trade vet

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.

Make sure the sausage rolls are cold or they will attract VAT.As I am quoted in the guide,I am happy to accept Greggs pastie options which vest in 5 years.

If you were a Jock you could probably claim a subsidy from somewhere towards the job.I see they have been promised another £450m in todays budget and the awfull SNP guy was not happy and went on and on.

Why not ask that dealer/Trader guy who is also big on solar panels...I think he is called Elon....

When I started aged 15 ‘hair cutting’ was widespread.You could also get MOT’s without taking the car,’dial a test’ stations would last for 3 months then get closed down having done thousands of MOT’s. Cars did not have service history then and the punters never queried mileages and I think some cars did not have mileometors.Nobody retailed high mileage stuff.I recall one dealer getting done for buying Jersey ex hire cars with 2000 miles then knocking them out as ex demos with 200 miles.He got off the main charge on some technicality but pleaded guilty to offering for sale without checking the mileages etc and was fined a few hundred quid.However,I recall this Trading Standards Officer who was hot on forecourt tyre pressure gauges.There was all sorts going on but his thing was to do garage forecourt owners whose air pressure gauges were inaccurate.The air was free in those days.Then there were the bungs.I recall one dealer who was mid twenties and had a 20 car pitch turning up in a new DB6 which took months to order boasting that he bunged the sales manager £500 to get it immediately and nobody battered an eyelid....I better stop here.

When I started aged 15 ‘hai

Hi Mark sellyourcar2us.co.uk..........it’s a bit ‘non league’ at the moment......all criticism welcome.

Never seen that one,but all the rediculously expensive ones we see here are owned by Russians.They are usually too big get in,are armour plated,have helicopters and other boats installed within the hull etc.One of the worst is a submarine yacht,I have forgotten the name,it cost over £100m apparently and the Russian owner is about 40 or younger.You just wonder what these guys do....I don’t think they pay VAT... put it that way.

Our new ‘old pitch’ eventually started up early in the month with 15 cars having taken awhile to set up.Website just went live 5 days ago.Nice stock,some small stuff,a few SUVs all good prices.We are on AT and the local rag and this used to be a prolific pitch,it is in a very busy location.We have not got it right yet with Descriptions and photos and no videos yet but the bottom line is,we have only done 3 and bought 2 in at the door.I think this is going to be a challenge even though we are only aiming to recoup the equivalent of the rent we were getting.If I had not been in this job so long,I would probably be worried.I am already thinking our stock is wrong.

I agree.Mind you although there are some beautiful sail boats here,some of them have electronic sails !

Yes,I know who you mean Bubba or was it Forest Gump who did well with shrimp boats.Did he not then invest in a fruit business.....and did OK.What was it called again........

Stink boats ?

I am in our apartment now in Puerto Portals marina Mallorca.Leases on births here for the big floating caravans change hands for over 1m euros and I think there are only 12 years left on the leases. Most of them rarely go out yet they have a full time crew,it makes no sense.