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Dear AutoTrader, I’ll come straight to the point. I have fallen out of love with you. You are no longer the same caring & sharing partner that I married all those years ago when we did things together that benefitted us both. Over the years you have become very selfish and greedy, especially with money. Our relationship no longer feels like a partnership, it is all your way or no way. Now that you have your fancy crib in Manchester with all the latest gadgets and influential city friends it seems that you are spending less and less time with me, even though I have never needed you as much as I need your support now. I have sacrificed others to be with you, giving all my marketing spend and more and what do you do? You ask for more but you give less in return. Will you ever be happy with what you get from me? Life used to be so simple with you. Now it’s so confusing and you seem to have an answer for everything even though it’s not your place to say. You always give your opinion and guess what? I’m fed up with it! The final nail in the coffin for me (and I’m not the only one) is the fact that you are no longer happy trying to help me sell, oh no. You want to have a go at being a trader without the risk! Now, what’s this part exchange tool all about? Oh yes … it’s to benefit all the potential buyers on your website. Well, I have been giving part exchange prices for years when these customers reach my forecourt, so why do you need to give these details away now and risk them never visiting me? Oh, ok, so I decide to opt out of having this as I don’t agree with it and what do you do? … you punish me by not including my cars in the customer’s search. My car’s! The car's that I pay you grandly each month to advertise and you are hiding them away from potential customers. When did you become god? It’s already hard enough getting potential customers in through the door without you giving away information so they can decide to stay and shop online, so thanks too for potentially reducing my footfall....again! If you really wanted to benefit all those potential buyers on your website why not encourage more cars to be advertised? It would be really easy. Instead of having under 500k cars on the website, aim for a million! And here’s the easy way to do it … Half your prices! Easy isn’t it? You have conditioned me over the years to advertise cars a certain way, with certain terms and even certain ways of taking photos and at one point you even told me that I should be rounding the prices up or down so to appear in the search on your website! You quite easily have moved the searches to include these. You even asked me to pay extra to highlight these then and then when you have my money, you go to my neighbour and say you pay ‘X’ amount more and we can highlight your cars before your neighbours!!! Where’s the loyalty there? And while I’m at it, why are you jumping into bed with Zuto Loans? You know that I need the commission from the Finance Deal to try and make the deal pay, especially with reduced margin at the deal because you are advising them of part exchange figures and suggesting that I have priced a car too high! You won’t be doing that for nothing I fear, no. You will be pocketing that lovely wee finance referral without having to even register with the FCA. So now that you are also referring GAP products would you like to go the whole hog and get the ‘DiamondBrite' out? Not content with telling me how to sell cars, you are now suggesting that I don’t know how to buy cars unless I have the all encompassing ‘icontrol. I’ve done very well over the years without the need for such a tool, my decisions are based on years of experience of buying and selling cars in my area, so there’s a good chance that I would know better. And what’s this rubbish about when I’m buying I should be looking at retail price and calculate back instead of the traditional guide price and add the margin on? It’s not that I don’t understand what you mean - in fact I have been doing it for years too but listen here, buying and selling is quite simple. You buy at the cheapest and sell and the most you feel that a customer will pay - then add in the value for money, great customer care, vehicle prep, warranty, overheads and back-up. We have been doing this for years so don’t really need you trying to make out its something new! Oh, and by the way, have you ever thought about this … if you are telling every dealer in the country to buy that ‘white Audi A4 Quattro’ (as it will sell quickest and give you the best profit margin). Guess what ... the demand has just gone up along with the buying price yet the margin is now smaller because every dealer want’s it. Simple isn’t it? So I’m at my wit’s end. I’m paying you more a month than what I’m making in profit. There is something far, far wrong. You need to change your ways very quickly or I’m off and you won’t manage to get me back with some gesture of false loyalty like ‘half price stock’ for a limited period. A relationship is a two way thing. Both partners have to be loyal, caring, honest, trustworthy and unselfish for it to continue. Although I have written this letter I do feel that it will fall on deaf ears, but remember there are many other letters like this one written yet unsent sitting on many a car dealers desk all over the UK. I have years of experience at the coal face of the motor trade and don’t need some graduate who has never sold a car in their life patronising me and telling me how to run my business. All I want from you is for you to treat me with the respect I deserve and help me sell more cars. I’m not an overly demanding partner. Now here’s the twist though. I’m already your ex-lover. I am writing this letter on behalf of the great friends I have in this beloved industry who are feeling this way. They are currently still with you although I fear not for long. With so many offerings on the table it won’t be long before you will be writing a ‘please come back letter, I’m sorry' to my friends. I, along with thousands of car dealers in the UK, are looking forward to your public reply. Kind regards Jim Reid Car Dealer Magazines 'Dealer's Dealer of the Year' in support of and on behalf of the Car Dealers on TCD Forum

