trade vet

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content Count

    4699

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    106

Posts posted by trade vet

  1. Posted

    For the long established pitches,the loyal repeat punters are the backbone of the business and they are back after being missing for a long time.These punters who generally buy bread and butter stock don’t like click and collect.They want to come in and have some banter,try it out after usually saying they are buying it.They are straight forward and tend to rely on you and you can get their swappers in ‘right’.Living in the past,I still think that the local punters are the best.

  3. Posted

    3 hours ago, BHM said:

    It’s funny how some punters (especially Vaggots) think they can be fussy over a main dealer history yet you know for a fact the greedy fuckers won’t go anywhere near a franchise when it’s coming out of their wallet.

    Off topic.Unless it is on over age stock,slow punters,’doubting Thomas’s ‘,that expect extras or money off,especially if it is on older stuff,don’t deal with them.It takes 2 minutes to qualify a punter either on the pitch or on the phone.When I used to buy from main dealers,they often had a hard boiled sales guy who sold the most who could spot proper punters by their body language alone before homing in on them.

  4. Posted

    3 hours ago, MattR said:

    My sense of humour is fine, I find I can laugh at most things. I'm quite cheery. And why so negative about the profit on the Ami? I couldnt care less. If they appear on the used market, and I can sell them for sufficient profit, I will.

    Just cheer the fuck up. And stop knocking everything and everyone. (this may be gramatically incorrect).

    Ha Ha, ‘ If they appear on the used market ‘,only an amateur would say that........I’m out !

  5. Posted

    18 minutes ago, MattR said:

    He may be more clever than me, you may be. My grammar is probably better than yours ( it should be cleverer than ).Citroen will sell the new Ami, they may be french, but they arent stupid either. Look for the positive. That Ami is going to be cheap, clean, city transport. Thats good. 

    It’s the franchise’s who will have to sell them and take them back in.I expect there will be SFA profit in them.I was making a light hearted observation comparing it to The Howard.Ever heard of the Bond Bug and of course the wonderful Sinclair C5  which was going to change the world..I have to say,if you haven’t got a sense of humour you will never be a successful car dealer.Apologies for the grammar,left school at 14 

  6. Posted

    16 minutes ago, MattR said:

    Its nothing to do with whether I trade AIM shares or not. Its that your attitude is that he wont make money at it. And that you dont want him to. You're just plain miserable and dont seem to want to see success.

    Have you wondered why the forum is so quiet these days? What was once a really useful advice centre for so many people, be they new or old in the trade has been deserted because people get fed up with the negativity.

    So if theres nothing positive to say, say nothing. I've no idea how hard or easy it may be to make money on shares. But I genuinely wish the guy all the luck in the world because I dont want to see people struggling.

    Frank, get your popcorn out.

    Did I not wish him luck.If he can make millions retailing RS stuff,he must be a clever guy and I suspect clever than you.I see you appear to rate the new Citroen ‘Howard ‘,that about sums you up. 

  7. Posted

    39 minutes ago, MattR said:

    Youre a miserable git.

    Do you trade AIM stuff ? I did until Black Friday wiped them all out as they were unsaleable.Still got the share certificates.Penny shares are a penny for a reason.Now let’s here your views please on the advantages of trading AIM shares and your share tips thank you.

  10. Posted

    In the 70’s if you had a top car where we are and it got nicked,a third party would quickly contact you about getting it returned provided you paid the ransom and they usually did.Nowadays it is probably better for thieves to forget stealing cars and just steal the keys.For example I think the latest Bentley key costs about 7 grand and is encrusted with diamonds.

  11. Posted

    4 hours ago, Frank Cannon said:

    The thing is that when I started decades ago, AT wasn't so outrageously priced. That's not looking back with rose tinted glasses either. 

    Now, we have a whole industry waiting, nay foaming st the mouth, to jump ship to another product that both works AND is reasonably priced, because its all about reasonable isn't it.

    ....seems such a simple ask for Google one wonders why its taken them so long? 

    I wonder how Autoraper will react, head in the sand or cut the legs off their prices......my experience with AT will favour the former pose. 

    AT directors will need to come up with something to protect their share price and their bonuses.It hasn’t moved yet so it could be fake news.AT might want to lock dealers into longer term contracts in return for bigger discounts for increasing stock.On the other hand Google have the firepower to offer dealers free introductory advertising providing they drop Autotrader.We started using AT mag in 84 ( I think) and it was far cheaper than local newspaper advertising and it was brilliant for nearly 20 years before being sold and the rates then gradually went up and up.I do agree with the Autoraper tag as they have been netting 70% of their t/o for several years when the trade find it difficult to net 2%.

  13. Posted

    5 hours ago, David Horgan said:

    Print a V62 fill it in with the reg and vin , take it to post office and ask the question , can it be taxed ? some will some wont , we have two PO and one does the work the other is a waste of space . If it needs to be in trade then put it in trade not your name , customer comes and take them to the PO . 

