trade vet

It's a 'cheapy pitch',no passing trade. Unfortunateley the days of retailing cheapies from a pitch have gone.

Hi Dean 12 miles away !,that could be a 3 hour round trip.When you start doing 2 or 3 per week,it is too far because you will have 3 or 4 in prep also.I would look round for a 'gopher' now,there will be someone,a friend of a friend who may be retired who needs to get out more etc.You could ask local taxi drivers which workshops they use.As for Dollies,never used them,I have never seen a good trader who uses one.

When I started,we gave the punters a choice - one month mechanical parts warranty or they could be covered for 20,000 miles and up to the nearest set of traffic lights whichever came first.....

I don't understand that ,unless you are just referring to your local Manheim ?

Hi Lemoj You have just received valuable advice. I would suggest sending Arfur a grand......an good accountant or solicitor would charge a lot more I am sure he will provide you with an invoice.

Most of us will not understand the bit about trains ! If you are doing the same stuff now as when you were selling a lot more,you have probably increased your margins.The brief experience I had down there ( South London) I learned that because the traffic is constantly gridlocked,punters would not travel more than 5 miles unless the price was dead right !

If you are doing heavy stuff,3 in the last fortnight is probably right.However,if it's bread and butter stuff ,I would say you are doing something wrong.!

Hi MSP If you have a pitch,you have low overheads at under a grand per week.I have often found that traders with low overheads throw away their advantage by working on 2 grand mark ups even at this time of year when you have to be competitive. They are usually the ones easily influenced by other traders who claim to be regularly doing big lump profit deals when infact they are usually lying.As long as I can remember,October half term week is usually dead,prices at the block then drop by a lot and trade picks up until the second week in December !

So it's potential classic stuff you are dealing.I think that has a lot of potential with electric cars coming on stream.There are a lot better off ' midlife crisis punters' out there who will want potential classics.I was talking to one guy who only deals in Reliant 3 wheelers as well as their parts,he told me he actually exports quite a few Reliants and I think he charges £7 to £8 grand for them! He has asked me to watch out for them ! I found this unbelievable,but it is true ' So good luck in your venture.

Hi Brightonpad We need more info.For a start up with little experience,If you are getting a 10 car pitch,that means stocking 14/15 ( inc workshops/paitshops/stock in transit etc ),you prepare them and present them to a high standard,offer finance,work 7 days,sell 'bread and butter stock',this should get you 12 deals per month.If you are doing 'lumpy stock',you can probably half that.However, with a pitch,they are all different,so it takes a while to find out what sells best and where to find it.At the end of the day,it is about making money of course,but you have to be prepared to lose money as well.When I started,I just regarded myself as a full time valeter and in between people would buy a car ! .........If you are temperamental or easily influenced and believe other traders who are 'pulling a grand or 2 grand out of this and that deal',don't bother starting ...............most of them are liars !

Can we have a description please.

Well played Arfur !

Great stuff !,but did you forget bookeeping and accountancy fees.I recall the first time I divided the annual cost of sales by the number of sales and the penny dropped !

If I thought I could retail the swapper,I would always tell the punter how GOOD it is and offer him £X (subject to a run )before explaining what prep we would do before offering it for Y. Of course after a run,I would try and chip the price ! I always got a 'buzz ' when I got a good swapper in at the right price.

OK NVP- you have a 10k sq ft compound ( that's probably a 40 car pitch) on a trading estate in Essex and you are self funded with no experience. The site has never traded Cars previously 1). You need a creditable and experienced car dealer as a partner or manager to teach you or you will be slaughtered. 2) Your annual wage bill alone for at least 3 staff will be north of £70k ( before you earn a penny) 3). Add in all the other stuff,like advertising,will probably get you up to £150k ( before you earn a penny) 4). In the first 6 months you will lose money because it will take you that long to establish what you can sell successfully. 5) Don't think there is any cash you can earn and not declare,those days are long gone,its mostly plastic cards now. You will have to work long hours,cope with set backs in your first years trading and be prepared to drive long distances to get the right stock.Also with a compound all your stock has to be clean and on sale every day by 10am. I am not trying to put you off,if you do things right and stick to the script ( especially what Earunder said) ,you can do it. Good luck

Come on NVP,if you do exist we need some more information please or you will just get negative comments.

Hi NVP Would you be able to confirm if this is a petrol station forcourt.Has it been used for car sales previously .Is it a main road location etc.Every pitch is different as to what sells better,I have had quite a few so I should be able to provide information which may help together with the other guys on here.

If you worry,you have no chance in this job.I was referring to things that may occur through no fault of your own.

Hi Justina What a good question,50 years in operating pitches and I am struggling to answer that !

Yes they can be very nice and off they go.Then a few weeks later they return carrying folders and you know you have a problem. Dont get me started on those guys !

£1500 definitely not.Politeley point out that you have taken advice, a refund would be based on HMRC mileage rates which are 45p per mile and that they have used it for 3 months and travelled 3000 miles.However, you are willing to ignore that and make a goodwill gesture so I would say offer £1200 or if they want to buy another car you will raise this to £1400.Give the punter 2 days to make up their mind up or you will withdraw your offer.This usually works for me .You can then sort out the Astra and probably get a bit more for it. You will get used to this sort of thing !

Hi Christian If you can provide all the information,we ' hard boiled traders' may be able to tell you how you can turn a defeat into a victory !

If you asked regular on line buyers if auctions misdescribe stuff,they will probably agree.However the misdescriptions are usually in the buyers favour ! Occasionally they can make mistakes and in this case it is only minor.So if you don't get any help this time,just forget it,you will make it up on other stuff.Also,I have to say,buying on line means sitting ,watching and pressing the button ,it does not mean leaving a commission bid,that's what lazy franchised dealers do ! Our guy researches all the stock at home the night before( that's 5 nights) has marked target bids for 50-70 at different auctions and often follows 3 sales on one screen at the same time ! In my oppinion on line buying is possibly the best thing that has happened for us in the last 10 years.......Anyone disagree !

I think we first need to know the circumstances !

Congratulations Mr C,the sky is the limit.If you employ one or two,you could probably qualify for some sort of manufacturing grant for bigger premises to start a production line.£40k these days apparently only gets you an older motor home/ camper van,I think you are going to do well !