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Assuming it’s a County Court. My experience is that it’s pretty informal for civil cases. If you are absolutely sure of your facts and the legalities and feel you can present a good case, do it yourself. Some judges allow lay persons quite a lot of leeway. It pays to be well dressed, respectful and never get angry or confrontational and never, never argue with the judge. My view is that if you are able to represent yourself, you have a better chance of winning. Civil case rest on the balance of probability and who the Judge believes as well as evidence. A good impression counts for a lot. Also, if the other party is being represented, be wary of them, you may we’ll meet up in the ante room before the case. Don’t let anything slip which helps the opposition. Their agent may be very friendly and try to get a handle on you, just be careful what you say. proceduraly, the judge will keep you right. You will probably be in a small court room sitting at opposite sides of a table, it will be very informal. if you feel you want to represent yourself but are a little unsure of certain aspects, you could take a lawyer along as advisor. They would sit with you, but would only be there to advise on legal points not represent you. Good luck!

This job isn't easy. If you can't make money on bangers after two years, I don't think this job is for you.

Just curious as to who owns a personal car and who just uses stock cars? I do have a personal car but only really use it on days off, I take fresh stock cars home most nights as I find it helps me spot any hidden issues and underlying problems.

The thing people think our business is easy. Buy a cheap car at auction, wash it and then make thousands.... Cloud fecking cuckoo land. We are professionals.

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Lamborghini owners are quiet today................HMRC must monitor this forum

So it's the part timers that are causing the stupid prices at auction , Jack it in and concentrate on your proper job

your main cause of loss is paying too much too start with, not the other factors mentioned. be more open minded on brands, if you don't like certain brands other customers sure will. the cars you mention are saleable but you are not really likely to earn anything from them in the price range you mention- if buying from auction. you need to understand what the market is wanting / buying, and you simply need to be able to value cars better. you need a rethink, also, being part time gives no excuse or reason to be incurring certain costs (valeting) or paying others (delivery), find time to either go to auction yourself, (leave buying online to the more experienced), or explore finding stock elsewhere, ideally locally. as others have said, with respect it might be that after 2 years trying this job might not be for you.

No it isn't. It really, really isn't.

I think the saying goes 1st year expect to make a loss 2nd year expect to break even and 3rd year things should start getting better. Maybe this is your year if you decide to put more time and effort in

I've been doing it for nearly 2 years myself and I understand your pain! I haven't got it all figured out myself yet but here is some advice which may help you. 1) most of my purchases come from Manheim and vary between hall or online. Whichever you choose always research every car you bid on carefully, from length of mot, past mot issues, tyre condition because if you buy one with low tread that is a decent cost straightaway. If you do go to the auction, walk round the car with the eyes of the buyer, check every panel, exhaust ,interior, everything that you can. Listen to it starting up ,see if the engine is quiet,ask the driver if the clutch is ok. What you want to be doing is costing every single thing you can that will in your opinion need sorting, and then work retail back taking off fees and refurb costs. For me i work back from retail taking off around 300 fees, 400-500 profit and 250 refurb .These figures are rough and vary with each car. You then have a max bid amount, don't go over it. I have bought some cars and made 500-750 easy profit and others i have put loads of hours in and either broke even or lost £100 from it. These buying experiences should hopefully steer you onto cars which you think are profitable. But don't overlook any car if profit is in it. Oddball cars seem to do well for me because there is less competition when you are selling them. 2) If you buy private always check EVERY SINGLE THING that you can. Drivetrain-bodywork-suspension on the test drive-tyres-exhaust-all electrics e.t.c e.t.c . For me privates are worse than the auctions as so many cars have had issues undeclared by the owners. If you cannot see a clear profit after taking off every cost, keep your money in your pocket.

If your current logic isn't working then you need to sit down evaluate what you have done and where you are going wrong and trying another route. With regards to buying stock at auction, don't necessarily buy stuff as it is cheap as the reason its cheap is it may have lots of issues, I would rather pay more for a clean tidy car with bags of history and a sensible mileage than get something that's grade 5 with poor history. Its less donkey work when you buy something tidy to begin with.

