Leaderboard

With a private buyers hat on I would think twice about buying from a private address, if it was a focus sold from a 3 bed house for 10k then I'm not sure I would buy. However if it's a nice detached house with plenty of ground and out buildings wooden barn style selling ferraris and Porsches then it would be acceptable to me.

ive worked from home,bad purchases get in the way and you can end up playing butterflies moving cars round,worse thing is customers certainly do turn up when they want my record was selling a car at about 11.30 pm on a friday night to a bloke,this was all 25 years ago i would never go back to selling other than one car at a time at home in retirement to help pay for new walking sticks remember customers will turn up as Phil H says on a sunday whilst you are in your undercrackers rodgering the wife good luck and lets hope you have a strong marriage

I have to agree with Yourself and Umesh as I've done both. I currently have a pitch but will be closing it at the end of the month to start a new venture. the thought of trading from home again to keep a few pennies coming in whilst the new venture takes off did cross my mind then I remembered things like answering the door in a towel only to be greeted by the local trading standards officer following up on a complaint made by a customer who had some work done off his own back and wanted me to pay for it, or when the job goes quiet and you can't move for stock, You need understanding neighbours and a partner for that. My advice would be if you do decide to trade from home make strict boundary's like what's work space / home space, working hours i'e no seven day weeks, late viewing by prior appointment only etc. Make sure you take time out with your family to enjoy and a good work life balance like you do with having a pitch. Home to me is somewhere to spend time with family and loved ones not with strangers who I don't know. You have to way up the financial savings against getting the home work balance right. IMHO Answer this question honestly to yourself and then you'll know if you can keep to the boundary's and make working from home successful. Sunny summers afternoon, it's been dead all week so you decide to entertain some friends in the garden, the drinks are flowing and you're having a real good laugh enjoying you're home life. The door bell rings, you answer and a man says "sorry to bother you but I tried ringing and couldn't get through I only live down the road so I thought I'd pop round on the off chance that you're in as my cars just packed up and I need one for work tomorrow". Is your answer I'm sorry but now is not a convenient time if you leave me your address and number and I'll bring it to your house first thing in the morning? or Come in which one is it I'll just go and get the keys? Good Luck with whatever you decide

Umesh i agree in some ways but the property i am looking at has a large side plot which could be kept seperate from the house in a way. Also it sits around 100ft back from the road behind 8 ft gates so no one can just come and knock at the door. The biggest pro for me is saving around £1200 per month in rent for my pitch which more than covers the mortgage on the house. The business would have to downsize a bit but i still see it as a no brainer if its possible with permissions etc. To be honest the way dealers are moaning and groaning lately about stock turnover reducing and margins getting slimmer i can see this being the way forward for many traders who are able to do it.

Personally I'd avoid working from home - I feel you need to have a break away , I wouldn't like customers coming to my home - Home is home & Business is business, especially if you have an issue with a car and they turn up at your home middle of the night demanding ! There are both pros and cons guess you have to decide what you really want ! good luck

I get packets of them from Ebay - 20 for about five or six quid They do the job, no complaints yet.