MrC

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Posts posted by MrC

  2. Posted

    Just to resurrect this post, John from Premier Insurance got in touch and came to see us at our premises. I do have to say John is very knowledgeable and seems well connected. What John doesn't know about the insurance industry and most importantly trade (Combined) policies isn't worth knowing. 

    Long story short we have taken out a policy with Premier Insurance, the price came in slightly cheaper, but what is important to me is a really feel like we'll be looked after

    In a world where good service seems a bit thin on the ground is refreshing find a good business, John is definitely worth having a chat with.

     

     

  4. Posted

    On 8/5/2022 at 11:47 AM, Premier Insurance said:

    Whilst I don't post often in this forum, just as a point of reference, if you are insured with Axa, Allianz, Aviva - (not Tradex, Granite, Arch or NIG) and paying less than £10k last year, I can help you. If you have a combined policy, are claim free and can pass a survey, (you do what you are legally required to, first aid box, fire extinguishers, etc), I can guarantee 10% off last year’s premium. We have a price match and discount facility, this is for customers that represent good risks. Many moons ago, I worked as an auto electrician, and given my time in garages a small panel of insurers have said to me, 'if it's right and you endorse it', we can discount last year’s premium. I have to select the right garages, flood areas are a big concern from some of the insurers, but having done the job, I am not looking for shinny floors - I want people who know what they are doing and don’t 'play at it'.   

    The market trend for increases is coming off the back of increased claims costs, as everyone on here knows, cars can spend weeks parked up waiting for more expensive parts, hire cars are needed for longer periods and as they are not readily available - the cost of claims has been hit. The bodyshop guys will be upset that vehicles can be laid up for extended periods with insurers stating they will not pay beyond a couple of weeks 'that being a reasonable period' - but in truth, it's no longer reasonable. The balance is, insurers take the premiums paid and invest this income, with increasing interest rates a greater return on investment income takes a little bit of the sting out of the increased cost of claims - this is however only just beginning to happen and a concern exists about a recession. If insurers can't make more money out of the premiums paid, premiums will be set to increase, hopefully not as much as a barrel of oil, but it could happen. 

    I am not looking to advertise or pull clients away from brokers that do the job through this forum, if you are claim free the best course of action, is to highlight that claim free position. In truth the motor trade insurance market is made up of several specialist brokers and most of these brokers have specialisms within the motor trade. If you have a road risks only policy it is one set of brokers, if your spending £200k plus on insurance it's another set, and if you operate a garage it's another set (apart from Gallaghers previously known as Bollington’s, who look to cover everything). To get the best price and to be honest the best advice you need to find the right adviser, if you feel you have the right adviser tell them to sharpen the pencil and see what comes back. At a level, the brokers know who is best at certain types of risk, but most will not turn any clients away. Unless you know enough about your insurance it is exceedingly difficult to test those who know a little more than you, so the key is getting someone you can trust to protect your livelihood. This is really important, no two insurance policies are the same, it can be as close as a Skoda to a VW or Audi, but some differences exist, and if you have the right adviser, they should tell you what the differences are.

    The massive brokers tend to have large teams dealing with commercial clients and this in my opinion, makes the job hard work. The smaller brokers often struggle to get the rates required from the insurers and are not always as competitive. The process is not helped by Google, many of the companies listed in the first few pages are agents or have a limited panel, so you are calling a representative who is only going to provide options from a small number of insurers. Quotezone, who pay to be near the top of Google sell the information they collect to several of the highest paying brokers, I have tried this and it is expensive, we do not charge enough for this to work for us. You should also be aware that insurer do not react well to receiving enquiries through several different brokers, so, if you go on a mission and call three or more, chances are the premium will go up not down. We get favours off mates at insurers for clients we suggest are worth a favour, if the client has asked others to quote our argument dissolves and the rate gets pushed back to standard rating. (That's wrong, but it's the way it works and nobody is admitting to it, apart from me just now).    

