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What really peeves me off is the way everybody looks down on us in the motor trade as if we are scum of the earth and we'd sell your mother for a fiver. I've been speaking to a hell of a lot of Dealers from various parts of the country and of varying sizes explaining what I'm doing and the reasons behind it and I tell you what I have never spoke to so many Polite, Courteous, Respectful and Welcoming people for years. It's amazing how many of them share the same views as me, but what I really find encouraging is they all say enough is enough and instead of fighting each other are prepared to stand shoulder to shoulder to protect their livelihoods before it's too late. Speaking to them brought back the good old days where you could just chat for ages, build relationships, swap opinions everyone's head was between their bum's as they've had to lay staff off and take on more duties themselves to keep there head above water due to ever decreasing margins but they still had the time of day and respect for me. When they picked up the phone and I introduced myself the first thought that probably went through their head was "oh no not not another telesales call" by the time the call ended we'd laid the foundations of a long relationship to come. So IMO the days of "A True Gentleman or Woman of the Trade" aren't dead but instead making a comeback and I look forward to having a close prosperous close working relationship with you for many years to come.

Don't be put off applying to FCA. If you get stuck give them a ring as I found them really helpful and they even saved me a bit of money advising that what I was applying for wasn't needed just to offer car finance. Get yourself an afternoon free and just go for it, there's good commission to be made plus it helps sell more cars. I like you had to opt for izettle and never had an issue with them, it works well and 2 days later you have the money. You just have to work it a bit with the customer. If the monies sat in their account the majority are happy to do a bank transfer or pay cash and people paying on credit cards are quite prepared to pay the 2% charge so I rarely lost out. They seem to be the cheapest out there, although it is worth ringing a few of the merchant companies as they all have different rules.

Getting FCA regulated is a hassle and an expense but worth it in the long run. In the past certain brokers wouldn't deal with you if you didn't have a consumer credit license, I don't know if that has changed with the FCA regulations. Hopefully your experience in PLC Land will mean you understand the wording when applying to the FCA, I found it a different language as I think did many car dealers!!! The money you can make from finance commission should outweigh the FCA fees especially in the £5000 market as you will be able to undercut most the online lenders who only offer great rates if borrowing over £5k. As for you chip and pin rate is seems very expensive to me, I pay less then that taking over 10 times more.

I work in a small town with 5 car dealers, bit over kill for the size of the town and customers who come from far away always comment on how many there are and how do we all survive but from day one we've all worked together rather that going head to head with each other so all have a slightly differing stock profile, we all have a good chin wag when we see each other and will quite happily underwrite each others part exchanges or point customers in the right direction if they arrive at the wrong dealer which is quite different from the impression most folk have of the motor trade. I travel the country buying stock and I find most in the trade are polite, pleasant folk who enjoy there job and are not the type I started with in the motortrade 20+ years ago where sales staff would do anything to get the sale, maybe the modern world of the internet and sales of goods act changes have helped focus the mind a little from profit to customer care a little more? If I do come across an unfriendly type its normally some fake Rolex wearing sales manager at a main dealer, I came across the type a few weeks ago when collecting a car from dealer auction, kept us hanging around for 10 minutes while just chatting and laughing in an office with the other staff, came out and shouted around for somebody to help him (he only had to open the key cupboard, took the p155 out of the young service receptionist then made a big deal of telling us how busy they are and how much money they're making.