trade vet

Lawgistics appear to be touting for business,yet while they should be switched on,on their own admission they are not experts on the FCA rule book.If you are a finance company supporting dealer and advertise their rates and terms alongside your stock,my understanding is that you only need to divulge any advance commission you receive if you are asked.( in the past if a punter has asked me about commission,I have usually told them that we only get to keep it if the finance agreement is eventually honoured )However if you use a broker to obtain finance for your customer ( you are deemed as forming a specific relationship with your customer )and I think you are now expected to inform/ volunteer to your customer how much commission you will receive. I may be wrong but might these regulations only apply to member states in the EU/EEA.? We used to get letters from PPI claims companies referring to deals going back years and years.I used to reply to them enclosing an invoice as company policy for a Document Recovery Fee of £65 +Vat,that used to get rid of them.

I see,missing the swapper from the invoice and flogging it to a trader for cash out of the back door.I contend that any car dealer who only buys from franchised dealers these days and never uses auctions is probably using bungs or some illegal inducement to corrupt sales managers.You should have reminded them that if HMRC uncovered that there could be serious consequences for the company.As for accommodation deals or ‘ fronted deals’ as you call them,that is one for the FCA.With proof like that,if you had been playing your cards right,you should have been promoted or given a pay rise.I just wonder what may have been going on with PCP proposals regarding mileage estimates to reduce monthly instalments. Several years ago at a local auction a guy was witnessed using a code reader on Lookers entries prior to sale day.The auction subsequently denied any wrong doing by their vendor regarding the putting out of engine manage lights !

Bungs have been around forever and now that auction buyers fees are extortionate they might be on the way back.Fronted finance deal ?,what are those .

Lookers have 7000 furloughed.The share price has moved back up to 32p from a low of 11p which suggests there may be good news forthcoming.However their annual results are months overdue and keep getting put back because of their fraud investigation.They are also facing a heavy fine by the FCA after owning up for wrongdoing ( to help reduce the fine).There previous CEO appointed from within resigned after only a month.They are a huge company with £5 billion T/O and huge liabilities and they must be in a lot of trouble.Its such a shame they are a 100 year old company.I hope they survive but don’t be surprised if they put themselves into administration after their results are declared and then the good parts will get sold off and their leaseholds might be renegotiated.

Just in case you don’t know.When you get the keys take a lot of photos of the premises to avoid getting stitched up on delapidations rules by your landlord should you move out.

Absolutely,Wet Pidgeons Never Fly at Night .

Go for it Mr C.I once rented a pitch off a guy who was retiring.He had a camper van hire business which he had built up over years.He had about 50 of them,owned the pitch and a small block of flats ........in central London !

Camper rentals,I think that is an excellent idea Mr C.

That’s OK guys,I am used to being accused of ‘ not knowing what I was doing ‘.Back in 93 started The Ex Police Department retailing ex Police stuff from a unit on a trading estate.( How mad was that ).95 started doing our own warranties ( you don’t want to do that they said ).2001 discounted stuff by £500 to nearly cost for finance customers and discouraged cash sales.( how stupid was that ) 2002 introduced and advertised Free 7 day Money Back Guarantees ( must have been mad by then ) ,we also introduced Customer Care Packs at £300 about then but they were discontinued after a few years. So it all adds up,I must be mad !

Like doing our own warranty agreements,there are T@C’s involved to help prevent any abuse. I recall one dealer many years ago who bought stuff needing work.He would buy a Cortina with damaged synchros,then hire one for the weekend and swap the box.

What if I said we had been doing that for nearly 20 years !

Some very interesting tales from the rostrum !

If you are just starting up ‘ doorstepping ‘ ,prep your stock to death and offer a 7 day money back guarantee.Without a doubt,that will help.

I think he said he had ditched AT ?

Great offer ( not).What about removing the misleading price markers,how dim are these people running AT.If they want to maintain their market share,the discount should be at least 30% and with the double stock offer lasting until next year.I think greedy Auto Trader has peaked as a business and dealers with pitches ( as opposed to doorsteppers ) and who have supported them for many years have now learnt to rely on them a lot less.

I see one of their companies ( they have several) did £100m T/O net profit £6m last year.Never mind celebrities and footballers,can you imagine some of the unsavoury people wanting to buy this stuff... Has anyone read his book yet,we need a review.I might invest a tenner myself but I am thinking it will not be full of interesting anecdotes.

Don’t think so,DK group net assets about £2m,Hartley Group ( Tom + sons etc ) net assets a lot more from what I can see.

In between watching Dominic Cummings statement,I have checked out the financials of these Tom Hartley competitors.Apart from William Loughran and Romans most of those mentioned appear to be ‘non league players‘ asset wise compared to Tom Hartley and sons.So it appears to me that Tom Hartley and the founder of The Great Trade Centre are the top car dealers in the U.K.

Excellent AWC,as I don’t follow novelty cars,I will check them out.

Are there plenty doing the job better than him. ? I cannot think of anyone.

No ,BCA or ADT whatever it was called bought out Beiths and set up in Royston Road.I think they are still there.

I. the 70s I used to go to the Meat Market on a Wednesday when it became about 6 different car auctions for the day.I think it was Graham Square ,Gallowgate.Intercity was there,it was about 30 cars,mostly traders painted up stuff in those days.I only bought from Beith’s back then.After that,we used Newmains,Wishaw,then Shotts,CMA Glasgow,great memories and some amazing characters. Also,Royston Road on a Friday !

I think a Range Rover then cost about 2 grand.I think he said he started in Glasgow auctions.If you could be successfull as a teenager using Glasgow Meat Market car auctions,he was going to be a star player.It was unbelievable.

I think he said he is prepared to blow a 7 figure sum on his present stock when the virus is over !

I don’t think he was from a wealthy family.I will get the book,but the kindle edition is a tenner at the moment,so being tight I will wait for it to drop.