    So, if you don't have a decent relationship with the existing broker, research an alternative broker if you want an alternative quote, and then take the best option for you. Dont just phone a couple to test the water, it seldom works and if it does you still may not get the best deal. 

    If you want any of the above clarifying let me know, I hope it is informative and helps you.

    John.

          

    Happy to get a quote off you, ours is due 10th December. I'll PM you my number

  9. Posted

    On 2/2/2022 at 5:24 PM, David Horgan said:

     

    Porsche buyers are horrible people , self entitled idiots thinking they are something they aren't is my description . 

     

    Steady on now, we are not all horrible. That said there are some utter bell ends, usually at the anorak end of the spectrum.  Fucking good cars 911's cant deny that. 

    • Like 1

  11. Posted

    When someone rings us for a ready done camper or a conversion, my first question is what's your budget.

    Our conversions are around  £17k and New campers start at £55k.

    If then only have £8k for a conversion or £25k for a done camper then it's a complete none starter. So lovely as they might be and as polite as I am it saves a lot of time from the getgo.

     

  14. Posted

    14 hours ago, trade vet said:

    Sounds brilliant Mr C.Can we have an update on how you are doing.You surely cannot do 20 of your wonderful conversions on your own.

    I'm not on my own any more, there are 3 of us now, 2020 and 2021 have been crazy busy for obvious reasons. It's been very hard work, stress levels have been high. 

    Our biggest challenge has been the supply chain,  really hit and miss with getting the bits in to do the jobs. Beds are a 10 week lead time and furniture 14 weeks poptop canvases are 6 to 8 weeks at the moment. So it's been a lot of long term planning and holding more stock than usual. 

    Most of our customers have been fabulous and understanding with our challengers, but we have had one or two inpatient customers. 

    The rest of this year is booked up than includes the vans we have on order. 

    The idea of doing our own vans is to try to get back a decent work life balance and work just to our own dead lines. 

    Also we can preplan 12 months in advance what we will need, this should  simplify our ordering process. 

    Standardise all our colour schemes etc. 

    I started off 4 years ago buying, converting, advertising, selling then preselling vans before I even had them in. This turned in to converting customer owned vans, and that's the way its been for a while. Last year I bought a brand new van we threw the world at it and sold it within 10 days for £58k. Actually made twice as much as we would normally. 

    As it stands we do have a dealer willing to take vans straight off us, needless to say we'll take a hit on the profit.  But its good to know we could just punt them straight in to them if we need to turn the cash around quickly. 

    I know the transition will be rocky and scary at times, you can soon tie a whole lump of dough up in couple of vans. 

    We reallyy need to work smarter and these are the first steps.

     

    • Like 1

  16. Posted

    Looking to start the process of becoming FCA registered pretty soon as we are moving in to selling new campers, I have 5 new T6.1's due to land this year and will be ordering 20 vans for 2022 to be drip fed to us from VW though out the year.  My question is which finance companies are worth working with and which are the ones to avoid?

    Thanks in advance

  19. Posted

    Very low stock of 6 month old and pre reg Transporters. 

    Factory order is the way to go at the moment and even then they are delayed. My new van was supposed to be here last month, doubt I'll see it till March. 

    As for older used vans, I sold our 2014 100k miles binged up caddy swb for £7500

     

    Last week sold our 2012 95k T5.1 LWB day van/camper (no poptop, he's paying extra for me to fit that) for £23k  it has a ton of spec and features coming out of its arse. 

    I have a brand new T6.1 with a fresh high spec Conversion going to a main dealer this week on SOR at £55k. They have no factory campers in stock! 

    • Like 1

  20. Posted

    My most hilarious offer a few years ago was in a Spares or repairs Golf 1.4 TSI I had gotten buried in. 

    I'll save the full story (I'm sure I posted it on here) the punter offered a good sum more than it was advertised for....

     

    He wanted to pay using a couple of grands worth of Postage stamps. 

     

    I've also been offered a Painting at one point