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If he is buying good clean stuff from the block he will be paying top dollar for it so he hasn't got a cheap supplier More than likely he has grossed or part grossed what he has said, not netted out which is a different matter altogether. Any of us that have been in the trade a while have all met the lads who are always busy and making a fortune, some of them can even plait sawdust they are that good. The amazing thing is that they never seem to stick at the job and move(usually overnight)and leave a trail of devestation behind!! The general consensus on here seems to one that he is over egging his pudding, I tend to agree!

We all take hits, some very much bigger than others, what we have in common is we are all trying to be a success off our own back's. You are still fighting, you are still making your own money and you aint someone else's bitch. Well put.

100% that wasn’t a buyer. People who drive high performance cars (speaking from past and current personal experience) want to drive the fucking things, look good and draw envy. I make no bones about my way of choosing cars. It certainly ain’t to rush on to PH to talk about diff pressures and what type of gas is filling my tyres. They tend to matter not when you’re doing 30mph 90% of the time. What a div. I sold a 545i tourer a few months back. Some bloke bored me for 25 mins telling me everything he knew about BMW’s and a lot he probably didn’t know. Despite my best efforts to curtail the call I eventually said I had someone just walked in wanting to test drive it, just to get rid of him. Seriously he was a MONUMENTAL bore. He never called back, asking if the phantom bloke bought it. A week later it sold to someone who needed a big car and wanted to go fast occasionally. Precisely what the fucking thing was manufactured for. Like your experience, the nerd was never a buyer.

Does being a patronising twat make you feel big ? Read his post, get your facts right.

On more specialist stuff I always expect my buyers to know more than me because they should've done months of research compared to my hour or two at most. Tell the Pistonheaded muppets: I am sorry, I am not SELLING anything here, I am just here to give someone in the know an unrepeatable opportunity to buy it.

Last week I had a call on a Nissan GTR and was asked if it has nitrogen or air in the tyres? I said I assumed nitrogen as it had the green valve caps but assuming was not good enough for this chap. He seemed to get more angry as he was asking me questions I had no idea about, diff pressure and temperatures, previous launches etc and asked me to call him back once “I knew what I was selling”. I guess he is still waiting for a call back as I traded the car onto a specialist Friday which was probably for the best as I was also dreading test drives.

You’re in business, a quite successful one by the sound of it. Therefore you know the difference between top line and bottom line. I could easily sell my entire stock every month if I reduced my margins but I like to do the job right and stand by my customers if a fault occurs - that requires a lot of prep, proper servicing, paint, MOT, PDI, etc etc. People often say to me, how much did you pay for that then? (Why the fuck do they think you should tell them that). It is irrelevant. I often have £2k gross margin (hammer price to selling price). Less: Buyers Fee, transport, fuel, MOT, service, valet, paint repair, mechanical repairs, VAT margin and Tax (my variable costs) less Rent, heating, lighting, phones, advertising, etc (my fixed costs). In truth on a good car, good deal - I may make £600 pre tax (taking everything else in to consideration) and if I am lucky sell 8 a month. See my VAT margin looks great but in reality, like everything. It’s not about what you bring in but what you pay out.

Certainly about AT. His AT bill will be more like £3k a month for 25 cars.

We’ve recently started doing walk round videos on all our stock, We do prep properly but I’m not going around pointing out any minor imperfections. We treat it like you would as if the customer was there. I find it slightly cringe but if it sells cars I’m all in! Read this post a couple days ago and was staring to doubt if they are worth the time/effort - customer today comes in for our 65 plate outlander and as I start giving him the pitch.... “it’s okay mate I watched the video” quick test drive, finance sorted, collection tomorrow! Video camera back out Monday

Well done Dan

The lenders are far from stupid, a very high percentage of the uk wouldnt get that rate.

I have a stocking facility with Close Brothers. 3% interest (annual), more than double that in finance commission (per deal, NOT annual) at the top sell-out rate and at over 35 months lend. Costs me approx £35-40 to finance a £10K car for a couple of months which when sold brings as much profit as 5 newish superminis sold by the PLCs. IF the sale is on finance it brings a few hundred extra in commission and after doing this for a few years I personally think it's NUTS not to go that way (while it exists because it won't always) and continue working with your own money exploring the buy for £1200, prep for £300 sell for £2795 niche. It is the same as buying a house with a mortgage and buying it with your own money. Yes, the mortgage company charges their interest but you will take ALL of the profit margin after you sell it without putting up the capital to buy. They work for you, their money works for you, NOT the other way around. Not a good starting-up strategy though...

If your business is dependent on selling cars on finance then that could be a big worry, also if you have significant borrowings the banks can just call them in...….bastards!! The overheads never have a bad week, keep your costs down!

Do you want to rent your unit out to me? I’m looking for a place exactly like you describe. In Kent. Preferably near Bromley. Or in it You could never run a pitch/unit of 12 cars part time. Never. Not on your own. It’s massively time consuming, some days you just end up doing what feels like fuck all. Today was a day like that for me, i’ve done a full day and felt like i’ve done fuck all. The reality is, I sold one, mopped another, photographed and videoed two, bought two online, but i’ve still got another 3 to photo and video, 2 of those will need a mop, I have two arriving early next week, it just goes on mate. I wouldn’t change it mind. Just saying this isn’t a business you can set up and run in the background. It’s not a string to a bow. It’s the bow, all the strings, all the arrows and anything you can hit with the arrows. You’re either conkers deep or you’re not. Thats not me being pessimistic, if I can do it anyone can. It’s me being honest.

There are plenty in this game pretending to be the big man & are up to their necks in it. Some of these financial nutters seem to like working for everyone else but themselves & the need to shift metal has resulted in some poor margins on the mid range stock. Tbh if hard times close a few unsustainable businesses run by Champagne Charlies, as someone who believes in living within one’s means, I for one couldn’t give a hoot.