Supercars Vs Used Cars: The Trade Off. Broadcast at 9pm on BBC 2 7thJanuary 2015

http://youtu.be/DrZPjeTXgII

This show took two used car salesmen from two very different car dealerships, one a budget dealership the other a supercar dealership and swapped them to see if they could sell cars at each other's dealerships.

They would swap where they work, their home towns and adapt there ways of living and working.

Darren Clough normally works at Compact Cars in Bridgend. This company is owned by Dave Clancy and they sell budget cars that range in price from £1,500 up to £6,000. They also operate a pay as you drive scheme for those that can't afford to pay outright. These cars are your everyday cars that people depend on made by Citroen, Ford and Volkswagen. 

Louis Leven is at the other end of the scale. Louis works at the Joe Macari Performance Car dealership in Wandsworth. Joe Macari is an ex racer with a passion for high end cars. Customers here will spend in excess of £500,000 just to buy a car as an investment. Cars for sale here include Ferrari, Maserati and Pagani.

Darren and Louis meet up at a service station to exchange information about what kind of cars they sell and other things about their lives. 

They then leave in each other's cars and make their way to their new tempory homes and places of work.

Upon arriving in London, Darren walks into a showroom of dreams. He has a quick interview with Joe Macari before being shown the stock. Darren is then taken to the archive room and shown the documents for each of the cars. Given the price tags of the cars, there is a lot of information as customers for this kind of car wants to know everything about it.

Darren is then assigned a Ferrari 250 Lusso that he has to learn about and sell to Joe Macari before he is allowed to sell cars to real customers.

With his research done Darren is then put to the test and Joe is happy to let him sell to his customers.

Upon arriving in Bridgend. Louis has a quick chat with owner Dave Clancy before being given a quick tour and put to work.

The pair struggle to get to grips with each other's ways of having to sell cars, Darren is unable to sell to Louis's wealthy car buyers and Louis approach is to soft to convince the buyers of Bridgend.

In order to help Darren, Joe Macari takes him to his restoration area where cars are brought back to their original condition. This shows Darren the passion and craftsmanship that goes into making one of these cars. Darren then went with Joe Macari to see an Aston Martin in need of restoration. Joe then asks Darren to negotiate a deal to buy the car. Darren was able to buy the car for £400,000 instead of the £425,000 asking price.

As the week goes on, Louis's sales technique adapts and he is able to sell cars to Bridgend customers.

Darren was unable to make a sale but came close on a few occasions. 

I think that this was a clever piece of television. It highlighted the difference in sales techniques needed to sell budget cars and supercars. It also highlighted lifestyle differences between Darren and Louis. Everyone featured in the programme came across as decent hardworking people.

Lastly I think that both Dave Clancy and Jo Macari were both very brave to allow the swap as they could have lost a lot of customers and money.