MattGM

Might even stick some tax on it and throw it at the wife, she's been pestering me for a new car Gave the guy £500 px for it, but he paid full whack for the 110, so I'm nae grumbling.

Yes, 150k. Very odd for such a little motor. Might just get put on auction I think. Not my market really.

Strange day, went to collect a privately sourced car from some distance away, turned out to be not as advertised. Had value in it with some work, so managed to pick it up for the right price... eventually. Then sat in traffic for nearly 2 hours, missed an appointment for a viewing on another car. Got back, and gentleman phones and said he'd still like to come and look at the car, turns up, didn't really think it was for him, but liked another, fair enough. Deal done, decent price, and the strangest part-ex I could imagine. 04 plate 1.1 Fiat Panda against a 94 Defender 110... one out the door though so I'm happy. Little Panda isn't a bad motor to be honest, nice and clean and straight. Do they sell well?

I really do hope if you open the boot a yellow flymo mower made out like Thunderbird 4 lives there.

Ofcourse there are other options to consider. For the market of car you're after pretty much all the mainstream manufacturers produce something that'll be suitable for you. Think Corsa, Fiesta, Clio, 208, i20, Mini, Polo, Ibiza.... etc (there will be more) If you're buying new, go out and try as many as you like the look of, and make your mind up based on the right combination of practicality, package, and price. They'll all be under new car warranty so there is no real right answer to your question, it's very subjective. Personally speaking I don't like French cars, but that's me, some love them. Hyundais and Kias seem to offer the best 'bang for buck' and very good long warranty packages. But if you're a badge snob and want a VW or Audi parked outside expect to pay more for it, you won't get Waitrose produce for Aldi prices... And yes, the Micra is a more than decent supermini.

Sold 3 this week, that's a very good week for me by my standards, and the joint best week I've had in 3 months. First was crap margin, but that was due to the money I had to plugh into it, the second was a battle to get over the line but got there eventually without giving it away, and the third yesterday was a cracking sale in stark contrast to the first. Bought a TD5 110 Defender alledgedly needing a gearbox, got it nice and cheap, put it on the ramp and the transfer box bearing was noisy, replaced for £38+ (doddle of a job on a ramp), MOT'd as it had <5 months, passed with a couple of BS advisories, and sold after 4 days for a very tidy profit to a really nice young local lass into horse riding..... 'nuff said.

Again, thanks for all the kind words and advice from all,it's all taken onboard, and I'm aware I'll have my setbacks but hopefully learn from them. I have to say, above all it's just great to be working for myself. There seems to be a bit of doom and gloom about the trade and it's lifestyle, and whilst I accept that some long hours, and an element of never letting the job go exists, there's also the other side which grants me flexibility in my working day that any previous regular employment just doesn't give. Hey, maybe it's too early days and I'll come back in a year or two, and be as seemingly miserable as some on here can be about the trade, but we'll see

Hi buddy. Just started out full scale, I specialise in Land Rovers, specifically Defenders and utility models. Purely because I know them, have worked on them for years, and have good contacts for parts needed for partial restorations, allowing me to buy lower priced 'projects', fix them up, and sell them on with higher margins. So I'm probably more hands on with the mechanical side than most on here I'd guess.

When you specialise in a certain product, as I do, you have to buy from wherever you can. What that means going forward I'll have to see, but my market vehicles are rarely found at your regular auctions.

Really? What's the world coming to then. As far as engine components go, this is the quintessential 'wear and tear' component, along with timing belts. Catalytic converters have a shelf life, simple. That said ofcourse, in the context of warranty repairs, it's not going to be a huge one, it's no engine rebuild or dual mass flywheel replacement. Out of principle the answer for me is absolutely no. Maybe in reality IF (big if) CRA would/could go against you, you'd be better taking the smaller hit than the bigger one from the courts. What's the customer like? can they be appeased with a 'gesture of good will' if it comes to it?

Cheers for the advice Rory. I have actually worked in sales before, just not car sales (although I've a few years xp 'trading' from home), I worked as a sales rep for a well known autoparts supplier. I'm generally a very confident person, I consider myself knowledgeable on the product I'm selling, and I'm pretty good at building rapport with people. I think my problem is I'm too eager in the early stages to get the sale at any cost. Once the punter arrives to see a motor, I want them either leaving in it, or having plonked a wedge down (don't we all right.....) and I think that's probably what shows, I must be too transparent, I just need to have faith in my stock and hold out a little more on margins. Appreciate the advice buddy, going to have a gander at some reading material.

The problem I have is I buy my stock privately, from ebay, gumtree, and sometimes AT. I need to be viewing my purchases, as roughly every 1 in 6 is a non starter as it's not as advertised, or there are other issues meaning I don't come back with the car. I take a trailer with me every time I view to buy, if it's not a go-er, I get home without relying on public transport. Dunno about 2:30 in the morning, I need my 8 hours I'd say roughly 2 hours every evening in bed for me trawling through the classifieds and ebay, then a further hour or so every day following up the previous night's shortlist.

