In this Green Element Podcast episode, host Will Richardson and interviewer (Speaker C) sit down with Andrew Dickens, founder of Simplicity Cars, a UK‑based car brokerage that aims to make buying a vehicle—from first cars to dream cars—as easy and ethical as possible. Andrew explains his purpose: removing the pain and confusion of car selection for individuals and small fleets, while operating with transparency in an industry often lacking ethics. He highlights "extreme ownership" as his business super‑power, taking responsibility for any issues that arise—whether supplier delays, tyre problems, or customer concerns—by providing immediate solutions and clear communication. Andrew describes how he builds relationships with dealers and customers through personal, conversational engagement rather than a transactional sales script. A key challenge he faces is maintaining ethical pricing; he refuses to adopt a sliding‑scale model based on vehicle price, insisting that his service fee remains consistent regardless of whether a client is buying a Smart or a Bugatti. This stance underscores his commitment to purpose‑driven, sustainable business practices. He advises listeners to love what they do and to embrace extreme ownership, urging entrepreneurs not to accept the status quo or blame external factors. The episode concludes with Andrew sharing his contact details (simplicity-cars.co.uk, email, phone, live‑chat) and inviting listeners to reach out for advice on new or even used cars. The sponsor message at the start promotes 51tocarbonzero.com, a tool for simplifying carbon‑emission reporting for CFOs and boards.
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Welcome to Green Element Podcast.
Thank you very much for joining us, Andy. Um, yeah, so to introduce yourself to our listeners and viewers, could you tell us a bit about your business, name of your business, and what is it that you do?
Perfect. Yeah, thanks for inviting me along. Um, so I'm Andy, I run Simplicity Cars, and what I do is make it easy for people to find from their first car to their dream car Anything in between, I just try and make it easy for them and try and help them out.
Oh, nice. And as ethically as possible, I believe.
Absolutely, yeah. Car industry is not an industry known for its ethics or its transparency, so I take pride in actually bringing that to the party because not everybody will.
I look forward to hearing more. So what would you say your purpose is and who you work with?
So I can work with individuals or companies. So if they've got a small fleet, for example, my purpose is to take away that pain from people. I have worked in retail car sales. I know just how hard it is for some people and also for time and energy and trying to help them make the right choice. So there's so much choice out there in vehicles. Sometimes people overlook something that's maybe a little bit greener or a little bit more efficient and say, listen, by the way, I know you're thinking about this, but there's an alternative that might And what would you say your business superpower was? Thinking outside the box, whether that's extreme ownership on if there's a problem, the buck stops with me, even if it's maybe a problem that's come from the manufacturer, being able to think on my feet with that. So if there's a problem with a vehicle anywhere along the line, is being able to think and do that thinking for people. And again, quite A lot of people will just look at it as, oh well, it's not my job to sort that. I don't believe in that at all.
And you mentioned extreme ownership. What do you mean by extreme ownership?
So that's that whole, whether the problem, like I've had supply problems with a vehicle, and it's taking ownership of that. So it's not my fault something's been delayed in the factory, but coming up with the alternative and not just accepting, well, oh well, it's the manufacturer's fault, Or, oh well, it should be covered but it's not. So delays in production, you know, it's taking ownership of that and being able to give people alternatives or say, listen, you know what, here's what's happening. I've done it for clients where they had a puncture. Their plan had the tyres and maintenance built in, so in reality it should have been up to the funder to sort out a tyre. However, it was a Saturday. They were in Edinburgh for a couple of days and then going back home. So I took ownership and said, "You know what? Let's get the spare tire on." I know it's supposed to get X, Y, and Z done, but they are saying it's going to be about a week before they could have got a tire, and it would have been driving around with the spare tire for a while. I just basically took their wheel, sorted the tire, gave them it back, took their time. They kept their time. I used my time, and for me, that's really important—is that people get to keep. their time and I can use mine doing what I do.
So maybe in a nutshell, I could summarize it as you care.
Yeah, totally. And that is very rare in my industry.
That is sad.
That's sad to hear, isn't it?
Yeah.
So can you tell us a bit about how you engage your suppliers and customers with your mission and purpose?
