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Same here. I'd never have someone begin a journey to get halfway there and let down - that's a recipe for a bad review and bad karma. I think explaining, if they can't make it until later that week, that it will remain for sale and for them to call you on the day to confirm they're still coming and the car is still available is a nice halfway house.

Everything's still for sale until you're holding a deposit. If tomorrow's customers were that keen, they'd have either come over straight away or paid a holding deposit over the phone. The only time I'll hold a vehicle is when someone's traveling from a distance in which case I'll ask them to call us once they're leaving to let me know they're on their way at which point I will hold it for them until they arrive.

We offer a reservation fee service. £100 reserves the car for you until an agreed time/day. I confirm this to them in an email so that there's no confusion. In the 2 years i've been independent, I've refunded 3 reservation fee's as people have changed their mind/or some other BS excuse. No skin off my nose, and keeps people happy. We have had on several occasions, people not want to leave a reservation fee ( no problem, but don't shout at me if its gone ) and then just turn up and be disappointed that its sold, I did warn you, this is my job you know, to sell stuff! I had one the other month, Customer 1 is constantly on the phone, email, text saying he wants a lovley Silver Coupe we have, and i'll have a reservation fee later in the day. Sends me £1 to make sure his bank will send the transfer over.... then I get an existing customer ( Customer 2 ) come in with his partner on handover and he decides to buy said Lovely coupe... SOLD. The customer 1 then emails saying i'm going to send the reservation fee..... oops, sorry mate, its gone. He went mental, proper winging and moaning to me about customer service etc... I sent him back his £1 and apologised, but until we have £100 in the bank, its still for sale. ANYWAY.... I then smash the rear bumper on the car as I was rushing about so i send him a picture of it to say, hey guess what, I pranged this car so guess you can have a laugh at me.. He saw the funny side and apologised for being a duche bag. I said i'd look for another one for him. Fast forward 3 weeks, Mr 2nd customer calls me and says, i've seen another Lovely Coupe Cooper S on your website that I love, will you have this one back in PX... Yes sir I will, I call customer 1 and deal him on the customer 2's px ( the original Lovely coupe ) for the same price as before even though it was an extra owner and make a tidy sum on both deals too. Happy days. THEN 3 weeks ago, customer 2 comes in on spec and buys my oldest car in stock and px's his beauty of a Cooper S Coupe that I sold within 24 hrs..... Love Mr Customer 2!! - in fact I might give him a bell......

Yes heard about the battery on those, I ve never had a 500 in stock apart from an abarth and every 500 I see has a door handle missing.

she will be back with faulty external door handles next, almost every 500 I have had the handles broke, you can buy just the hinge bit off flea bay though saving a tidy sum and once you have fit one the next one is an easy job.

Think of it like this as as well because I used to be a bit like you back when we first started. Now we are more established we get a lot of walk on customers. I think around 60% of customers we have had no contact with ( email / phone / facebook / carrier pigeon) . They just turn up. Lets say its 9am and I get a call from someone who says is the X5 still for sale thinking of coming round a bit later. Yes it is. I always ask them are they coming a long way, do they want to secure the car with a £100 holding deposit, all my adverts mention the deposit and all my videos mention the deposit. This sorts out the men from the boys and the serious ones travelling from London, or booking a flight from Aberdeen will do it. Lets say 10:30 I open office door someones looking at X5 likes it and says I want it mate, let me pay the asking price and I will even buy it on finance netting you a nice bit of commission. Do I say -'nah sorry mate, some guy called earlier' or do I say ' Old out yer hand geezer'. If a few hours later the original caller turns up to view it and finds out its sold I do not feel bad, not even for a second because they had the choice for it not to be like that. Simple.

mistermuttley, no chance at all cos punters nowadays do not give a toss about you, your business or your family finances. EVERYTHING is for sale until I have a deposit. I make appointments ON THE DAY "phone me when you're setting off" but even then I sometimes add "it's first come, first served". How many times has some pure time-wasting c*** promised you "I'm coming to buy" only to either let you down or come & f*** you about then say they've got 5 more to see. Sorry if this seems extreme but I'm trying to get my point across - it's a war out there & the spoils are hard to come by. Serious punters will get their arses into gear. F*** those who are left behind, most of them will usually get the silver medal anyway cos they piss about.