trade vet

Back in October I was in Mallorca in a nice seafront coffee shop.There were a few woman sitting close bye chatting quietly.But we could hear this other women talking very loudly about herself who must have been 20 yards away.Unfortunately she came over and joined the woman closebye who were probably her assistants.We were forced to make a quick exit,I am not surprised she could be in financial difficulties.

Number plates fitted unevenly........serious offence in my book.Soft tyres on the pitch and nothing done about it.Also,car goes out on dem,no deal and the sales guy does not immediately reprice it up but goes for a cup of tea instead.

Wallet full of readies.AD are you sure you are not more older than you claim.When I started carrying ,£500 in readies was a minimum for car dealers.I was told that 50s car dealers would always carry a grand or two in readies incase there was a cheap car to buy.All part of the pose in those days because a decent car only cost £200.Can you imagine now pulling a grand out at the local block to buy a cup of tea.

Markov as in Stoichkov.Now there is a famous Bulgarian. If I had one of those umbrellas I can think of one or two in the past to use it on.First of all,I would have needed diplomatic immunity.

Nick,I don’t think so.....I hope you don’t say derogatory stuff about your fatherland.....you have probably never heard of Georgi Markoff

If only......

It is always our fault,punters generally do not understand fair wear and tear.Betterment is another one.My brother in law for instance brought his A6 back complaining about the quality of the tyres we fitted which were scrubbed off very quickly.It was pointed out that the tracking was way out as he had hit a curb or something but no the message coming back later was that our tyres were sub standard .

Both guys provided invoices stating that the title to the goods did not pass from them until they were paid for.Maybe their invoices were fraudulently altered by the dealers to get them on their stocking plan.I will try and find out a bit more.

If you have a 60 car pitch for example,all your expenses are multiplied so in reality it is possible you might have to do 7 per week to stand still even without stocking debt.

You can see how people get into trouble.I spoke to 2 proper trade guys just last week and they both had the same problem.They had put heavy stuff on pitches SOR and it turned out both these dealers had then put them on their stocking plan.Both dealers subsequently defaulted and their stock was lifted and entered in the block.This included the ‘sale or return’ vehicles. What a mess to try and get out of.

Thank you Nick.Now that looks like a better deal to me and £150k on finance Is manageable.I like Close,we did use them.But again if you were financing 60 cars the bill would mount up and they would probably want £1m on finance which cannot be easy these days.

Yes James,I can see it will work for you.However if you had a 60 car pitch doing 8 to 10 per week and an average stock turn of 35 days ....the mind boggles.No wonder how some traders get in a mess. No,I had been reading some old post on here and some guy was saying his BCA stocking money was costing 10%.However this Next Gear money appears to cost a lot more.If you have a track record,good security and 2 years accounts,I would have thought the banks would be interested.However nothing surprises me anymore with the banks.

Thank you James.So It is well over 10%.Sounds very expensive money to me,when you consider it is hard to net 1% when investing these days.I can see it working if you are a small operation with 10 cars and big mark ups.I can also see why these car supermarkets charge an admin fee.Surely if you have ‘belt and braces security’ you can buy money for more than half the price......Very interesting.

I have just searched NextGear Capital and they appear to be part of Cox Automotive/Manheim.Anyway having never had a stocking plan I would like to be educated as to how much they cost and how they work.NextGear website appears to say they will fund stock for 150 days.I read somewhere else that the BCA equivalent charge 10%.Surely that cannot be right,so can someone tell me how much the money costs.Also,do you have to sign a personal guarantee or are there any other downsides to watch out for.

It is easy to miss details from the topic.I think I must be the biggest culprit aswell as going off on a tangent.Its all well intended good stuff and banter from all of us ....

I know see that Matt did say it was a prominent pitch that he was considering.

Most of us who have been in this job a long time can recall a lot of guys who talked a big game,looked the part etc and then suddenly self destructed often leaving a trail of havoc.That is why I never believe big profit talk unless I have seen actual financial results which are often availible in the public domain.Unfotunately this job attracts a lot of bullshitters.

Ok,so Matt has worked in a centrally heated franchise dealership for 8 years.He has probably been impressed by the traders who called in.If that is the case,he needs to run a check on these guys.The bottom line is Matt is still a ‘non league player’ and is likely to have difficulties running a pitch.I note that he says he does not want to make the jump to earn £50k per year.I would say earning £50k In year 1 and have the business break even is a good result for a start up. Matt would you mind providing some basic info about your proposed new pitch without telling us where it is. 1) Is it an established business and what does it sell now or if not what did it sell previously. 2) Describe the size and how many it will hold under cover and in the open 3) The cost of rent and business rates and are you taking on a lease. 4) Does it have passing trade. With this info,we may be able to explain running costs you may not have thought of,which may be helpfull.

James,that doesn’t matter he is doing 6 cheapies per month.Matt does not appear to have an accountant yet. By the way,I have had plenty of debt.In the early days I had an overdraft and then the bank manager ( remember them) warned that they could call it in at any time for any reason so advised I should have fixed period loans.These days the ‘banksters’ can pull fixed loans and stitch you up.I have never had a stocking loan because I have seen them lead traders with smaller businesses into all sorts of difficulties.There must be many who would like to close up or retire but can’t because of their accumulated debt so just keep on a brave face and carry on. One of the good things about pitches is that when you get established with a good repeat customer base,it is a big help knowing they will give you several deals each week.

All the best pros I know in this job started by selling cheapies.A lot of them are now in their 70’s and back to selling cheapies to keep them active.I have always liked good cheapies.

Sorry guys but I am a little confused.Matt has been operating part time with little experience and appears to have done very well with the added bonus of a day job.He wants to go from having negligible costs to running a pitch and taking on debt,so his ‘ stand still’ costs could easily rise to £3,000 per week.Also,I don’t think you guys can give out advice about pitches if you have never had one.You need to have worked on a pitch for several years to understand how to run one.If Matt makes the move and takes on debt,the chances are he will go bust in a short period of time.I have seen this time and time again.As for those traders we all meet claiming to make huge profits,it is usually bullshit and their businesses often have a negative net worth.So beware Matt,if you want to proceed to shark infested waters,then good luck because you are going to need it.

This is the sort of crap they talk about in the public sector in order to get signed off work for 3 months ( on full pay ).

6 per month part time,that’s good.Stick to what you are doing because full time you could do 8 and you will also improve on the buying side.Don’t be influenced by bullshit traders who tell you they are regularly netting 2 grand per car and try not to take on debt.Regarding record keeping,you need a proper one ( they aren’t expensive for newbies ) and you should consider incorporating.

Hi JKG Are you an auction guy.If you are,you are based fairly central for some big ones and there must be people on here who would pay you a fee to check out stuff and bid for them.I was looking for someone like that just last week.

I think if you are operating a roadside pitch it is all about presentation and colour combination to impress passing trade.So smartly displayed visible prices and info are important.So are big SOLD stickers.The other thing of course is that your stock has to look mint at all times of day.For the old pros in the job,I think Noacross should agree that this is pretty basic stuff.