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Indeed... tell me about it! We had one (motorbike copper) come to look at a Audi A4. Agreed to buy it. Comes back three days later to collect it. No drama at this point. Next day he turns up on his police bike claiming that when he first looked at the car and agreed to buy it, it had new Continentals all round. But when he checked after getting home they were 'old' tyres - accused us of swapping them! Obvious BS but he argued very aggressively for about an hour. Another one last year bought a 2012 3-series for his wife. Came back after six months because it had developed the classic F30 steering knock. I offered to repair it FoC there and then - lift home for him, valet and deliver the car back. He was very aggressive - wanting full refund on the vehicle saying he and his mates would be "looking out for us" etc etc. I did think about making a formal complaint but decided against in the end. Yet when we had our security gates broke open, attempted theft of a Focus ST - all on HD CCTV with a reg. no. captured, we couldn't even get any of them to look at the video. Bloody shambles! The local area has turned into a cesspit in the last few years - like downtown Mogadishu - there is routine open drug dealing within 500 yds of the police station. Zero enforcement...

Could be due to the huge backlog of driving tests? Not many youngsters passing at the min.

Found it on this site....its in this news item. Whether its accurate or not is another matter... https://cardealermagazine.co.uk/publish/strongest-ever-may-on-record-for-used-car-sales-and-1-7m-lost-transactions-could-fuel-demand-for-rest-of-year/226341

Bloody hell! Our customers from the NHS and the two universities are mostly pretty decent. We try to retain them by giving a discount on service on production of a staff card. We get lots of recommends and also try to accommodate shift patterns (seems that some NHS staff work 12 hr shifts so they want to drop off early and pick up late, or vice versa). On the subject of stock turnover, I think I read recently it was down to an average of 22 days - which is historically low. That's an average of course and very much depends on the vehicle and your local market. Our experience at the moment is that 1-3 year SUV/crossovers moves quickly. And a very tidy red 2014 GT86 within 5 minutes of it going live. City/first cars seem to be languishing a bit right now. Got a 108 and a Citigo both at over 2 months, which is a bit of a puzzle. Many years ago in my early days in the trade I had an Alfasud Sprint Veloce - nice car but with vivid orange paint - it took root for about 18 months.... did sell eventually but probably a record for me.

Up there with teachers and have dreadful 'no issue, drives lovely' part exs.....last one an Insignia owned by a husband and wife pair of coppers.... ..... with no windscreen wipers.....yes, they stole the wipers during the deal, I ask you, how f*ucking cheap can you get?

when you say part time, do you mean you are continuing the mechanic side of things or are you doing something else so you can only do the sales part time? I think your mechanical knowledge will help you, you can buy stuff where you know how to fix it which may scare others off. As David has said, different online channels work for different people, you will find one that works best for you by trial and error. there is no answer to the length of time to sell a car, but prep well, quickly and take good pics, know your prices and you will improve speed of sale.

They really are not pleasant to sell cars to. Terrible customers, had a few problems and that have ended up being linked to that proffesion.

A lot depends on location. For example we are close to a town centre. Major hospital 15 mins walk away. One university 15 mins walk. Second university about 20 mins walk. Big shopping mall 15 mins walk. We also have a police station not far away (mind you, after a number of bad experiences I don't encourage their custom!). We offer sales and service/MoT. Huge number of repeat customers on workshop side. Large proportion of walk-ups on sales. Can sneak into uni's and hospital with a handful of postcard-sized ads and pin them to the staff noticeboards - its free and surprisingly effective. Have a website. Autotrader OK, but IME Facebook is a magnet for illiterates and Borats. If you are out in the sticks then you're going to be much more reliant on online channels.

Trust me the grass isnt greener over our side.