trade vet

AD must be on holiday.Remember to contact him you must send him a deposit first. Dave may have been seconded to Merc HQ Stuttgart to advise them.

Where is Taz ? he started this topic.

OK but it sounds more like a West Midlands car to me.We used to buy stuff from Police forces all over the U.K.

Thames Valley stuff is usually very clean,you would be very surprised.Now had it been,South Wales,Glasgow or Liverpool it would have come for £300 !

I have to say that you are not very brave.£500 for a low mileage Thames Valley and £30 buyers fee.They would not have dared to submit your bid.TVP stuff nearly always used to do over reserve.

Hi Taz I am highly qualified with regard to retailing ex police cars.The majority of car dealers have no idea and shudder at the thought about retailing ex police stuff.However the fact remains that when they are correctly marketed,they have a big following.Unfortunately now and especially with patrol cars,the costs for renovating paintwork and dashboards alone can be considerable.Also a lot of forces are now decommissioning them beyond 120k which makes them a lot harder to sell. What cars do you have,which forces are they from,have they been renovated and how have you described them.Alternatively get in touch and I will pass on a few tips.

There is no doubt that a new set of replica alloys helps sell stuff.We were doing it years ago when a new set of rims and tyres were £600 and you could flog the old ones online.However the downside with these Chinese imports is not only the higher cost because of the low pound but also the low quality of the rims which can mean they buckle quite easily.I was told that retailers are now barred from using them in Australia as they have caused accidents.Our guy’s view is now that it is too big a potential liability to fit them and run the risk of being charged with some criminal offence in the event of an accident.

Out of interest,I have known one or two people who have started up in this job later on in life.They usually have good iron clad pensions from a previous occupation and operate quite well by picking and choosing who they deal with.

I was told to just work half days but it had to be every day.Then the other 12 hours each day were mine.

Good punters from the Republic.We are near the airport and the last time the pound was low we used to find them waiting outside unannounced for us to open on Saturdays having got the early £15 Ryanair flight.It was A3’s then with big alloys.Sometimes we would get a call from the airport saying they had stopped someone carrying a lot of cash and could we confirm that they were collecting a car.We would of course but sometimes we had no idea who they were.

Relying on Parker’s............maybe you are not quite ready to set up full time after all.

Because I do it as a private seller at the moment I am trying to buy under 5k maybe a bit more for certain cars and sell for 500, maybe 1k profit. (just found a desperate seller that wanted a Skoda Kodiaq that sold me his 12plate Merc c220 82k miles for 3500 and luckily I sold it in 5 days for 4750£) So you dont declare your trader earnings for tax or NI, you dont have trade plates and you i imagine use these cars on test drives, You dont put a warranty on them either i imagine, Why dont you pay tax on these earning what makes you so special Come on,give her a break.Where you whiter than white when you started out.I wasn’t when I was door stepping aged 17.I paid plenty of tax in my day job though working 7 days.

Second thoughts,from what you say,I think you could do OK.There is plenty of stuff to buy at Blackbushe if you are not frightened by stuff needing work.

Hi Marian Could you possibly give us a ballpark figure on what you are currently earning in your day job.Unless you can afford it,not a good time to go solo in this job.One thing,I have to tell you is that those ‘ moments of joy ‘ you refer to may turn into ‘ moments of relief ‘when you go full time.Best of luck though,you will get plenty of good advice from the guys on here.

Some of these Eastern European car wash’s are good guys and they can do a lot for £30.Then just finish them off yourself.No need to use one of these new bullshit breed of prima Dona valeters called detailers.They tend to be too expensive,too slow,don’t like doing wet vacs and when you show them how to cut corners,they take the huff.They don’t understand that a lot of the best car dealers started off as valeters.

I would stick to what you are doing.7 or 8 per month from stocking 10 is very good.The extra costs you will incur from a 3000 ft unit and carrying 25 plus employing staff,extra insurance,advertising ( and double the agrovation) etc etc will mean you will probably need to do double the business to equal what you are doing now. Another thing to factor in is that with the onset of Brexit and the likely increase in the level of scaremongering in the media from mid September,trade is likely to be crap until early next year.When an extroadinary event takes place,( wars,9/11,miners strikes,oil crisis,) in the past it has diverted people’s attention from buying cars. Also you can’t just employ someone and regard them as self employed.If you cannot prove they are regularly carrying out other work ,you will run the risk of getting done by HMRC.

Yes....and wait for a good swapper and sometimes you can get some chucky commission as well.

I don’t see the problem,I would take some medicine.We all get stickers which we thought would waltz out.I would just make it £6950 and wait for a good retail swapper.Seeing the other stock,I don’t think a loss should have any impact on the business.

All very funny but what are the ramifications for the testing station.Advisories are in the public domain,how would VOSA view it.If the customer was offended,some lawyer might agree and claim damages from the testing station ( not the tester) .....An alternative view !

I think every repair shop in the land is looking for a good all round mechanic.Where do you get them and how much do you offer them.Signing on fee,house with guaranteed good school places nearby,cars for him and the wife, £30k basic ( £50k darn sawf) and generous bonus scheme,free account at the local etc.The next thing will be that the good ones will be employing agents like footballers.

I think Dell needs to be very carefull about what he says.If an insurance investigator gets involved they might ask some awkward questions about the working relationship with his friend/mechanic,invoices for previous work,bank statements showing payments etc,they might also interview people at Lookers which could open a can of worms.I witnessed an accident awhile ago and I was later questioned and the insurance guy ( ex police) was good.They might establish that the mechanic is a business partner,what happens then.

Sorry to say,I don’t think we are getting the right story.Dell needs a good lawyer.

Hi Fatboy You will quickly lose weight in this job.All the stress and worry will see to that.You don’t see many fat car dealers. Good early CV,a lot of us started as valeters or petrol pump attendants,I think you will do well.

It’s a ‘trade sale’ ,CRA does not apply !

When a punter threatens Trading Standards,I used to say ,I agree let’s do this properly,please get in touch with them and when they contact us ,I will take advice from them.I am sure we will then resolve the matter. Most Trading Standards guys are straight forward although I have not dealt with any for a long time.