Eric Burnett
I’m Eric Burnett. I’ve been in the finance industry in Australia for the last 15 years and have over 18 years of experience retailing cars in the UK. I explain the tricks dealerships sometimes use and give you tactics to get the best deal. I also explain all angles of buying a car to ensure you get the best deal. Not just with the finance.
I have seen many horror stories from sellers and buyers, and I want to help as many people as possible before they make the same mistakes.
Let’s cut to the Chase. I’m self-employed, and I work on Commission only, so that makes me a salesman. I want your business, but only if it is right for you. I have been fully transparent with each client over the phone over the years, so I figured I could put my honest views on a website to help more people. I don’t charge for phone calls or emails, so feel free to reach out if I have not covered your situation or if you are not a big fan of reading. My fees are lower than other brokers and dealerships.
After leaving school, I worked with my parents, brother and sister for 18 years, helping to operate a successful small independent used car dealership in Bolton, England (burnettcars.co.uk). I loved this job, I got on well with my family (and still do), and we had an excellent reputation in the area. My roles included buying cars, retailing cars, advertising cars and, of course, organising finance. The business operated in an old-school ethical style, with no high-pressure sales. We just did deals that were fair to everyone. Instead of contracts, we just used handshakes.
I then came to Australia and started working in a franchised dealership. It was the first time I had worked in a professional sales environment. It opened my eyes. To be fair, the team I worked with were great people. They had a job to do and did it very well. The income involved blew my mind.
I had come from a dealership retailing up to 800 cars per year. The only people on the sales team were my dad, my mum, my brother and myself. We managed all the buying, cleaning, advertising, sales, finance, service and warranty work, the three full-time mechanics and three full-time detailers, apart from my sister, who managed the office. That was it.
I arrived at the dealership, and there was a Dealer principal, a new car manager, a used car manager, another 6 in sales, an aftercare manager, a service manager, a workshop manager, a workshop foreman, 6 more mechanics, two full time in Admin, one person in service, another in parts, two detailers, a receptionist and myself, doing the finance.
After a few months of being in the country and a week of training, I was officially their business manager. It still staggers me how much it must cost to run a dealership compared to our family business. The one I was at was lucky to sell 500 cars per year.
Every department has a target and KPIs to meet that are discussed in the regular sales meetings.
As with any sales process, targets are in place to sell certain products. This style of selling went against everything my amazing parents taught me.
In 2009, I left the dealership and studied to become a finance broker. I liked this move because I had no more KPIs and targets. I also enjoyed helping all of my clients, many of whom I can call true friends.
The proven strategies worked well for me as a broker. I’d ring a lead and ask a few simple questions. I’d then pretend to contact several finance companies and call the client back 20 minutes later with the same information I had on a spreadsheet on the first call. The second call was a sales ploy to build a stronger bond and make the client think you have worked hard for them. It took up a lot of my time and the clients. But it works. The extra calls are proven to convert more leads into deals, so the same systems are still in place today. I understand it from a corporate point of view – Advertising isn’t cheap, so they must maximise every opportunity.
I am easy to get along with, creative, and I make things happen, so in very little time, I progressed off leads because of my reputation for making things happen and finding innovative ways to put deals together.
2018, I met a fantastic woman I’m grateful to call my wife. She firmly believes in karma, which rubbed off on me. She is financially stable, so that took the pressure off me. I ended up making a brave move. I started giving the best advice possible to everyone I spoke to, not just my current clients. Having honest conversations regularly gave me much more enjoyment than any money I could have gained by putting a deal together that would benefit me more than a client. I am also grateful to my parents for teaching me about ethics.
This gave me a whole new passion for my work. I genuinely enjoy helping clients and giving them the best help I can provide. The way I see it is simple. If someone trusted me enough to call me for a quote, I’d return the favour and tell them about all the available options. Regularly, they would go elsewhere if I found them a better alternative without using me, and I still see that as 5 minutes well spent.
My system worked. I started climbing the ladder again, and it felt much better this time. My honesty created a loyal following. But the company I was with had old software and didn’t give me access to all the finance companies I wanted. So, I launched FinanceBroker.Ai to provide me with a platform to share some truths and transparency about the industry that I regularly discuss with people over the phone.
A big corporate company could not be as transparent with its clients as I am. I have calculated that my transparency costs me about 60% of the business I’m trained to do. But if I am not doing the right thing by the client, I would rather not have their business.
People find it refreshing to be presented with the best options for the client and not the person selling them something.
I share as much information as transparently as possible in the Questions and Answers section. Everyone’s situation is different. There are a lot of scenarios, and I give each side as clearly as I can.
I now have got some fantastic software. It feels like I have returned a video cassette to Blockbusters and walked away with a Netflix account. It saves me so much time and makes the process quicker for everyone so I can charge less for my service. When you look at the quote tool, you just enter a few details and notice full transparency about all the available loans for your profile, showing the lenders in the market and their costs and fees. I even show the comparison rate, The rate that matters and the one not many mention.
If you are still interested, I’ll tell you some more about my family that I am very proud of. My younger sister and her family also moved over to WA in 2008. She was my assistant in my previous finance broker position for eight years. She left to join her husband in a business called Ceramico in Rockingham. They sell tiles and, bathrooms, etc. They are doing well, and their Google reviews reflect their hard work.
My parents came to WA on a retirement visa in 2016. They love it here. My mum is involved with a charity called Team Fred. It helps the local families in need in Secret Harbour and the surrounding area. My parents, along with a few others, have invested many hours and raised a considerable amount of money.
In 2018, my brother Paul and his family arrived on a business visa. He had just moved from the family car sales that the business started in 1968 with my dad and Grandad. And he set up again in Rockingham. I have worked with him for almost two decades in Bolton (near Manchester). And it is great to share an office with him again. I am so proud of how he operates. He is the hardest-working person I have ever known, and he is also a believer in Karma, so he is easy to trust and deal with.
I hope this website has given you something of value. The more people this helps, the better.
Kindest Wishes
Eric