Yeah, suppliers, there's plenty of different dealership groups, branches, things like that. So the people that I will try and work with are people that I can get on with. So if I can get on with somebody in a dealer group, I know that they'll be the kind of people to help me and I can bring what I do to the party. I can speak to them the way that I would expect and get more honest answers from them than maybe some of the other dealers that are out there. And I bring that to customers by speaking to them, by bringing my personality to it, not just a sales process, not a dump dump that you go through box A, B, and C. It's actually having a chat and having a conversation with somebody Whether that's my face-to-face customers or through the website, you know, it's that personal connection to them and explaining to people, listen, do you know what, what makes— and getting excited for people when I'm working with them makes a huge difference rather than it just being, oh yeah, you're ordering this car, this is what it does. I get excited for people.
It's a big purchase. It's a, you know, it's one of the biggest purchases someone's going to make in their life, isn't it?
Yeah, absolutely.
Mm-hmm.
It's huge. And so I'm a massive— part of why I do what I do is I'm a massive petrolhead. I love my product, but I know not everybody else will love my product. So I can get excited and say, listen, I've found detail A, B, and C that makes this vehicle perfect for you, and get excited. And I love hearing from people, they've got a car and they're delighted by it. That's my number one factor over anything else, is I want my customers to be really excited and happy when that vehicle arrives.
Okay, when it comes to running an ethical and sustainable business, what has been your biggest struggle so far, and can you tell us a bit about how you've overcome it?
A little bit. So the one that gets me is quite often I'll get told, oh well, if it's a more expensive car, you should get— so I get paid by the supplying dealers, my clients don't pay me anything for my service, and there's been on more than one occasion people are saying, oh, you should have a sliding scale for the depending on how expensive the vehicle is, you could make more, 'cause— and I'm like, no, it's not about that. It shouldn't matter whether you're looking at the cheapest car that I can offer. So let's say you're looking at a Smart to a Bugatti, it shouldn't matter what car you're looking at for what that— what's built into it, basically.
Mm-hmm.
And biggest challenge with that is, yeah, I probably could make more than I do, but I make— I can make sure I can run the business efficiently and sustainably on what I feel comfortable being paid. And that's a big thing, is everybody will say, oh, but you could make more. And I'm like, well, it's not just about that. You know, that's what makes a big difference to people, is knowing, hang on a minute, here's somebody that's doing something that they're passionate about. Yeah, we understand he's getting paid, but we also understand that actually he's not overcharging.
A purpose-driven business.
Yes. Absolutely.
If there's one piece of advice you could give to our listeners, what is it that you could give them?
Love what you're doing. I know it's possibly maybe one of these cheesy things, but absolutely, if you're doing something that you love and enjoy and are passionate about, that comes through for people and that brings the purpose here. But, you know, if you can be purposeful about that passion in your business, it's fantastic. And yeah, don't be— I love the whole idea of extreme ownership. Don't be afraid to take ownership of everything in your business. Don't accept, oh well, it's always been the way, or, oh well, such and such failed, so it's their fault. No, the buck stops with you.
Okay.
Yeah.
Well, what's the best way we can connect with you and learn more? So anything, do you have a website? Do you have any kind of marketing material that you'd be able to give to people if they want to learn more about Simplexity?
Yeah, easiest way, get in touch with me directly. My website is simplicity-cars.co.uk. This is great, I've got it on my sleeves so people ask for my email address. So yeah, simplicity-cars.co.uk, you will find my email on there, my telephone number. I'm totally approachable, and also there's a live chat widget on there, so if you just want to pick my brains, and I am more than happy to help people with advice. You know, that's about what I, you know, I can give people advice. I don't necessarily do used cars, I specialize in new, but you know what, even if people want advice on something used, I will happily help if I can. So yeah.
Thank you very much for being on today. Thank you very much.
Thank you for inviting me. Cheers.
Thanks so much for listening. We created this podcast for you, so we'd really appreciate any feedback you want to give us. You can do that by rating and reviewing on your favorite podcast, or for iTunes, visit www.greenelement.co.uk/apple. If you'd like to keep in touch, then we invite you to join our free Facebook community, which is everything to do with sustainable and ethical business. Lots of daily conversations, themes, and great ideas.
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If you open Facebook and search for The Green Element, hit the group search function, we will let you right in. All of the show notes, any links, any references to the— on this podcast will be featured on our website greenelement.co.uk. As a special thank you for listening, please head over to www.greenelement.co.uk/podcast2018 and you can pick up a free guide on how to green up and environmentalize your business or organization. That's greenelement.co.uk/podcast2018. Finally, I would like to thank Ben Chatwin for writing the fantastic opening music He is an amazing artist with a phenomenal following. It was a privilege he said yes to even write it for us. We look forward to seeing you next week and hope you have a wonderful day.
