BHM

For about £4.50 per mile plus VAT it wants to be a premium service!

Haha, makes a change from the usual "Get Rich Quick" gimp.

He'd be the first man that is. Normally a quote soon shuts them up.

Probably the best advice I've read.

If I'd of phoned-up to complain they certainly wouldn't of managed to get me signing up for more money! Glad you've seen the light, welcome on board!

Hi, storage isn't a defence as storage for business purposes would require planning permission IF it made the changes I outlined. Although in a planning sense, storage-only v. sales would be approached differently, as long as your business did not breach any of my points then anyone is fine. A trader using the public highway for visitors is a grey area & could be construed as grounds for local authority action. However, if the trader has adequate off-road parking on his property then it shouldn't be a problem. Basically, if you've a decent sized property & your stock & visitors park on your property and the stock isn't 'stickered up' this should be fine. Traders operating from a one car driveway with cars scattered around the area would definitely not be fine. It depends upon what you mean by preparing cars. Washing a few cars per week is certainly fine as long as you've not materially changed your property in any way. I wouldn't condone major surgery on a knackered old Peugeot in the front garden but, to be honest, it would take a local planning authority years to deal with an idiot cutting up scrap in his front garden & making it look like the local breakers yard.

Haha, you soon learn once you've bought a couple from 'friendly' traders.

I've got more chance of being able to afford a Picasso original than a Defender at the moment

I keep seeing this hoary old chestnut trotted out time & time again. No offence, but this opinion is years out of date. The planning regulations were changed in 2014 to clearly reflect the changes in people's working practices (I.e. Self employed & home workers). The government's planning portal is clear on this. Obviously this is a substantially abridged version but the salient points for this discussion are; 1) your home is still primarily a home. 2) your business activities don't drastically increase traffic (pedestrian or motorised). I'll add that few visitors per week is NOT a drastic traffic increase before any idiot suggests otherwise. 3) your business activities don't disturb neighbours at unsociable hours. 4) the home building, outbuildings & curtlidge has not been physically changed in any way. This can catch people out - if you erect 1 shelf in your home to support your business then that could render you liable to apply for mixed us as a dwelling/business. Likewise a garden shed is ok, but a garden shed erected for your business means you may need change of use. 5) you cannot actively advertise at the premises (I.e. idiots filling their front garden with bunting, price boards & windy men with flailing arms) ANYHOW, BEST OF LUCK TO DLLOYDS. YOU'LL NEED IT IN THIS GAME BUT IF YOU'RE STILL MAKING A LIVING IN 24 MONTHS TIME YOU'VE CRACKED IT IN WHATEVER MARKET YOU CHOOSE TO BE IN.

Funnily enough I've never had a customer yet who wants a car to be unreliable.

Not worth a toss, especially with those miles. It'll make nowt at the block so just sell it for peanuts. As for them 4x4s even they've gone off the boil & can be picked-up retail for 3 figures. Last time I had a 4x4 I must of had every "Panda 4x4 nutter" in the U.K. on the phone or email - 90% were obviously absolute pillocks with nowt else better to do & most of those were without a pot to piss in. It went eventually to the one sensible person who phoned.

Surely you're not suggesting Manheim are more self-focused than customer-focused!?!!!! Disgraceful!! How on earth do you arrive at that preposterous conclusion!?!!

I know money's tight but people really do struggle to see past the bottom price & once they've been price conditioned to that price you may as well piss into the wind. Recently I finally sold a lovely 2006 Focus 2.0tdci Ghia p/x, 120K, black, full Ford history, full MOT, new tyres but until reduced to a paltry £1500 I couldn't get a sniff. Another Focus, shite 1.6 tdci engine, bottle green, grubby interior, no history, rough as f***, half worn tyres, £1000. By now you can guess which one I'd rather have a field full of. (Answer, the rough pig that was CHEAP). At the "Below £2500 market" its price led & stuff the condition, history etc. Rough but cheap for many punters.

Haha, it's a right eyeful! 99% chance the eBay high bidder's a messer & doesn't make contact; "Relisted due to no contact from winning bidder" A few years ago after 5 failed auctions on a yank Town Car limo (I never even spoke to a single one of the winners) & then a similar experience on a knackered diesel Vectra I threw in the towel with eBay auctions.

Snap. Exactly. And it wouldn't be the first chancer shaking the tree to see what falls out.

Of course they do, it's all down to money. I'd like someone to help me out when I next get caught out on a trade car!

