trade vet

Ha Ha ,forgot about rattly Talbot Solara’s.A lot of car for not much money but good profit makers.We would also have had issues with the aforementioned but stuff was easily fixable then and often for little money.

Why did you not stock more Skodas.Early Skodas were for nowt and so were Polski Fiats,Ladas ( the best ) and even Yugos.We often did well with anything that was not fashionable within the trade but when priced right was attractive to punters.

Hi Richard If you had Autotrader ( Autoraper ) in Aussie you would be paying about 1900 Aussie for any 9 cars plus 2 cheaper ones.It has been around for 40 years and is the market leader but every so often somebody else buys Autotrader for big money and their charges dramatically increase.To give you an idea the last buyers paid about £2b for it then floated it off to get most of their investment back.Hopefully with the Coronavirus shutdown it could might mean that ‘ the shit has hit the fan ‘ for Autotrader .

Not the best ever but quite memorable.Early 80’s we had a pitch in Ashington Northumberland which was a mining town.The banks were always keen to lend to the miners who earned good money.There was this older guy hovering next to a Capri.I said hello and he says ‘ I’ll have that one ‘ just like that.He then says ‘ I will just go to Barclays ( 100 yd’s away) to get the money.He comes back soon after with a bank draft and asks if we can deliver it.The address he gives is 300 yards away.So I ask where he wants it delivered and it’s the same address.He said he didn’t drive so I asked why he was buying a Capri.He then produced a letter from Barclays saying if he wanted to buy a car they would be pleased to,lend him the money ! Apparently his friends at the pit were all getting cars so he thought he better have one.

Appologies for a long story from the distant past. We had sold to a London punter who paid up but wanted the log book ( check them out ) before he collected .He was doing a number transfer.We wanted to know how that worked because where we were you had to have the road tax office inspect your new vehicle to complete a transfer.The guy said that with the GLC you just had to take the log book along and they would do it.I was working for my brother at the time and he was a switched on ‘ full spec ‘ car dealer . So he asked an old scrap car guy if he had any old log books he might sell and that we would pay a fiver for them.The guy comes back with a large biscuit tin stuffed with log books.So we said how much and he says something like ‘ you did say a fiver ‘ .So we gave him a fiver for about 100 log books which were for cars scrapped many years ago.The reg numbers were often like 333 BB and 420 BS.So we advertised about 30 of these in the Sunday Times for about £25 each and the phones melted.As we were underselling these,we just said there had been some error by the paper and the price was double.Nobody quibbled the new price and we got cheques in the post for them all.We repeated this the next week by tripling the price and sold them all and everyone got their numbers via the GLC.I can still remember some of the buyers.One guy called Brinsley Black sent a Coutts and Co cheque ( which we had never heard of ) for a BB number.I think our bank guy told us he was equerry to the Queen.However we had a cheque for a BS number signed by a Ben Sherman.It was exactly the same signature as on the shirts which we all wore at the time.So we lied to Mr Sherman about a misunderstanding and managed to get a lot more money. Sales came to a halt a few weeks later after the GLC complained to the Sunday Times and transfers were then done properly.So I think we got about 10 grand back for an outlay of £5 plus the advert costs.Not bad for 1972.

I agree.Landlords have a lot less to worry about than tenants.All you have to do is follow Lawgistics above advice.As a landlord I can say that good tenants are hard to comebye.On the other hand,I can think of one big commercial landlord who will have no qualms about looking to profit from the current situation.

In the past we have all come across these people who set up LTD companies then ‘overtrade ‘ with the sole object that they will fail.My accountant told me that with new regulations this is now far more difficult to repeat.If you are just doing up to 10 per month on your own I can understand not having LTD liability.However there are many potential banana skins to slip up on in this job which you will never think of and being Ltd does help to reduce your liability.So I would encourage people starting out to incorporate when they get established or face at some time the possibility of being wiped out through no fault of their own.

