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A 3 year old high spec BMW i3 that I had in stock for 6 or 7 months in 2018 when the market wasn't quite ready for them yet. I must've shown that car to no less than five middle aged (and above!) couples and with that new technology every viewing was over an hour, some took two! I was very very happy to see it go. But getting rid wasn't the best part. I sold it to a very nice young bloke, he had just sold a rope access business for strong money. By then I had very small profit in the BMW but got a fantastic ML350 in part exchange against it at £18K which sold very quickly for considerably more to a finance customer. He in turn traded in an old 2005-6 BMW 330Ci Auto for which he wanted £1400 and I obliged. It sold quickly as well. That customer in turn part-exed a simlar age Audi TT for a grand. Yep, it sold quickly for a fair but more and I got a nice black Beetle Convertible in part ex. Yes, you guessed it, it sold quickly for £3489, I didn't expect the level of interest that car got. That's where the part ex chain ended. Just imagine if one of the five middle aged cash-paying no-finance couples had bought the i3.

Are beards out of fashion now due to being snot holders? Could never understand why people follow other people so they all have beards I understand why my son in law has one hes an ugly barsteward so it hides his mug

Many moons ago [during the war ] i got a skoda, it was cheap, real cheap, and not all that old at all, i offered it to the masses at a reduced price, as it had come cheap, and was happy with a quick flip, never having had one before, i thought the penny pinchers would be excited over this one but the phone was very quiet, after about 3 weeks, a few had come and gone, one chap tried telling me that "it had a valve off " yeah right, thinking he was trying it on i dismissed him. Sitting down later and pondering what he said, it seemed he went into a bit too much detail really ? He had explained that one particular valve always burned out, and it got me thinking, so, i took it for "another" run, and realised it was a little slow, lifting the boot [ yes boot ! ] i listened, sod me, he was right, and i had missed it ! So, head gasket and valve ordered, readvertised for thursday, this time proper full retail price, sold with all confidence now, unfortunatley, skoda, at the time, had shocking parts departments, not in till thursday ! never mind, phones quiet, got bits first thing thursday, returned to base and began to pull it to bits [ a simple job on these i remember] so phone rings doesn't it he is very keen, and travelling 80 + miles to view, and he is bringing wife to drive it back, and got folding, so its very hard to resist the temptation to say come tomorrow, well, i have never worked so fast in all my life, job done, just topping up levels when he "appears". "just checking levels" i said, you got a long run back best to be safe i said, kicking the tool box out of view and hoping he does not see the old head gasket poking out of bin, well, his test drive was also my test drive ! keeping my eye on gauges we returned and hoping there is nothing amiss i lifted the boot for his examination, lovely, no leaks, no problems, kerching, paid, never worked so fast in all my life long time before i got another skoda, but next time i knew to spend more time listening as well as looking

Major can of worms this seems to be up and down the country with seven commercial properties we have stepped in to help four the other three are doing better than normal so they can cough up.

Not the best ever but quite memorable.Early 80’s we had a pitch in Ashington Northumberland which was a mining town.The banks were always keen to lend to the miners who earned good money.There was this older guy hovering next to a Capri.I said hello and he says ‘ I’ll have that one ‘ just like that.He then says ‘ I will just go to Barclays ( 100 yd’s away) to get the money.He comes back soon after with a bank draft and asks if we can deliver it.The address he gives is 300 yards away.So I ask where he wants it delivered and it’s the same address.He said he didn’t drive so I asked why he was buying a Capri.He then produced a letter from Barclays saying if he wanted to buy a car they would be pleased to,lend him the money ! Apparently his friends at the pit were all getting cars so he thought he better have one.

March 1998 that’s about 8 months after starting the business, a couple come in to look at VW Corrado 16V and VW Golf VR6 Highline on a Saturday afternoon, 1st they go out in the Corrado at £12400 and then the Golf at £16700, I’m thinking that’s a fair bit of difference in price but just did the test drives. When they had driven both I couldn’t really get a feel for which way as she loved the Corrado and he loved the Golf, so having given them a drink and left them discussing in the showroom I went back to my office. After a few minutes the lady walks in says,” so how much are they again?” £12400 and £16700. She says, “can I write you a cheque for £25000 now and pay the rest when we pick them up?” I said you’re having them both. “yes, we can’t decide I love the corrado and John wants the Golf so we’ll have them both”

