trade vet

This all sounds like ‘Enron’ accounting to me.You have to be carefull,even if your accountant allows you to account for unpaid labour in a certain way,an HMRC inspector may interpret it differently and disallow it with a vengeance.It is with mistakes like this that HMRC possibly via a VAT inspection could give them reason to start an enquiry....Anyone on here had one of them ?

I had forgotten about Autofreeway.We had a contract for 2 pages in AT and 2 in Autofreeway and I think it was for £2000 per week inc VAT.Sounds expensive but infact it wasn’t because you could earn more than that in finance commission alone just over the weekend.......past glories again..

Everyone did their own thing.On a half page some might have 10 photos with limited descriptions down the sides and another 25 in text centrally.Others might have no photos at all just text and advertise 50 or 60 in small print.The mag came out on Thursday and the phone would start ringing in the morning.Happy Days !

I think on line was cheap then because AT mag was still doing the business.We will never be able to replicate the cracking business that came from AT mag which appeared expensive at £400 for a half page in the 90’s.AT mag was brilliant....then the internet arrived.

Most amusing,rude,annoying,fraudulent or bullshit posts etc....Lifetime achievement award...I will sponsor that and nominate myself for the award ( apparently that is OK ).......What about...Cock up of the year......I would also be up for that one !

That sounds like a good business model.

Cash ! Who has cash now.The punters who have their own money tend to have it in non accessible deposit accounts earning 0.05% so it takes 2 weeks before a handover.Cash is dangerous,expensive to bank and if you insist on it ,HMRC will take a kean interest in your business and if you make a small banking mistake ( they don’t do mistakes) they will assess you for a telephone number amount and leave you to prove otherwise.

Great ‘blog post’ bullshit Jamie.However the bottom line is that buried in your ‘infomercial’ you appear to admit that you are not yet recognised by HMRC to deliver MTD.Am I right or wrong !

P38 Lightning....Blackbushe Airport.....that must be a good story !

Would it not be possible ( if you were that way inclined) to raise an invoice for the labour but then not send it to your customer.It then eventually becomes a bad debt which can be written off. Risk reward wise,I wouldn’t bother. It must be interesting how Dave accounts for his work when he says he sometimes gets paid in local produce.How does HMRC treat that,there must be some special dispensation for highland inhabitants.

Every chance if you have an insider.

If you run a ltd company and your personal car belongs to and is maintained and paid for by you,you can charge the company for your business mileage.However as Justin says that could be just the excuse HMRC need to start an enquiry ( they go on for years).

Any Private use of a company or business owned car is a taxable benefit.You can only claim VAT back on a car if it is wholly used for business use and you can prove it is not availible for private use which of course is impossible.So if you were caught out having reclaimed VAT on your VAT Qualifying ‘smoker’,they would make you repay it.....nice little earner for HMRC

On the other hand just spotted this one on HMRC.It appears to me that it is saying that with any private use of a VAT Qualifying Car,you are liable to repay the VAT.Travelling back and forwards to work for instance was deemed ‘private use’.and probably still is.The mind boggles,....that annoying flash trader with the ex Lex RRover Sport he runs round in which he has up for £60k etc...etc

Hi AD You never sold Ladas then ! The Trade hated them so they were for nowt.You got great margins on them,no comebacks and the punters where easy to deal with.I can still recall one punters comment c 1988 “people can laugh at me as much as they want,£2k for an 18 month old car ,£100 a year Insurance and I can park it anywhere and I don’t need to lock it up. In fact I have a neighbour who was the biggest Lada retailer in the UK,he only had 2 pitches. Happy Days.

Great stuff Nick well spotted.This is a recent and very helpfull new direction by HMRC and worthy of an article in Car Dealer Mag.Most of us employ accountants who you assume know everything to save you money but stuff like this just passes them by.

Hi Noacross Thank you,because I have been in this job forever and stitched up many times, I tend to focus on the potential downside too much.I am used to the normal clawbacks for early settlements and defaults etc.on prime finance which there were few.However it is about 7 years since I was on the front line and things have changed.I have been used to dealing with Black Horse,Santander and Close in the past and if they are interested they should show up and I will see how their contracts look.I don’t think we can do sub prime as it appears you have to be a qualified social worker to offer it ! Regarding business,still slow,sold a few,bought a few at the door,had problems with the website although it has been up for only 3 weeks.One thing,we have a busy main road location but we are getting very few ‘walk ins’.We have not yet established what we should be selling.It might turn out to be an over 10 or an under 5 grand pitch or if it is a sub prime pitch then I will be out !

Just received our ‘ chucky licence’,it has taken about 6 weeks since applying.So we are now getting brokers reps come in and phone calls from others.I am presently wading through the small print in a brokers contract and the potential liability for void deals is far reaching.No mention of commission yet.I am not sure how anybody can be doing sub prime when among the CRA stuff and other things it also appears you could be made liable if the hirer is ‘considered’ to be vulnerable or of a particular mental state.One other broker has been on wanting to sign us up saying we have to pay them £150 per deal as their intro and acceptance fee.They have said,just add the £150 to the finance balance ! the way I read FCA Regs That is illegal and will probably guarantee to bounce back as a void deal when the hirer defaults.The small print is ambiguous,this particular agreement is a minefield....I think I will stick to prime lenders.

Good cheap convertibles,I don’t think so.Out of interest I was annoyed with a friend yesterday at Newcastle where there was a 12 207 CC Roland Garros 8k ,white,leather etc ..a rare car.One or two said they wanted it and I was asked by this guy who I know well how much I had for it.I said north of £5k and he said how much more.So I said £5500 ish and his reply was it will never bring that much and the others agreed which inferred to me that they would not bid that much.Anyway it started at 38 and I could not shake off the other hall bidder and I stopped at 5850 and it was knocked down at 59.Low and behold it was my friend who bought it.If he had told the truth he would have had it for £400 less as I would have stopped at 55 so I let him know.

Hi Frankie Unless you are doing cheapies,I think you would be better off finding a small unit for a dozen cars.If you have to show something to a punter,they should find it more comfortable if you have premises rather than an open yard.If you can find one,it should not cost that much more and with small units there are no business rates.

Tell him he cannot use the car anymore and give instructions that you will collect it from his home at a certain time.In the past when these guys talk about not been able to get to work I usually establish where they work and then refer them to public transport.Please let us know how far he travels to work and in future when selling cheapies it is a good idea to qualify the customer.

Proper punters will not pay for dems.You might get Top Gear type wallys to pay £50 for half an hour then afterwards it can take a hour to clean it.We don’t yet have the technology to clean a car by using a keyboard ! You must have been out of the trade for a while,I would say,stick to what you are doing.

‘It can sit there forever etc until I get 2 grand profit on it’,....I have to say Mr C that is classic peripheral car dealer speak you often hear around the auction ring.Why not just trade it to someone on here and get on with your job.You have had a descent starting bid already.

Thank you....it might look OK,We are getting traders in wanting to buy stuff we haven’t got and ‘chucky reps’ touting for business but otherwise it is very quiet...As for retailing,.I might just crash the prices and start again and try something different,I have done that before.

Hi Auto Evo For a start,I would suggest when you download your copy of How to be Car Dealer,go to section 4 and read parts 9 and 10 and include that in your business plan.