trade vet

He could be in North Korea advising Kim Jon-Un on how to deal with Mr Trump........Let’s hope he is OK,just watching the pitch,keeping shop etc....

A friend of a dealer friend of mine was retiring and he owned a long established pitch in East Dulwich where he sold and rented out motor homes.The rent was cheap,so I jumped on the train to London to view this pitch.Main road site,10 car frontage,half an acre in the rear,sub contract workshop on site.£500 per week inc rates,no competition within a mile or two,it was for nowt.It may have been good for motorhomes,but it was no good for selling cars.We found that punters would not travel from more than 5 miles away,because the traffic hardly moved.The paintshop was a few miles away and it took 2 hours to swap a car.We lasted 2 years and blew good money.

We all make big mistakes and cock ups but you rarely hear traders admitting to them,it is all past glories.It will be interesting to see how many admit to them on here.

A long time ago against a lot of competition,we acquired the lease on a very good pitch.It was expensive and the car dealer landlord made us pay one years rent in advance.However we did very well there.Come the first rent review,the rent was being doubled so we sold the lease and bought what seemed to be a good out of town showroom.It was a bad move and we had to board it up and move out.....

That must hurt Justin.....

I am pleased it was worthwhile,I thought about going but out of respect to the Car Dealer mag guys I decided not to.I would have probably been guilty of heckling some of these digital bullshitters,got into an argument with Autotrader,Cap and co and been banned from here.

I hope BCA waved the storage charges ! We stopped using Enfield years ago because our transport company refused to go back because of some hassle they had.We get one or two from Perry Barr but I think lifting from there is now ‘time specific’,it does not get any easier.I have to say,if you find a reliable transport company,stick with them even if they charge a bit more.

All the banks appear to be hard work now,so I opened a personal current account at Virgin Money.Just the same,one day I go in and request them to transfer current account money into a new deposit account.I was told no,you must make an appointment and bring proofs of address,photo ID and utility bills.I refused and told them I did not like being treated like a money launderer,they have known me for several years and the money being used they already had...I was asked to wait for a while before they said they would do it......Then I was told,this is the account we recommend,it is called....wait for it....the Manchester United account and earns zero/nowt per cent etc.( well that’s normal) I said no thank you and I needed to know who came up Manchester Utd so I could complain.I wait awhile more until they offer to set up a non Manchester Utd account.I subsequently complained to customer services but they never replied.....you cannot make it up !

Nice one....I don’t think I have seen one since the 70s...!

When I think about it apart from Saab’s ( but not convertibles) over 8 year old so called performance novelty stuff with several owners.What historically springs to mind,Lotus Cortinas ( crap cars,awfull punters),through Escort RS,Volvo T5,Impreza,Peugeot 406 coupes,and best of all Sierra Cosworth ( drug dealers had to have them to maintain their credibility), can’t think of any current ones but there are plenty of twat punters for most stuff these days.

Sounds like a good one for the small claims court.I may be wrong but you could possibly embellish that with consequential damages,loss of profits,hurt feelings,breach of contract and other stuff,get it up to £3000..Our guys mainly buy online from BCA,they operate the same,threaten them with court action.

It will be interesting to see how diesel prices go at the block......I think over 8 year old stuff will struggle to get bids,however if up to 5 year old stuff takes a dive,it could be a good opportunity.

Can we hear about some good punters for a change.The ones who are pleased to see you and rely on us and those who thank you for selling them or fixing their car.

If you are a Ltd company and HMRC pick up on this and class it as drawings,you are in deep shit.

So you get a good salesman to do 3 or 4 per week.That will cost you at least £30k.He probably won’t wash and valet your stock every day ( which you probably do ) so you need a part time valeter/car washer,cost about £12k.Unless you do a lot of finance business,a £100k stocking loan won’t be cheap.Throw in all the other overheads including comeback costs and you will need to gross at least £150k profit to net £10k if you are lucky......If you can as you say, sell 3 or 4 per week on your own,just stick to doing that.

If you worked for the council or better still the BBC and you commented on your observation you could probably find yourself in trouble.Someone would probably get promoted for reporting you.

Sounds like you prefer the campervans.Are you not better off borrowing money from the bank to expand your campervan business.Surely there is a lot more profit in them and you can always rent them out for big money.There is very little profit left in car sales these days.

That has ‘ schoolgate credibility’,I am sorry to say.It would sell,probably on chucky,a must have for the Kardashian like generation.

Hi Simon Do you have a pitch How many do you stock What do you specialise in How many do you average per month on your own It may be that you are doing OK and taking on debt might not be a good idea.

If you don’t mind me saying,when you call your business Elite Preowned Vehicles,you can’t exactly be seen running around in some Skoda or Corsa swapper the way we would because it was half full.

£2550.?..........That must come under the theft act..

WBAC is a huge success for them.BCA last results stated they had sold 300,000 WBAC and made a lot of money.They report again in June and they are already saying profits are ahead of expectations.They are also replicating WBAC on the continent,it will be interesting to see their results this time.

That’s an unusual fantasy Arfur !

And prime slots. However,it is possible that the auctions could be paying the big vendors fees to get the business.

I have had several pitches and what I have learnt is that everyone was different.You can not replicate what sells well for you by moving elsewhere.You have to try different stuff and find out.Like BHM,I think seven seaters are good news and attract good punters who often travel to buy them.But you need good road links,if you operate in the south east you may struggle.You have to find your niche,I know one guy who just does Insignias because they are cheap as chips.One of the most successfull traders I know sells ex Police dog vans in a big way,we tried it and it didn’t work for us......At the end of the day,it is not the stuff you like,it is what the punters want that counts......Successfull car dealers are not car enthusiasts !