trade vet

So according to this survey,we have to rush out and buy Dacia's.I can honestly say I have never had a punter ask for a Dacia.I would be interested to know,if there is anyone on here who is 'knocking ' out Dacias or even retailed one last month.There is only 1500 in total on AT .The last one we took in must have been late 80's when most of the trade would not touch them.Am I missing something here !

Sounds promising,open pitches are all about presentation,colour and kerbside appeal.Stock must be washed and leathered every day by 10 am,looking mint and be attractively priced up at all times.I learned this long ago when our pitch was competing with 12 others in the same street ! There is no time to sit in the office,there is always something to do out on the pitch among the stock which needs improving.Do that and you should get at least 2 walk ins per week,so you may not need to put all of your stock on the dreaded Auto Trader.

I do agree,I could be watching Match of the Day on a Saturday night and my wife would come in to the room brandishing an invoice and stockbook wanting to know why we had lost £300 on some Mondeo we had in stock for 3 months.

Hi there Is this pitch in a good location,can you describe whether or not it is on a main road,visible to passers by ,how many car frontage etc.As for warranties,we have done our own for 20 years.Just lift the clauses from other warranty books and tailor them to your business.However,if I was doing it again,I would emphasise it as a 'power train ' warranty,although you cannot use the word warranty ( unless you are underwritten by Lloyds etc.).You could call it Power Train Mechanical Agreement,throw it in and it will pay dividends over time,you just pay £100 per car into a ring fenced account and the claims should not hurt ! As for advertising,that depends on the description of your pitch.

Hi Guys Take note of what Arfur says,one day,I actually stumbled onto his website and I have to say,it is brilliant and he is way ahead of the game.By the way,I do not know Arfur,I am from the other end of the country.

I had never heard of The Motor Ombudsman.However it appears to be a private company and funded as a subsidiary of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and probably used for damage limitation in relation to recalls.A bit like the Press Complaints Commission which is funded by the newspaper industry.I cannot see why independent garages would be a member.If you look at their published accounts there is a lot of bullshit non financial numbers mentioned.....I may be wrong,but that is how it appears to me !

While I wish IMDA the best of luck,I think you should have volunteered the information regarding the Motortrademe connection.If you were pitching on Dragens Den,you would have been shot down ! As for the statement 'not for profit ',what does that mean,someone will profit or why are the subs £250 from the outset.Lets say you achieve 300 members,you may need to hire a full time chairman plus expenses and probably a part time secretary.There is nothing wrong with that,however it did cross my mind,if IMDA does prove to be successfull,the chairmans job may be better than actually running a pitch ! A good benchmark could be the 1500 member Texas Independent Autodealers Association ( $450 subs ), however it has taken them from 1946 to get to where they are now ! .....So good luck guys.

Could you not share this pitch,that would make it very cheap and you could invest less in stock.I was thinking of someone who might sell vans for instance.Another thing you could do,is check out the demographics for the catchment area.Councils hold all sorts of information like average incomes,employment,home ownership,crime,traffic flow and plenty of other stuff that might help.It could be available on line.Where is this pitch or what is and how far is the nearest big town,someone on here may know a bit more about the area.

I had never heard of Autoviola or Motortrademe until now.I have just searched Motortrademe and it appears to have been dissolved in March..However,the same names who operate IMDA are mentioned on Motortrademe website.Have I been mistaken,otherwise why would traders want to invest in IMDA having previously invested in Motortrademe which has failed.Also,again I may be mistaken,but one of the founders of IMDA appears to also run his own Dealer Association ! .Do dealer associations attract government funding,what is going on ?

Hi Stu If your brief is to get negative feedback on EV's,you have come to the right place.

You must have looked at 30 cars in 2 weeks ! Has it not crossed your mind that people may not want to sell you a car.In our business you get some people who come on certain days at around the same time.We don't bother with them or try and discourage them as all they want to do is try out your stock and waste your time.Your last statement makes me think you could be one of those guys.

Main road pitch with a showroom for a grand per month ! Providing it is located in a good catchment area,I would say go for it.A 2000 sq ft unit on a trading estate wouldn't cost much less than that.

I do understand,but I was asking because had it e.g. been a £4K car and the useage was 3000 miles, it could have been cost effective to have offered a full refund early on (less the charge for useage ).

Very interesting,I think you must have presented your case very well.It just goes to show how people can try to profit from the CRA by not only claiming a full refund but by making inflated claims for consequential damages.However,the worrying aspect here is if the case took an hour,the judge must have had some doubts. Out of interest,how much was the car and how many miles had it done in the 3 months before it ' failed '.

It's 1974 again !.... Our guys sell 90% ex fleet diesels and diesels are hard work at the moment.However,I never seen the stock so cheap since the 74 fuel crisis when 2Ltr and over stuff was shunned by the trade and finance companies...e.g. just got delivered a 3 year old Volvo( list price £30k) which was hammer down £6k.In 74,I recall we just filled our boots with big daft cars and we made a killing before prices rose ....I know,past glories again !

More please !

Like MSP,I would be interested to hear what these cases were about and how you defended them. ( if you have the time of course )

Hi MSP I have highlighted several cases on here and had little response,so I hope you are more successfull.I have been involved in 5 cases,won 3 lost 2.The ones I won involved suing BCA and the other defending a fake Trading Standards prosecution which I posted recently.In the other the defendant failed to turn up.Those that I lost both involved customers' taking the P' and lying which I could prove but it made no difference.I would say that traders should make every effort to avoid going to court to defend a case brought by a customer,because basically judges do not like car dealers and unless the rules have changed,you cannot appeal.

Welcome back and I look forward to your future contributions to the stuff on here.

While I do agree,there must be a lot of established pitch operators out there who because of their liabilities stocking/ bank loans/overdrafts and undisposable long lease hold premises,they are unable to downsize or even escape from this business.I am sure a lot of these people would settle for a lot less than the average wage if they were able to change their circumstances. I can think of several who 'talk the talk',love the trade etc but they are in their 70's and still working hard.Unfortunateley,Companies House tells the true story about their business and then you understand.

£70k rent,bloody hell ! I think I may be right.If you gave me a roadside pitch for 25/30,without any advertising,I could generate 3 or 4 every week having established what the punters actually want.Display and kerbside appeal is the key and there are still plenty of punters around who buy on impulse......I think you should move James.

Book on ex fleet diesels is dropping like a stone.Its great news,we are buying and paying over book.When the punters come back out and compare equivalent petrol prices,they will be back to diesels.This may not apply in the South East,the average punter elsewhere may not be as PC and in my experience punters just want a better,newer car to park at the door to impress and if it does good mpg that is even better.In the meantime ,if you think your diesel stock stands too high,you just have to reduce it and take a hit and restock.Any comments please !

Excuse me James,if you have a busy roadside pitch with stock displayed outside as well as a showroom and have only done 5 to passing trade in 3 months,some people may say that is a management problem.Anyone else agree !

When I started my first pitch,the job was easy and very lucrative.Now,most people with pitches carry a lot of debt and their profits are next to nothing.So unless I had some niche market idea,I would not start up again.

£30k ? That's no good