trade vet

Reminds me of the time my brother in law unexpectantly turned up in his recent purchase having previously bought from us ( which was usually less than cost etc).He explained how it was very cheap and explained how he had spotted it on line and checked it out.He then flew down country,met the seller who ran a small repair garage who had owned and serviced it for 2 or 3 years etc.He paid by debit card,got a bill of sale from the seller and drove home very happy.Several weeks later of course he is on the motorway loaded up and with the family and they were suddenly hemmed in by several Police cars.It turned out the garage guy did not own the car,it had been in for repair and the real owner had left the docs in the glove box !

I think it is now harder to ‘do a few’ and not declare them compared with bygone days when your local paper had full pages of ‘private ads’.What I don’t like are those ( often of foreign descent)who set up as a car sales business which is owned by some off the shelf Ltd company,then operate for 18 months,pay little or no PAYE or VAT then dissolve the company.The business then carries on using the same name but is then owned by a new Ltd company etc and supposedly a different person.HMRC apparently do not have the resources to stamp out this sort of thing,so they just make excuses to chase soft targets using creative assessments.....

So you are a new starter as a motor trader.....welcome to the jungle ! Just keep asking about stuff on here and you will get plenty of good advice.

The threshold was £55k then ! The basic rules have not changed. You will get a lot of ( free)help from the pros on here,but I think we need to know what you did previously ‘in the trade’.You had given me the impression that you had previously been a retailer but you appear like a new starter to me- but that is OK.

Excuse me Grant,but did you not say that you had been in the trade before ?

That looks good,if it includes business rates,they must be about £100 per week for 3400sq ft

Merry Chrimbo everyone,good luck for later this week,I think you will do a few !

A lot of them when they were starting out have signed what I think are known as 360 degree contracts,this is a severe form of PPI,which you cannot get out of.The record company lock them in and take 90% of their earnings and keep giving them advances to carry on.I think these last for about 25 years and then the bands get to own their music again.The ‘merch stands’ at the venues used to be a good earner,but even that has now been squeezed because a lot of the venues now charge £300 per time for a merch stand.........I have to admit in the car I have several Eddie Stobart classic rock CDs,I like Tom Petty,Green Day and loads more inc metal bands.I also listen to a lot of the bands my daughter has worked with.......I would of thought that some of the contributors on here would have been into ‘yacht rock’,Phil Collins,Rod Stewart etc.

I know a little about the music business as my daughter has worked promoting mostly American bands.You think our business is hard.Most of these bands who have been around for years,are constantly working and on the road somewhere,here,Europe,Aussie,Japan or US.playing in big venues etc.The thing is,most of them have got one thing in common,they are skint and have debts to record companies going back years,where they got contractually stitched up and don’t own their own music anymore.......Like the motor trade,nothing is what it seems.

I’m impressed,you cannot beat classic rock ! Brian Johnson AC/DC, also famous for putting vinyl roofs on Ford Cortinas !

Sounds like a good excuse for them to claw back commission.I recall when our rates and terms contract stated that if a hirer failed to make three payments,our commission would be clawed back.Sounded fair enough to me,except what it meant was when a customers direct debit may have been a day late ( through no fault of their own ) say once per year during a 3 year agreement,your commission would clawed back !

If you sell good stuff,you will attract prime finance punters and earn better commission.These punters often have swappers you can retail and often become regular customers in the future.Near prime is OK,but forget subprime,awful punters,dodgy swappers,no commission and they rarely buy another car.We just tell them,if you want sub prime finance,get your own.

It’s great to hear some good news on here for a change.I think 28th -30th will be very busy this time because most of the punters will have been off from 22nd and they usually get board.I feel sure that in previous years when there has been 3 back end of the week days in the run up to new year,it has been very good.Mind you,as far as I can remember,between Xmas and New Year,we always do a few.

We still buy from Birmingham,we just don’t go there.Mind ,I would not like to buy over 8 year old stuff from down there.If I was buying older stock,like small clean stuff,I would be using West Oxford ! Anyone go there.

Maybe Not a good idea Arfur ! get someone else to do it. The council guys who probably have to promote diversity might find your complaint racially motivated.HMRC won’t bother unless there are visible assets and funds to go for.They could decide to run a check on you in stead and open a ‘random enquiry ‘, you don’t want one of them.

I have to disagree.If you want to be successfull buying from auctions but you don’t have the confidence to buy on line,you have to ‘get on your bike’.If you work at it,you will find auctions that regularly have the stuff you want.You may have to travel long distances but it pays dividends.I can think of one guy from Brighton who would buy Motability small autos in the North East.Then there was a North East guy who would only buy manual Motability stuff but needing paintwork from B/bushe etc.When you get it right,you can then just buy your stuff on line,it’s the best thing that has happened for us.

It’s the big time operators that pay way over for stock,they know what they are doing.They need to buy huge volumes and it doesn’t matter if they pay too much.Their finance and gap commission and volume bonus rates and other add ons are huge earners for them compared with most dealers.They also usually nick the swappers and trade them for profit.It all comes out in the wash for them.

If you only need to buy 2 or 3 per week ,you can always buy good stuff privately.If you ring up private sellers,tell them you are a dealer and are polite to them ,it works.Just give them a ball park figure,wish them luck with their sale etc and tell them to give you a call if they get stuck.In my experience,it may take 3 weeks,but 10% of them will probably get back.

gmf ?

We never attended auctions in central Brum.We did do Walsall and Darlaston nearby,however we used to leave phone bids at an independent in Brum and buy a few.So one evening,I thought I should show up at the sale and introduce myself.This was pre 9/11 but having attended auctions all over this island,this was by far the most multi cultural.Flowing long white robes I had seen before,but when some of the clientele are also wearing belts with full length swords attached,it was a bit off putting.We found Birmingham Car Auctions good to deal with but I never went back.Does anyone know if they are still on the same site and what it is like now.

No fuel for the fire,no meat in the stew etc .....Sounds like the Monty Python 4 Yorkshiremen sketch....take a look ! .................... .....No offence S and B

Hi Andy I imagine that to unwind this will probably take some time.You will have to find out if DVLA have an appeals procedure should they want to fine you.If it does turn out that it was a subcontractor and they were in the wrong,I would invoice them for your time and trouble with a view to taking it further.However,do not take this as good advice,it is just my ‘Victor Mildrew ‘attitude to injustices in the course of our trade.

DVLA have a sub contractor NSL who have teams who target specific areas in the U.K. They drive around looking for untaxed vehicles.NSL are being paid commission for each untaxed vehicle they find and they are apparently earning millions from this contract.I would imagine their drivers have to achieve daily targets so they could have come across your stock and added them to their list ! You must fight this and if necessary make a claim if it is NSL,I doubt you can claim from DVLA.

Carnoustie !......you must be a good player.

Hi Sparky Having just looked,I don’t know about that,it’s £295 for one night Dinner Bed and B/fast in 5 star hotel ( I doubt they will be serving fried mars bars and square sausages ) plus 2 rounds of golf ! I think that is good value.A 10k purchase at BCA on line with inspection report is about the same .I have to say the last time we were up there,the courses we play were under £20 per round.