trade vet

Go for it Arfur.....with your marketing skills etc...!!!

It's the same with BCA,the pro's have not used guides for years.If you relied on CAP you would not buy much as most of the stuff you want brings way over .I broke my record several months ago,£4K over book for a Jeep Wrangler......you know what,it was a cheap car !

Delorean was definateley a good salesman.He persuaded the then Labour Gov't to invest £100m in 1973 in his Renault/ Lotus designed knacker sports car You could not make it up !

History repeating itself,let's say Brexit happens,Labour gets in,he will probably be able to tap the government for several hundred million to build them here.Shades of De Lorean ( check them out )except I imagine Sir James Dyson will probably be able to deliver on his promises !

Correction of course,I should have said 100% since Monday !

Arfur,I am enjoying this Galaxy story.I see the value is up another 150% today.Jeremy Corbin might bring this up in his speech today.....'a good example of the Unacceptable face of capitalism etc' .We need daily updates on this,my guess it will sell of course,but will it all end in tears ! I think it has got to be £1500,you cannot get a good kiddies buggy ( 4x4 Ghia) for less than that !

Can you imagine what a good auto electrical diagnostic guy will be earning in the future ! Unfortunateley,a lot of today's parents would prefer to load their kids with debt by sending them to 'Uni' to do things like Ghost Busters studies ( Coventry) or Robin Hood studies (Notts) or I think Harry Potter (Durham) and come out owing £20k !.....rant over

Hi Tradex Excuse me.......Can I just point out that if Pendragon were doing 6 to 8% net,their share price would be £29 rather than 29p ! I think you will find their 2016 results showed net profits before tax of 1.22% which was considered a good result ! 1% net is now considered OK for those of us running companies . Now window cleaning ......da.....da ....da

Are you going to tell us how you shifted the buggies.I doubt you sold them to Golf Clubs ( my guess they may have rented some )

VAT,I recall reading a Bernie Ecclestone biography,he was a trader/ retailer . When VAT it was introduced in 73,he got out,I think he said It would kill the profitability of his business.......I wonder how he got on afterwards ?

Hi Linctrader Years ago,I used to get all the regional AT mags to pick up ideas and I can think back to a few niche operators.There was a pitch somewhere that only did C Class size Mercs ( 190's) but added big alloys,spoilers and tinted the windows.I think it traded as ' Rude Mercs '.There was a pitch that just sold very low mileage Polo's under £5k and there was some pitch that just sold Cavaliers called Cavalier City.A few years ago,I noticed a pitch somewhere that only did KA's except they repainted them pink..! This was a while ago and things have changed,but there will be other niche retailers still around. Whatever your idea is just have a go and good luck !

Some 'foreign' car washes may be run as a proper business but you just wonder whether some of them could be connected to money laundering. Our experience - We rent out some premises and there is a Romanian car wash next door.Wash'n Vac £6,they are always busy 7 days a week,about 10 valeters working at any time.There has been several reports of trouble among themselves and they routinely encroach on out tenants parking bays.However,receipts,PAYE,minimum wage,VAT and the rest,I don't think so.Are the authorities interested,no.Also,they have fitted a VERY expensive CCTV system,why !.I know their landlord and he says they always pay their rent on time but would not like to have to give them notice.To quote him " these guys don't care,where they come from,they are used to dodging bullits "....However,they appear to be good valeters ! £150 for a full valet on a van !.....I need smelling salts !

Hi Linctrader.-Good valeters are important and hard to get.They are around,but you have to be patient and you will find one.I was just at the pitch and our guys have just found an additional one.( after a lot of bullshit applicants).I knew he was OK from 25 yards,the way he moved and being small and 'wiry',if you know what I mean. A few years ago,I had heard that a good valeter might be available.The problem was I had known the owner of the pitch he worked at for a long time.So I politely requested permission to approach his valeter and to offer him more money.I was told in no uncertain terms 'the transfer window was closed', .........so no deal.

OK good luck etc...I believe the Silicon Valley,ex Harvard or MIT 'tech' guys call this stuff 'inbound marketing'.The only contribution I have,is if you look at the social media graph above,the over 45s group account for less than 10 per cent of this market.However,the bottom line in our job (in my opinion ) is that this group are the best and easiest customers to do business with.I am well into this group,for instance,I do not have a smart phone or do social media.I will not be buying the iPhone 10 at £1000 or £1300 and do not need to receive messages when I am surfing ( in the sea not the net).That is how some Apple PR guy was promoting it on CNBC yesterday.......da ....da ...da ...!

That will be a monthly account with a lovely invoice including VAT payable by bank transfer ?

I agree with Max,Jimbo needs some sort of security of tenure.However by signing leases and licences you could be swimming in 'shark infested waters'.These things can rebound back years later after you have moved on,because another tenant has failed to pay.A similar situation happened to us long ago,so years later on another site we trusted the council with a rental licence agreement.Because we were there a longtime this licence automatically became a lease and moving on created similar problems,so Jimbo beware !

Hi Jimbo Are you not better off looking for an established pitch or even sites or premises which were previously a car pitch.I don't think a 10-15 car invisible compound is worth any more than £150 per week unless it is very close to where you live.If you talk to warranty reps,these guys often know who wants out etc.You could probably get a descent pitch for £500 p/w which would get you sales from day one......Just do not sign a lease.!

Have you noticed,it is usually franchised dealers which have these problems.I recall a main dealer who often had new,unreg'd cars stolen unnoticed from their ' secure' compound. While most of us could have a 50-100 car pitch,walk in at any time,scan the stock and know which car was missing or probably if one was wrongly priced up by £50 !

Hi Ik I thought this was only applicable to current MoT's.The mind boggles,I am out of touch. Could you please explain what you did and how long did it take ! I imagine in the future we could be having problems with clocked ex PCP's

That's 'BCA speak' for,don't buy it and we will ban you and they will.

Keep it quiet,we don't want this to get into the wrong hands........I'm talking about punters !

Hi Max It sounds like they have made a mistake.If it was me,I would have a word with the manager and try to get it for £4K,if not just pay the £4100.Tell the manager,he owes you a favour,you may get a quick knock in future !

WARNING...this post contains language that may offend some people. I am at the block,so I will just check my new valuation app ( on my iPhone 17)...I could not do without it,it is very accurate. Here we go....13 reg Dacia,Black Horse Repo,50k,90 day blue,management light on,no docs,needs some paint,smells of dog.........it's doing the maths !....... here we go.....yes ......it says it's worth .......FUCK ALL..!!.....I said it was accurate.........Apologies to 2435 Mick

High Frankieola - Is this not just creative accounting.Could your workshop/body shop be a separate company and have better tax breaks..So by invoicing at retail rates,it surpresses the profits from sales.I am only guessing,I am not an accountant ,but it could be tax efficient.Though I doubt it helps you.

Seconded !