After successfully helping guide a small start up in it's infancy to greater things I now find myself at the point where I'm more than happy to help anyone in the motortrade looking for assistance. This doesn't have to be a start up , maybe a business that feels that it has gone off the tracks a little or someone just looking to get some business ideas bounced about. Now I'm NO self confessed car guru or expert however I have learned many things over the last 30 years in the trade and especially the last 13 + years building my own business and I am happy to share this experience FREE of charge if anyone feels they would benefit from it. Many of you won't know me or my business so I have attached my LinkedIn Profile as a link, https://uk.linkedin.com/in/jimreidvehicle If you feel you can benefit then contact me on jim@jimreidvehiclesales.co.uk I'm eager to get my teeth stuck into something very soon! Jim

I too am sad to hear that Wheelerdealer1 is leaving the Trade - he cannot compete with the fly-by-night home traders that are sucking the lifeblood out of the industry. His story here It is, indeed, a sorry situation when any old bandit can pretend to be a Motor Dealer, buy a snotter out of the auction, stick a few hundred sovs over the bonnet and 'retail' it, without any consideration as to Warranty, VAT etc And yet they get away with it because there is no Official Registry of Bona Fide Motor Traders. No Licensed Motor Retailers and Repairers. No Society of Proper Blokes Selling Proper Cars. You get the drift. Am I in favour of having Official Licensed Traders? Well, I'm not so sure. For one it would be difficult to police, as there are so many levels within our business from Super Duper Franchised Megastores to the One Man Band and who would do the policing? As long as all Traders do the job properly, we should all be able to co-exist and earn a living. There will always be the chancers who see it as an easy way to make a few quid, but this has always been the case. So I'm not sure that having Licensed Traders would change anything. We can do a bit about it by making it difficult for them to get cars, although I don't expect any help from the Auction Houses on that score. I had one of these 'Home Traders' pop in this week (like most weeks, tbh) seeing if there were any 'choppers' he could buy to sell on. I asked for his VAT No. He didn't seem to have one. We had a brief chat about the moral and legal responsibilities of running a business these days and then he left. That was 10 minutes of my life I'm not going to get back, but it won't stop him. You see, I don't think the problem lies with us. It's the punters. As Wheelerdealer1 says, there are vast numbers of people who don't care about the quality, they just want it cheap. They have the VoucherCode mentality and for them profit is a 4 letter word (especially if they spell it prft). They're the ones you dread when their first question is "what's your best price?" before they've even seen the car. They don't care that you've prepped it properly, because you don't want them to die screaming in a ball of flame on the way home. They don't care that the Warranty you give will actually cover the parts it says it will, for longer than an Australian innings. They certainly couldn't give a monkey's willy about your overheads. They want your car, for the same price as the deathtrap they saw down the road, or they're going to buy that one. And they do. Maybe we need 2 separate categories of businesses and customers. The properly-run, legitimate ones can only deal with reasonable, sensible people and the greedy, scuzzy numpties can all just bugger off together.

Yes, get the car back to your mechanic. We sold a 2002 Honda S2000 a couple of years ago with full Honda serv hist 93k. Broke a con-rod and made nice hole in the side of engine. Customer wanted a full refund. I employed the services of ACE Inspection engineers who reported that the valves had bounced off the piston heads immediately before engine failure (physically marked) . Their report stated that the driver had probably mis-selected a gear and over-revved the engine causing the failure. Customer collected the car with tail between his legs and got it repaired elsewhere at his own cost. Don't give up too early...

July 8th 1998 Started at Citroen in Nottingham as a trainee sales exec on £4k a year basic + a 10 year old £100 Metro as a Company car 18 Years Later ( TO THE DAY! ) I have worked for Bristol Street / Pendragon / Inchcape / Pendragon ( Thought i'd have learnt from the first time! ) / Vertu / Inchcape / Myself :-) I've been around the world for free, driven supercars, stayed at the Shard, had £100k company cars, earnt a fortune, lost a fortune andI now earn less and have a £400 15 year old Audi to kick about in! but I can honestly say I have never been happier. I lost my GM job at Lexus in Sept Last year and thought about a change - 2 days after watching Jeremy Kyle and sitting in my PJ's I gave up thinking about a change - Sank my life savings - Girlfriends life savings - Borrowed - Begged and here I am now 10 months later in my little unit, Vat reg'd, Ltd company, stocking 15 cars, selling 12/13 a month and loving every minute. I want to run before I can walk and get frustrated at times, but I wouldn't change a thing other than I wish i'd left PLC world 10 years ago, however I learned how to do the job properly and look after people. I love my job. I meet so many different people, I get the buzz out of doing a deal ( high 5'ing myself ) I sit here with my little dog Malcolm and its great. My kids come on a Saturday and help wash the cars, they love it. I have never felt so free in my life. This forum really helps and its great to see so many people actually wanting to help each other - there's nothing better than free advice! This time next year................ :-)

