They are now offered by every self-respecting car dealer. For ordinary people, is this invented, or is it for the elite working in international corporations?
Translated into our language, corporate programs are just sales of cars not to an individual, but to a legal entity. With various pleasant things like discounts, service benefits and shiny trinkets. Although there are certain differences in such a service.
Along with the mobile phone and insurance
About ten years ago, a friend of mine, who got a job at a reputable American company, told me that in the "personnel department" he was given two keys on one ring. One is personal, from the restroom, the other with the Ford logo. The contract gave him the right to use a personal car from the garage of the corporation. That is - a corporate car. And, as you know, the best car is the one that your company provides for free.
Better times have come to our land. Over the past year or two, the size of social packages at large foreign and Russian companies has grown by no less than a third. Now, trying to get a good specialist, you can’t manage with money alone. A study by PricewaterhouseCoopers shows that the company car has moved from the category of exclusive privileges to top managers to the top ten most sought-after corporate ones for middle management. Along with a paid mobile phone and medical insurance.
Mid-level managers change jobs frequently. So, as he quit, the car key goes to his place. So that employers have less trouble and come up with corporate programs. At first they spread to the West, and about ten years ago they appeared in our country too.
- Automotive corporate programs are directly related to stability. First of all, of course, economics,”said Sergey Ryabov, manager of the Corporate Client Relations Department of Independence (official dealer of Volvo, Land Rover and Ford). - Since about 2001, there has been a sharp demand for corporate programs. I don’t presume to give exact numbers, but it’s obvious that on average over the year the number of machines sold through these programs increases by about 30%.
A curious thing is noted by car dealers: annually corporate programs are most in demand from October to December. Everything turns out to be simple: budgetary organizations, saving in the old fashioned way in the first half of the year and even further, in the fourth quarter they catch on and try to quickly “lower” all the allocated state funds. To not cut back next year.
At Ford dealers, government agencies generally can count on additional preferences (also a buzzword). For additional discounts, that is. Ford's policy here is understandable - a state-owned company provides state guarantees when applying for a loan to buy a car. "Ford" in general always seeks to cooperate with government agencies of countries where there are his cars (and they are everywhere). And in Russia, Ford dealers opened the first corporate programs.
WHAT ELSE IN THE PROGRAMS
In theory, substantial discounts on these programs start with the fifth car purchased from one dealer. But it turned out that the question of how many cars a company must have in order to fall under the category of "corporation" is tactless. So in any case, they commented on my curiosity at US Impex.
“Of course, in order to count on serious discounts, you need to purchase several cars at once or within a certain period of time,” explains the head of the department of this company, Kirill Andriyanov, for the basics of corporate sales. - In general, the essence of any program is the work of a personal manager with each corporate client. As you know, only selling a car is not limited. The corporate program also includes after-sales service. You can figure out what the percentage of discount is five or six, but this is a fortune-telling on coffee grounds. For example, for the period of servicing our corporate Volvo, we generally strive to provide a replacement machine. At Jaguar, such a service is taken for granted. If the corporation prefers to keep in its fleet, for example, the much more widespread Ford, then theoretically such a service is not provided. But, again, every corporate client is special.
According to approximate estimates of US Impex (and the numbers are growing daily at the end of this year), now they have about one and a half thousand corporate clients, and only for incomplete 2005 this figure increased by 20%. And all the dealers we interviewed are convinced that growth will continue in the coming years.
In another company, Avtosafazh, Ford has been engaged in corporate programs since its inception in 1996. It is also noted here that the growth of such sales has especially increased in the last year.
“We have been working with many clients on such programs for a long time,” says Maxim Kozlov, head of the department. - Any legal entity can become a corporate client. Another question is the proposals that we will make to the client in each case. It all depends on the corporate policy of this company, on the brand of car being purchased, on the number of cars. It can be free options during inspection. For example, for maintenance, up to 100 thousand kilometers. Or special leasing terms.
