trade vet

I think 27 days is good, if it is right.The stat I liked ( or maybe not) was the cost of sales,average cost per car over the year. Just read something where the boss of Cambria is claiming that they stock 1600 and on average it takes them 21 days in total from purchase to sale.I suspect he is including all the swappers they block to get to that figure ....

Dark colours,but especially black and dark blue.....light scratches and bonnet stone chips. Mix dark coloured printers ink with tyre slick and rub on.Polish off with wax....it works and lasts for ages,don’t recall having any complaints if chips reappeared.

You have to laugh.....Just looking at Car Dealer Mag news item.....Manheim have carried out a survey,yes a survey.There Head of External Relations is quoted that the result of their survey is .....acquiring the right stock is the biggest challenge faced by used car dealers.......I am not sure if he was referring to their ‘ever popular on here ‘Dealer Auction......you cannot make it up.

You are right,no clawbacks for early settlements after 3 months instalments.I was interested to know how they could afford to do that but I now understand that the ‘Rule of 78’ for settlements is no longer applicable.( so settlements must now be higher )........I would like to read their rates and terms,very interesting......We used to get regular clawbacks for early settlements plus the cases which went legal. Black Horse would often point out the legals but we would argue that it was their underwriters fault for taking risks and costing us money.It is not that long ago when we made very little profit on the ‘metal’ but plenty on finance and volume bonus which were free of VAT.....past glories again !

I often found that the punters return about the 10th August ( after factory fortnight holidays ) and you then have your busiest week of the year......Unfortunateley,we don’t have many factories now.

Early settlements,cases going legal or hirer not paying any 3 instalments on time etc etc....and no claw backs ?

Point taken Noacross ( although I am a seasoned or hard boiled pro,I am not sure about being wise) however although the company I founded goes on without me,they still do plenty of repeat business.When I call in I often meet the regulars.Maybe its a northern thing,mind we have been going for many years.....I am not a G&T guy ( wife is) I drink like a budgie......I am presently watching the cricket and following you guys.....thank you.

Jim Royal...?....Sorry

You are right Noacross,I am anti sub prime.They don’t become repeat punters and they usually have non retailable swappers.The first and final straw for me was an outfit called Welcome Finance who wanted our business which was long ago.Their rep met the punter at the handover and took ages signing up with all the refs and ID.The punter then drives off and the rep gave us a cheque for balance .....all very good.Next morning the car is parked at the door with the keys and docs in the letterbox and a note saying ‘ I don’t want it etc’.So I phone Welcome and tell them to forget it and that I will refund them immediately.They said it’s OK,we will just stop the cheque ! ( as if it was normal).After that any chucky duffers had to promptly arrange their own finance if they wanted to buy from us. I am sure First Response are OK,but I was always interested in prime finance,good rates and terms,good retailable swappers and repeat business.....maybe I was wrong.

Subprime,I thought so.If there is a merchandise complaint to the lender in the first 6 months and they stop paying......they could claim a void deal and rescind the contract.....it’s happened to me,full refund,that is why I quickly stopped offering sub prime years ago when it was introduced.

This gets better,RBS today declaring a dividend for shareholders for the first time since 07 at the expense of 12000 businesses they have destroyed.I was chatting to a lawyer yesterday and he said that despite the FCA ruling not to prosecute because commercial lending was unregulated,he was in no doubt that RBS were involved in criminal activity.

Thank you MSP,I have to say that is rediculous and could bounce back for whatever reason.That cannot be a mainstream lender,so much for Mark Carney warning about reckless lending.

Who financed that,it must have been 50% deposit over 12 months......I would be interested to know what the deal was.

47% acceptance rate.....that is dreadfull,but I suppose that reflects todays level of average household consumer debt.I recall back in 04 ish when Black Horse were trying to chip us on rates and terms because our acceptance rate had dropped to something like 92% !

Your finance acceptance rates are very important when negotiating rates and terms.I recall that Processing finance applications used to cost Black Horse £50 per time and that was 15 years ago.At the time we did a lot of prime finance but because of the lower cost to them of operating our account in reps time,cases going legal,proposal rejection rate and and other stuff ( they would supply us with the figures each year ) we could renegotiate our annual rates and terms contract.So you could understand why the likes of The Great Trade Centre would charge for finance applications when they were doing over £1m per week on finance.

Worth trying with all these chucky duffers about.Years ago I think the Great Trade Centre ( Car Giant) used to to charge a fee for doing proposals which was then refunded only if they were accepted and bought etc.( they might still do it)

I think more than ever,the best finance companies prefer accounts with dealers who do regular prime business.If they are only getting half a dozen acceptances per month and rejecting a lot more proposals,it is probably not worth their while.I was once getting a lift with our finance rep and his phone never stopped with winging and lieing sales managers wanting to know why proposals had been rejected or wanting more commission for lower rates on inflated negative equity deals.It was an eye opener,he said it went on all day and he had to be nice to them.....I know what I would have told them.

Even if it has poverty spec,I can understand it doing £4900.A volume pitch can do it for £5999 and probably with a full balance on chucky. Factor in commission and volume bonus which do not attract VAT, so I think that the price probably stacks up.

This is old news.We have done this topic.When you consider the likes of Motorpoint who must have sold thousands of ex daily rental stuff,they could potentially have a huge liabilility with these verdicts.

I think it was shocking news today that RBS and their management are not being prosecuted by the FCA for profiting from destroying 12000 smaller businesses.This decision is apparently based on commercial lending being ‘unregulated’ and is potentially giving banks the green light to rip you off.So for any commercial loan,overdraft or stock facility you may take out......I would say,get an expert to study the small print to explain any downside before signing up.

The rate depends on what you sell.If you do bread and butter stuff you can earn more.If you have a £5k Astra Estate and ‘Mr Canny Bloke ‘wants to finance £4500,he is not going to chip you on the rate because the payments are £25 per week.If you look at the finance income for e.g. Trade Centre Wales you will see what I mean.In my experience,if you do heavy tackle over £10k,you won’t earn a lot from finance.No point in doing finance for base rates or a handling fee,the punters who want to chip you are often the ones who give you a hard time.

The dealer must be in breach of the Trade Descriptions Act.However I do agree that they may not prosecute possibly because of the cost and that the dealer may have no visible assets.Is it not possible TS may prosecute but might then agree to a guilty plea to some lesser charge which may rate a fine of £100 and then claim a successfull prosecution.There is a lot of that going on in the courts now and that would not be much good for the victim.Small claims route may be better and if you win and they don’t pay,I think you can send in the bailiffs.......I am not sure.

Two days getting it ready....I can imagine that........you must point that out to them.I would have a look at their invoice and the copy of the advert.If it is clearly misdescribed I would advise that they should request a full refund and return the car or they will either take action through the courts or contact their Trading Standards Dept ( If they still have one ).

I have found it is often so called friends who think they know better and go off and buy elsewhere and get it wrong.They then probably expect you to help them out for nowt.....Firstly,does the supplying dealer still operate.

Wow Frazbomb..........you must be switched on !