    Going off topic,it reminds me of our helpfull family run PO from long ago.We were taxing stuff every day but because the PO was so busy and you had to queue up,it was quicker to leave the docs and make 2 trips.The postmaster suggested we just left an open cheque made out to the Post Office and he would complete it on a weekly basis.Months later I checked to see that the PO calculations corresponded with ours for mostly 3 month and the odd 12 month tax.It didn’t and we had been charged for a lot of 12 month instead of 3 month taxes.I asked them for an explanation and they invited me into their house.They said they used the PO computer system to calculate the weekly amount and they would never steal any money from us.They were very nice people but of course I didn’t believe them as there was thousands of pounds involved.They repaid us the money and we never used them again and the PO later closed up.Now reading about hundreds of cases where the Post Office had forced Post Masters to admit theft of thousands when all along it was their faulty computer system.Many of them had their lives destroyed ,went bankrupt,got jailed or died of ill health caused by the worry.I often think about our PO people because there was no way they would be ripping us off.I think it is a huge scandal especially the Post Office Cover Up which has taken years to uncover.

  14. Posted

    1 hour ago, Frank Cannon said:

    Can you imagine the typical customer though :D

     

    Probably make MX5 drivers look like stud muffins. 

    That’s what I thought.However their last set of accounts state they had a SEVEN figure cash balance and no debt and had been producing excellent net profits since they set up.How good is that !

  19. Posted

    One door closes another one opens.If BCA and Manheim go online only that might be good news for the smaller Independent Auctions.Once Main Dealer groups work out they will get more for older stuff from physical auctions,they will use the Independents.There is no way I would risk buying 10 year old stuff online based on their rules regarding descriptions.You might get them knocked down cheaper but I suspect you might be spending a lot of your time negotiating for partial refunds.I would prefer to see them,hear them and smell them and pay less in buyers fees.

     

    • Like 1

  20. Posted

    Good luck to those who will reopen tomorrow who have been closed all this time.Make sure to emphasise to prospective buyers the potential risks of buying blind from those online only operators who advertise on TV.Remember their advertising is aimed at discouraging buyers from using the likes of us.

    • Like 5
    • Thanks 1

  21. Posted

    2 hours ago, DCS01 said:

    I’ve been driving around in an old transit connect I brought to do parcels in while setting up the business. I quite enjoy driving it.

    After years of being snobby about what demo I had and driving around in a new car every 3/4 months I’m surprised of how little I’m bothered about a nice car.  However there is an attraction of not paying £500 a month company car tax for a car that then gets loaned out for weeks to a customer. 

    Company car tax gets me annoyed.For years I was paying it plus personal fuel benefit tax based on any car from stock with a list price of up to £25k.The cars I used were usually worth about 4 grand.However pre online buying,I was doing 50k miles per year and our accountant failed to advise that I should have purchased my own car and charged the company 40p per mile.I did not find out until years later,very annoying.

  22. Posted

    1 hour ago, Frank Cannon said:

    The only two taxi sales I ever did....both went sour, I swore I'd never deal with a taxi driver again and haven't done....the best advice above is, avoid. 

    Speak as you find.We have found taxi fleet operators to be a great source of business and met some interesting characters aswell.I can think of a town councillor who would only rent cars out to ex wagon drivers and a chemist shop owner who rented out quite a few.The best one though was a guy who reminded me of Fred Dibner the TV steeplejack ( who ! ) had a big fleet of cars and also small terraced houses which he either owned or sublet.His drivers would be his tenents on condition that they could only remain as tenants as long as they were his drivers.There was also an Asian guy from Teeside who ran a huge fleet who had devised some loophole where his drivers picked up and dropped off on bus routes for a set fare.All these guys were easy to deal with.

  23. Posted

    Not a good idea to put a warranty on a taxi.Some of them can have 3 drivers and operate round the clock.What we always did was to guarantee they passed the taxi test which proved they were fit for purpose at the point of sale.The test had to get done within 7 days of purchase and experienced taxi drivers/ operators rarely objected to those terms of business and still don’t.

  24. Posted

    28 minutes ago, David Horgan said:

    Auction Staff advertise all these parts on face book . 

    No member of the trade is allowed on site anymore to steal them are they , so its staff nicking them . 

    I bought a car from BCA and it came with all the badges missing , BCA said sold as seen , but badges were clear on the pictures and i printed them out . They bought me new badges at a silly cost , no wonder some smart arse stole them . 

    Ha Ha,Were they VW Badges,have the Beastie Boys reformed.For those who don’t know,it may have been the lead singer who wore a VW badge necklace so the fans just stole the badges,millions of them ! It was rare to see a VW with badges intact but kids were seen everywhere wearing them.( having just borrowed them ).

  25. Posted

    49 minutes ago, petrol head said:

    I'm not sure if I'm living in a parallel universe, but Cazoo are making a big thing about delivering a car to you. We have been doing this to customers, the small minority who wanted it, in the near 40 years I have been in the industry?

    This includes putting cars on planes and not just delivering in the home market.

    The question is are they doing a much better PR exercise than we ever did? 

    Also,what Cazoo and Cinch BCA don’t understand is that there is still a high per cent of punters who when buying their next used car,stay loyal to one dealer,get servicing done and see the same guy who looks after them.These sensible people can’t be bothered with apps,pass words,automated phone systems,far away call centres,security questions,texted back messages etc.when contacting their garage.

    Given any opportunity I am making sure people get to know about the downside when buying from the online only operators.