Morning all, I hope no-one minds but I have just sent a link to this thread to our friends at Lawgistics. They are very busy people but might have something helpful to add to the discussion and maybe clarify things a bit ! Have a good Friday.

Morning, I've just narrowly escaped taking a red 54reg BMW 318, 100k mile in part exchange. I completed the deal yesterday and they guy hadn't come in his px because of a leg injury he apparently gets stiff driving it so came in his van. He gave me a good, what seemed honest description of the car going overboard to tell me it wasn't mint, had a few marks but generally a nice car so I agreed a deal on his description after a bit of negotiation. Anyways.....get a phone call very early this morning asking if he can pick the car up earlier because of work commitments so he turns up at just before 8am, he's all in a rush and has already tried to hand me over an envelope of money 3 or 4 times, things just don't seem right. I asked the keys for his car just so I can check it over and by looks is a little better than expected but what seems strange is the car seems cold - cold bonnet, temp gauge not reading etc and he lives over 60 miles away. I open the bonnet and no signs of anything wrong, so I start it and leave it running for a few minutes while talking to him, go back and check the car again and the expansion tank is full of little shiny bits - K-Seal!!! After a lengthy discussion, argument (he's a big chap) I tell him I don't want his car because it obviously has a head gasket issue, he denies any knowledge calls me a few choice names, I agree to return his deposit, £100 cash and he disappeared. Its still in the back of my mind that maybe he didn't know so there could be a chance to resurrect the deal somehow, I was only offering £800, so I jump in my car to see if I can see him. About 1/2 mile up the road there's his BMW up a housing estate being loaded onto the back of a transit recovery truck!!! He had me hook, line and sinker all the way even to the point where I was feeling guilty for suggesting he wasn't being entirely honest!! I'm in the North Lincolnshire area but the guys from Sleaford so just be on the lookout because he tells a pretty good story and obviously had thought out what he was going to do and am pretty sure he'll try it again.

everything, all cars are shit

Dealer A has a motor up for sale at 5k, which according to you guys is a bad deal (booooooooo). That said, in his defence it comes with full service history, 12 months MOT, a proper warranty and the usual facilities you would associate with a good garage. Dealer A is a good guy, Dealer A's business is a good, established and reputable. He looks after his customers. Now then, along comes Dealer B with the same car, model, spec etc etc. Problem is, Dealer B's car is not quite of the same standard and provenance shall we say but, at £4250 he's offering a great deal (yeah, woop woop, high fives all round). Also, a little investigation tells us that Dealer B is not really a stand up guy and from what we can gather, his business seems to have a few enemies. He doesn't care. Whose really offering the better 'deal'?

It's a shame the future cannot be predicted! But as already stated its a numbers game the more you sell the bigger the chance of something big happening like this. However you have acted like a true gentleman and professional , the customer will be glad now he picked your car over the one that was getting sold 'roadside ' By doing the honourable thing you will be repaid many times over, that's how life works. Well done!

I am open 7 days a week. I open 08:30 til 7pm monday to Friday, 9-6 Saturday and 10-4 Sunday. I regularly stay late to do deals or have customers pick up cars. I personally work 7 days total last year in 12 months I had 14 days off. I easy do 100 hours a week and have personally experienced great growth through my own hard work and dedication. If you want to play at it and juggle the 9-5 with selling a few cars you are no threat to me. I am open when you are working at your day job. Part timer with no/little reviews or online presence is not working hard to maintain the reputation and feedback we/us have gained. I tell you what really gets me annoyed and it really boils my P!55...Its the faces that are at the auctions running businesses with premises and 10+ cars in stock at any time easily operating beyond the vat threshold who are NOT vat registered. They are direct competition to any of us 'proper/fulltime/legit traders'. They hurt us. And also these are the ones who don't give a hoot about warranty and obligations.