Thank you,I get it but it cannot be as easy as that.Most councils will know all the tricks.Ltd companies need a director and it would not work if it was a family member or connected party.Splitting is a good idea but then it can take a year for a council to inspect the property,see the tenants and award ‘ discretionary’ relief.That is what our council has told me and they were already awhere that our property was not in daily use and open to the public.They must have someone driving around spotting empty or closed up commercial property.BTW I can’t rip the roof off ours,it cost 40 grand 6 years ago but thank you anyway.

I don’t understand what you mean.If a property is tenanted and not vacant,the tenant and not the landlord is liable for the business rates.You have to normally prove your property is open to the public on a daily basis to get relief.We have one which we have been using for storage of vehicles but that does not qualify.Also,incorporating and operating / liquidating 10 ltd companies might be more expensive than paying the business rates.

Nice one......I think he is still doing 200 shows a year.

Channel 155 Yesterday.I like it when grandad the auctioneer applauds when he has got a good result.The camera then pans to the buyer who thinks they have done well and don’t realise the applause is for them paying several grand over reserve !

I have had plenty of luck Mark.Right now I feel fortunate to be on the periphery of this job. I just like pointing out the set backs so other people might be able to see them coming which I didn’t.Telling PEACOCK stories is not much help.

Shelf fees.It was Tesco who got caught taking suppliers ‘ shelf fees’ for the next financial year in advance and then recorded them to artificially increase their profit to maintain their share price and directors bonuses.Directors were fired,the shares then plummeted and we still hold quite a few standing about £3.50........another fine mess !

Robert Forrester Vertu Motors / Bristol Street CEO yesterday confirmed they sold 2 last week .They have 120 outlets/dealerships.

Just watched Mr Forrester.Just as I thought ,he is all corporate and not a car dealer.Amazing guy to have built up a £2 billion T/O Dealer Group business employing 6000 people.However what I don’t understand is that he said Vertu have very little debt yet according to their accounts they have total liabilities of £870 m.He also said to his credit furloughed sales staff would be paid based on their wages including commission.

I think those terms are unenforceable and the gov.has said leases cannot be forfeited.

I think you are within your rights to inform your landlord that you will be deferring rent and you will repay it over a given period when things get back to normal.Burger King were reported as doing that.Landlords cannot expect the arrears to be paid in a lump sum. Our company rents out to a successful long established business and we have informed them not to pay rent from April until this is over and things are back to normal.

Ha Ha Casper,Ex Police 309 diesels,I have to tell you,no body sold more than us.

Hi Casper P 309 diesels ,one of my all time favourites.Good margins,great punters,next to no comebacks.Early 90’s ,they were the ‘future ‘.Sounds rediculous now but we used to knock them out week in week out......past glories again !

Of course,we are big fans.I wouldn’t be surprised if he has Prince Harry guesting next series seeing as he has moved down to Tinseltown.

Thank you Casper,I am OK.Do you not mean my knowledge always comes across and annoys people ( I can’t help being a bit like Larry David )

What a nerve.I am not so sure that Ling should be gatecrashing on here and lecturing us about employees rights.I have to say I doubt she is selling off assets but it is nice to see her chucky/lease company is doing OK after having several other companies struck off.However it is still possible some people/creditors in the north east might be interested to hear from her about failed car retailer Car Shock where she was a connected party.I wonder if the sales guys got paid up.

I agree Noa.I think the key to all this if you want to qualify for any of the proposed help ( except for the business rates relief )you will have to prove you are in need.So those with cash reserves may be rejected.The gov.job retention scheme is unclear about employees commission earnings .I may be mistaken but it does not definitively say it cannot be used in the calculation and there appears to be no mention of employees overtime earnings.Some people might argue that overtime and commission should be treated the same. Let’s hope we still have power for heating our beans on toast in the near future.

Are you sure commission is not involved in the total income 80% calculation.Someone told me it was.

Hi Tango Victor Sorry to hear you have been ill,welcome back. I think £30 per week for motor traders cover is OK,it is tax deductible.If he had a pitch /showroom /workshop with several staff,he might be quoted upto 10 grand. I think the admin charge is their commission which they now have to declare. If we get over this plague,there will be a spending spree. BTW I think Cressida Dick was on telly last night appealing for your return !