trade vet

How many cars do Lawgistics buy ? Ask them for evidence.Plenty of people get suspended or terminated but it is for their wrongdoing. They have been at Measham for awhile

So Andy,can we have your experience of this.

It’s different for everyone who has been around in this job for years.Most recent Klondyke period for us was 94 to 98 with 2 other periods years earlier.It can be very upsetting for millennial car dealers when the old guys reminisce about ‘the good old days’.

Pardon me......That is bollocks......In which case we would have been barred years ago.BCA/Manheim or whoever auction it may be are acting on behalf of their vendor.

The thing about grading is it differs around the country.We could bid on a Grade 5 online confidently from Paddock Wood because it would usually be the equivalent of a Grade 2 at Glasgow.It is the sort of thing you find out the hard way but it is valuable knowledge to have.

When we had a main road pitch,we had big Sold tickets.During the Klondyke years,punters who enquired about sold stuff,we used to offer to do them a favour and put them ‘in the book’ to get flrst chance of the next one. They loved that.Now with AT sometimes we might buy a dozen Astra estates but say we have 27.A few days later change the ad to only 13 left,it does hurry up the punters.

Ben You don’t need to bother with grades.Work out your selling price and work backwards,you are not buying online.

Look at it from a BCA point of view.They must get hundreds of complaints from the trade every day and from what I understand most of those which are settled are without bothering their vendor.It is far cheaper for them to give dealers the runaround as most just give up or settle for a lot less.I was told this by one of their top guys when we had them in court,it cost them a few grand but they were not going to debit their leasing company vendors account.....We do of course remind them of this every time we make a claim,but you still have to fight them.

£66,it’s not worth the bother.Good result for them.We would never have accepted that.You have to threaten them with court action,we often do it.Our guys just got £1000 back on a 15 Mini with knackered clutch.It takes a few weeks.

Hi Pete if that’s your Mazda on AT @ £4500 from Tiverton....unless I am mistaken,it says private seller.38 years in the job you say,that makes you a Trader forever !

MARKET REPORT The directors are happy to report a 0.003% increase in the second quarter. With the successfull appointment of our new Digital M.D. and the inspirational launch of our new Blue Sky Motoring App,we see a gamechanging opportunity for re imagining digitally generated footfall. Investment in GDPR compliance is up 12.7% However,with the potential Perfect Storm of Brexit,Bitcoin and product saturation we see caution in the market place with pressure mounting on brand affinity. YOU CANNOT BEAT BULLSHIT,IT IS EVERYWHERE.....

I have to say,don’t give up your day job and BMWs have been slow for the last 6 months.Firstly,I think we would all like to sell late low mileage £10-£20k stuff with a 2 grand margin and operate from home.In reality,the mentality of buyers for this stuff is that they mainly prefer to go to franchised dealers.If you did BMWs under 10k miles,you may have a better chance but you have to sell stuff that the punters want and not what you like.i.e If your Z4 had done 80k with fish and it was £9500 ,the phone would ring.Some people make a good living selling ex Met Police X5s and 5 series Tourers,because they are good and cheap for the punters and impress the neighbours who don’t know they are ex Police.........I hope it works for you,but if it doesn’t,take a hit and try something else......we all do that from time to time.

Your not kidding.ex taxi undamaged,it’s only worth £4K on a good day.

Hi Stu. Nice website...Are you presently a sales manager in the motor trade .

Ben You have Leeds,Brighouse,Manchester and Preston auctions not far away,you have to do your homework and get down to the sales.Online buying is only for the pros,you are 5 years away.

I see,your a franchised dealer guy,I thought you had been a Trader for 38 years.....OK before anyone else asks,what is the biggest bung you have ever had ?..........and Pete,welcome to the forum.

Hi Pete 38 years.....You must have plenty of stories. You know what the job is like,we had a pitch close to 11 others and sometimes the guy selling painted up crap was knocking them out when everyone else was dead.....Used to do your head in !

Don’t believe what you hear.There may be the odd headbanger,but the chances are they are also stealing stuff,clocking and cloning.....they get caught.

Ben Take note,you are getting valuable advice.A lot of us had to find stuff out with trial and error.

Punters have never changed,they never annoyed me as much as smarmy main dealer sales managers and occasional auction managers (who were usually on the bung),bullshitting traders who let you down with bad descriptions or bouncing cheques.

And when you add on the charges....

If you are doing 3 or 4 per week outsourcing work makes sense.( at the moment).However,if you have a reasonably priced repairer,look after them,they are hard to replace.If you can do some of the work yourself,the savings now are considerable.I used to outsource everything and when weekly repair bills reached 4 grand,my time was up.Our guys run a proper workshop now and without that they might struggle.The next step.....a paint booth because £150-£200 for a small local is too much.

What a ‘starpost’ from BHM......Mr Northard has walked straight in to that one.As head of ‘external affairs’ for Manheim ( great title ) ,I look forward to his reply.I see he is also a founder of IMDA,so I hope that means Manheim are funding them...Traders are fed up with these rediculous auction fees and charges,dealer groups are being squeezed,leasing companies are going to be hit with diesel and PCP residuals........something has got to give !

I think you will see main dealers in future running their own auctions of P/Xs and overage stock on their premises.When you see the high cost of buyers fees being factored in to final bids,if it was done properly,main dealers could be better off.

Brilliant.....Out of interest we did that in the 70s.One of the vinyl roof guys was a singer in a local band.He then joined another band as frontman ....AC/DC. I think he did OK.