Decreasing my average days to sell from 75 in January to around 45 now, all without sacrificing profit - its made a massive impact on bottom line,. But the best thing has to be being able to bring my grandson into the business as an apprentice, seeing him grow and putting the hours in, is the best reward, means its all been worthwhile as it'll all be his sooner or later. Merry Christmas all and here's to a great 2016

For me would be simply be, for 6 years I have traded and cut my teeth with partners, and for a couple of years as part of trio. Well 2015 I was able to break away and set up on my own 100% - make my own decisions and also my mistakes Yes I owe the bank some dosh but it's been a good year overall and hopefully will be a better 2016 for us all!!

Career & Industry Highlights :- Winning Car Dealer Magazines 'Dealers Dealer award' in London in NovemberWinning- Highly Commended 'Used Car Dealer of the Year Award' (50-100cars) for the 2nd year runningMeeting so many nice people in the trade over the last 12 monthsManaging to turn this year around despite the NE of Scotland experiencing once its biggest declines in recent years due to the collapse of the oil & Gas Industry resulting in 70,000 job losses.Increasing turnover and profit!Cracking Facebook- which has now resulted in almost 90 cars sold via this Social MediaRetaining all my staff for another 12months, including taking on a new Apprentice TechnicianOpening a Sports & Prestige Car Sales area within Jim Reid Vehicle Sales , under the banner 'ReidLine Performance'Being interviewed for MotortradeRadio.com Podcast 3 timesBusting our Finance turnover target again!!!All this achieved without advertising a single car on Autotrader! Jim

Dunno, but the plane is going through next week as a Grade 3

Good luck to those who will reopen tomorrow who have been closed all this time.Make sure to emphasise to prospective buyers the potential risks of buying blind from those online only operators who advertise on TV.Remember their advertising is aimed at discouraging buyers from using the likes of us.

I miss... Scrounging last months (if I was lucky) dog-eared Glass’ guide off the local tame main dealer and putting it in its leather cover. Thumbing through it for insurance groups etc, reading the write up at the front each month. Thumbing through it and finding an actual name of an underwriter up-country that you could call up and get a bid on something. Getting up early to buy the local rag and AT magazine to scour for bargains. Going to the block and knowing I’d buy something but no idea what. Breaking down on the way back. Haircuts (and hair for that matter), service stamps etc Tyre paint. Pom and newspaper. Vinegar and newspaper to clean windows Calls on landlines only. Putting stripes on cars Tax discs and cashing them in. Removeable car stereos and fitting them yourselves. Speakers on parcel shelves. Autotrader woman that came out in her cavalier and took your ads and photo’d the cars. Going to scrap yards and actually going inside, climbing up, in and around cars to get the bits you needed. Delight if you found a body panel or door etc in the same colour. Cash.

Welcome to the dark side everyone and I wish you well! As I have mentioned (and been shot down) many times over the last couple of years: life goes on just fine without them. Nearly three years now and we stock 5 up to 10 grand mostly, with a few up to 20. You need to work ebay MP and Bookface to get results and spend a little on SEO - PM me if you need any pointers.

Thanks for the advice Dave.... Since my new payment process I've not had a no show / non payer in over 2 years, if it falls through, I'll eat my Halfords socket set on video for you

A good way to avoid these sort of situations - Sorry to hear that, was running fine at point of sale. Please let me know when you want to bring it back and we can assist further. We will aim to turn it around as quickly as possible and will work around you. Kind regards, Just prevents things getting messy.

I had a customer on Sunday who came to see a beautiful Mazda MX5 I had for sale. I spent well over an hour with him, test driving the car for 20 mins and he seemed very happy with everything. Whilst out on the drive I found out he had been looking for about 3 months and had seen quite a few cars, I was confident he would buy mine. When we got back I asked him if he was happy with the car and he said yes so I motioned that we go and do some paperwork. I was amazed when he said that he didn't want to rush into something.....he had been looking for 3 months ffs. I reminded him he had been looking for a while and he had just told me he was happy with the car.....he was hardly rushing into it. As a parting shot I asked how bothered would you be if you went away and someone else came and bought it. He was confident that that was not going to happen as the car had been advertised for a while and he was going to make a decision "in the very near future". Well, you guessed it, a chap came yesterday and bought it within 20 mins and took it straight away. The best bit, the guy from Sunday has just been on the phone wanting to come and have another look....."I am sorry sir but the car has sold"...…..you could of heard a pin drop followed by"I really wanted that car"...…..I Love this job LOL

Dear customer, I was surprised to be contacted by you regarding the new issue on the VW Polo after we rectified everything your specialist previously noted and at great cost to us which exceeded the limit of our warranty cover. This new issue was clearly not present at the point of sale (otherwise the specialist would've picked it up when he last worked on the vehicle) so may I suggest you get in touch directly with them as issues not present at the point of sale and not covered by extended warranty fall outside the realm of our responsibilities as a supplier of used vehicles. May I take this opportunity to thank you once again for your purchase and for your business. Best wishes. Selfy trader

They don't want an actual valuation, they understand you need to see it. Of course they do. They just want a ballpark figure. Just a ballpark. That's all they want. Just to see if they are on the right page before they make the 5 mile journey.

