Automotive Management Live has announced a series of expert speakers delivering talks at its Insight Theatre.

The one-day expo taking place on November 9 at Birmingham’s NEC will provide dealers with the opportunity to compare and contrast numerous suppliers across the sector and attend masterclass sessions covering topics such as online finance, digital marketing, live chat and the impact of customer reviews.

Three insight theatres will run throughout the day, focusing on current challenges facing the industry. The data section will cover the new General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) which come into force next year; in the F&I part, the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) forthcoming review is explored; and the used car theatre discusses 2016’s performance and highlights what could be in store for the market next year.

F&I

Andrew Smith, consumer credit director of FCA compliance consultancy Compliancy Services tackles the main issues currently on the regulator’s agenda, the likely outcome of the 2018 review and next steps based on similar reviews which have taken place in other sectors.

Data

The EU regulations GDPR could see dealers facing fines of up to €20 million (around £17.5 million) or 4% of a company’s global turnover and introduces much stricter rules.

Sponsors of the Data Insight Theatre, PKF Cooper Parry, will focus on cybercrime including how criminals try to damage businesses and how to protect systems against cyber-attack and the new GDPR the way dealers will have to collect, store and process data in the future.

Dan Moore, PKF Cooper Parry’s director of IT consultancy, who will be speaking at the event, said: “The vast scale of the implications of this legislation is not yet fully understood and more thought must be given to the way in which the many layers and multiple parties involved in purchasing a vehicle will manage that data under the new rules.”

Jenai Nissim, legal director, data protection and privacy, of law firm TLT, will focus on the compliance requirements of GDPR and highlight the practices dealers should be putting in place in preparation.

Used cars

Research from review site and insight theatre sponsor Trustpilot and the Centre for Economics and Business (Cebr) predicts around a fifth of all cars sold will be done so online by 2027. This session explores consumer attitudes to reviews, trends and provides guidance on ways to monitor, manage and respond to consumer comment as reviews.

Experts from Cap HPI will take a closer look at the used car market performance in 2017 and influencing trends for 2018. They'll explore opportunities such as the expanding used ULEV market and the consumer’s move away from diesel.

 Automotive Management Live is free to attend for dealers and manufacturers with pre-online registration.