LISL

Lol - probably getting them all from Motability!

Commercials or regular mate? Haven't seen any cars going through in a while although I may be wrong. Pretty sure Manheim do them?

What you should do is start a blog, privately, with all your issues and problems you face and will carry on facing! The good and the bad. As time goes by you'll have some really happy, angry, sad and ecstatic moments, all that make the trade what it is today. What you'll quickly learn though, is that in 5 years time when there's another newbie asking the same questions as you're asking now, you'll be more inclined to say "see for yourself" then just give your family jewels away. After all, that's why they're called "trade" secrets right? Honestly, best way to learn is to do. You'll never fail, you'll just find a thousand ways that don't work, but the learning curve never stops. Rish

Got logged out twice this morning. At the cricket so gave up

To answer your initial post, and like someone else has said, the sales are your best bet. AT, Gumtree, eBay and then work backwards. Make sure you factor in enough when it comes to prep. What kind of cars will you sell, anything and everything or diesels or estates or cheap sports cars or family Ford's or hot hatches? This trade, and I'll probably be vilified for saying it, is fairly closed. And to be honest, rightly so. Everyone assumes they've never seen a poor car dealer, but what one man classes as a living another could piss away on a day out at the races. In my experience, it took me nearly 6 years and about £15k in losses working part time and building contacts until I realised one thing; this isn't built for the weekend dealer. Between actually dealing with potential customers (worst and best part of the job), you've got to source the right stock at the right price. It's changed from the 70s where auctions were practically the only place to go for dealers, we're now in the information age and if you look hard enough there are options. Having said that, I'd hazard a guess and say all dealers still buy at least some proportion of stock from the block as it's easy. If book prices are met or exceeded and you feel they're too steep, don't buy anything, simple. I used to download catalogues, research prices and then print them out and write next to the lot number what I'd be willing to pay and stick to it, until I learnt the trade and built confidence. It also makes it easier when vendors and auctioneers know who you are, as I've seen them taking bids off the wall and driving prices up a grand or even more. Like anything worth doing, it won't come easy. But think about a few main points Where will you sell from? If a premises, where are you and what's the going rent. If you're going to sell from home are your neighbours ok or tossers? I'd be a tosser if someone was selling cars on the road I lived on. What will you buy? Or at least try to buy? Do you have a paint shop and mechanic you can trust? You'll need a warranty company that pays out (Hardy har) Insurance is a bloody killer If you're working by yourself, how will you find time to source stock? Have you got the capital to invest in stock? Like I said, after me personally losing a small fortune I then took a massive punt and invested in my first 7 cars and built from there. Will you trade up, or deal in numbers? Will you work off volume of sales or profit per unit? Will you offer finance? If so, through who? You'll need a license as I'm sure you know. You can be a "dealer" who (we all know one and I personally HATE them) who advertise as private sellers but are dealers. These guys give us a bad name and don't take their job seriously. They have sod all infrastructure and I'd bet don't pay any tax at all. Or you can actually try and make it work, properly, build a brand and deal with the good and the bad (much more of the latter) but this will take a massive amount of time, money and even more effort. Anyway, this post wasn't meant to be too long and it is so I do apologise, but think long and hard. Rish

3 yesterday for me, and 3 over the weekend. Funnily enough all saw the ads (or at least told me they did) on eBay. Wonders never cease

Evening XFS, I'm one of those exporters other people have mentioned on the thread, my clients abroad would be interested in a car like this. It'd be a trade sale as you wish, so if you haven't offloaded it yet PM me and we can hopefully get a deal done. Thanks, Rish

Evening Phil, I've just registered so you should have my details. I'm out tomorrow but feel free to drop me an email or try me at the office or on the mobile. Speak soon hopefully, Rish.

Hi Phil, as others have stated, this would be brilliant, kind of like a mutual fund buying group for indy's to source the right stock, something I personally have been looking for for about a year

Ex rental Ford Mondeo (66 plate just bought by them). Unbelievable drive, seriously very very good! Although my favourite car was an X-reg Citroen Xantia; had this weird suspension thing (you could lower and raise the car) and used to go like the clappers!

Afternoon all Just wanted to say hello from a newbie here. Got my second sub for CDM a few days ago and have been hovering the forum for a few months now, thought I'd take the plunge and register myself. A little about me - 32 year old (feel like I'm 60 in this game) mostly buyer of vehicles for export, although I do sell a few in the UK here and there, we mostly sell to customers based in SE Asia who have an amazing appetite for cars that are brought in from the British Isles. Lucky enough to have some family in the industry which allowed me to start what I have done here, and have just built on that. As with most indy's, my main problem is sourcing the right stock, registered with Car To Trade, DA and Sytner Auction and basically all of the auction houses, however as always, they seem to come in like buses (5 at a time) or not at all. Still though, makes for an interesting days at the office! Anyway, just wanted to say a quick (albeit virtual) hello and hope to speak to you all soon. Rish