trade vet

......Not a good idea as I only get pocket money from my wife.( my CEO )It goes back to when I had my first pitch and always having a grand readies in your back pocket. I was always missing cash.I now run around in a 06 Rav while my wife’s handbag collection is probably worth more than the stock on a small pitch !

Don’t worry about me.My concern is how some of you guys can carry on.It was dead easy when we started.When you were early 20’s it was normal to have 30 car pitches,own freehold property and be debt free.You would not believe what it was like.

OK Nick as I have zero experience.The way we se it is that it may be called unit stocking by the lenders but on your balance sheet it is down as a current liability or debt.So because of these you see a lot of car dealers whose bottom line net worth is negative which can probably make them technically insolvent.Money may be cheap at present but what happens when rates rise,we old guys recall base interest rates at 15% in 91/92.The thought of looking out the window at your stock which is on the drip when the job is quiet still frightens me.

Jerry,Larry,Kramer and all the others...brilliant.We are big Seinfeld and Curb fans

I will try that. Didn’t think you would like ‘ Shot in the Dark ‘ ,it is probably boring for you Police Officers.

Well it’s vehicle related but makes your job look easy. ( if that makes sense ) If you search ,you should find the trailer....

For those who have Netflix and are finding this job hard at the moment.Take a look at these guys,it’s called Shot in the Dark.Its about self employed cameramen ( known as stringers)speeding around Greater LA ( 88 cities) through the night and competing with rivals to get there first to film RTA’s,freeway pursuits,buildings on fire and various crime.They then package and edit their footage and try and sell it to the TV networks for the morning news....Only In America !

It always happens on the ones you need to get away like those you have smoked trouble free for months or previously refunded twice over....Why ?

AD is back,it must be down to Tango Victor.I am pleased because he is a good player at this job and he helps people.You just have to get used to getting a bollicking every now and then.Even I have had one or two.

Carefull what you write guys.This is not the private lounge.I may be wrong but if AD has not been banned or suspended,he might now be in for a ‘ few quid ‘ from you guys if he decides to respond to some of these comments. What do they say, say it forget it,write it regret it.

Out of interest,my daughter follows all things American and she says that Reviews are now ‘old hat’.She says that the way forward is to have your own regular Twitter/Podcast thing where you don’t just bullshit about your business,YOU ARE SEEN talking about anything.You could be saying how some old lady came in with her Fiesta for p/x which she wanted £1000 for and it was so good you gave her £1500 etc.You might also have opinions on things like Come Dancing and Bake Off or how some kids today with 3 A levels cannot tell the time.Apparently ( in the US) for those video stars who have the ability,the viewings which start with your punters then multiply very quickly elsewhere and it is good for business.For example,.O J Simpson now does this for a living since he came out of jail and often gets 1m views per time.I don’t understand this stuff of course but thought I would mention it.

Blowing 5 grand....Something different.(sorry a bit long winded )Long ago when everyone paid by cheque.The bank calls and says we are way overdrawn.I reply that it was not possible as we had paid in X number of cheques in the last few days.The guy says you need to pay in £x in the next 24 hours or we will return ( bounce ) your cheques as unpaid.So to remedy the problem I reluctantly agreed to trade a Merc if they paid pronto by bank draft.This meant blowing £5k which was big money back then.So I present the draft and the cashier says ‘ you should have just transferred money over from your personal account ‘ ( which usually only had £700 in it ) so that made no sense.It turned out that we had been mistakingly using a new style personal account paying in book for company bankings which the bank did not notice either.As the company name and our name is totally different ,I complained for compensation.The bank complaints procedure took a couple of months and the result was that we would not get any compensation because we were ‘ contributory negligent ‘ by using the wrong paying in book........You had to sell a lot to net £5k back then,so it was a big blow and I could not buy the Merc back as it had been quickly traded on.

It will be interesting to see the response on this one.Motor dealers nature in general is not to own up to their cock ups and losses.I would not no where to start.

‘Mind of the buyers’,going back to Astras with £30 tax as opposed to the better models at I think £140 .The punters would pay a grand extra for the poverty model because they were attracted by the low tax.

I never used beer mats.We used to doctor old tax discs to make them look current.

I have seen punters do that and then swap the tax disc for a Guinness bottle label.

Try and negotiate,start by offering them £500 to re enter it.It is going to cost you either way,worse things will happen if you decide to stick around in this job.

I agree and our golf club spends over 10 grand a year on red diesel for the mowers.Mind you they also spend a lot on maintenance.

This was not a punters trick but a salesman’s incompetence and it was me.This guy was looking to upgrade his light blue metallic C Class Coupe.( not many in light blue )So I valued it and off he went.A few days later I am talking to another punter and I see a light blue C Class Coupe parking up in the same spot over the road.The guy comes in and I say ‘ you have come back for that Merc then and he says yes ‘.So I write the deal down for him and he says,thank you can I pay for it now please.I then pass it over to a salesman and go back to speaking to someone else.Our sales guy comes out and interrupts and says ‘ are you sure about this deal’ and I just say ‘ just get it done’.A few days later I am down country at the block and I get a call saying that the Merc has gone out and that the punter must be a good friend ! The swapper was 3 years older than the one I had valued and it was a different punter buying the same car. I can’t remember how much we blew on it but it was in stock a long time and had a birthday......Appologies if I have mentioned this one before.

Nice one.

You have just jogged my memory.We bought a wagon load of repossessed 406 diesels described as ex hire cars out of Belle Vue.They turned out to be ex taxis ( private hire ) and most of them needed fuel pumps. ?

Met an interesting coach builder guy recently who owns several high value classic Mercs.It turned out he previously had an accident repair centre for many years.However it had grown to 40 staff with wall to wall agrovation and he got the opportunity to sell out.He is now doing better than ever after being asked to renovate one car.He has a workshop at home and with his son he now renovates top end classics like Ferrari’s for selected customers.He does not advertise and has 3 years work booked in.

It effects the lubrication in fuel pumps.

Inside job.....?