DCS01

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Posts posted by DCS01

  1. Posted

    On 6/3/2021 at 8:54 PM, Frank Cannon said:
    On 6/3/2021 at 4:27 PM, Halfpenny said:

    This really is a strange thread!  A 16-17 year old car and all that MoT is telling us is that its rusty. No surprise really. Prob wouldn't cost more than a couple hundred maximum to get a ticket on it. If you're routinely trading in older cars (which presumably you are, since you appear to have sourced it from another trader) then surely this is all in a day's work?

    I took it in part exchange.   I try not to deal with old cars.  The spend wasn’t worth my hassle.  I stuck it on eBay and made £100.

    My point was there was no way way should have passed.   How many other cars have they let go.  
     

    I was asking for some honest opinions. To be honest wish I hadn’t had bothered 
     

     

     

    On 6/9/2021 at 6:14 AM, Frank Cannon said:

    I think the OP is the 'be back bus' :D

    To be honest the OP saw some of the replies and thought couldn’t be bothered with some of the sarcastic replies to what was a genuine question. 
     

    I’ve been in this trade years, I’ve not just tried to leech of this forum and tried to add constructive replies.  Couldn’t be arsed with the sneering tone and just got on with my business. 

  2. Posted

    26 minutes ago, BHM said:

    That’s all it needs so I’m unsure why you’re unhappy.

    So what? Advisories are a pass.

    Sorry but I don’t understand what you & DCS01 think is so wrong. It’s a 17yr old car that’s only failed on 2 bits of welding almost 5 months, 700 miles & the season of WINTER. Tbh without knowing the type of car, reg etc. we’re all in the dark anyway.

    Do you really class a bit of welding & a splash of Underseal as too much of a spend? 
     

    I’m not unhappy with the fact I would have to spend the money. I’m going to scrap it and move on. I was unhappy of the fact that someone has passed an MOT less than 1k miles ago and said it was fine when it obviously wasn’t.  But this is why I was asking opinions and I will leave it.

    Yes I do class it as too much spend when it’s probably going to be about £400 odd quid at the subcontractor garage and I would rather sell the hours more profitably at our workshop.  For a sub £1500 car it’s not worth the risk/reward. 

  3. Posted

    24 minutes ago, BIGNIT said:

    If you are not retailing it why are you testing a 17 year old car that has already got 8 month test?

    Its over 3 months since test so no point reporting.

    Also mots are very opinionated, last year we got a 12 year old car that had been tested 4 months ago at main dealer with 8 advisories. Took it for a fresh test, passed with no advisories. 

     

    I was going to have a go with it as long as the spend wasn’t much.  With a clear MOT end of Jan even taking into consideration a few bits needed doing it might have been worth it.  Bodywork and carpets were clean.  

  4. Posted

    23 minutes ago, trade vet said:

    A friendly MOT could have been done by a connected party working in the testing station.The owner of the testing station who has probably invested a lot of money may not be involved.How many miles has it done since January and the previous MOT.You could contact the testing station and draw their attention to it but I would not do any more in case of any reprisals.Be carefull you never know who you could be dealing with.May we enquire what this ‘jalopy’ is which you appear to want to retail.

    Oh no fear. I’m not retailing it.  Not worth my hassle.

     

    Remove my car jobbie

    15 minutes ago, BHM said:

    I differ totally to TRADE SURVIVOR. MOT complaints are heard for the first month, or 3 months for corrosion. Something like almost 5 months have now passed, don’t waste your phone call because they will not be interested. 

    We all know there are MOTs & there are MOTs, sometimes looking at the mileage since MOT, tax end date can give you a clue there’s a tale, sometimes not.

    All it’s failed on are a couple of bits of welding. The rest are advisories so all you are really complaining about are the failures & I’m afraid holes in end-of-life cars can, and do, appear in the space of 4 to 5 months.

    Expecting a 16/17year old car to fly through an MOT suggests your a ‘glass half full’ type of person. I repeatedly hear the trade say ‘it passed its last MOT with flying colours so it should be ok this time’ :rolleyes:. I deal in a bit of old shite & old cars do NOT fly through MOT after MOT without a bit of hand/wallet interaction.

    To be clear,  I didn’t expect it to fly through. I was fully expecting some work.  But the guy who did the MOT is pretty much 100% sure that there is no way that car wasn’t in that condition.  There is only 700 miles between end of Jan and now. 

  5. Posted

    Just taken in an old 137k 54 plate jalopy.  Looked a straight thing.  MOT in Jan no advisories.  Just went to put a ticket on yesterday and there is a massive list below. I hate how other dealers just s*it over each other as this trade is hard enough, but this really annoyed me and I’m tempted to report them.  There is no way this car should have passed in Jan, How many other cars are they putting through and endangering people?  

