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Out of interest Chris how many cars do you advertise on AT, I found that it was costing me on average £400 to £500 per sale in advertising costs with AT ie monthly advertising with AT £3500 and only 6 guaranteed sales from it, others said they saw on AT but also saw on motors e bay etc, so working on £1000 margin, give vat man £200 AT £500 that leaves £300 for prep etc so nothing left in pot, Since leaving AT we sell almost as many cars but the advertising spend per car is under £100 and because we are not competing to be on page 1 our margin has also crept up, and not as much stress when some computer kid tells you that your stock is overpriced and you need to just order a showroom full of white golfs at under book etc.

Thats fair enough, but if the cars put to trade it will show as "no current registered keeper" which any ANPR equipped cop car will flag and pull you. You will be expected to give a good reason for this, as because their whole system of tracking motorists is undermined like this, so they take it very seriously.

OK, so we need a smoker for the weekend. We've got one with a cheapie road tax amount and I've just gone on the DVLA 'renew my tax' website. I clicked the 'i don't have the V11 reminder' link, ticked 'new keeper' and it asks for the 12 digit ref no from V5C/2 (same as the 11 digit ref no from main V5 with extra first digit). As an experiment, I entered the number but with a different first digit - made no difference - still carried on as normal. Entered payment card details and got confirmation. Nowhere was I asked to make sure the full V5 with keeper change is sent to the DVLA. So I won't. Got Email confirming the same. Checked vehicle status on DVLA website - still showing as untaxed, but message says it may take up to 5 days(!) for details to update. What have we learned? The 12 digit code from the V5C/2 is an irrelevance. If you have the main V5 (or even a copy) you can pretend to be a new keeper by just adding a random digit to the front of the number on that. The DVLA database does not update in real time, even if you tax a vehicle directly with them. Which renders it kind of pointless. I would assume that the balance of the tax will therefore be transferred to an actual new keeper when the car is eventually sold, as the DVLA have been told that there is a new keeper and when the main V5 is sent off, the details should all join up. So we'll see what happens.

Oh dear. And I thought we were like-minded. We'll have to undo that high five.

Who is this twat ? https://carbuyerhelp.wordpress.com/about/

We know what your px is worth, honestly we do ! We know how our car is priced against others in the market, we honestly do! When you tell us you are looking at another car we will find that car online! We will then know that it's a year older, 2000 miles less but £800 more. When you tell us you think you car has done about 60k miles we know it has done more ! We also have families and children, so when you phone us on Sunday afternoon don't be surprised that we can't give you a px price within seconds When you meet us at a Christmas party and ask us what we do, we know you will say the word 'dodgy' within 30 seconds! We also don't want to talk about you 02 plate Jag X Type all night, if you try don't be surprised to see us drink to excess. We haven't a drink problem it's just that you are boring us! We can tell when your lying, we honestly can!

Hi WD, james has just pointed me to this. I spent 10 years in the industry advising and working with Finco's, courts etc. I won't go over the number one rule about never buying before you HPI, you know that, but thats always the golden rule.. So, to the issue. Firstly you need to verify that this is a Bill of sale agreement ( the legal term for a log book loan), you are correct that there are differences in how these work, but despite what the BBC have suggested, these are just as likely to be registered with HPI as any other loan. Although the finco has more protection with a bill of sale, recent government review has put them under pressure to work with dealers in situations like this. Sadly, they probably will have title to the car and if it was registered with HPI then we don't have the option to take the route that it wasn't registered. So, its all down to negotiating with the finco. They are only entitled to their original value, so its worth trying to negotiate this down, it may be that they have added fees etc. which you can get taken from the balance to reduce the amount owed. The only glimmer of hope here is that you have been talking to the debtor and you can ask why they have not repossessed the car already if the debt had gone bad, it may be of course that the debtor has moved. They are obliged to go after the debtor for this, but sadly as you now have the vehicle and they know where you are they will take the path of least resistance, you. My advice, store the car somewhere safe while you negotiate, otherwise they could, and probably will, just turn up and take it back... Legally, your customer did not have legal title to the vehicle to sell to you, so you can pursue him for wrongful conversion ( the legal term). However it sounds like he may not be worth very much and you could just be throwing money away. So in summary, Try to get the finco to go after the debtor ( give them his details). Negotiate with them on the value, tell them the car is stored somewhere and you are happy to go to court, this may encourage some negotiation, but if they play hardball you are holding their property, however they will have to provide you with proof of their interest ( which i'd be interested in seeing to see if there is a way out). Lastly, work out if your customer is worth pursuing. if you can get this sorted for £2k, its probably just an expensive lesson, legal fees would be significant in this. Drop me an email, i'm happy to review any documentation you have and give you any help i can Andy