MGM

As far a I knew Ford sold their small stake in Kia in the late 90’s??

Pmsl!!! I do get it but can’t help some of the old school in me.

There is a big difference between a £500 off sale, or free pair of boxer shorts with every car sold this weekend offer to a nice courteous bunch of flowers thrown in at handover day. I am saying £20 worth of chocs, flowers or something unexpected on handover will pay you back tenfold.

Very true, but if you’ve done your job right you should be able to work a deal. Be honest the margins aren’t that tight and if they are then something is wrong.

So much has changed over the past years. Main dealers used to give a bottle, box of chocs and a bunch of flowers. Our local Vauxhall’s dealer gave a weeks holiday in Spain with every new car. Many decent pitches also gave a little something. I am very much old school, don’t screw every customer, give a little and you will get more back in return. I appreciate times have also changed financially but I am still on the side of offering a little back. It doesn’t have to cost the earth and preferably something unconnected with the car i.e flowers or chocs not an MOT voucher or a dangly air freshener!

https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C987270 five figure sums according to this one!

I wanted a Lotus Carlton, I waited and waited until they got down to c£15k, tried to find a good one but never did, blinked and they were £40k, blinked again and some are advertised just under the six figure area!!!

I, like many on here remember these at circa £2k. I also remember mk2 escorts at £200 and Fiesta Sports at £500. Times have moved on and these cars are now in great demand as the market is showing. As the “mid life crisis” age rolls with the times so does the age of car which will be in the greatest demand (was first car or parents owned one) hence now the late 70’s, 80’s and early 90’s cars are increasing and the 60’s and earlier are taking a little tumble. Pre 50’s have taken a real nosedive. Obviously there are exceptions to this but I’m talking generally. £10k is a small price to pay for the excitement of re-living a little of your youth. Yes it’s a cavalier but if you’ve never driven one of these turbo’s then I suggest you put it on your bucket list! I have a few classics around but one of my favs is an Opel Ascona which I gave £5000 for, Yep I remember them at £200!

Just get on with it! Display the plates clearly and don’t drive like a tit and what’s the issue??

If I was guessing I’d be looking at Alternator, Battery and checking all the Earths.

G3 Remarketing still charge! It is free to do bank transfer but they don’t accept cash or cheques only cards over the counter. They charge a few % (can’t remember exactly) and call it a counter fee. Basically you are paying to talk to the bird behind the counter!

Back in the Stone Age we had a little book with prices in, funnily enough they were typically in order of spec base, L, GL, GLS, CD etc... If you wanted to know more info like which model was fitted with luxuries like a passenger door mirror or side repeaters then you would look in the check book which had all the info you ever wanted! Sad I know but as soon as the new months copy arrived (usually one or two days before the end of the month) I used to read every page. Aaah the good old days!

I have a few classics and more modern interesting stuff around, still trade the bread and butter stuff but I’ve ended up with a dozen or so classics which the trade aren’t interested in and I don’t have big enough balls to retail / eBay etc!!!! I can’t deal with the public, wouldn’t sell anything because as soon as one word of crap came out of their mouth I’d kick them out of the yard!

I get that but my point was pre 1960 cars and lots of other modern vehicles are exempt from testing and don’t seem to cause issues. This is how one of mine shows. It is actually tested until August this year but since the 19th of May has shown this.

To answer the OP, the classics I have all changed the day before the new law and now come up in green as ‘no details held’ this includes cars that had / have a test until later this year. This only shows on a mot history check. It may just take a few days for yours to update?? Why everyone is getting on their high horse over this exemption is beyond me, pre 60 cars have been exempt for ages and to my knowledge haven’t nearly rid the planet of humans due to the dangers! I would say 95% of dealers on here know where to go for a ticket which renders the test pretty useless anyway. There is still a telephone service operating not far from where I am, and before you all start on no I don’t agree with that. Most testers are on the younger side of not knowing what a lot of these classics are let alone how to test them which is why the government you voted in decided to remove them from testing. Vehicles still have to be roadworthy hence the police will probably take an interest in having a little look at some of the dodgier looking classics they may encounter on the roads. It just means you don’t have to pay £40 once per year to have someone place greasy hands all over your steering wheel and fail you for only having one brake light and red rear indicators only to be told that they are actually legal as the car was first used 1962! Common sense should prevail. What about agricultural vehicles, showmans, medical testing units etc... all exempt from testing, no major issues!