Ha. my first (and only so far) part ex was a Renault Laguna in chop for a Discovery. Gave it a good clean out in prep for going on the bay to clear, found no money, but did find a pair of knickers in the back of the driver's seat door pocket. Best part of it is, they guy who swapped it in had to be in his 60s, or not far off. G'won lad.

I have 8 currently in stock, and I do everything myself including repairs and mechanical prep, and I'm stretched at times, I don't know how some of you guys manage. Saturdays are the busiest days of the week for me too, people want to view and handover on Saturdays, and sellers (I source a lot privately) want you to come and buy on Saturdays too. There's not enough hours in the day on Saturdays for me.

I think I've made an assumption on replying here, the engines which I/we have had experience of burning oil is the 16v EP3 engines, which we've seen many of for failed cats, much of the time down to excessive oil consumption. The old TU in it's earlier guise was (In my opinion), one of their best engines for simplicity and serviceability. Re cat 'n alfie, I'm the biggest sceptic in the world mate, trust me. But it's hard to argue the bottle of pixie dust does do something when you're standing at the gas analyser for the MOT re-test, sniggering at the customer going to have to pay for another MOT and repairs because he's just chucked a bottle of this magic in, and then it passes. I grant you, it works when emissions were marginal, it doesn't if something is miles out, it won't fix a hole in the exhaust for example, but I have eaten the humble pie on this more than once, so I have to offer credit where it's due, allbeit begrudgingly.

Yes, that is indeed a possibility in time. For the moment atleast I'm just finding my feet at this larger scale, and I'm learning a lot as I go, but it is an option. I'd need to figure out how I intigrate it with my current business though in the sense of VAT, or run it seperately, but I'd speak to my accountant over that. Re the MOD agents, yes I've looked at it. They're not exactly cheap though from what I've seen. The ex 'squaddie' Land Rovers coming onto the market are also a little spartan, even by Defender standards, where as I find the good sellers are the county station wagons, or as the customers put it 'the ones with windows'.with such plush extras as cloth seats, leaking sunroofs and radio casettes! Ofcourse, there's always the young lads wanting the van side 90 to go sink it into the dirtiest mud hole they can find on an illegal greenlane somewhere, but from my experience (so far atleast) it's the countys that sell, and sell well. Fortunately, I have it written into my internal/external contract of maintenance that the premesis shall be kept in accordance of the condition of which I found it, and a full survey report and plenty of pictures were taken from the ground/ladders/and even a drone before the lease was signed. I paid a LOT of wedge to a very good lawyer to argue the terms, but f*** me this guy was very, very good. Ahhh you see I'm totally the opposite, I wouldn't touch a Jeep with a ten foot steralised barge pole. And that's no brand snobbery, just lack of knowledge on them by comparison. TDi and TD5 engines are all good for me, I can see one of either laid out in pieces on the floor and tell you how it all goes back together, and by and large I think they're both sound designs, although nobody really wants a clattery old 300 in Discos anymore. P38s, well I'm yet to be involved in selling any of them, and if I have it my way, that's just the way it'll stay. Good motors in their day, but horrible, horrible electrical gremlins, and V8 engines that like slipping liners. The BMW 6 cylinder diesel is strong and robust, but slower than walking. Cheers for that gents, I'll try and keep all points in mind in future

These engines are a twat for burning oil, which is a common reason for the cats going on them. Alot of garages just stick an addative in to scrape through an MOT I've found, leaving a defective cat soldiering on for the remainder of the ticket. The situation not helped by the cat they're manifold cats too, so not the cheapest things in the world. I'd have a look at oil consumption, if it's not drinking it, go for a cat, they are pretty common failures anyway, especially if it's a cheap(er) non type approved euro car parts jobbie.

Hi JSR. Good luck in your venture. I'm a new starter too having recently gone from part time trading from home with a full time job, to full time self employed with a unit and small forecourt area. Massive step for me, but if you don't try you'll never know. My advice to anyone trying this for the first time, is spend some time in the automotive industry first, get to know about cars, get to know about customers, pick up some good contacts, and get a 'feel' for the trade. It doesn't HAVE to be selling cars, I come from a mechanical background, but know the industry, and it'll set you up for a smoother start if you take it further. Regarding warranties, my position is slightly different as I specialise in particular vehicles, and having that familiarity with them allows me to spot the problems they suffer with well in advance, however with experience the same rule can apply more broadly too. I stick 6 months self funded on my cars, and put £150 aside from each sale into a warranty savings account, that follows advice I'd previously read on this forum. I feel it's best for me, personally. All cars can and do go wrong ofcourse, but experience will soon highlight which ones are the headaches, and you buy them and sell them accordingly, or don't bother with them all together. PSA 1.6 diesel turbos, Vauxhall small block timing chains, LR Discovery 3 / RR Sport air suspension, Audi TFSI timing chains to name a few.

