trade vet

Hand car wash probe.....I am thinking,tax fraud,money laundering,drug dealing,illegal immigrants,modern slavery etc...but no it’s their effect on the environment....You can imagine these gang masters will be quaking with fear when a council wally turns up on a pushbike with a clipboard and makes polite PC enquiries about their detergent......’ only use Poundland soft on hands mild and GREEN Fairy liquid ‘council man ticks box and thanks gang master and goes away...

I am sure that is right.Someone was telling me they know 5 qualified but non practising lawyers.Appparently there are now too many law firms and thousands of kids at college still doing law....But when you hear parents say ‘our Thomas is doing very well doing Law at Brixton or Bradford Uni and ask what is he going to do after that...they have no idea what you mean.

I know one or two ‘ corporates’ who constantly travel all over the place at the drop of a hat etc.They are well paid,but their lifestyle is poor and they always look knackered.At the end of the day,they are only employees and as Dean says,a change of policy or new guy coming in and they are gone....Good Luck to them.

Separating work etc.....to be any good at this job,you won’t be able to do that.Wait until you are waking up every night at 5am worrying about engine jobs,screamers,HMRC or some pressure from the bank etc

We go to Cafe Nero on a Sunday,it is expensive but my wife has a Amex card or something so we get a big discount.I always laugh when Londoners ( commuters )come up north and try and tell you how well,off they are. £5000 rent paid for by the company.That is a benefit,I hope he pays tax on it !

That’s great,my wife is a premier league M and S yellow label shopper in the food dept.A few years ago M and S had a promotion,spend £80 on clothes and they gave you a £15 voucher for food.We had free food for weeks,she just returned the clothing and reused the £80 credit for more clothing etc and more free food.T K Max final reductions is another story.

I am not sure it is the weather.When you see what is happening elsewhere at Homebase,Mothercare,Carpetright,even M and S and Poundstretcher are closing stores.Then you have recent success stories like Jamie’s Italian in trouble and this week the talk will be about a Sainsbury Asda merger......There must be a lot of people maxed out again.I hope I am wrong but don’t expect May being any better,2 bank holidays and a Royal Wedding could distract the punters.

If you are talking about the company Fehrbrothers trading as The Car Buying Shop....doing well.Nice website but I am unsure about the company,maybe I am mistaken.

100,000 MILE WARRANTY or the nearest set of traffic lights,whichever comes first...........

Nice one.....I doubt they have few comebacks,I would not be surprised if they have several hundred per day.Also,they have net debt of £260m to service .....however they are doing really well.

Tradex is right,without a doubt.You need to be LTD and VAT regd.I have known people who have made one off honest mistakes with bookkeeping and HMRC have slaughtered them because they do not have the protection of a LTD company.In one case they had to remortgage their house.

Ideal pitch.......25 car open site,....located on a long established street of car dealers ( some amazing characters )......stock supplied direct from main dealers closebye who would almost beg you to buy them.( £5 bung per car) ......Prep..DIY on the street ( cars were simple to repair ) or you could outsource big jobs,MOTs and paintwork next door ( night shift paintshop /shed,).....typical mark ups were 70%,......selling 10 per week was normal,....typical warranty - one month mech parts only ( come backs were few ),.....VAT 7.5%,.....advertising spend - zero,.....pitch rent £60,rates £10,......loads of HP commission-few deals rejected ( people rarely defaulted)......,perks -( no plastic cards) you always got the punters to pay you cash for their road tax and you would get suppliers to leave unexpired tax discs on which you would cash in and pocket.....I have forgot a lot more.....Sorry guys,I am not dreaming,that was our first pitch......we later sold it on for a lot of money,past glories but since then we have had one or two set backs and also had bad pitches aswell.

Give me a call 07836 799822

If these were your vehicles,may be able to help.

‘Financially chastened times’,yes but most of it is self inflicted.....tee shirt for £60...just put it on the card etc.I am sure we all know people who earn plenty,but they have so much debt and they think that is normal.Just wait until interest rates rise.

Chucky...Another name for HP......Chuck your money away.....It is common usage up north.The number of punters who have said to me ‘I will have it,mind I will need some chucky’....HP was frowned upon,I can remember when you would never get cival servents or even coal miners wanting chucky.

Hi Justin ‘Chunky commission’,I like that,it finished long ago on everything.I was meaning there is no ‘chucky commission at all’ ( that is what we call HP up north ) on cheaper stuff. I agree you are better off if you have an in house workshop rather than out sourcing work.However you must have cases where you would have been better off using staff time for doing outside work. I would like a paintshop because stuff can be away 3 weeks at a time,but in reality reliable painters are hard to get,most of them appear to be nuts or have some addiction problem.No wonder not many kids want to be painters anymore,it is an awfull job.

It was recently spelt out to me why selling older cheaper stuff is no longer viable and just creates ‘negative output’.While selling is not a problem,for a start there are no descent swappers or chucky commission.If you correctly account for the average prep time plus cost of parts and average cost of comebacks,the VAT bill can exceed your net profit......

Would have been sold on line.Down in Tradex country it could be £5999 !

I don’t know how it works.However I know of a trader who supplied supermarkets who had bought a large batch of nearly new stuff from Ford Uk which I think had come via Ford Belgium.A few years later,he is in court with HMRC trying to avoid going bust because duty had not been paid.He only won because he proved you could not HPI check whether duty was paid on imported vehicles.It may of changed since then.

So the import duty ( plus interest and penalty probably ) liability will rest with you the first motor dealer in the chain !

I think you will sell it,if not it is a good one to keep and put away.It is better than putting £10k in a deposit account.Also,£840 for brakes,did you go to Kwik Fit ?

I will start again....you paid £3800 for it,then you complained that it was sitting around at £5450 and you asked us for advice. You took the advice,reduced it and now it is gone....Go and buy another one.

I would say that first you need proof that the import duty has been paid......

I have to say,if I was an underwriter,I would be sceptical of a young trader with only 3 years experience dealing in ‘footballer type stock’.I would want to see 2 good sets of audited accounts to establish credibility.....If you cannot get a main line insurer with proper cover,maybe you should change your business model......What’s the latest on BCA