Its been drilled into me for 20 years, theres a reason why every company i've ever worked for has a strict stocking policy, is because it works. Cars don't go up in value, ( however I do put mine up in price sometimes ) so as far as i'm concerned I need to move it asap. We have had some real strange ones stick over the last year, a beautiful Green Cooper SD, up on miles but a lovely 1 owner example, great spec and beautiful condition, sat here without the door being opened for weeks, but that MY ££££ sat there, rotting, doing nothing, I need to make it work harder for me, thats my opinion. So I gradually kept creeping the price down and then all of a sudden, bang, the phone rings. 3/4 people interested in it. In my view, there is a man for every car, however you've got to find him, or more importantly, he's got to find you!!!! But it also has to be priced right. People these days are so price focussed, and without a showroom presence, we are destined to always be keenly priced until I fond my 30 car roadside pitch. We just don't have the space ( and funds ) to have cars sat around for weeks on end.... get the £££ back in the bank and get it invested in something else!
Don't get me wrong, I do premium price my stock for the first 10/14 days and splash it about on facebook. At the minute I have a 1 off, JCW thats been locally owned by a MINI Employee, best i've seen, and tastefully modified, so its priced way above market, i've been told its too expensive by the facebook experts ( the ones that can't afford it ) however i've had 4 enquiries on the car in the first 10 days and an appointment on it this morning.
We've also been bitten by being too proactive and advertising stock we don't own yet, like a PX coming in or an existing customer wanting to sell back to us after a few months, This happened the other day, we'd sold a JCW that was due to come in from a local guy, that we'd sold a few months back, he'd had a chance in circumstances and neede out of the car, we re advertised it before it came in, sold it first day and had everything lined up for the weekend. Friday comes, he calls me and says his wife can't part with it so they're keeping it..... ARGHHH 1 very p1ssed off customer on the other end, however its now our job to find her another car ( if there is one! )
But thats the way I work, it needs to be prepped, cleaned and advertised within 24/48 hours of it landing with us. Again in PLC world if my stock wasn't in, photo'd and on the pitch in 48 hrs you'd get fined. Unless it needed bodywork, which it was then 72 hrs. I advertise everything within minutes of buying it from auction, by pinching the auction ad pictures too. Just gets it out there as soon as physically possible.