trade vet

Hi Noa You are right about me and supermarkets except I did go to Asda a few weeks ago and caused trouble.A bit like what Mark was referring to with pensioners.I had to buy a birthday card so I stand in this long queue with people with huge baskets of shopping.When it comes to my turn I hand over £3 for the £2.50 card and the cashier does not give me any change.So I insist on the 50p and the cashier has to ring someone to open the till and people behind start giving me flack for holding up the queue.Apparently I was in the wrong one with only one item etc.so I had to make a sharp exit.

Hi Casper. An idea for you.These could become a ‘must have’ fashion accessory.Fold up personal shopping trolleys ( but with a trendy new name ) with logged in shelf smart technology for speedy shopping to take you to the food product you require in any major supermarket.Made with recycled parts and upholstered in Gucci,Burberry,Louis Vuitton etc. You just need Meghan Markle or a Kardashan to be seen with one and the global demand would be phenomenal.You could then sell out to Amazon for a billion.

Ha Ha....I know a bit about this subject despite not having a tartan trolley.Two sides to this.I think the rude ones tend to be men.Savvy pensioners often shop every day to get the best deals as food prices constantly fluctuate. My wife often complains about ‘ time poor’ younger people who fill their trolleys and who must have no idea of the price of stuff and then pay by credit card and don’t check the till receipt ( and don’t collect points ).I am told that the best deals at Sainsbury’s are mid month.Tescos can be Sunday afternoon after 4.M&S is easy to follow,for instance for the next bank holiday weekend they might be stocked up with barbecue stuff.Bad weather means poor sales and they have to drastically reduce it on Tuesday to shift it.I have seen my wife often come home with £60 worth of foodstuff having paid £15......Just general dealer chat before anyone gets upset.!

Ha Ha ...Back in the 90s I am at home one night about 8 and the owner of a local auction calls going ballistic.We did a lot of business then and we had 2 guys who bought the banger swappers.Unknown to us they both used this guys auction and one of them was attacked by the other in front of the rostrum and the sale had to be closed.Apparently the aggressor was connected to some local crime family and the auction guy said we should have known that.The next day the aggressor came in and coincidently the VAT inspector was also in.So I asked him to show his proof of ID to the Vat guy and he made a sharp exit and we never saw him again.

I did Tues at Colchester,we set off at 4am bought a few and got home 10pm.(660 mile round trip ) I know a guy who did the Thurs night sale.He bought scrap that was taxed and put them on his wagon and took them to London to I think it was called Belmont or Charlton auction.Apparently the immigrants down there would buy anything as long as it had a few months tax. What was the main auctioneer called at NCA,was it Moor.The guy I am thinking of was a quick knock specialist.

Why not,selling heavy stuff.There is a huge population and good road links within 60 miles or an hour from Manchester.Its not like the SE where I found that punters did not want to travel 10 miles because it took them too long. Good luck to them.

I have always found that you get a lot of bonuses with BCA Assured stuff when you are buying in the hall.In the last year I have had quite a few good buys from my local BCA that were wrongly marked ‘engine needs attention’.It is a big help when the on line buyers are put off.

Ha Ha Brilliant Guy,had huge success with the Sinclair Spectrum home computer.Then what does he do,blew a fortune on the Sinclair C5 electric ‘pram’ which I think he expected people to drive on the M1.What a disaster.

Sir Robert Sinclair ?

An old trader guy I got to know insists that in the mid 70s the best thing he did was have a phone system fitted in his car that cost him £2500 ! when you could get a descent house for that.He used to underwrite the very heavy stuff and main dealers would contact him first by leaving a message somewhere which would then be passed on immediately to his car phone.I have to say I do not recall anyone with a car phone at the time but I do believe him.

I am not sure whether the millennials like reading about the old days.I think we are being quite reserved,if we disclosed a lot more that might really sicken them !

We did ex Police V6 Omegas,no idea how many we sold,but it was a lot. I sent our scrap guy to an old punter last week having explained he may only get £150 for his 1 owner ,04 Vectra. The scrap guy called to say thank you etc and that he gave the punter £200.I said that was too much but he said the number on it is worth a grand !

Tax discs,radios,spare wheels,jack and wheel braces but I did not blame the punters.I used to blame the salesman.

I only bought 1.4 Rover 25’s because they rarely blew head gaskets. One of the first questions the Vat Man would always ask was if you surrendered any tax discs..Standard answer..Every car we buy is not taxed.( not a lie).....we never mentioned the swappers.

I don’t think you have a claim having bought it in the hall as opposed to online.Some people might say that you were equally negligent.

Did you buy it in the hall or on line.

In those days,I think you were charged for receiving calls.I used to have main dealers ringing me constantly to underwrite their swappers but I recall other traders paying more than £500 per month for their brick.I do remember having a aching shoulder !

Out of interest.The introduction of VAT in 73 killed off bumpy deals.The Gov.credit squeeze on luxury goods meant that to buy a car ( a luxury) on HP you needed a min 30% or 40% deposit depending on the age of the car.So you might have a poverty model Cortina at £600 which required £240 deposit.Many punters did not have the deposit so on the HP doc you would describe it as a top of the range model selling for £900 with £360 deposit.So the punter only actually paid £60 deposit and thanked you. Because people rarely defaulted on HP agreements ( not like today ) you got away with the bumpy deals. Crazy days,my basic was £10 but I earned £150 per week,I was 21.

How much did your brick cost.I think I was paying £500 p/m in the 80s.

Main dealers begging you to buy their swappers ( good ones ready to retail ) Bungs Trim rings Full shoots for £55 70-100% margins big chucky commission + volume bonus again haircuts carrying a pocket full of readies ( donkey choker ) being standard fair buying something and knowing it would be ‘ downed ‘to passing trade within a day of pricing it up. vat 7.5% and and the time before vat Car dealers with the appearance of Philip Green and wearing camel coats,sheepskins,trilbys,expensive suits with white shirt and tie, constantly smoking Churchill size cigars and often accompanied by their mol buying and selling stuff auction to auction for good profit Autotrader and finance company lavish corporate hospitality Etc etc

I think David’s story is one of the best I have read on here for a while.

You might want to contact Winn Solicitors in Newcastle who are the top no fault accident claim solicitors.They pay the trade introductory commission.They might arrange for a new Merc Van for your Dad to use in the meantime,check them out.

I did not realise it was a cheapie.I have no idea how anybody can now operate a legitimate car sales business selling cheapies because of the scope of CRA 2015.You can thank Jo Swinson the new Lib Dem leader for that,she introduced it. Maybe it could work if you restricted sales to the aged 50 and over non internet generation who have skills like how to open the bonnet and check the oil and water instead of being concerned with connectability or whatever it is called....Rant over.

On your own admission you could tell that the punter did not want the car ! You will learn to steer clear and with CRA you cannot be investing in these punters. I would demand the car back by a recorded message/ letter and collect it now and get your repairer to check it out.If the punter is telling porkies ( which is usual) you can then negotiate a price to buy it back and try and include an NDA for bad reviews.You have to ‘nip it in the bud ‘ ......get used to it !

It definateley works if you do a lot of business.Years ago when cars were not complicated we started throwing in our own cover.We just used to put £60 in a separate account,the surplus soon mounted up.My old pitch still do their own.We followed that by giving punters the option of what we called a Customer Care Pack which included 12 months warranty,some road tax,an MOT,oil and filter,luxury mats which cost £6 and other stuff which cost very little.We charged £300 for that and a lot of the punters would just add it to the chucky agreement.The result was phenomenal.These days with the average cost of MOTs alone,you would have to charge at least double to have the same result.