trade vet

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.

I have not heard of many Pom punters travelling up to Aberdeen for cars.Best value up there is the Golf courses,must be subsidised by us Poms

I think that anyone south of the border who has reasonably priced descent stock will get punters coming down from Northern Jockland.Have you noticed when you ask them why they bother coming down,they allways say it is worth their while as they are saving a fortune . Would EK care to comment please on the replies he has had so far.

I dont know,but if you look at the Carmax annual report you will see that they average $2100 on retail units.They also have auctions for their swappers and even these average $900 per unit !

Polski Fiats ,we sold a good few of them.I seem to recall if they were 2 or 3 years old and provided you kept them below £600,they would sell.They did a pick up as well ,they may have been even better sellers!........ Past glories again

We are OK,we now know what you have to do to make a difference in order to get ahead.Our guys have just come back from a finance company seminar.Their independent bullshit training consultant has informed us that we should all get to know our customers more,family backgrounds etc and ‘wait for it’ be friends with them.Apparently,even the ones who give you a hard time.Wouldn’t that be lovely,attending their family get togethers on your day off and mediating in their feuds etc.You wonder how much these consultants get paid and who is responsible for employing them !

The Yugo story ,I will get that,thank you.Just finished The Delorean Story -Nick Sutton ,you have got to read that !

Most of them went back to Russia.I can recall traders in the north picking them up and taking them to Hartlepool docks I think and getting good money for them from Russian trawlermen !

Ladas !I have great memories of Ladas.Easy to buy,good margins,easy punters,no warranty claims.

Forget London,especially South London,been there,done that,got the tee shirt etc. Costs are sky high,punters were all sub prime and that was 15 years ago.Because the traffic hardly moves,it was hard to get punters to travel more than 5 miles.Stay where you are,change your business model,where do you buy your stock !

When you see how much Penske make in the US where they net about $90m per quarter and each used car sale averages $1500 profit ( new $2800),it has hard to see why they bother with the U.K.It must be some sort of tax dodge as it will be impossible for them to replicate their US business here.Buying Sytner,Car People and Car Shop might not have cost them much because of the tax savings.Who is next,I would imagine they have already looked at Trade Centre Wales which to me looks like a very good business.I would imagine there will be quite a few who would like to be swallowed by Penske.

Brilliant,never heard that before.Real characters and the things that used to go on .

No it wasn’t him.This guy was on the northern circuit ( it wasn’t Tony Northern !),I don’t think it would be right to name him.

There was a good BCA auctioneer and he used to enjoy selling ex damaged stuff, his intro would be something like........nice little Fiesta here,only 2 former keepers,and you have service history,warranted mileage,good Mot.........and YES (he would raise his voice ) .....ITS ON THE V CAR as if it was some sort of mark of quality.Then he would target some innocent private to bid and trot them up high and bosh it out to them ! Then in the cafe after the sale he would ‘talk us through’ how he did it !

I don’t know what all the fuss is about.This job has never been regulated as much.IMO proper punters generally use proper dealers.Those who buy stuff paying cash to some waste ground ‘paygo’mobile traders are doing it for a reason.Maybe not in the SE,but in most areas,these days there are a lot less rogue traders and a lot less car pitches.I can recall when most small towns would have at least 10 car pitches of which half were probably dodgy.I think a lot of the ‘dodgies’ have worked out that if you want to make money, don’t do car sales anymore.....Maybe growing cannabis and using the proceeds to buy bitcoin is far more lucrative.