Team Blog

Over the last 17 years I’ve bought four motorbikes, six cars, one jeep and spent hundreds of hours thinking about my next vehicle purchase and every single time, Autotrader has been the bedrock of my decision.  Where else is so much choice so readily available and so easily comparable?  Where else can you find a Mini and a Range Rover for the same money with only the need to trade off between space, cost, miles to the gallon, insurance group, 0-60 time, power, owner reviews etc between you and an impulse buy?

Posted 8th May 2013 by Ian Marshall, Associate Director 

In August 2012, Manchester UTD announced that General Motors will oust AON as their main shirt sponsor and GM’s Chevrolet brand will be seen on the shirts of UTD players from the 2014-2015 season.  

Posted 8th May2013 by Mark Baldwin, Director 

With continued criticism of “pay-day” loan companies and economic hardship for many; the Coalition’s draft curriculum publication for England in February 2013, and its promise for compulsory Personal Finance Education has been met with near universal positivity. Potential critics may include school pupils who could find the lessons “boring”, however, traditional arguments from teens that what they are taught in Maths lessons has no bearing on their “everyday lives” will be less convincing from September 2014. This is the date when the new curriculum is implemented into classrooms across the country.

Posted 29 April 2013 by James Carnegie, Research Manager

Posted 29th April 2013 by Ian Marshall, Associate Director

It’s no secret that Korean car manufacturers have taken huge strides in recent years to encourage us to buy their cars and they have been hugely successful in doing so.  Hyundai and Kia currently enjoy a market share in the UK of around 3% (Hyundai potentially slightly ahead) and with regular new model launches, advertising and sponsorship almost everywhere you turn and a lot to shout about over European, Japanese and US brands in terms of spec and warranties, the surge in Korean-made vehicles on our roads shows little sign of abating.

Yes, times are definitely tough and like many other people I have found myself carefully assessing my monthly outgoings… suddenly, all those things which seemed like good purchases and have ended up on a shelf are potential money saving opportunities, from recycling mobile phones, cancelling magazine subscriptions and even making sandwiches to bring to work (much to the amusement of my colleagues who had previously questioned my spend in this area!).

Somewhere in the middle of this I have become aware of how much I seem to be enjoying the whole process – why hadn’t I done this sooner? With the financial crisis it seems has come an underlying ray of light as we all become savvier with our hard earned cash. Suddenly I am in control of my finances and setting myself monthly cutback targets which are achievable.

Posted 18 April 2013 by Richard Moore, Research Manager

Company zombies, old zombies, the middle aged overstretched zombies for ever supporting young zombies! The UK is turning into a land full of low spending zombies staggering around burdened with debt – oh what a life!

The UK Media is talking increasingly about zombie companies, which due to a high level of debt and continued reduced sales/income, allows them to service the interest on their company debt but only just. They are unable to pay down debt quickly, invest, grow or save for the future...... they just exist and stagnate.

Well in my view the same is happening to a swathe of indebted personal borrowers who are only just managing to service their debt, pay their bills but can afford to do little else.

Posted 13 March 2013 by Adrian Wooldridge, Research Account Manager

When was the last time any researcher ran a study about brand which didn’t include ‘trust’ as a metric? The answer is likely to be “never” in all industries, but in the financial sector and its myriad of constituent parts, the need to gain and measure trust is as acute as its exclusion is unthinkable.

PPI being mis-sold, Martin Lewis highlighting hidden charges and overpriced packaged accounts and heads of the banking world enjoying huge bonuses have fuelled consumer’s distrust of financial providers and made them feel disenfranchised. And this is not only limited to the UK – in Harris’s 2013 US Reputation Quotient no financial services company was rated ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’. However, six of the financial sector’s main players included in the exercise were rated as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’.

Posted 4 March 2013 by Mark Foran, Senior Research Manager

Watching a focus group recently and seeing the passion with which customers talked about their personal finances, I was reminded just how powerful it can be for researchers and non-researchers alike (from junior staff to senior management) to observe qualitative research. Admittedly in a different sector, I find it hard to forget the sombre mood behind the viewing mirror after observing an arthritis patient burst into tears when asked how her condition made her feel.

The coverage of last year's Olympic and Paralympic Games was an extreme reminder of how people can get caught up in the moment. The close-ups of athletes' and spectators' joy and despair was very powerful; something that couldn’t be replicated nor truly understood by reading the next day's newspaper (report) or looking at the medal table (dashboard).

Posted 13 February 2013 by Michael Worledge, Senior Associate Director

Another day and another news article about motor insurance, whether that is to do with price fixing allegations following the recent Dispatches programme, telematics insurance, the newly introduced gender legislation or rising premiums to name a few.  Whatever the reason, you can’t seem to dispute the fact that the insurance sector is having somewhat of a tough time at the moment.

Posted 08 February 2013 by Farzana Qadir, Senior Research Manager

Many female drivers are bracing themselves for uncomfortable journeys in the coming months when looking for car insurance. A ruling from the European Union, which came into force on 21st December 2012, has banned insurers from discriminating between men and women when setting car insurance premiums.

Will this mean parity in the amount men and women pay in the future, with increases in premiums paid by female drivers matched by equivalent decreases for their male counterparts? Harris Poll data, recorded just before the change in law, suggests this is not the perception of most drivers currently holding a car insurance policy. Whilst 61% of female policy holders, unsurprisingly, expect their premiums to go up as a result of the law change, only 12% of male policy holders believe their own prices will fall. Many expect insurers to not implement this fairly with over 1 in 3 males (37%) expecting to also receive an increase in price as a result of the changes.

Posted 29 January 2013 by James Carnegie, Research Manager