trade vet

I don’t think BCA can close an account because you are suing them after settling ‘under protest ‘. The case we had which was entirely different,we just sued them in the normal way,if they had closed our account it would have cost them a lot of money. Now it seems every couple of months we have to threaten to sue them again to settle some problem with a misdescribed entry. I don’t understand why you guys are telling Rich to just roll over and pay up.....He has been stitched up !

Rich could ask BCA if they would accept his payment of £1500 ‘Under Protest’.I am unsure how they could refuse, but it would allow him to keep his account.He could then go ahead and sue BCA through the Small Claims Court.

I hope you are going to take them on,don’t let them get away with it,get in first before they withdraw your account.Sue them through the small claims court,that would involve the vendor and they would have to produce the entry form and they would also have to prove their online system is foolproof.

You did well Grant,Solicitors and barristers you have to be carefull with them,sometimes these guys will try and ‘ do you’ on a technicality to get money off or a refund months later.Saying that,I recall a barrister who wanted an SLK,so we got one for her and even showed what we paid for it.So she paid up and off she went.Days later she returned.....with a bottle of champagne for us,can’t remember what type but it was a good one...that was a first in many years trading.

Hi Earunder You are one of the few to disclose what you are being charged.I am unsure why more haven’t done so,maybe it is Trade mentality again,plenty of winging but not willing to do anything about it. I see that the Competition Authority are to investigate fuel prices on Motorways which can be 20p per litre more.Its a bit like that with AT,they cannot just charge what they want,they are are a public company. People need to complain to the CMA ,complaints are confidential.

I think traders are worse....Awhile ago,I mentioned that we had acquired some really good premises which was a car pitch many years ago.As all you seem to hear from traders now is,stock is hard to get and auction prices and fees are too high. Anyway,I had this bright idea that because of its prominent main road position, I would open it as a car buying site and trade stuff locally.So although,we don’t have the keys,we have been building a website,lining up staff,signage,bank facilities and so on. I thought we should contact the local trade,so we emailed about 50 local traders asking them to get in touch so we could ask them how this should work and be fair to everyone....How many got back to us .......2 ! It is the old story,traders do not want to give you profit,we were thinking £150-£200 per car.Traders mentality,they would rather be seen at the block paying a grand more per car. Anyway,it is a cracking site so I am just going to rent it out as plenty will want it and we will be better off....I should have known better !

Charging start ups that much could be considered an anti competitive practice.AT trade pricing is all over the place when you consider some pay £3000 for 50,some appear to pay more and some a lot less for the same.I hope they get fined millions.

That’s disgusting !......I think that may be up 50% in less than 3 years....They are abusing their dominant market position.

I would say ask your trade friends who use the big finance houses to put a word in for you with their reps. Then contact the reps yourself.When a rep comes to see you,it is then up to you to present your business in as good a light as possible.They will want to see well presented sensible stock and you could also show them the business you have previously done with brokers.They may also want to see your trading accounts,it may be a bit like Dragens Den these days,I am not sure. However,if you can get a good finance house on board and you start doing quality business (not sub prime stuff) ,it will not be long before the others will want your business.....Good Luck.

Sound advice for newbies..

Hi Mark Pardon me,I am unsure how you can account for purchasing vat qualifying stock at auction for your business by using a personal Credit Card..As for HMRC,we had a random investigation which was basically a fishing expedition where they just try and make up assesssments (discovery assessments) as they go along....You could be an ideal target for them !

My wife’s specialist subject is gathering reward points but by using personal CC’s.Like Earunder with our points we have saved thousands on First or Business class flights.However,if you are paying for stock with your business credit card and using the rewards personally,this could be dangerous.Now that a lot of traders could be doing this,what is to stop HMRC in the future from assessing these rewards as a personal benefit.For instance,a business class flight might normally cost £4000 but with reward points let’s say you pay only a grand.If you are 40% tax payer,could you not technically be taxed at £1200 +interest and penalties on the £3000 benefit !....

