Mojo121

Yup. Had an otherwise nice old chap the other week telling me he was chopping his Ford Focus 1.8 TDCI because it has SPORT on the back and his insurance was too high because of this. I realised I was being told a tale when he let slip his son was a mechanic and he'd done the belts on it 6 months ago (why invest that money? what has gone wrong to make him want to shift it on?) but decided to play along and give him some advice about his "local, convenient, no hold music" insurance company. He comes back that Saturday without his Focus saying I'd promised him £700 for it (his requested px value which I didn't attempt to knock). What I actually said was if it's as he says and checks out on a test drive I'd give him £700. Anyway, he brings it back and I do a test drive and I miss the whistling it's balls off turbo. I realise the turbo is knackered when I use it to deliver his new Octavia later that day; not that it really mattered because his car was worth £1700 so we were able to knock it onto someone in the know who'd do the work and still make a profit. I couldn't be bothered. The poor chap clearly felt so guilty he wouldn't let me leave until he gave me a tenner for delivering it to go and have a drink on him, gave me a hug and a box of sweets for my brother's kids. I felt like I'd kind of done a good deed when I helped him do his tax online and he had me do the sums on his account from an ATM print out and he had £400 left in the bank... Suppose the moral is in desperate times it's every man for himself.

I had a guy turn up yesterday, bid us £700 off and only remember his DPF and ESP fault when I took his for a drive. A perfect car apparently... I do very few favours for people now and don't trust any customers... everytime I do I get burnt.

Motors is a waste of time, I know the general rule is everyone's different, but this seems to be the exception to that rule. This has been an excellent start to the month for us.

Same here. I'd never have someone begin a journey to get halfway there and let down - that's a recipe for a bad review and bad karma. I think explaining, if they can't make it until later that week, that it will remain for sale and for them to call you on the day to confirm they're still coming and the car is still available is a nice halfway house.

£800 Focus. Buying it because their car got wrote off. "Okay, we'll come and get it on Wednesday when you've MOT'd it". Surprised he has to leave a deposit he scrapes together £50 off his Mum's pension money - usually I only take £200 but I felt for them. Tuesday the money hasn't hit their account. Wednesday they realise they have to deduct the £250 excess from their £800 payout. Thursday comes and they can't get a £250 loan. Friday rolls in and my old Focus is staying put and I'm £50 richer. Paid for the MOT and wiper blades though...

I heard of a dealer the other day that got took for £40,000 over a period of time. My question was how did they not notice?

Me neither. It's like deliveries. I'm not moving that car unless the FULL balance is looking at me from my account. The amount of time I've explained this to people who "wouldn't mess you around, mate" only for them to promise to transfer the balance and it never materialise.

Well spotted! Completed misread it.

I'm sure others will weigh in but to me AA Cars is useless for selling cars - they simply do not have the amount of traffic to their site or the search engine optimisation. On a more fundamental level who thinks "I need to buy a car - I'll go to the AA website". Their business is breakdown/ recovery. Go to CarDealer5 and get a website setup for £395 then maybe take a small 5 car package with AT to get you rolling again. Sign up with eBay then maybe start building some local Facebook presence to further cut your reliance on AT.

I used to over-price cars so I could over-deliver on px values because I realised people feel this strange attachment to their knackered 15 year old heap. Sometimes, regardless of how bad the overall deal was, they'd feel *almost* warmth towards me as I complimented their car and offered more than everyone else for it. That's one idea why it might work. The other, more likely, is that people are as dumb as s*** and like new things... which is also why the first idea works

Most places already have trusted relationships with traders who they sell part-exs to; you'll get a pretty brutal cold shoulder from most if you turn up asking to make money off them. The car industry is full of complete sharks, if someone is trying to be your friend most of the time they're trying to con you. Be your own man, expect no favours and work hard. Best of luck to you. In terms of valuations - do you own homework. CAP & Glass mean nothing these days. Glasses less so

Don't drag me into this, Sami. I've had a tough day

I've just had a read through your most recent posts and I can't see anything inflammatory, anyway, even if it is inflammatory, who gives a monkeys? Racism, homophobia and the like aside I can't see a problem with saying whatever. Someone gets offended - that's their problem.

You're thinking about it in the wrong way. The value in a service like this is finding a customer which a specific need who hasn't got the knowledge, doesn't have time or doesn't trust dealers - that's who you advertise to and you use those three cruxes to create advertising campaigns with. You wait for someone to bite. Then, you spend time with them on the phone or in person, and get a really thorough spec. You have to really understand and like PEOPLE. You then take a 50% retainer fee promising a shortlist of cars, refundable if you don't deliver. You do your searching and ping them the list over. Then you visit the dealer to do a deal. You never handle any of their money, they bank transfer it directly over to the dealer or you email them the finance forms to fill in. So, the advantage you have is dealers take guesses, we stock cars we THINK the public will like but some customers are very specific and have a specific 'needs', especially at the upper ends of the market. Your job, and the only way I see it works, is finding people with the need who also fall into one of the three categories I mentioned earlier. You must forget the idea of advertising specific cars that you like hoping for a buyer, we all do that already. I'm probably going to get shot on here for replying but I did entertain this some thought the other day... I guess the fact I'm giving my thoughts away says alot though

If people value the service, and you want a reasonable reception off of a dealer, the customer should pay you a fee. . The difficulty is - what do you know? What do you bring? Why will people trust you? If you can get people to pay you then crack on!

What are you actually trying to do? Call me stupid but I don't get this whole car brokering business. It seems like just another person trying to stick their finger in the pie, but one that offers completely zero value. Do you know anything about the industry? These guys seem to do okay - is this brokering? http://www.palmdale.co.uk

Be careful - a lot of new dealers don't last six months

You've got some tasty bits of kit locked away! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ford-Escort-Mk2-Rs2000-OFFERS-/282597733793?hash=item41cc2335a1:g:dRcAAOSw~XpZT~TI £15,000 only gets you a slightly ropey one now!

Autotrader doing 'deals'... they must be worried about all the dealers leaving them. The only thing I would say is don't fool yourself into thinking it'll transform your business.

Obviously they're all good but, you know, the one you'd have kept yourself or where you thought "you know what Mr Punter? You're getting a real gem of a car there". We sold a really nice Saab 9-5 2.3T HOT 250BHP a while back. It was just as good as one could be. Owner's club prize-winning material stuff right down to the Saab dustcaps. Proper, proper car - not a mark on it. Drove banging, service history coming out of its ears and flew through it's MOT. Sold it twice in a matter of days after the first guy withdrew. (All the sweeter that we bought it way below book)

If you want out of the loan, give or take a grand, you might aswell just hand them the car. Which might be the easiest thing to do and clearly what they bank on. Hope you enjoyed the £3k Failing all else get someone to burn the car out

I'm sorry but electric cars are just soulless. A customer took me for a spin in his Leaf and while admittedly I'm impressed with the performance, handing and overall drive it's as exciting as an all you can eat buffet to an anorexic. "errr, but, errm, aren't you aware of the benefit in kind benefits of the, errr, electric, errr, only one component, errrr, one gear, simplied, errr reduced tax......" "sorry mate I think my phone's ringing"

Proper

6 days a week is enough for me because we earn enough to pay the bills/ stay happy. Sundays are only ever worked to do a quick handover.

It's probably going to be everything someone's looking for... and I'm sure that they'll let you know.