All i can say is WOW that is it. I have been breath taken in the last two days it was amazing. know I'm just going to go into a bit of detail so if your easily bored i suggest switch off now lol. Firstly i attended last year but this year it was a lot different and more special to me in many ways witch il get on to later. well i woke up yesterday morning and i had been invited to the debate and arranged by the cdm group to stay at the whittle bury hall i wasn't sure if i was going to make it as i had much to do but i was like what the heck so i got behind the wheel and drove down. Soon as i got to the hotel l i was welcomed by lovely staff and then i bumped in jon amazing bloke i was welcomed got my room keys and head up to the debate. When i arrived i met the team and few familiar faces and was introduced to the people i didn't know. The debate was astranamical great chat and great combination of opinions. After the debate a few of us hang around had some lovely hot chocolate and some macaroons soon after i headed down to the spa to relax before the bbq. Later that evening i headed down for dinner i must say thank you to the auto-volo team for the great food and then i met Umesh and few other lads and sat and eat and drank till the early hours of the morning. This was the special part I would like to say a huge thank you for the advice from UMESH and the lads they took there social time to correct me in my wrong doings and share there wealth of knowledge to a younger man trying to do the job right. Also i forgot to thank ALEXIS and SCOTT and few others sorry had 1 to many and forgot your names but whoever's ear i was chewing off thank you. Then the morning of the expo had breakfast set off to the expo a bit later then majority of the group got there around 9.45 so middle of google DAMN but hey I'm there had a good wonder round saw my Mannheim account manager showing off there amazing stand lol and went to some great speakers such as G forces Ivendi Facebook etc. Went to most stands as i have many products i was more interested inG ex and a good crm so i have a few options to muller over the week. then as i was leaving ollie from g forces caught me and started showing off there new lite cheaper product even the its templates its better then most sites out there. i currently have blue sky media working on a site but its just not right and i don't think it can get right so i was persuade to up my spend and transfer to g forces witch I'm going to think about but i must say there work is breath taking. know after many sweets tea and coffee I'm home in bed about to have a early night and get geared up to sell all my old stock and start fresh but i couldn't go to sleep without saying thank you to everybody who came and obviously the people who made it happen. so once again everybody i mentioned and even the people who's name i forgot thank you so much i really really appreciate your time effort and knowledge it means SO much to me that is something money can't buy so thanks once again i mean it from the heart. and UMESH I'm going to put your advice in action starting from tomorrow i really appreciate it mate wonderful chap full of life and Alexis and Scott thanks again. but most of all to the car dealer team you guys are great i don't know what i would do without you the magazine forms the list goes on and on. so James,Andy,Jon the young lady from trade plates and the rest of the team who's names i don't know thank you to i had a ball and what you do for independent dealers like me is great i was really honoured to be apart of the debate thanks once again. know i think thats enough thank you for one day (actually what every one done for me in the last two days it will be never enough) but i think thats enough of me chatting away as I'm not one to really write on forums but i think from now on i think I'm going to be addicted. Good Night hope every one arrived home safe. Danny.

That sounds like the exact same bloke we sold a car to 3 weeks ago, he's been in 4 times since , he brought some pictures in of some of his old cars Friday and bored us to tears for an hour, he pulled up today and I kid you not and this is the first time i have done this , it was a panick reaction , i locked the office door and hid in the toilet until he fooked off.

Keep battling on and try not to beat yourself up to much......everyone I speak to.....dealers, finance reps, warranty rep etc are saying its dead. I have 2 large car supermarkets near me and one did 1 at the weekend and the other 3 - the salesman even started prospecting!! We're quite too and it gives me time to tidy up the showroom a bit, changed some tattyish looking spec card holders, re-cleaned a few. re-photo'd them, and changed the adverts a little and we did a couple at the weekend and one yesterday. We are a small 20-25 car indoor unit but try and really push the benefits of buying from us - cherry pick the best stock, every car serviced and MOT'd, 6 month warranty with car, warranty inspected, personally test driven by us to check everything works no squeaks or rattles etc, if you have a issue you come and speak to us and not get passed around departments and managers like in a dealer/supermarket etc etc

Are you serious?

