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I tell the customers quite straight , take the car on current plate I'll deal with all the paper work / Plates ( If they live some distance make plates / ready drilled -to make it easy for them for fitting ) or if they're local to pop in when its complete and I'll for the plates ! For the odd one who wants the car after the plate I explain that it doesn't help cash flow and full payment is required ! No one has ever objected. Think if you explain it clearly most will be OK with it!

Yip, 100% correct and well pointed out, however remember Sales & turnover also include extended warranties and upsells and if you buy it at £2000 and sell it at £3000 then its the £3000 that goes towards the vat threshold ,so as I suggested it does't take long to get to the vat threshold especially if you are dabbling in £10k cars. But you are right " DO IT RIGHT AND SLEEP AT NIGHT" or as I always say "DO IT RIGHT OR NOT AT ALL" amen! But as SK Motors has now pointed out he his looking to go vat registered and trade from trade premises, so I'm sure you will join me in wishing him all the best in his future.

I think we all know which one it is... ...as long as he leaves you with a bank account full of cash and then does a disappearing act without showing you his magic wand!!

Amazingly the customer just phoned up !!! Asked if I remembered him and stated that we weren't too far away on price when he left (£1500 not far!!) Anyway with a bit of negotiation we did a deal at £14k. I didn't ask what happened to the 3 other cars he had printed off which he consider much better value then mine!! Not sure if its a case of a customer just not being very good at negotiating or having a 'head full of magic' and after looking at other cars reality set in.

My thoughts on this. We should encourage all levels of the motor trade. We have competition in all walks of life. We have it in the magazine world and I think it's healthy. That's not to say I would offer them advice on how to run their magazines. But I would offer advice to an aspiring motoring writer - and I do. If you don't want to offer advice to the new members on here, don't. Simple as that. If you want to encourage and help new businesses, then do. I don't care either way, all I care is that you all play nicely on here.

If you find a good one then it's quids in, but they are few and far between, I have mine from the local College, they actually came in to see us and see if we had space, but I would contact your local college direct as they have dedicated departments and are more than happy to help

Tell me Edward are your auctioneers different from the big boys whose auctioneers seem to take pleasure by bouncing bids of the walls and making you pay well over the odds for stock or do they do it like it should be done and work for both the vendor and the buyer?

Wheelerdealer1 we require proofs of address and proofs of a motor traders policy. Our main vehicles are 10 plate on wards so it wouldn't take long for someone to reach the VAT threshold.

SK, I wasn't aiming my comments at anybody in particular and apologies if you thought I was. You sound one lucky person though and a very understanding employer. I suppose I only have experience of the guys doing it near me. Our local steelworks recently made a load redundant and 1/2 dozen of them "set up" in the motortrade, no experience of the trade, no real clue of customer care, SOGA, legal responsibilities but it made our job very hard for a short while because they were quite happy selling a car to make £200 - no VAT, no tax, no warranty etc, and once they had the customers money that's where their interest ended. And one local guy that buys anything he can retail for under £1000 and sells it via facebook, classified adds etc and again has no interest post sale. So my comments were made with those in mind - as I said I first started off as a home trader after 20+ years in the motortrade. When setting up I also contacted my local council who assured me no planning was needed, but 6 months after setting up the local parish council started to take more of an interest and sure enough there is some precedent set and the battle started.......its still going on now some years later, I don't need it anymore but just out of my own pure pig headedness I'm taking it all the way.

When does a business need to be VAT registered?A business must register to pay VAT when the value of its taxable supplies exceeds the registration threshold (£82,000 per annum in 2015-16). Please note supplies = sales. Purchases do not come into it. Direct from HMRC So someone selling 40 cars a year at 2K a car would not need to be VAT registered. or combination of cars upto threshold. A dealer selling 30 cars per year at @ 2K and 3 cars @ 8K would require to be vat registered. We all hate paying VAT on repairs and costs then giving VAT Man 1/6th of profit. If someone trades from home, pays all taxes due, maintains vehicle and sell to a high standard I see no problem with them, as majority on here started that way. I did and proud of it. Problem is we have become a nation that must buy everything cheap. Thats why Lidle, Aldi and discount shops have been doing so well and customers expect it everywhere now. We even expect a great deal when we outsource a body repair or specialist engine repair none of us go for the highest price quote we go for reliability and ROI. Someone said earlier about trade only auctions I remember when Manheim did trade only auction weekly and had seperate auction days for Public or trade. Problem is like everything it comes down to cost. Why have all the staff required for a auction another day when you can fit it into the auction days you have. ROI again. However I do have a problem with side of road dealers no warranty and no inspection and sell quick for £200 profit whilst claiming unemployment and do not care if anyones child or family member gets killed in a unsafe car. 1 Guy round here change his trade name 3 times last year. BASICALLY DO IT RIGHT AND SLEEP AT NIGHT. TRADE ONLY FORUMS. THERE IS ONE ALREADY RUNNING. STARTED BY A RESPECTED INDEPENDANT DEALER. When breaking cars you must be registered with DVLA, COUNCIL and POLICE so why cant they run a register along those lines for car dealers, or say we must register with DVLA, Trading Standards & Police and get a registration number issued by those 3 Bodies, that we in turn have to place into our adverts. This would help when dealing with customers proving we are legally trading. That in turn should keep unscrupolous traders out. I have not set out to offend anyone and appologise if my thoughts have done so in any way. OOPS I think thats enough.