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This is the biggest real life change for us i think ... Big Mike is up in arms, he has no idea what he's going to use as a smoker anymore....

Gavin I asked that very question about having both cars insured at the same time to carry out a CT, but believe it or not since Dec 2013 we could get a car taxed at any post office without having valid insurance, it is no longer DVLA or the Post Offices responsibility to check for valid insurance it is the responsibility of the owner and driver of the car to ensure they are suitably insured before driving the car on the public highway. So for CT's there is no real change, down to the local PO with the green slip to get car road taxed then off with all the paperwork for the CT!! Jim

I was more born into it then being driven by a great love of cars. My Dad ran his business from a workshop at our home, he got me a pair of overalls when I was about 5 years old and within 5 mins I had fallen down the pit, the warning signs were there already that I wasn't cut out to be a mechanic !! Despite cars being all around me since birth I was more interested in school forming a love of 'Maths', basicly I was good and quick with numbers (but did enjoy getting taken to the RAC rally each year!!!). Then I must of been about 9 years old and Dad for some reason took me to a salvage auction (I don't Health and Safety would allow 9 years olds there now). It was here I was introduced to a small book called 'Glass's Guide' which was like number porn to me !! I was taught how to price up repairs, paint etc on the damaged cars, work out what it could be sold for etc etc From then on I would beg to be taken and I was fairly good at getting my prices right, cars and damage were more straight forward back then, no airbags etc etc. From repairing salvage he moved onto selling a few non damaged car so its was off to ADT Auctions (Now BCA), same result, Glass's Guides and me working out figures, prices etc and getting in fairly near to the sale price. So with this love of auctions and buying cars I knew there was only one job for me.......I wanted to be an accountant !!! I never made it as an accountant, my Dad bought a garage/petrol station in Devon when I was 16, I gave up days at school to help him run it, getting paid £30 a week for 60 hours work!! He then tried to teach me to be a mechanic ignoring all the warning signs over my 17 years that it wasn't for me. I was left handed for a start so did everything 'the wrong way round'. To call it a disaster would be an understatement. I ended up in Australia and New Zealand just to get away from him !!!! The only good thing was that I sold a few cars off the forecourt and learnt how to run a business. Once I returned to England I got a job for a Hyundai dealership then a big used car dealer in Bournemouth which gave me the best education in selling cars I could. Time moved on and I rented the forecourt at Dad's garage and started my own business then a year later took the workshop off him. That was 11 years ago and I've not looked back. For me its the buying and running a business rather then cars and the selling!!! Still think I would have been a good accountant !!!!

Interesting. So that's now THREE different interpretations. And yes Countryman, if true, it absolutely is outrageous. Maybe this should be moved to the Frauds & Scams thread?

You couldn't be more correct Wheelerdealer. The strange thing was, once i left school i really wanted to get into vehicle sales. I'd spent most of my youth reading about cars, learning facts and figures etc, but nowhere would employ me for "lack of experience". I must of applied to every sales centre in the county. So i actually gave up trying and took the job elsewhere. Its also strange how the weird choice of A levels i took. I picked random subjects that appealed, where most people were taking the courses needed to get onto a uni course, and nobody could understand why i'd picked them. Again, turns out i use and rely on most of them in the job today. Media, Law & Politics, Philosophy, Business, Economics & Accounting Funny how things have a way of working themselves out

Although online buying is a great step forward to widen the net, it relies on the seller being honest particularly if you are relying on an agent to collect the car. I've had some great buys ( better than expected) and some rip off's, where the seller hides behind the "i don't mechanically check the car". A broken clutch is fairly obvious i'd say ! Sill can't beat 'kicking the tyres'

There's currently a similar thread to this on the Auto Trader's 'Community' pages and they seemed to have gleaned some more information from the DVLA - most of which we seem to know, so I won't bother to copy and paste the whole thing here. However worryingly, the final Q&A relates to the point that I raised ages ago and their answer is as follows: If a car is "in trade" before 1st October 2014 and the current tax disc expires after 1st October, what will happen? Any taxed vehicle currently in the trade where the tax disc expires after 1st October, will result in the tax being terminated at the point the vehicle is sold to a new keeper. No refund will be paid if the vehicle is registered as disposed to trade. Only if the trader is registered as keeper will a refund be paid. My reading of this is that it appears that any vehicles that are 'in trade' (i.e. yellow slip sent off) and taxed will ceased to be taxed after the 1st October ONCE SOLD. In other words, the new keeper will have to tax it, however NO REFUND WILL BE MADE on the unexpired tax. Is it just me, or is this outrageous?

Or Golfs