Appologies for a long story from the distant past. We had sold to a London punter who paid up but wanted the log book ( check them out ) before he collected .He was doing a number transfer.We wanted to know how that worked because where we were you had to have the road tax office inspect your new vehicle to complete a transfer.The guy said that with the GLC you just had to take the log book along and they would do it.I was working for my brother at the time and he was a switched on ‘ full spec ‘ car dealer . So he asked an old scrap car guy if he had any old log books he might sell and that we would pay a fiver for them.The guy comes back with a large biscuit tin stuffed with log books.So we said how much and he says something like ‘ you did say a fiver ‘ .So we gave him a fiver for about 100 log books which were for cars scrapped many years ago.The reg numbers were often like 333 BB and 420 BS.So we advertised about 30 of these in the Sunday Times for about £25 each and the phones melted.As we were underselling these,we just said there had been some error by the paper and the price was double.Nobody quibbled the new price and we got cheques in the post for them all.We repeated this the next week by tripling the price and sold them all and everyone got their numbers via the GLC.I can still remember some of the buyers.One guy called Brinsley Black sent a Coutts and Co cheque ( which we had never heard of ) for a BB number.I think our bank guy told us he was equerry to the Queen.However we had a cheque for a BS number signed by a Ben Sherman.It was exactly the same signature as on the shirts which we all wore at the time.So we lied to Mr Sherman about a misunderstanding and managed to get a lot more money. Sales came to a halt a few weeks later after the GLC complained to the Sunday Times and transfers were then done properly.So I think we got about 10 grand back for an outlay of £5 plus the advert costs.Not bad for 1972.

Sold a young lady 6/7 years ago a car,she came with her dad because all dealers are bad,anyway she bought it and never saw her for 3 years when she again turned up with her dad and wanted a newer car,I supplied her and off she went come xmas I got chocolates and a card and this has continued ever since,I've seen her twice during this period,once for a broke mirror once for a faulty drl,I dont get any servicing work or any mot work as she has her own local man,got invited to her wedding last year too, she recommends me to everyone she knows and so does her dad,her new man does a lot for his local church and I've even picked a sale up there from a congregation member moral of the story,treat people how you like to be treat yourself and you always get paid back in abundance Sure theres loads more A 76 year old customer phoned me this morning,I have supplied him cars for 25 years now,he was surprised I was shut,so the daily messages really aren't getting through to everyone about staying home

No worries - plenty more coming. Learning as we go Will Blackshaw from Blackshaws tomorrow

A pisstakers charter. I’d hate to be a landlord in the current climate, everyone wants to give them a kicking.

https://www.jrseco.com/european-union-5g-appeal-scientists-warn-of-potential-serious-health-effects-of-5g/ More than 180 scientists here.

Appreciate the guidance but it's hard to conceive how many would be in the situation of not being able to afford rent already, it's been what? A few weeks? For example: We are paying as long as we find it fair, this month is paid, next month will more than likely be paid but after that we will have conversations. It's not that we can't afford it, it's just why pay rent for something we can't use when my LL is mortgage free? It's not his fault - he worked hard to pay off his mortgage, it's not ours - we can't trade, but fairness has to prevail. How that looks will be different in every situation and probably to each individual party. Just hopeful for a quick end to this... I don't know about everyone else but I feel like I've ended up on the wrong timeline/ parallel universe!

Thank you!

Glad to see you on the mend James .

Thank you! That's very kind. I worried when I saw my name on the subject for a minute. I'm back at my desk and working again. Tried to take it easy for a few days but it hasn't lasted. I've just chatted to James Cameron of Mission Motorsport if you fancy some inspiration this sunny Monday morning. He had some interesting stuff to say. If you have any demands for people you want on the show just shout:

The exact reason I am a Ltd company. I do the very best for my customers, do not cut and corners and have all the right insurance policies in place. The most secure insurance for me is to limit my personal liability. If, for whatever reason I am sued (as a business) or presecuted because someone working for me has done something they shouldn't and my insurance policy finds some "get out" clause (as they have for my business interuption due to COVID-19), my house and personal assets are safe. The tax benefit was only a consequential. For the record, over the last 10 years, I have paid more than £300k in income tax as an employee. I resigned and couldn't find another similar job for almost a year (when I restarted back in the trade). Not once did I seek any benefits at all, sign up for NI contributions, free prescriptions or anything - I lived off savings. It is swings and roundabouts.

Recommend ashley I've had discussions with him on him many occasions and although not a customer of his yet its looking like with some of my business interests i will be in the future always helpful and replies quickly ..

nowt wrong wi chip fat

WTF!?!!!

Too many Ltd's using it as a screen to not pay taxes and as a way to deny decent honest people who trust them supply them goods only to find they liquidated friday morning and bought the assets back first thing Saturday morning but no debt Disgraceful Its like buying stolen goods in no one did it there would be no thieves So if asd123 restarts as asd1234 if nobody gave then credit they might change their ways Bring on a govt clamp down ive never felt the need to go ltd