BHM

What’s one of those? There was a 2.0 turbo Zafira (not a VXR) that from memory snook in at 227. SOME automatic SAAB convertibles (I assume you’d say 9-3s are ordinary) sneak in at a few more grams over the threshold.

.......the same 72 hours as on buses, trains & supermarket shelves but they don’t count. To be honest I struggle to believe it in a legal sense. A distance sale when it’s at the sellers premises and the buyer has fully inspected & tested goods to their satisfaction before concluding the purchase. I simply cannot understand how on Earth such a transaction is a distance sale. I suspect there’s an awful lot of scaremongering by those with an interest in muddying the waters.

Is it just me but why is a deposited purchase from the premises a distance sale? If the buyer has been allowed an unencumbered test drive & inspection prior to sale & only completes the deal after finding the vehicle is to their satisfaction how/why is that a distance sale?

It’s a pleasure isn’t it to politely but firmly turn down the “Can I come for a look sometime over the weekend whilst I’m out looking at a few others?” daydreamers. “COME TO BUY!!!” is the warcry! You can almost hear the arseholes letting go of those who aren’t serious as they start stuttering & stammering with their excuses to phone back later. Just wait until we are back to normal....... there’ll be thousands upon thousands of peeps just starting their car buying journey looking forward to entertaining the whole of the family test driving car after car. The sad part is is that, understandably, 90% of the industry will entertain these goons as they go around expecting the red carpet treatment.

Very true!

You’re a mind reader. I’m guessing DH’s customer never offered a defence because I’d imagine a private man turning up in court & stating he is ignorant about cars & he’d presented the car for an MOT in good faith would be enough to ‘get off’. A friend had similar but from the block months ago & he’s just got it back from his welder - two full inner & outer sills and a replacement subframe. Tbh utter scrap. I’ve seen holed subframes but them X-Types are horrific.

I had it recently it on an old Jag X-Type. The car hadn’t had a single advisory in the last 9 years & still had 8 months ticket on it - the brake pipes were like twigs, suspension bushes in tatters, etc.

Before my time (I think it will be to most people) so I searched his name & plenty came up. There is a YouTube video of his David Frost interview, I’ve not watched it (yet) but apparently he took a sedative beforehand so not to get wound-up by Frostie but the best is the audience included a few of his victims and upon cross examination he announced he wasn’t there to cross swords with the peasants . That sentence alone makes it worth a watch, a lesson to us all in dealing with customer complaints!!

I’ve never understood this reason for this question. In the 21st Century why on Earth can’t someone arrange their own insurance immediately? Not often asked nowadays (it seemed to be one of the questions to ask a few years ago) but was usually asked by the “CAMBELT!?!!” or “LAST PRICE!?!!” punters.

Surely the last time you needed insurance to tax a car must of been 4 or 5 years ago?

It sounds like you/they are making hard work of it to me. Insure & tax as normal.

you nailed it there. I often wonder who pays £8Kish for such total & utter dross.

Control the market? It just looks like a field full of unwanted Vauxhalls to my eye.

Perhaps it’s your stock profile. If yours is quality ‘aspirational’ type German stock then doesn’t that sort of thing attract the dreamers & beggars like moths to a lamp?

FB is free but Auto.social is £25pm + VAT

I’m not a FB user as such, I just opened an account so that I could place adverts. Auto.social upload onto FB from my website, but if I were to start again I think I’d be tempted to just do the adverts myself. I do well out of FB, I only advertise on there & ebaymotorspro. At the moment I make more sales from FB than eBay. Just about all of my pricier stock (up to 7K) sells courtesy of FB - ebay is almost dead, although I should add I've only got a handful of cars because I can’t get caught up - as I advertise they sell quickly at the moment.

The thing is, half of them are so arrogant - they think they can demand the Earth via email, and expect to get it. They’ll talk a big job all day long, and those that phone are usually full of shit making out they are ready to buy. Tbh it’s the same with a bit of flash for not much cash - pitiful punters. However, like most cars, the buyer will be normal, perhaps email a couple of times but will always soon PICK UP THE PHONE TO ARRANGE A VIEWING. I should add that on just about every older semi-classic car I’ve had I always get at least one classic ‘specialist’ on the phone - they are even more full of shit than the punters.

.....and anyone who isn’t can jog on. I wouldn’t want a CC man on a car. I reckon anyone wanting to pay for a motor on a CC is already living beyond their means & probably can’t afford to run their car. The good ole general public, you couldn’t make it up. I see that Barclaycard’s current TV advertising campaign with Nick Frost specifically mentions Clause 75 & a sentence along the lines of getting money back if you’re unhappy with a purchase (or some such patter which will result in premature ejaculation for the sort of person who shouldn’t be allowed to buy by CC).

In the last couple of years two older estates (a Merc W124 3.0 & a BMW 3-Series, 318 if memory serves) spring to mind - nowt special, 20-25yrs old, in well used condition but low mileage, nice enough & rare enough, for a few grand. I don’t think I’ve ever been pestered by so so many bored/boring, total & utter timewasting middle-aged men with absolutely no intention of buying although in their own deluded minds they are big buyers - a small avalanche of pathetic emails asking the most fussy questions imaginable. On the Merc I ended up amending the advert to “Phone calls only, ALL emails ignored” and received emails asking how I expected to deal with their enquiries. In the end a biker bloke bought the BMW as a ‘posh van’ to get free entry to the tip & the Merc went to a woman as a daily driver.

Always add your cars to your MID despite what many on here preach. There’s no reason not to, even if the offence was 15 months ago...

Eh? It’s 2021.

I’m hoping not to use it much longer - only until the valeter reopens. I’ve had a sharp reminder just how much value for money the valeter offers. What a miserable f***ing job, imagine doing it day in, day out. They deserve a medal.

THIS + your photos look ok to me (although I sell some shite so don’t pay too much attention to me). Videos are DEFINITELY a bonus, nowt fancy just a 2-3 minute walkaround with a mobile phone, no point boring punters to death. Whether or not you like videos they seem to instill confidence & get buyers to travel further and/or dig a little deeper.

How on Earth are shit 80’s & 90’s Fiestas/Escorts/Novas etc. worth what they sell for? They were fucking shite even when new - ideal examples of how a front drive car should NOT handle. I don’t imagine 30ish years will have improved their pisspoor handling & inability to transmit modest horsepower to the road.