Used Car Wars: How online banter led to new TV show
We speak to the stars of a new TV show on Dave, which sees two car dealerships go head-to-head
A new TV show which pits two used car dealerships against each other has begun a five-week run on Dave.
Geoff Cox Used Cars and the now-defunct Caralot – both based in Derby – will compete over 10 episodes. Each instalment will see them try to sell a car in a week and make more money than their rival.
The show came about after production company Renegade Pictures contacted leading trade title Car Dealer Magazine to ask if they knew of any dealerships that had a public rivalry.
Sean Cantillon of Geoff Cox Used Cars said: “We had banter and we’d had some competitions on social media – just a bit of fun like burger eating, chilli-eating contests and we’d prank each other.”
Jamie Caple, former creative director at Caralot, said: “We certainly didn’t interact much with other dealerships, but we did with these guys and I think that’s what makes the show so good, because it’s real.”
Caple also noted that he was pleased that the show painted car dealerships in a positive light, saying: “Often shows are quite negative about the motor trade – the stereotype it has is very hard to shake off.
“But this shows us, we’re human beings, we have a laugh, but we still get the job done.”
Reality shows often come in for criticism for being staged, but both sides insist that in the making of Used Car Wars, everything that happened was genuine.
“It was very much grounded in reality,” said Caple. “All right, there would be little things where they’d need us to do it again, but it’s a genuine rivalry between two genuine businesses.”
“It was strict as well,” added Cantillon. “There was no messing around, you had to sell the car in that week or it didn’t count.”
Used Car Wars debuted on Wednesday March 15 at 8pm, with double-bills aired weekly.
