Mojo121

Why not start setup an aggregator? A site that feeds from all dealer's car sites free of charge and charges them per lead (click or contact). Worries about excessive costs can be restricted with monthly/ weekly or car specific caps. This would put an emphasis on a car dealer creating good branding on their websites and also mean their spend would be directly attributed to the platforms's ability to attract buyers. Buyers visit the site because it feeds cars in from everywhere in one place - for example; think about what Indeed did in the jobs market. Even Reed (a rival job board) advertise on there. Maybe you could get AT on. I'm just thinking out of the box. Another classified site isn't what's wanted from looking at the comments above.

Oh no, Umesh, it's the other way round; it's only the beginning. When new cars are banned existing used petrol and diesel cars will become sought after, prices will rise, because of the shortage people will properly maintain their cars so they last, people won't haggle on price because decent used cars are harder to find, mechanics will do a decent job as they'll appreciate the final years they can make some money in their profession, dealers will be respected, margins will increase as supply drops... and pigs will fly The whole thing is a load of bollocks. I'm sick of this shambles of a government.

I think most of the customers that are complete dicks wouldn't be complete dicks if the industry didn't have such a bad reputation. What annoys me is "What problems does it have" and "What's wrong with it". I usually explain they've found a dealer that doesn't knowingly sell a car with faults, and if they drive off and there's evidently something wrong to bring it back and then I explain that if I was dodgy, which is the implication to their question, I wouldn't tell them there was a problem so the question is a bit redundant because I could be dodgy and the whole speech I just gave could be a bit of a ruse.

We'll give it a go. Don't get me wrong, I wish you all the best, I just know how hard it is. Anyway, what will your site be called and how are you planning to get buyers to it?

+1 on this. Bought an absolute shed last week. Worst car I've ever bought

I appreciate what you're trying to do here but wouldn't buying a dealer database, formalising an email survey and sending that out with a small participation prize draw (5 dealers with £50 Amazon voucher) be a better, more measurable, way to go about things? Flooding a forum with questions just comes across a bit amateur and doesn't fill me with confidence - especially when talking about taking on a huge business like AT

Buy Ford spec CVT fluid when you do the change (I would even recommend getting it from the dealer). Correct fluid is essential with CVT trans.

#muzosinthenewszo

Hi James - on the subject of whether or not to keep the roadside pitch: What's your stock profile? How many do you keep at a time (Would you keep with the whole site)? As for going it alone if you have the money there and you want to take the next step forward, increasing earnings but also headaches(!) I'd say go ahead

I was a bit harsh but you'll have lost the best part of £4k in two cars. I've probably lost about £1000 in the last two years, obviously massively outweighed by profits on cars, I'm not bragging just saying. It just seems like you are making some pretty big mistakes like advertising a car for three weeks then just flogging it onto The Car Buying Group - surely you'd assess the pricing, redo the ad and advertise again before throwing away money? 3 weeks is a small amount of time for a £7k car. As a trader, for me, a We Buy Any Car type setup is a last, last resort. If you want to carry on try buying some cheaper cars. At least you'll reduce your losses. Do your research before. Price them and set your limits. When there watch what everyone else does - what they check, what they're asking the drivers etc etc. All the best anyway

Often it's time. A good valet can take a few hours the priority of getting stock can make £30 seem like a bargain

These things can happen to anyone but looking at one of your last posts.... I'd suggest firing up the stove again

Ha! What were they? Must of been a while back?

I really hate customers like this. Someone else needs to weigh in but I'm sure you can either reject it or make fair allowances to recommission it to the standard at the time of sale. Make a list of everything it needs: Valet - £200 Paint - £500 And deduct that from the offer - to Joe Public I'd suggest £500 on paint wouldn't be unrealistic and might shoe them away..

I wouldn't jump in at 4-6k'ers with no experience - that market is crowded as hell as it is and finance is daddy there. Start off at bangers and work your way up. The losses/ mistakes you'll make are easier swallowed. If you insist; do you know what a rattly dmf sounds like? Do you know what a good vs bad diesel engine sounds like? Do you have a cheap mechanic? Etc etc.

Like it or not it it's your responsibility. You made a £100 discount to secure the deal, not to help them with maintenance, they've had the car a day. Sort it out.

?? Is Dealer Research a spy?

I pay £30 for a full valet - hand car wash kind of setup. Every 4-5 washes they'll get a little sloppy so you just point the bits out and they're good again. A day and a half is very high unless it's really prestigious stuff you're selling? A chap near us specialises in one make and his valetter takes about the same amount of time but the finish is mind boggling - no doubt sells him lots of cars.

If you're nearly 3 months in it would seem like it's not a fault that was present at the time of sale. Did you include a warranty? If so, how long and is the ABS system covered? Why are they asking for a refund? Have they had other problems? I'm sure this will get more replies but with the limited info you've given I'd say the grounds for a refund are close to non-existent and that their insistence on one off the bat is a bit odd.

If it's sub £2k it's worth a shot on eBay. If it's over that and odd-ball/ rare/ performance it's worth a go aswell. Like others said, I'm on a package.

eBay is great for us, it's cost effective and although not purpose built it works and people use it for odd-ball cars. Also use Gumtree as its owned by ebay and a small extra cost and no extra admin AT we don't use purely due to cost Cargurus we setup with today, have used them before, but for free its a no brainer. Hope that helps

I'd love to be a fly on your wall. Nothing over the weekend. Two today so far and a nice guy come back with his gf for a second test drive on a 07 A4 Avant with the trusty 1.9 tdi.

CAP the car with 85,000 and 65,000. Whatever the difference is if you paid the clean price is what I would go for.

Just saw this and thought it might be up your street Matt... that's not you in the vid is it?

Do what you want to do mate. The way I see it: 1. Go on holiday, lose a few quid, spend a few quid, make some memories, fresh optimism when you get back 2. Don't go on holiday, make a few quid, spend a few quid, annoy the wife, daily grind. If you can afford to lose a few sales then go, if you can't, don't. I may negotiate with her slightly on 11 nights though. I know Mexico is an 11 hour flight but maybe you could go somewhere closer for 7 nights? With the sun the way it is right now I'd just get her a sombrero and a few tequilas