    Should I just let this go or is reporting doing the right thing?
     

    Repair immediately (major defects):

    • Nearside Rear Outer Suspension component mounting prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength sill panel (5.3.6 (a) (i))
    • Offside Rear Outer Suspension component mounting prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength sill panel (5.3.6 (a) (i))

    Monitor and repair if necessary (advisories):

    • Oil leak, but not excessive (8.4.1 (a) (i))
    • Nearside Rear Coil spring corroded (5.3.1 (b) (i))
    • Offside Rear Coil spring corroded (5.3.1 (b) (i))
    • Rear Sub-frame corroded but not seriously weakened (5.3.3 (b) (i))
    • Nearside Rear Inner Vehicle structure is corroded but structural rigidity is not significantly reduced sill panel (6.1.1 (c) (i))
    • Offside Rear Inner Vehicle structure is corroded but structural rigidity is not significantly reduced sill panel (6.1.1 (c) (i))
    • Nearside Rear Brake disc worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened (1.1.14 (a) (ii))
    • Offside Rear Brake disc worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened (1.1.14 (a) (ii))

  7. Posted

    Morning.  This may not apply to anyone but I thought sharing is caring and all that.

    I have just had a massive issue with an XC60 I sold back in December.  Came back to me in Jan sloshing around with water, turns out they are well known for ingress at the top of the screen.   End of March just before the warranty up boot lock has gone and then the fan started and wouldn’t stop.   I’m now looking at a 1-2k Bill to fix at Volvo because apparently someone thought it would be wise to put the cem in the footwell.

    long story but I have been told this is common in xc60 and 90 so if anyone buys one might be worth a) replacing the screen rubber (for the sake of £80) and b) checking if the CEM has any previous damage and is staring to go. 

  8. Posted

    8 hours ago, It's me said:

    read about debenhams if you really want to see how to asset strip

    it isnt in the daily mirror mind

    I have tried to find the article but can’t locate it.  Pizza Express is a prime example, in essence not a failing business but been brought time and time again by investment companies using borrowed money to buy it and then offloading the problem.

  9. Posted

    Hmm.  Someone doing their best in the circumstances wouldn’t have spent the 1st few months of the pandemic not bothering to turn up to cobra meetings and not knowing about the impending disaster we were about to get shafted by, he was taking weekend breaks and didn’t want to be bothered by details and warnings. 

    During the middle he took the option of  the economy over the scientific advice and helped give us a second wave as bad as the 1st.

    Even now at the tail end when he said he is doing all he can he spent a day personally ringing newspaper editors to try and brief them against Cummings to cover his own dodgy flat dealings and shouting ‘let the bodies plié up’

    Everyone is saying how bad the Indian situation is now,  they have 17 deaths per 100k of population, we have 191.

    I will give credit that the vaccine roll out has been a success, but guess what you give it to NHS to roll it out and don’t hand it to someone like Serco you get a better result.

    The only people Boris has given a flying f about are himself and his donors through all of this.  
     

     

    • Like 1

  10. Posted

    Thanks for all the replies.  My gut instinct has been confirmed.  Every car I have has a workshop inspection and MOT just before delivery.

    My personal feelings would be I would not want a car due for a service in the next couple of months.  But just wanted to make sure that the level of car I was dealing with my expectations were wrong. 
     

    To be honest I know I’m on the right track considering the comments I have been getting about how my cars have been prepped compared to other cars out there and the take it or leave it attitude of some traders!

  12. Posted

    Afternoon,  hope you are all doing well.

    Still trying to find my feet with a few bits.   
     

    I am still not 100% sure of when to service cars before delivery.   Most of my stock is up to 10 years max 100k miles.   I am used to JLR/Audi standards of minimum 3 months/3k miles until service.  

    For example I have an 11 plate Ibiza with 80k miles someone viewing tomorrow. Service due 30th July, my gut feeling is to get it done but wanted some opinions.

    Thanks in advance for any replies.

     

  13. Posted

    On 4/27/2021 at 12:03 PM, David Horgan said:

    Just worry how we will show up against the big boys who will of course control their search appearances by means we wouldn't probably have access to ..

    Be a dot of sand  in the desert we will, on a on a google platform . 

     

    I can’t think that favouring the big boys would do them any favours. The way they will make their money is getting as many people to advertise as possible.  The beauty of Autotrader for all its faults is my 10 cars will show up alongside someone with 100.  But I pay for the privilege. 

  15. Posted

    10 hours ago, trade vet said:

    Company car tax gets me annoyed.For years I was paying it plus personal fuel benefit tax based on any car from stock with a list price of up to £25k.The cars I used were usually worth about 4 grand.However pre online buying,I was doing 50k miles per year and our accountant failed to advise that I should have purchased my own car and charged the company 40p per mile.I did not find out until years later,very annoying.

