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ME= "test drive is no problem, i have trade plates and insurance for that, i can assure you it drives spot on but just one important question so that we don't waste each others time [ mine] are you willing to leave a deposit on it when we come back ? " them= "gotta have a word with the wife" "three more to look at" "need to check insurance" fo

You need a good couplle if bodyshops to use. Unfortunately with bodyshops as you grow and start selling nicer cars or having more stock about you a lot of them will think you are raking it in and want to start taking the piss with charging for jobs or letting standards go. Its always worth spreading the work across a couple of places to keep them in check IMO. Never be too dependent on any one company in this job.

600 to 1200 - it was only lacquer peel but to lose edges had to flat more than I hoped, hence taking out base coat. Then 2k the whole boot (I try and clear coat whole panels where possible, saves a lot of fade out and mopping). You can make good money and I enjoy doing the odd car of my own but it's no fun (for me) doing 2-3 every day, for ever and a day. I have fewer than 10 cars at the moment, so have the odd few hours most days where I can turn my hand to repairing my own cars when perhaps there isn't enough in a car to justify outsourcing or the affected area is so minimal. On the other hand, I am happy to outsource valeting, that is serious graft for less than 50 notes. I also outsource all mechanicals and PDI because I am not a mechanic. Successful? no, happy? extremely

One of the the first questions I ask people when they ring is to ask where they are in their car buying journey. Have they tried other makes, are they set on xyz or have they kept an open mind etc. It gives me a clue what to expect. Some people are ready to buy some are not. I try to avoid the “we are just in the area trying cars” brigade as you know they aren’t ready.

to slow the process down what steps do you undertake to confirm they are legally allowed to drive your car i assume you have accompanied test drive insurance if you are letting them at the wheel and not taking basic details off them then there is a possibly they might be getting a speeding ticket so use the form filling to cut out the tyre kickers easy

Andy.....Would you mind letting us know what previous evidence you have of BCA closing accounts.....They have threatened me before,I just told them to go ahead....they backed off.

They wont arrive until Jalember.....

pay up front and I will guarantee results.... onest bruv we is the best surgeons around

Like advertising for free on gumtree as a private seller or facebook, no trade plates, cheapest 'drive only' trade insurance (if any), parking in pub car parks or mates drives, and selling with the MOT its got instead of checking its safe for the next owner, and naturally, no hpi checks!

Funny how people think, it worries them if it is on the register for what ever reason major or minor but the car owning a stack of money and belonging to someone else doesnt bother them.

If you brought it, you're ok - if you bought it, you've got a problem

I don’t think BCA can close an account because you are suing them after settling ‘under protest ‘. The case we had which was entirely different,we just sued them in the normal way,if they had closed our account it would have cost them a lot of money. Now it seems every couple of months we have to threaten to sue them again to settle some problem with a misdescribed entry. I don’t understand why you guys are telling Rich to just roll over and pay up.....He has been stitched up !

Just done a dipper on a 10 plate hatch with 6 owners. They justified the high owners to themselves and still went ahead. Why? Only new shape model about in good condition for that kind of money. A lot of people don't care if the plates new enough, it looks good and, most importantly, they can get it in their budget. It's gonna impress the neighbours a lot more than a one owner 57 plate old shape in their eyes.

A good independent bodyshop where you go relatively regularly will charge you around £100 per panel, a little less if its mutiple panels on the same car. I dont bother with smart repairs (I deal in up to £5k) so its either a touch in stick or paint work - most smart repairers struggle to get a good finish and I've had them end up looking worse than if I hadnt bothered. Build a good relationship with your bodyshop and you may get the odd polish job thrown in from time to time. And the one I use lets me borrow the tins of paint to do a touch in if I havent got the right colour in my box of touch in sticks. Customer expectations- Always high but most will accept a few little dents or chips/scratches. If they dont get its a used car at the time they are looking at it with you, then you dont need to be a genius to work out what may happen next. Simon does an excellent video for any prospective customers where he shows any marks on the car. It doesnt stop him selling, so dont worry too much about honest dents and scuffs.

Don't really discuss owners much to be fair. nor history. Irrespective of car, price point and type of vehicle I find nearly all buyers I deal with are simply only bothered about cosmetic condition, alloys not having a mark and the car not having any chips on the paint. Sporty stuff can have quite a few owners just due to it being a fickle market for the next best thing. I buy stuff with no history and take the punt 95% of the time I can turn something up for it. Like you say its never completely not been serviced it will have had it for first 3 years with main dealers generally which you can track down and something in between. We service everything anyway pre sale and offer warranty on cars with full history or no history to the same level so makes no odds.

I made a boo boo on owners when I thought a R/R Sport was going through cheap a few years ago. Was a 2010 (6 years old), Grade 4 (Needed both bumpers sprayed and drivers door card repaired), in black, black interior, HSE, shitty wheels, 77k miles, starting @ £16,000 - Dropped it to £15,000 and I got it for £15,450. Didn't really look like I should have but it was well under CAP. Anyway, got it back and still didn't look at things properly as I was a little chuffed. 1st call I got, "How many owners?", I was like erm, let me check.... 10!! TEN!!!!! How can a 6 year old car get 10!!?!???! Anyway, still made £19,495, so lovely profit in that one but... TEN!?!

Autotrader ..... What's that ? Forgotten about them, not used them for around 7 years now! They still had the front to ring me a couple of months ago trying to bully me back! I once again told them I wouldn't use them all the time I had a hole in a certain part of my body!!

Customer: Concerned about number of previous owners: Me: What doe you want to do with it sir ? Drive it or marry it !

None of the wealthy successful car dealers I know ever get their hands dirty, get a good smart repairer in the loop and you can spend your time doing what should earn you more, buying and selling cars.

16 cars all with decent money in, prices are rough at the block mind

Must be selling them too cheap as my faither used to say . . .