When does a business need to be VAT registered?A business must register to pay VAT when the value of its taxable supplies exceeds the registration threshold (£82,000 per annum in 2015-16). Please note supplies = sales. Purchases do not come into it. Direct from HMRC So someone selling 40 cars a year at 2K a car would not need to be VAT registered. or combination of cars upto threshold. A dealer selling 30 cars per year at @ 2K and 3 cars @ 8K would require to be vat registered. We all hate paying VAT on repairs and costs then giving VAT Man 1/6th of profit. If someone trades from home, pays all taxes due, maintains vehicle and sell to a high standard I see no problem with them, as majority on here started that way. I did and proud of it. Problem is we have become a nation that must buy everything cheap. Thats why Lidle, Aldi and discount shops have been doing so well and customers expect it everywhere now. We even expect a great deal when we outsource a body repair or specialist engine repair none of us go for the highest price quote we go for reliability and ROI. Someone said earlier about trade only auctions I remember when Manheim did trade only auction weekly and had seperate auction days for Public or trade. Problem is like everything it comes down to cost. Why have all the staff required for a auction another day when you can fit it into the auction days you have. ROI again. However I do have a problem with side of road dealers no warranty and no inspection and sell quick for £200 profit whilst claiming unemployment and do not care if anyones child or family member gets killed in a unsafe car. 1 Guy round here change his trade name 3 times last year. BASICALLY DO IT RIGHT AND SLEEP AT NIGHT. TRADE ONLY FORUMS. THERE IS ONE ALREADY RUNNING. STARTED BY A RESPECTED INDEPENDANT DEALER. When breaking cars you must be registered with DVLA, COUNCIL and POLICE so why cant they run a register along those lines for car dealers, or say we must register with DVLA, Trading Standards & Police and get a registration number issued by those 3 Bodies, that we in turn have to place into our adverts. This would help when dealing with customers proving we are legally trading. That in turn should keep unscrupolous traders out. I have not set out to offend anyone and appologise if my thoughts have done so in any way. OOPS I think thats enough.

100% with everything said here by Jim and the more 'recognised' faces. Have frequented here a lot less lately due to the questions being asked, the kind of questions that 15+ years in the trade I've had to work hard to find the answers to.. Just waiting for GGs input on all this * Edit, how about a closed forum for us bonafide dealers, maybe something that requires say a VAT number to use? *

Welcome to a new way to chat to the motor industry. For us anyway. We know forums have been around a while. And we know there are some other forums out there that let you converse with other members of the motor industry. But we hope you'll embrace our new Forum and love it like your own. The Car Dealer team have been working very hard on integrating this forum into our website. Not only can you start posts in here just like any other forum by clicking 'Start New Topic', but by visiting one of the stories on our website and commenting on it a brand new thread will be created here too. It's a great way to share your views on the news. We know we've been lacking a commenting facility on the site for a while - you can thank spammers for that - but now this new solution takes things to the next level. You probably know the Car Dealer team is always online from our Twitter feeds and we'll be in here just as much, watching what you're talking about, taking note and diving in where we can. We want to know the topics that are affecting you. Is there something we should be investigating? A story we should be covering? All we ask is that you play nicely. Don't personally attack anyone. Don't be too aggressive or use inappropriate language. And no shameless self promotion from suppliers. And do let us know what you think. We're here. We're listening. Enjoy...

What has 800 legs, 3 teeth & stinks of piss? The queue outside Primark on sale day.

From SMA Birtley (Now Wilsons) .... the auctioneer (little man from Leeds) announced "Ive been talking to the lady that used to own this car, and i can confirm that she likes a bit of leather on her arse!"

Which is why it is important to do a job you like, then you'll never work again.

Who cares what Cazana says, ask the public who or what Cazana is and they'll have a guess at maybe......a region on Mexico...etc etc. Completely unknown by the public, they are simply a non entity.....

Wouldn't have revved my car to redline without leaving the door of the building very very quickly "preferably horizontal" . Don't let them remove caps , dip sticks or start cars when cold " period " Not qualified in my opinion " On test drive if they do anything remotely stupid I terminate the drive in an instant and drive back with them as a passenger . All about being in control . Take control from the start and they know their place .

