car dealers just want to sell cars

I joined The Compliance Guys around six weeks ago with almost zero knowledge of the FCA or the motor trade. Through a whirlwind of annual returns, social media monitoring, firm details checks and much more, that has changed drastically.

The best thing I was told during that time - and the thing that keeps coming back to me - was said within five minutes of arriving at the office on my first day. Car dealers just want to sell cars.

The simplicity is by design. In the motor trade, the easier we make the lives of the dealers we work with, the happier they are.

They do not want to spend their days working through the maze of FCA systems or reading handbooks on financial promotion compliance. They want to sell cars, and the more time we can give them to do that, the better.

So although every email may as well begin with “I know it’s a pain, but…” as we navigate FCA systems and translate the jargon, the time and effort we save dealers was obvious to me straight away.

The key to staying clear of the FCA is a proactive rather than reactive approach. Under the constant pressure the motor trade operates in, that is genuinely difficult. Being given simplified, direct advice and only being bothered when it is necessary is, I think, the most useful thing we provide.

After all, car dealers just want to sell cars.

For me, knowing how much value you have added to a business - and the thanks you get across the board from dealers - makes for high job satisfaction, particularly compared with previous roles. I am excited to build expertise in areas I did not know existed back in August.

I am looking forward to learning more about the FCA and finding new ways to add value to the businesses we work with, seeing more of how they operate and shaping our work around what they need.

The variety is great, there is still so much to learn about the FCA, and I can carry on letting car dealers just sell cars.