Hi guys, thought I'd update this as I have a quiet moment (slow week) Since posting this roughly 3 months ago alot has happened. I've taken the plunge and gone 'full time' now. I've rented a unit, moved in, and currently holding 9 cars in stock. It took some balls giving up the regular wage I have to say, and in the first few weeks of splashing out thousands of pounds from savings I questioned MANY times if I was doing the right thing or throwing my money down the shitter, I'm still yet to find out! I guess I'm doing things a little differently to most of you guys, as I'm specialising in what I know (Land Rovers, mostly Defenders as I've worked on them for years), and my modest unit is largely a garage rather than an indoor forecourt, with my stock parked outside, or at home, or in the garden! I generally buy stock privately via ebay and gumtree, collect myself, fix myself, basically do everything myself which trims the overheads, but I run around like a blue arsed fly. I'm VAT registered, as my turnover would sooner or later make it neccessary anyway, and I'm making roughly £400 - £500 per sale after repairs, advertising, and margin VAT deductions, I could probably get that margin up in time, but newcomer nerves has me advertising lower than I'd probably like to, and I end up shaving more off after being chipped at by the punters to get the early sales in the book, but hey it's all new at this scale so far. I've been fortunate, I started with 80k in the bank to invest. After spending 16k on moving into my unit (which I'm 3 months into a 6 month rent free period) and fitting it out, buying a trailer and a tow vehicle etc, I've invested ~40k in stock, and left around 20k in the bank to pay myself a basic wage with so to not bleed the business in early days, and have a buffer to pay rent with if sales go dry. I've sold it to myself under the knowledge that I have a 2 year breakaway in my lease for this place, so if after 2 years the numbers aint working, I'll jack it in, but I hope it does, early signs are promising, I just need to grow a pair and get the margins up, right now I get nervous at the negotioations, almost desperate for sales to get cars through the doors, but that really needn't be the case, I'll get there I'm sure. Been lurking on the forums for the past few months silently, and learnt an awful lot, so I'll take this chance to thank the regulars, and update the opening post!

Thanks for the kind replies guys. Already digested a lot of really useful information from previous posts over the forum, a lot of which hadn't crossed my mind before. I've shifted two more cars off my admittedly small stock book since posting so having a good month so far, and still just keeping things ticking over part time whilst I put things in place for the future. P.S - I hear heroine has the strongest margin of class A substances these days, and its popularity has soared again follwing the release of the second Trainspotting film!

Hi all, just wanted to introduce myself. My name's Matt (obviously), I'm 30 years old, and I've worked as a mechanic/MOT tester for around 10 years for an independent garage. For the past 3/4 years I've been also trading cars as a money maker on the side, I appreciate and respect this is often frowned upon, I can only say we all have to start somewhere, and as far as roadside dealers go, I've been a reputable and decent seller, never had any complaints from any buyers, and on the few occasions I've had comebacks, the issues have been dealt with and I've always said if an issue arose and a buyer wanted their money back within a reasonable time frame I'd do so, but that's never hapened. I'm also fully insured with trade insurance with demonstration and public liability too. My stock profile has generally been cars between £2k - £5k, family hatches etc, although I've had some relative success and decent margins on Land Rover Discovery 2s and Defenders lately too. I source most of my vehicles either locally from classified adverts from gumtree/ebay etc, usually needing work, or often from customers in the garage I work knowing I trade the odd car. I average about 3/4 a month, and have been more than happy with that since starting out. I've recently come into some money through an unfortunate means (inheritance), some of which I've used to buy a house for myself and my partner, and some I'm looking to invest into a business venture for a future. I've really enjoyed the last few years dealing cars, and I'm looking at viable opportunities to scale it up, and go 'legit' with it. I have around £50k capital to invest, out of which I'm considering a couple of local modest sized units (around 8 - 10k per annum), combined with a small amount of parking space at the back of my house that can be used if space runs tight. Being from a mechanical background I obviously intend to do repairs as much as possible 'in house', and as I'm a time served mechanic I can take on various mechanical repairs and servicing to both improve margin, but also maybe give a little edge on the stock I could take on that may put other traders off. It's very early days for me in this expanded venture yet, and I'm a very cautious and methodical type, so I won't jump into anything without feeling confident and assured I'm doing as much as can be forseen the right thing, but I want to get my head around everything neccessary to go completely legit, I have a relatively good understanding already of the VAT margin scheme, and I'm fortunate enough to know a very competent accountant to point me in the financial right direction as neccessary too. I'm not going to ask too many questions from the off, as I can see there's a wealth of information on the many questions I have already here on these message boards for me to read through, particularly in respect to buying stock, which I feel is probably the area I'm currently least comfortable with at present. All I want to say is hi, and that the motor trade has been my life for a little over a decade now, and for better or worse I love it, and I always have. I really can't see myself doing anything massively different, I believe this industry is in your blood once you're in, and I'm driven to make a real success of this future venture. Thanks for reading my introduction, and if anyone has any pointers or tips, good criticism or bad, I'm always extremely grateful of the guidance. Matt.