So local rag cocks up on price of a car that we advertised, should be £19995 and they put £1995, phone never stops and they were actually serious, one woman actually threatened me with trading standards if i didnt honour price!!! Then I had guy this week on a 2004 smart car wanted me to take it to Mercedes for inspection,,, i said no, so he arranges for RAC to come here and inspect it, nice RAC guy came but as he said the car is 14yr old and guy seems to be expecting the earth,,, he faults it on few bits,, so I have just got e mail off the "customer" who says "I will not be proceeding with the purchase of your smart car due to numerous faults (car was MOT,d Monday) I do obviously expect you to reimburse my £300 RAC inspection fee" FFS,,, then to cap it all guy just e-mailed me on 99 Bentley Arnage at £20k I am prepared to purchase your car subject to inspection I will want finance over 5 years with nil deposit,,,, how the fcuk does he expect to run a Bentley if he cant find a dipper.... RANT OVER ITS FRIDAY I AM GOING TO GET PISSED,,, HAPPY WEEKEND FOLKS.

You will be lucky without watching his video and leaving a deposit first

Strictly this happened after the test drive but still makes me chuckle, knobhead customers trying to rag a car all through the test drive I finally had enough and asked him to pull over as I was going to drive back, I don't mind someone driving fast but he was right up the arse of other cars and being far too aggressive for a test drive, sat in silence with him on the way back to the dealership.... after we both got out of the car he said that car is sh*t anyway and I wouldn't buy from you pr*cks.... gets into his car and tries to speed off out of our car park but he fails to see the metal gate posts just infront of him and smash..... beaches himself on them and rips his front end off. look on his face was priceless

" Just got to speak to the wife " has got to be the biggest cop out going. It is just a more polite way of saying " look mate i dont have any intention of buying this car so i am going to waste someone elses time now"

You buy a low mileage car without history but you take a chance and go with your gut that it must have some somewhere and there she is, tucked away with all the manuals that have been left at the entry office. Beautiful

you buy a car and it doesn't blow up

To be honest I think I'd prefer that to happen than to actually sell two different cars. It is SO SATISFYING. Especially when they ring up and say 'I'm the one who viewed the X earlier/yesterday' and you can just scream down the phone ITS SOOOOOLLLDDDDD

Might as well tie a bungee rope to the back of the 807...

Be very careful. My funding partner is very happy to lend me his umbrella while the sun is shining but when a light shower hits, wants it back together with my raincoat.

Now I'm just going to get straight to the point. I'm not posting this to offend anyone, however I have noticed over the last few months that more and more questions are appearing on Car Dealer Magazine Forum from small part-time , home traders , asking how to do this and how to do that in the trade, now as I say I'm not meaning to offend anyone especially anyone at Car Dealer Magazine who do police this forum very well, BUT in my view if you have another MAIN employment and only trade on the side then do you think it's ethical that these part timers are asking detailed questions about the trade on this platform and expecting FULLY committed dealers of all sizes to answer them? Now I know what you are going to say, everyone has to start somewhere, YES, I agree and many people start part time with old cars to see if they like the trade before committing fully, however when some part-timer traders have full time employment and trade on the side with cars priced up to £10,000 with NO intention of giving up their full time work surely that is affecting us full time, fully committed businesses? I would also like to say that I am more than happy to help, assist or answer any amount of questions from someone who wants to make a go at this great industry , we even run a small mentoring service for these but at some point you have to commit to go full time, either that or you are stealing sales & profit from me and my peers! As I say hopefully I won't receive abusive phone calls or emails with this, but feel that someone has to say it, because I'm sure there are many who are thinking it! Jim

It's seems a theme on here that dealer don't like roadside traders and how they try and get out of there responsibilities if a fault occurs with a car. Then we have a dealer wanting / expecting a customer to wait for two day for a fault to be looked at on a car he purchased that day. Then it's seems like the dealer wants the customer to foot the bill for using decent parts instead of cheap parts. Lets be fair, how do we think this customer is feeling at the moment about his new car and the 'experience' of buying it?? My advice is pay the bill and keep the customer happy, forget £13.99 coil packs and put it down to experience. If he had had the car 20 days it's different story. Once he had phoned maybe the best course of action would be to get the car back, lend him a car, sort the problem and take the car back to him. That way you are in control of the problem. None of us like spending money but faults occur on cars, sometimes it will happen on the day of purchase. Moaning about the less desirable elements of the motor trade and then acting like one doesn't help anyone

Find a new hobby would be my advice.

