A Q&A with Fresh Motors’ Managing Director, Jacob Freshwater
Fresh Motors is an award-winning car and van dealership based in Norfolk. We caught up with Jacob for a Q&A to understand more about his experience of shutting down. Plus, hear about what his business is doing right now and how they’re preparing themselves to be ready to reopen when the government advises it is safe to do so.
Q: Jacob, tell us a bit about yourself, Fresh Motors and how you started out in the motor trade?
Hi, I’m Jacob Freshwater and I’m the Managing Director of Fresh Motors. We’re a used car and van dealership based in Norfolk. Originally, I wanted to be a doctor – so my life could have been quite different right now – I could have been working in a hospital perhaps. But I went to university and studied accounting and finance, with no intentions of entering the motor industry. I remember I went to an auction wanting to buy a cheap car, and I realised there's some potential profit in it. And that was it. That was the one thing that kick-started Fresh Motors and the life I went into. After graduating from university, I took over a very, very small lockup and then began on the journey just buying and selling cars, and very quickly snowballing the business. Four years later, here we are, we now have a much larger premises with around 100 vehicles. In January 2020 we took over a second premises, a former Kia site, but given the current circumstances, we’re sort of in limbo with it as building work had to stop.
Q: You were telling me before that on the day you closed, you were still waiting for the concrete to dry on your new premises?
Yeah, the MOT bay was going into the premises – obviously MOT’s have a large capital outlay – and as the concrete was drying, I decided enough was enough and everything had to be shut down following all the government advice.
Q: Can you tell us what business was looking like immediately before the lockdown, what was March looking like?
We saw really good signs. February was actually a record month for us, so to start the year like that was great. We're very much focused on commercial sales for Q1. We were on for records and it was very encouraging, with plenty of demand in the market. We were really confident for the year. We thought taking over the new site was fantastic, exactly what the business needed – obviously not knowing what was round the corner towards the end of March.
Q: On the day you decided to close your showroom, what was that like and how did it feel?
“Scary” really sums it up, unsettling and unnerving. We've worked so hard to get to this point for four years. Everyone in the team was rooting for the business to succeed. And when you have to say to them you’re closed – it’s just something you never expect to have to say. Then you run your breakeven calculations and realise this isn't going to succeed on a monthly basis. You never imagine having zero sales. And you never imagine having to shut down. So “scary” is very much the word for it. Just to give you a little insight into growth we've had – the first premises we had was £375 a month – and now our overheads are some hundred times that – so to comprehend it…it is just scary. Very scary.
Q: The word “scary” really sums it up – as a result of that, have you managed to access any of the government support on offer yet?
We've decided to furlough staff because we want to keep them, and we want to keep everyone supported throughout this. So that when the doors do reopen, we want them to come back to work because we’re so lucky to have them. We’ve sent out letters to staff informing them that they are now furloughed. In terms of government support, we've applied for the small business rates grants that are available. Due to the fact we've got two premises it's a little bit complicated, and we haven't managed to receive anything yet. I did do some very careful cash flow forecasting assuming we don't get any grants, so I think cashflow forecasting is a real key thing for everyone right now.
Q: Are you planning for the worst-case scenario then?
Definitely, yeah. Because we’ve got two premises it’s a bit complex, so we’re not sure if we’re going to be eligible for anything. So, yeah, you plan for worst case cashflow. An interesting point I'd like to raise is regarding furloughing directors. As an independent retailer, I want to know from HMRC that we’re properly guided so that we don’t end up in hot water. So, more guidance around that would be great.
Q: How are you managing your business remotely and handling enquiries that come through from potential buyers?
We’ve got one phone system. So, with the help of my team before lockdown, we managed to set the business up remotely so that we still have all our incoming call traffic, email traffic and everything else working from home. And having a good quality internet connection is really important. Because of that, we’re continuing as normal in terms of communications and managing the sales pipeline.
Ongoing communication with customers is all I’m doing really. If a deposit situation arises, I’m by no means going in for a hard sell, but we’re trying to encourage deposits with the full intention that we’ll reconvene with the customer when its safe to sell the vehicle to them in the future – but overall just keeping that communication going and building our sales pipeline.
My philosophy is that if we can get back to work after this lockdown with 10, 15, 20 sales leads then we can hopefully take advantage of those leads.
Q: In preparation for the point where the government say you can reopen your showroom door, what are you doing to make sure your business is up to speed and ready to start retailing again?
I guess that's going to be the key to really taking advantage of any demand that appears in the market when we when we go back. We are adjusting all of our adverts. We've made it clear that we are operating online only at the moment. So, all of our online advertising is trying to encourage the fact that we are here and ready to talk. We’re just trying to give ourselves the best head-start we can.
Q: Once showrooms have reopened, it’s expected that some people will still be reluctant to visit retailers. What are you doing as a business to make sure people feel 100% confident that its safe to buy a vehicle from you?
I think we’re just ensuring we follow government guidelines very strictly. We’re maintaining the same standards we always upkeep. Ensuring a clean environment, just to give everyone the confidence that when ready to reopen, we’re never going to compromise anyone’s safety or risk any contamination.
Q: What sort of things do you think retailers can be doing now whilst we’re on lockdown?
While we’re not able to sell, I really want to make good use of this downtime. Whether that’s looking at the website to make improvements, doing those tasks that you probably never get time to do because you're always so busy. Now is the time to research those ideas and those angles you've always wanted to do. So that when we come out of this, we’ve got some really tangible ideas for the future. And I guess also use a little bit of time to recharge. I mean, maybe you get cabin fever like me but in essence, sometimes it just helps to recharge and plan for the future.
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Jacob Freshwater bio
Jacob Freshwater is the Managing Director and founder of Fresh Motors, a contemporary used car and commercial dealership based in Norfolk. After selling cars from his parents driveway to help pay his way through university, Jacob set up Fresh Motors in 2015 with a small commercial unit stocking 20 vehicles. In the five years since Fresh Motors have won many awards, Business Transformation of Year Highly Commended – Auto Trader Click Awards 2017, Rising Star Winner - Car Dealer Magazine Used Car Awards 2017, Rising Star Winner – Auto Trader Retailer Awards 2018, - Rising Star - Motor Trader Awards 2019 Finalist and most recently the Fastest Growing Dealer award at the Motor Trader Independent Dealer Awards 2019. Fresh Motors now operate across 2 sites, employ 8 staff and have over 100 vehicles in stock and are in the process of opening their service, repair and MOT facility.