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After reading Umesh's post about smaller independents I thought I'd ask the question: Are you guys busy at the moment? Personally I've had a few pieces of good stock priced very well and sat with me for a while now, no time wasters, just no interest at all. I bumped into another small independent dealer locally yesterday and he reported the same, the phone is a little quiet right now. Is it holiday season a bit early or what's going on?

Future of the 'SMALLER' independents Looking and reading all the articles it seems the bigger are getting bigger , and the smaller are getting swallowed up by the big guys! or going bust! so what happens to us ? the smaller independents ! what is the future ? will be survive ? are we all just surviving and paying the bills ? Are we all making sufficient to keep re investing or just about hanging on ..for another year? Seems a very mixed picture out there, most who do admit the 'truth' are saying are going from month to month- year to year and cannot see a rosy future , it pays the bills ! So who can help -if anyone ? is it getting the right cars from the right place at the right price? is it the marketing platforms and that they could be bringing more leads /sales for less costs? is the small independent doomed or is there ways to change and its going to be the 'RISE' of the small independents ! Any thoughts ?

It's quiet in the van job also and to be honest it has been all year. The only thing that I can put it down to in the van job is that now we're coming out of recession all of the builders, plumbers etc who've been struggling since getting laid off in 2008/09 are now getting jobs cards in with the big boys and a company van included. No worries or hassle about having to find jobs to pay the bills just turn up, build something, get paid and go home. Now these big companies buy their vans new on lease so therefore contribute to the record new van sales that we hear about and create a shortage of customers for us smaller dealers. Now as for the car job IMHO it may be quiet not just because of the seasonal holidays arrived early but after seeing used cars prices going up every month for the past four years (we all know who's to blame for this) and record people buying cars on finance have we come to the point where secondhand cars are just simply to expensive and not value for money. The gap between a secondhand model of their choice and a brand new one is only a few pounds per month extra over a longer term. This would explain the record new car sales and the quietness in the second hand market. I could be talking a load of tosh but I'm sure a few of you out there agree with me.

How nice it must be to make that sort of margin instead of £500 - £800 on a £10000 investment and having to guarantee it for a length of time and not get away with treating your customers like dog dirt, even though some of ours treat us like it.