    That is annoying.  An on the ball accountant is worth their weight in gold.

  16. Posted

    I’ve been driving around in an old transit connect I brought to do parcels in while setting up the business. I quite enjoy driving it.

    After years of being snobby about what demo I had and driving around in a new car every 3/4 months I’m surprised of how little I’m bothered about a nice car.  However there is an attraction of not paying £500 a month company car tax for a car that then gets loaned out for weeks to a customer. 

  19. Posted

    11 hours ago, Frank Cannon said:

    If it cant even drive on its own steam its either, part of the clutch release mechanism or linings, if linings its been driven to destruction and will smell like it too. B)

    How old is the car, how many miles, model? 

    2012 Passat diesel estate 90k miles.  
     

    Thanks for everyone’s advice on this. I haven’t heard anything from the customer since I told her the warranty was 3 months.  I think she was probably just calling out of hope that it was 6.  
     

     

  20. Posted

    40 minutes ago, trade vet said:

    Tread carefully.I can recall some good ones like checking up and finding it’s a taxi or been towing an overweight caravan .The last one I can recall it was the punter who deliberately burned the clutch out because he wanted to cancel and get his swapper back because he realised he had let it go far too cheaply.I gave him a full refund but not his swapper and thanked him for the business.With a lot of comebacks I used to often get the punter to drive me around for a couple of miles.On one we had fitted a clutch in prep and sold it and a month or two later the guy says it’s slipping.He drives me around and shows how it is slipping.I agree and ask if that is how he normally drives which he confirms so I then have to point out he is driving with his foot resting on the clutch.

    With comebacks which are potentially expensive in some cases you have to be like a detective.These days if I was suspicious, I would want a photo of the mileage and the general condition of the car and a copy of the invoice for the new parts incase the clutch is for another car !

    Thank you for the reply. And I will make sure I will do my research.

    My question is after 4 months (a month out of my warranty) would I be expected to pay something towards it?  

  22. Posted

    Morning,

    I have searched the forum but couldn’t see something that would answer my question. 
     

    I sold a Passat just over 4 months ago. FSH, previous customer had cambelt done. I serviced and MOT’d just before hand over.

    I get a call yesterday saying clutch failed, customer was not kicking off at me but just checking about the warranty in case it was 6 months (3 was agreed).   Had no contact from customer previously to say it was going. 
     

    The customer is not demanding anything yet, but I am just preempting the garage it was taken to tell them it shouldn’t have gone and me getting a phone call.

    Should I go in early and offer some goodwill while not admitting liability?  Would anybody’s opinion be that I would be expected to pay for the full repair?

    Thanks in advance.

  23. Posted

    4 hours ago, BHM said:

    I would imagine a fair percentage of the population don’t relish the idea of that, including me, & the whole dealership experience is FAR from pleasurable for many. Some must like it but plenty hate it from what I’m told by punters. 

    Pre-lockdown I had the ‘pleasure’ of shopping for fitted furniture. Fuck me, I experienced various persuasion techniques & manipulation attempting to soften me up for what was some of the most ridiculous prices imaginable. If I’m honest it reminded me of the bad old days of sales patter when I used to buy new cars, or double glazing. 

    We have been sorting a kitchen. I actually quite liked doing the initial appointments by Zoom. One of the companies however don’t want to give me a quote until we have been in to discuss the design. Like Inchape used to work, give you half the info until you make an appointment.

  24. Posted

    I just still can’t get my head around it. Maybe up to 18 months old cars yes.  But anything older than that?  Over the years the amount of times I think a car is perfect and the customer comes down and tears it apart how do you deal with those people when you are just delivering a car? 
    Who is dealing with the buy backs and the issues of repairing a broken car in the 1st 6 months? How do they allow for miss described part exchanges?

    I also still don’t think when the dealerships open back up and customers can go and have drives that it will stand up to a hungry sales person with a family and a mortgage to feed. 
     

    I may be completely wrong but I’ve worked in main dealers long enough saying that internet sales will take over and they never have.

  25. Posted

    1 hour ago, trade vet said:

    You did well,did you check he was 18.Are there any additional precautions dealers should take when doing online/ click and collect sales to kids or new adults acting on their own.I may be wrong but I would want to know what it was going to be used for to be ‘ Fit for purpose ‘ ,a copy of their license and if they could not produce insurance I would be stating on the invoice that they understood they must be appropriately insured before they can drive on a public road.Duty of Care and all that stuff.......and no credit cards !

    Thanks for the heads up. His step dad came down with him and completed the transaction with him.