trade vet

Which BCA,what year is it . I don’t think they can fob you off with that one.You might even be able to turn a defeat into a victory with some negotiating.

That could be good news for doorsteppers again.

Main dealer service stories are getting worse.My old pitch had a case last week where a punter had reported his Astra box had fallen out.It turned out it had and was hanging because when a new clutch had been fitted recently by a main dealer they had forgotten to tighten the bolts.About 2 years ago they had a mechanic leave for a VAG main dealer that charged £160 per hour and he told us that on Monday morning the workshop guys would get a pep talk and were given a weekly targets like 25 grand ?

Just tell them you no longer want it,provisional means provisional both ways.Its a bit like when an auctioneer mistakingly bangs down the hammer on your bid then says ‘provisional’.In that case it’s not provisional and you have bought it as hammer down is a contract.What usually happens then is you tell the auctioneer that you will let him off and he owes you a favour.

It was delivered so Salt should collect it.Also the customer should be instructed not to drive it as that could be dangerous given that she has reported a smell of petrol.Nip it in the Bud and refund or it could cost far more later on.

The guys who struggle to buy don’t bid on enough.We would regularly target 70-80 cars in a day at various auctions but we might only buy 2 or 3.What a lot of people don’t understand is that if you have something ‘ provisionally sold’ to you it means ‘ provisionally bought ‘by you so just carry on bidding on other stuff as you can refuse the provisional one later if your bid is accepted.

Not in Newcastle where the locomotive,the electric lightbulb and ram raiding were invented and I think Impreza’s followed by XR3’s were the vehicles of choice.

Impreza’s ,you weren’t a ram raider were you Mark ?

Different guy.

Was that the legendary quick knock specialist Mr Moore ?

That must have been in the distant past Mr C.Never been there but unless I am imagining it,someone may have told me that the auction celebrity back then was the boxer Brian London.....Have we done auction celebrities. ?

Jewish racing gold.

There was another auctioneer who did Newcastle and Preston and he was like Ted Bovis ,check him out.

I think Franchised dealers have to respond incase it is a manufacturer mystery shopper. It does annoy me when you go into a main dealer and there are all these ‘car sales executives’ at their desks and the forecourt stock is covered in bird shit.

We had one in Newcastle and when he had hooked a private bidder on a hit lister he would emphasise ‘it’s a V car ‘ and the bidder might think it was a very good car and get trotted up. There was a guy at Leeds who in response to a very low opening bid would say ‘ what do you want,blood ‘ and simarly Mr Beith of Alex Beith Auctions in Glasgow Meat Market would pause and politely say ‘Sir,I would not like to sell you a new one ‘ and the bidder would be embarrassed.

Well said Captain Mainwaring. (BTW that’s a joke ) Solo operators can spend time replying to email crap but if you are employing salespeople I would prefer if they were improving presentation of the stock.

How long before London area companies paying £50k a year to office staff to work from home might work out they can employ people elsewhere to do the same work for £20k.

It’s about finding a ‘niche’ and you appear to have done that.So I would say stick to what you are doing.However a note of caution before you expand your business,you might want to factor in these unpresidented times.Trading through the pandemic has been lucrative for a lot of smaller traders and doorsteppers who were undoubtedly helped by a lot of franchised dealers and larger pitches being forced to close up.So don’t get carried away and there will be plenty of banana skins for you to slip on during your first year of trading. Good luck,I think buying,selling,fixing and servicing BMW’s might work but you will need a lot of tech equipment. Keep in touch.

Depends what constitutes doing well.Amateur car dealer Cazoo are projecting losing £70m in the first 3 years having apparently up until now had funding of £180m.I hope Cazam blows them out of the water.

I love the old adverts,extras like w/mirrors,heater and 4 Spd g/box.During the 60’s when strikes were common place we advertised a Moskvich Van.We described it ‘ this van will carry 2000 strike leaflets ‘ and we got into trouble with the printers. Please post some of the old adverts it might even amuse the younger guys.

C reg .......65

1947 ,that’s longer than me !

I hope you are not referring to Greengrass.His all weather uniform was navy blue overalls ( with about 5 grand readies in the top pocket )reinforced heavy boots,he had a beard and drove an ex AA recovery truck. Great bloke,he could buy and sell most people in the ring.

Hi Salt You are probably making the usual mistake of stocking cars that YOU like.I would suggest trying different stuff and work on very low margins until you will find out what the punters want.So you might find it is Zafira’s or Dacia’s or Ssang Young’s rather than A6 Avants or M Sport BM’s .The punters will let you know and you can take it from there. Good luck.

You will get plenty of good help on here and you will need it..One thing,may I ask what influenced you to want to be a car trader.