trade vet

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 ).

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.

99% ? Don’t think so,where are you buying stock.When Nav’s were introduced we found a few were missing.We just used to get replacements from ‘ The Nav Meister’ in Germany.Also wagon drivers have been pulling up seats /glove boxes looking for money for as long as I can remember.

Nice one.When VAT was introduced in 73 when I got my first pitch,a lot of dealers packed in.It was the last straw !

I think there needs to be a ‘spoiler’ video which we can all use spelling out to punters the potential downside and extra cost when buying a used car from an online only dealer compared to an established traditional or local dealer who you can speak to at anytime.

I hope Cazoo go the way of the pushbike food delivery company Deliveroo.They floated this morning described as a tech company valued at billions and the shares have plunged.It will cost the underwriters billions,might effect Cazoo,hope so.

Worth looking at,some amazing claims and jargon you can steal for yourself.The management- world class team ( none of them from the trade of course ) and they have the firepower to succeed ! They are ahead of Cavana at the same stage in their development - translation - we have lost more money than them.Brittas,Alan Partridge,Reggie Perin ,George Costanza and Kramer come to mind.

They will say anything .It’s all contrived,if they manage to get the float away,they will have achieved everything.US Online used car dealer Carvana are supposed to be a success,they do $5b t/o and lose -$500m,the shares have done nothing but millions of shares are traded every day.Another US used car dealer called Carlotz managed to float with the idea that punters would pay them $300 to prep and sell their car and when it was sold they would retain another $800.They floated and sell thousands of cars but again they lose money and the share price has gone down.It must be the volume of shares traded that counts ?

Some guys I know ran a busy petrol station,workshop and pitch which was close to the local telly studios.They used to look after a presenters big daft American car.One the guys took it out for a run around but not that far.By the time he got back the local celeb already knew about it.All very Alan Partridge.

I would imagine there is still potential for underhand ‘ bounce out ‘ dealings by auctioneers.If I was bidding and bids went way over Cap when it shouldn’t and was then showing not sold,I would be quickly ringing provisionals to get my name on the sheet.

They have probably set up their own WhatsApp group where they can ‘ one up ‘each other like the usual auction ring group of bullshitters of old.I can imagine what it’s like if you post ‘how ya doing’ and in reply ‘ a bit quiet but did 9 on Monday ‘.How about margins ‘ still only netting 2 grand a unit ‘ .Then another ‘ wouldn’t get out of bed for less than 3 grand ‘. You have got to laugh.

Another Good one David.Again no ‘delusions of grandeur’ with this guy about how good he is.He is a realist about the job.

Ha Ha,hopefully you are OK,if not you should investigate.That is an unusual car for a woman to buy.In normal times it would make a good rental 24 hour taxi ( usually 3 drivers only one with a taxi licence is not unknown ).Please excuse me but that sort of thinking comes with being in the job forever !

Tread carefully.I can recall some good ones like checking up and finding it’s a taxi or been towing an overweight caravan .The last one I can recall it was the punter who deliberately burned the clutch out because he wanted to cancel and get his swapper back because he realised he had let it go far too cheaply.I gave him a full refund but not his swapper and thanked him for the business.With a lot of comebacks I used to often get the punter to drive me around for a couple of miles.On one we had fitted a clutch in prep and sold it and a month or two later the guy says it’s slipping.He drives me around and shows how it is slipping.I agree and ask if that is how he normally drives which he confirms so I then have to point out he is driving with his foot resting on the clutch. With comebacks which are potentially expensive in some cases you have to be like a detective.These days if I was suspicious, I would want a photo of the mileage and the general condition of the car and a copy of the invoice for the new parts incase the clutch is for another car !

Ha Ha.That sounds a bit like when Motability started.Become a Motability named driver for an infirm relative and operate as a taxi driver with a free car.There were cars coming back worn out.Better still in the distant past,a sales manager near us got into trouble loaning out cars on Saturday night straight off the pitch untaxed to his mates.They were used as taxis and brought back early on Monday mornings !

Just received an invoice from BCA for a 14 grand car ( not mine ) ,£829 buyers fees plus £57 Assured fee....I think that should be classed as Extortion !

What I don’t understand is BCA’s Cinch operation.Why do they think they can make more money retailing when their auctions have never made as much money as they have of late.I was reading Vertu Motors last accounts,150 retail sites,£3 billion sales,£7m net profit and 40% of the profit came from 8% of sales which was ‘after sales ‘.That about sums the job up.

6 billion or whatever,if the guy has copped for £100m of investors money already as rumoured,no wonder they are bandying around these figures.It will be interesting to see their next annual accounts.

You did well,did you check he was 18.Are there any additional precautions dealers should take when doing online/ click and collect sales to kids or new adults acting on their own.I may be wrong but I would want to know what it was going to be used for to be ‘ Fit for purpose ‘ ,a copy of their license and if they could not produce insurance I would be stating on the invoice that they understood they must be appropriately insured before they can drive on a public road.Duty of Care and all that stuff.......and no credit cards !

He probably just wants to attain Jag status.Those XType Mondeo Jags were the same ,the punters thought they had a Jag.

I am OK thank you Casper.Mind I would not like to have a punter like Alex Salmond ! It would be nice to hear you on David’s podcast.