trade vet

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.....?

Seemingly straight forward easy to deal with punter with a clean Omega diesel upgrades to a slightly newer higher spec one.We retail his swapper very quickly.However when it is warmed up it,it cuts out and is difficult to restart.We get it in and have to replace the fuel pump which was expensive.A while later we are doing the same on a Omega diesel under the terms of our own warranty.We then remembered that the other one was from the same customer.He must have been using red diesel which of course he denied.I cancelled the warranty.....We finished up being well out of pocket on both cars.

When you have a complaint you have to record everything even the time of a phone call and then reply promptly even by recorded delivery letter if necessary.We learnt this long ago when we started doing our own warranties and some punters would make fake claims to Black Horse to try and void their agreement. Its an awfull feeling leaving court having come second and knowing the punter has lied and it’s costing you a few grand.

Hi JT,.......interesting debut post.When you have calmed down would you mind describing the circumstances of your coming second in court or maybe how you were stitched up........Also A.P.A.B ?

40 odd years ago,Steve Smith would not have got a game at our club.( Technique all wrong etc ) It’s not about the runs they would say ! While I like football,cricket,golf,rugby,tennis,snooker.( apparently Lewis Hamilton is good at all those ) .One thing I cannot stand is motor sport .

My wife doesn’t do past glories,she likes to remind me of past disasters or set backs in this job,mind there have been plenty.That is why I was referring to the R8

Cards on the table........does she know about your Audi cock up !

Yes, ‘ Living the dream ‘,be a car retailer. You must be kidding.

On his own admission,he has broken the law,by travelling at 100mph.Therefore any repairs he requires,he will have to pay for.You won’t hear from him again.

Yes,being an MP in a marginal constituency is very differcult.This guy got stitched up by his own party.

If you read ‘ Confessions of a recovering MP by Nick De Bois,you may change your view.

Sounds promising but what constitutes an independent assessor.You will need to check out their credentials before you accept.I think it needs to be a hands on long established working mechanic.

Hi Dealer Good Luck ,even if you proved that the Dealer Health Check was flawed,the scope of CRA is far reaching and unfair....Be very nice to the judge whatever he might say to you.

£300

I agree with that,it’s a good future classic.Although I know little about them except last Feb we took in a nice O2 60k Z3 good spec,fsh for £2500.I told my guy he had overvalued.He said it would do £6k and I laughed.So he put it on and this guy calls up wondering why it was so cheap.Anyway he pays up there and then.When he got it home,he called to thank us because he valued it at £10k !

If you are MOTing all your stock,its the prep costs that kill you on older stuff.If you do the job properly,I find that the average cost of retailing a 10 year car hardly makes sense anymore.

Correction,fake news........it was A60’s we used to doorstep ?

Welcome,so you do under 5 grand stuff.How are you coping with the agrovation,please keep us informed.Alternatively if you have any good news stories,we don’t get many of them on here.

Hi Jason .....Cue A55 story........When I was 17 I used to moonlight with a mate doorstepping nothing else but A55’s.We bought them for £40 and sold them for £85 with a £2 lineage ad in the local rag.Except the punters never came to us. We used to qualify elderly punters from rural areas within 20 miles and we would offer to take the cars to them for viewing.This would impress them and it rarely failed.We would often do 2 a week but you could not charge more or the phone didn’t ring.We were earning more than a lot of first division footballers. Its a shame you guys can’t do that.

The first unit we had was 2000 sqft.You would get 10 in without any bother.Also depending where you are,no business rates.