I,ve won in court as a defendant 5 times in the last 30 years, two criminal cases, three civil. Used a lawyer once as the case was to complex for me. Three of the cases were wearing my motor trader hat, although none were against punters to be fair.

This business is never part time, Its bloody hard graft, Anyone thinking its easy money for little effort will realise very quickly its not this is going to be wrong stock profile and paying to much for them and them having them stick around to long and then it becomes a distress sale

on your paperwork you will be told how long they think the case will last [maybe one hour] the judge normally reads the case before you go in from paperwork submitted, he/she will make notes on this and ask the defendant/claimant more detail on what hes noted. claimant speaks first, to present there case, then its your turn, you must make sure your paperwork is in order, ready to put down the claimant in any defence you have, use a highlighter on the paperwork youve received from the other side pre court day. feel free to cross examine at any time, dont be rude, be smartly dressed but not over the top, look like a worker who knows his job inside out, if the judge interupts you, apologise, and remind the judge that "in your ** years of trading you have never been in this situation before "

Maybe the main issue is 'part time' if you're committed to it full time then you'll be focused on 'making profit' and running a business and not playing!

It's not for everyone. Business isn't for everyone.

I haven’t been. Yet. Sure it will happen at some point. I would take the advocate for first time.

It's 109479 miles and nope never popped any codes let alone EGR It did pop an EGR code as soon as I removed and blanked it for testing when it was at the Cranking Firing Smoke and Dying stage before I stripped off the fannymold It's all cleaned out at close of play, and after carefully turning it over by hand, I cranked it with a whiff of sniff across the ports, (Fuel Rail and Injector Wiring is all off it atm), and it fired up and ran on all 4 so putting it all back together in a while Yes you should have seen Mels face when I came out of the Shower and she had to go in and clean it (I had already cleaned the worst of it off my face and hands with Brake Cleaner on a rag)

There are no magic formula really. The basics are the same for every small trader. You have to have some idea what is likely to sell in your situation and how to market your stock to people likely to be interested. And most importantly you have to know what the likely selling price of the car you are intending to purchase is, what you are likely to spend on making it saleable standard, and then make sure you can buy it at a price which leaves you a sensible margin. If there is no margin walk away. You will waste a lot of shoe leather walking away, if your doing it right. We are all essentially fishing from the same ponds, some people have the knack for catching fish, others do not. Patience and persistence is key. And once you have caught the fish, it’s no good to you unless you have a ready market to take it to. I don’t mean to be brutal...I,m sure others will be. If you have not figured it out how to catch some fish in 2 years, then maybe it’s time to put the rod down and find something more suited to your talents.

1001 cleans a big big carpet for less than half a crown of course theres always stardrops for less than a bob

I treat people how I expect to be treated myself.

I read the first few comments and thought this sounds like a business in desperate times, not a sustainable business model and low and behold I get down to this post. When your business is sustainable only with big volume and depends on sales of sundry items and finance you’re in trouble. Seen it loads of times before in all sectors. I fear for a lot of the new manufacturers and their dealers, in these times of ageing populations, climate change, squeezed incomes is the real solution bigger, more feature laden, increasingly expensive SUV style cars? Just like the UK supermarkets spent the 1990 to 2010 competing with bigger and bigger stores filled full of stuff we don’t need only to have their business and profitability ripped apart by Aldi, who offered sufficient choice, more convenience (smaller, more local stores) at cheaper prices, I reckon one day a manufacturer will do the same and offer a sufficient product at a cheap price and rip the ass out of a lot of new sales. Not a problem for a used independent dealer though, the money should be there to make in all times with the right stock profile

very poor and loads of messers/dreamers/spunktrumpets

Jan ..................Excellent Feb ................. Excellent March .............. off a cliff really concerned, I have decent stock profile and well priced to market but just simply no inquiries

hi if your company wont start have you considered joining the AA? or maybe you just flooded it more info needed year model engine etc