That is cheap.Sounds like they have ‘thrown in the towel’ having got it wrong.Why would they want to compete with the MX5 in UK which do not sell well.Its a slim target market,the kids won’t PCP them,the insurance is too high.....They will be good used cars in 5 years time at about £6999 ! ....a bit like the original 124,sold loads of them ( few will remember them)

They were saying 48 hours after the sale !

They must be bringing them to California from all over,I have never seen anyone driving a diesel car there in recent years.I would expect that their accountants will have some tax efficient plan to deal with them.

The problem we have is because we are many miles away,buy on line,then get them collected a couple of days later,by the time we see them,it can be 5 days after the sale.Currently our guys are in dispute about an AA assured 15 plater which requires major surgery.Opening fob off,a new one,it is out of time being more than 2 days after the sale...Game on !

I can assure you this policy has not changed.As for proxy bids,seeing what Grant has explained,that must be a big help.

Hi Earunder We took BCA to the small claims court over a warranted mileage fsh Leaseplan Peugeot which our customer proved had been clocked by 20k.He had it for several months,so we had to keep him happy.BCA did not want to know when we requested a partial refund.So we sued them for the partial refund but loaded our claim with all sorts of expenses or consequential damages.Seeing the damning evidence,the judge ticked off the BCA guy,our full claim was accepted and we got well paid........The BCA guy was a good bloke and he admitted afterwards that they get many claims on any given day.He implied that because of their potential cost and also the cost of their own time taken to deal with them,company policy fobbing off traders was more cost effective. So in a dispute,don’t be deterred from going to the small claims court with BCA .However,you must apply the correspondence rules giving notice correctly when making your claim prior to the hearing.

In the event of a dispute,I am sure BCA are able to prove who has bid online and when.The majority of bidding for better stuff is now online.You can also request the video recording.However,as they usually refuse to cooperate,that helps Rich’s case.If they have run up proxy bids above the reserve,the sale is void as they have broken their own rules.

OK...what I would do...email the on line team and ask them to provide details of both your bid and your cancelled bid.If they cannot,ask them to prove that they have not trotted bids beyond the reserve.As I understand BCA rules,this is prevented with proxy bids.They won’t do it of course,I imagine they did run it up.Then if they want to suspend your account,you can threaten to sue them for failing to supply the supporting data and loss of livelihood etc.....We tend to threaten BCA with court action several times per year now to get things done.Our guy just settled up one case and we are about to start another after a new line in their fob offs. With these people you have to fight them.

This is a good one ! I can think of a couple of times I have been standing in the ring,been distracted and have bid and bought the wrong car.I have had to pay up each time.However it appears you may have to prove somehow that you cancelled your bid,I have no idea how.Alternatively,does this Jag fit in with the usual stuff you buy or your general business model.If it sticks out that it is definateley not your stock,take them on.According to their rules you cannot be trotted up beyond the reserve price to your proxybid.The BCA live online team should have a record of who bid against you and a recording of the bids shown on line which I think would turn to green when the reserve has been reached.Ask for as much information as you can before they suspend your account......Good Luck.

That appears to be a stiff sentence when you see what others have recently received at Stoke Crown Court for far more serious offences.Must be the usual car dealer offence sentance premium,it’s a good deterrent.Meanwhile the guy who allegedly according to Vince Cable,was instrumental in destroying,stealing and then profiting from selling off peoples businesses at Nat West was never charged.He is now boss of Santander earning £1.8m !

We used to use cleaning products tested by Laboratois Garnier ,now we use Poundland.

Hi Lemoj Firstly,you cannot just claim the car back from your customer and refund them,they have good title to it,you may have to pay them consequential damages on top.I would demand that the previous owner gets you a copy of the balance and settlement figure from the finance company,the original finance agreement and the purchase invoice they were given by the supplying dealer showing their signature.If there are discrepancies in the paperwork,that could be good news.If there aren’t,you will just have to settle the balance yourself.In this situation,I have never known a seller settle the balance afterwards.Also bear in mind,that if the agreement is registered with HPI you may have difficulty recovering the balance from the seller if you persue them in the small claims court.Despite What some people might say on here,variations of this happens to all of us at some time.I hope your seller comes with the money,keep us informed...and good luck.

Hi Limoj Can you surface please and let the guys know what you intend to do now.