Now here's an offer you don't get every day. We have been notified from CAP Valuations that we have 782 credits (valuations) that we have to use or lose before the end of September. So as a completely selfless act of kindness.........I'm offering you all FREE Cap valuations on any car (not commercial) email me the reg and mileage to jim@jimreidvehiclesales.co.uk and I'll come back to you as soon as I can. Being a frugal Scot , I hate not getting full value for money, so help me help you..... fire away! Jim

This is terrible news Wheelerdealer1 - we'll miss you. I've long thought about a campaign against these roadside sellers. I thought Car Dealer could run one that backs independents like you and franchised dealers alike. The dealers following the rules and paying VAT. Would you guys back it? Something like Buy From A Trusted Trade. We could make stickers - like warning stickers - that proper dealers can stick on these roadside cars. 'Buyer Beware: This Seller Pays No VAT, Offers No Warranty Or Comeback. Buy From Your Local Trusted Dealer Instead.' Something along those lines. We could talk to the government on your behalf. It's just a thought. What do you all think?

Dear Auto Trader What on earth have you done? Back in the rosy, halcyon days of last summer, we (YOUR paying customers) were able to advertise our stock on your website by adding some simple details via your Dealer Portal. Other than a few minor adjustments via tick boxes to optional extras, the specification that was displayed to the car buying public (OUR paying customers) was sufficiently accurate to ensure that the full details of each and every car was displayed properly. Whilst we have grumbled about the prices you charge, we understood that a premium product had a cost attached and, in the absence of a credible alternative with the market share you have, we reluctantly kept handing over the cash. Albeit safe in the knowledge that you would provide us (again, YOUR paying customers) with leads that, subject to our varying abilities and skills, would lead us to a profitable sale. Then you went and spoilt everything. You made two important changes that have seriously damaged your credibility and made our lives a whole lot more difficult. Firstly, you, without warning, switched your supplier of vehicle data. Secondly, you offered the car-buying public (remember: OUR paying customers) ‘valuations’ on everything – their cars, our cars, your mum’s car, everything. Now, in order to advertise a car, what used to take a couple of minutes takes an eternity. The model/derivative descriptions and standard/optional specification you (via Glass) offer for huge numbers of vehicles is, quite frankly, rubbish. I won’t go into details about just how bad it is, because we already know – and you should already know. Despite many complaints and demands for action, you have, as yet, done nothing to rectify it. We have been told that you hope to have it sorted by Easter. Six months after making the change. I know that this will not happen. I suspect that you know this will not happen. But still you persist. I do not believe that Glass have the necessary resources in place to provide you with what you thought you were getting. It is difficult to understand why you took this hugely erroneous step of changing your vehicle data supplier from CAP to Glass. Surely somebody must have checked that the accuracy and level of detail was adequate? I can only assume it was a cost-cutting exercise but, with the gift of hindsight (available for tuppence a bucket, don’t you know), you must now realise what a dreadful decision it was. And you’ve signed up for ten years!! Seriously? And the ‘Valuations’… Words almost fail me. Almost. We are Motor Trade Professionals. It is our job to buy and sell vehicles. We do it quite a lot and have done for a very long time. We know how to value a vehicle. At no time did we specifically ask you to tell our customers how much we might have paid for the car that they are looking to buy. Especially, and this is the nub, when the information you provide is spectacularly wrong and based upon a misguided view of the marketplace, using flawed data. I am not interested in how you think you are helping our customers by providing ‘transparency’. I didn’t ask you to do this and it provides no benefit in reality to your customers (remember? US). It creates confusion, distrust and, ultimately, costs us business. Therefore, as I am YOUR customer, I am asking you to stop. I do not want you to do this for me. I am not paying you to do this. I can do it for myself if I wish to. So pack it in. You have received many, many complaints about both of the above changes; complaints which you have not addressed satisfactorily and/or ignored completely. Nobody in a senior position in your organisation has had the guts to go public and admit you might have got it wrong. You are just continuing at full speed down this dead-end street, disregarding the opinions and feelings of your customers. When will you understand how wrong and stupid that is? The final insult you have thrown at us is your decision to increase your charges (in many cases disguised within new ‘packages’). Frankly, this really is a Right Royal P**stake. You have decided, in amongst all this, that you feel justified in charging us more for a substantially worse product. Your justification for this I would really love to hear. Or maybe I wouldn’t, as I wouldn’t believe a word of it anyway. I am not alone with these thoughts. There are others who are too busy or are unable or unwilling to raise their head and voice their complaints. There will also be many who consider progress has to happen, whatever the cost. And that I should stop whinging and flog some motors. However, you have abused your position of market dominance and are taking your customers for granted. This is foolish and must stop. I, and many others, are seeking alternative ways of marketing our products and we will not hesitate in pulling the plug on you as soon as possible if nothing changes. It strikes me that you won’t necessarily give a chuff about that, as you see yourselves as being able to afford a bit of a bleed from the subscriber base, as ‘we need you more than you need us’. Apparently. Don’t cover your eyes for too long though…