trade vet

UK Car Group are We Buy Any Car and owned by BCA.They bring top money because they are generally good and have an ‘Assured ‘ description.I have bought plenty of them and when the odd one had been misdescribed in some way, BCA have been good about it.Maybe because they own and enter all UK Car Group vehicles.

Being on a stocking loan is the least of your worries.Unless things have changed,I doubt Pendragon would be ‘blocking’ a Grade 2 Low miles 14 Jag without it having something untoward they couldn’t fix.If it had been entered by Bristol Street that could be a different matter.Where we are they block a lot of very good ready to retail stuff presumably because of cash flow.

AD was ahead of the game and he encouraged others.There will be quite a few who have prospered by following his advice.He was good for this forum.

Those who got caught up in the PPI mis selling scandal will know what I mean.I still get letters from Claims Companies for deals in 2005 when we stopped offering PPI in 2001 ?

Claims for mis selling during lockdown.That could be next,what a headache that could turn out to be if your paperwork is not precise.No defence if you have broken the law,void deal,full refund plus any consequential damages.

There might be method in their madness.Bumped into a top Ford sales guy last year who has stayed with the same dealership for many years.because he has a massive repeat customer base.He said that when Arnold Clarke took over they have a deal where ‘ sales executives ‘ as they are now called could lease a new Merc for a low rate which was proving very popular and reduced staff turnover.It appears that the mentality of your average millennial ‘sales executive’ ( with pointy toed shoes no doubt ) would prefer to go home in a new Merc than earn a big lump of commission.

I forgot about auctions,everyone would be back to driving up and down motorways again to buy stock.

Is a distance sale as stated classed as an online sale.If Rishi Sunak decides to introduce an online sales tax which he is under pressure to do,dragging in used car sales might be a good earner for The Treasury ? 20% VAT is bad enough but +5% online sale tax,...punters would love that.

I think we should be grateful to Law Jaw for providing us with clear and definitive information rubber stamped by the Office of Product Safety and Standards with regard to Click and Collect.This is a big help for those running pitches.Yesterday I was at my old pitch where people are constantly turning up unannounced wanting to view stock and the time taken explaining the rules to them is very frustrating.Some clear signage referring to The Office of Product Safety and the £100 deposit rule should deter the time wasters and also any random Trading Standards Officers.

I can think back to one or two testing stations that if a trader shopped them to VOSA you might end up in a wheel chair ! I and probably a few others on here would be interested to know how the court case against the punter proceeded.Good result.

Just watched it,incredible but that was the 60’s when nobody retailed high mileage stuff ! and there were MOT stations where you didn’t need to take the car.Memories as a 15 year old are flooding back,it really was unbelievable.

Good listening for those thinking about setting up a pitch.

Appologies for harking back etc.Long,long ago as gofer/ salesboy/cleaner I can recall we had a Cover Note book.We would insist to punters on handover to take a free 30 day cover note and it was then up to them to decide if they wanted to pay for annual cover when the broker got in touch.Most of them did because the insurance was very cheap and the broker would then come to the pitch and give us commission in cash.Not knowing any better,we all thought this was very good.However the insurance company Fire Auto and Marine turned out to be a complete fraud run by Emile Savundra who was a professional swindler who had previous convictions in several countries.When it collapsed about 500,000 policy holders were effected.

£30 on Amazon ? The BBC documentary features his colleagues and an interview with De Lorean and includes great old footage from Jim Clark days.It will be quite accurate I think,most of the contributors liked him even though he was ‘double dodgy’ , they just regarded him as a flawed genius.

Link ? Posting on here and sending emails on my iPad is about the extent of my digital knowledge,I will try and get my daughter to do it.The BBC documentary is called The Secret Life of Colin Chapman and there might be one or two more mini docs about him on YouTube.

Watched a good BBC documentary about him on YouTube channel last night.What a character,his finance guy got 4 years and the judge said if Chapman had still been alive,he would have got 10 years.I had forgot that the Europa Breadvans were Renault powered ( usually with limited power ) crap cars but good earners.Elan’s were good,but expensive and way over book to buy and I might have only had a couple of them.The Breadvans were far more lucrative.

It was reported that when Hertz declared bankruptcy in the summer caused by the pandemic,they had 700,000 cars lying idle and on lease.I was told just yesterday that there are not many cars availible at airports if you want to hire one.I would imagine that until they sort the leases out,they cannot sell them ?

I don’t think you can blame Mrs T.It was a Labour government who believed that De Lorean had 30000 orders for his car before the factory was even built.As for Colin Chapman he appears to have died in mysterious circumstances after millions of the De Lorean Motor Co’s money paid to Lotus was traced by the FBI.Chapman and De Lorean both brilliant engineers but it appears like a partnership made in hell. BTW just been watching Brightwells on line classic auction and although I know little,future classics like SL ‘s appear to be very good value but the bidding has not finished.

Was Chapman not dead dodgy.Did him and De Lorean not siphon off millions of government money to Switzerland instead of using it to build Deloreans in Belfast.As I recall even Lotus Cortinas were shite back then.My idea of a good car is based on profit.I remember being given advice as a 15 year old when working on a pitch ‘ we are only here to sell them son,not effing fall in love with them ‘, advice I have followed to this day.

I used to also love Lotus Europa’s (also known as breadvans ).When we started a pitch in 73 we sold a lot of them.They usually had cracked cylinder heads so they were cheap.The thing was we never fixed them and sold them ‘as is ‘ declaring engine problems.The type of punters who bought them didn’t mind because they never drove them but just wanted to own one and talk about them.When we worked that out,we did exceptionally well with them.....one of the best shite cars I can remember.

Thank you Rory,you are right it is a lot easier being a landlord,no stock,no staff etc.However would you believe ,I do miss the day to day aggravation and problem solving.I do still hear about it,like the price of paintwork,parts and the constant negotiating with auctions claiming for mis descriptions to mention but a few.

The next thing will be that these master techs will be employing agents like footballers.In my experience it’s usually been the case that your typical RR Sport driving with cherished number,perma tanned,Rolex wearing big talking flash dealers you see at the block are often ‘living a lie’ .How often do their annual accounts show they have not got a ‘pot to piss in’ and they are drowning in debt.I have lost count of the number of guys I have seen over over many years who have come and gone.....Nothing changes.

Tom,you have ‘ hit the nail on the head ‘ regarding dealers accounts.The theory of operating your own workshop is good but in reality finding a proficient all rounder tech is not easy ( especially if you are doing Kraut stuff ) and if you get one it could cost you £50k or more to employ.Then getting all the right diagnostic stuff and the expense etc.Worth trying though because ‘ cost of sales ‘ is not going to come down.I would imagine your current cost of sales could be £1500 per car.

? For those who don’t know,most established businesses trading accounts are availible for all to see in the public domain.You don’t ask to see people’s records.BTW Rory your boss looks a switched on guy,I have to say you kept him quiet !

Hi Tom If it is going well and you are getting ahead and you are happy,then don’t change it.The grass may not be greener by moving premises,having more stock etc.I think you should stick to what you are doing for a few years and don’t make the mistake of being influenced by other dealers unless you have seen their latest set of accounts. Your photies look punter friendly to me.You could always display your CV ( with a little embellishment ) as it is probably interesting and punters will like that .Good luck.