Coronavirus: Car dealers given green light to reopen from today

Car dealerships have been given the go ahead by the Government to reopen, as part of a package of measures designed to ease the coronavirus COVID-19 lockdown. 

From today, "non-essential" shops can reopen in England as long as they meet strict COVID-19 guidelines that are designed to reduce crowding and maintain social distancing between staff and customers. 

The National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA) and Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has already published its sector-specific guidance. This includes a ban on physical paper car brochures, two metre social distancing and the introduction of unaccompanied test drives.

Further measures include regular sanitisation of demo vehicles, sanitiser stations, Perspex screens between customers and employees where possible and potential temperature checks for employees and appointment-only sales.

However, while every showroom in the UK can reopen from 1 June, many will remain closed. HonestJohn.co.uk has spoken to a number of dealer groups and many have said they will introduce a gradual lift to the lockdown, with many smaller franchises remaining closed.

Marshall Motor Group has over 100 showrooms in the UK and its CEO Daksh Gupta said: "All of our sites have made layout changes for two metre spacing, implemented clear signage and introduced enhanced front-of-house and back-of-house cleaning procedures and ‘no touch’ policy to ensure that social distancing rules are followed.​"

Vertu Motors chief executive Robert Forrester said unaccompanied test drives would be one key area of change for car buyers at Vertu Motors sites across the UK.

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