Sorry but I have to disagree with the last two posts. I believe todays customers are simply price led. Any potential customers coming via recommendation still come quoting allegedly cheaper cars on the internet & seem to forget the reason they came in the first place - i.e. their friend's good car! To some people there's always a better deal out there. I've got cars with FSH, new brakes all around, full MOT but if the price isn't right 90% of punters will sod off & see a heap of shit £200 cheaper. A few amusing examples that spring to mind; 1) Mid December. A guy actually phoned to cancel (makes a pleasant change!). His reasoning was because the car had a full MOT he said he couldn't afford to MOT it next Christmas because it's an expensive time of year. Basically he did NOT want a full MOT!!!!! 2) Last month a man turns up who'd two days previously had bought a freshly MOT'd cheapie which on the way home a brake pipe burst & the local garage had since condemned the car. I'd sold his son a car a year ago, apparently it's been spot-on & he said he should of come to me. After driving my few hundred quid cheapie (with a full genuine MOT) he starts haggling over £100 and then says he's got 2 other heaps to see. Never seen the man again. 3) Another man came to view a Volvo, his friend had bought from me 6 months ago. He attempted to crab the car to death & low balled me to which I just laughed & reminded him that I'm doing the job right. 2 days later, he phoned me (mistakenly) to say "the car you've just sold me hasn't even made it home, I'm with the AA & he's said the head gasket's gone". I roared laughing and responded "No, I sold you nowt, you were whinging over the price & left in a huff. I bet you regret not buying mine now!" More of his huffing & puffing and by now I was howling with laughter. I told him he was greedy and greedy money gets greedy service, good luck with his knackered car but his mate with my car might give him a tow if the AA can't help him. The phone then went down. My attitude is the population of the UK is over 62.5 million (I know that includes kids) so if one man doesn't want the car there are usually plenty more out there who will.

It's because of this that I take a hard line. I use ALL of mine, including p/x shite, for a good few miles & prove it via the photos to potential customers. One thing I've learnt is don't fear the courts unless you are actually going. 99% do not have any intention, or the ability to complete the forms, to instigate proceedings. It's all bluster & bullshit from people running their lives by what they hear from their ignorant mates & read on the internet posted by other whingers. You're absolutely correct about people expecting you to subsidise their lifestyle with their secondhand cars. Times are frigging hard but £1 only buys £1 of goods, no matter how hard times are. Be fair, but be hard & don't be afraid to make it absolutely clear that you don't take shit. I attempted to educate a punter & his Mrs the other week when looking at an 09 Zafira for £2K and complaining about the dimple on one door (it was an absolute disaster to them, Champagne taste, lemonade money) "Sir, the fact you've scrimped & saved £2000 counts for nothing. Whether you piss £2000 up the wall per night in the casino or you've sold one of your kids kidneys for the £2000, £2000 buys you £2000 of goods". I have to say they appeared somewhat surprised. Anyhow they've gone for a coffee to discuss it & said they'd phone me back. It must be a big cup cos it was a fortnight ago & they've still not phoned. I wonder how they keep the cup warm for that long???

I'll perhaps have to go to Leeds & give them a try. To be honest I don't buy a quarter of what I used to only four years ago via Manheim and from a couple of visits to BCA I thought it seemed like the same set-up, if not worse. If a couple of other online auction sites make a go of it (rather than leaving it to Dealer Auction under the Cox/Manheim umbrella), resulting in them having to keep their fees low due to competition, then surely the days of the physical auction will be numbered. I certainly won't shed a single tear for them.

Ahh, the Chevette. My first ever car. That never suffered from problems such as gummed-up injectors, turbo failure, rattling dual mass flywheel, haywire ecu, central locking gremlins, missing 5th gear (thanks Saab for that one recently), whining gearbox, frayed electric windows wires, cambelt tensioner failure or a weak diesel pump. Mind you, the points needed adjusting once a month.

I found £2.20 in an 07 X-Trail the other day. It made a modest contribution towards the four brake discs & pads, drop links, suspension bushes, oil, filters, MOT & valet the car required. And customers think the cars come prepped & ready for sale and I'm just sat on my arse making thousands per car!

Don't answer their text. My guess is you'll hear nothing from them. Text messages are just another way for time wasters & bullshitters to chance their luck dealing in a spineless manner - no different to the 90% of idiots communicating their stupid offers & midnight queries via email. My adverts all clearly state No Text Messages. Any received are simply ignored. Sorry to those of you who actually enter into text discussions with potential customers, but I refuse to in order to protect my sanity. Why on earth anyone chooses to do business by text is beyond me. Business deals are definitely NOT conducted by text message.

I'm on 15-20. To be honest if you want a little spare time I think once you're over 20 you'll struggle but it all depends on HOW you're buying & WHAT you're buying. HOW. Time is all of our biggest enemy. Personally I sacked-off buying from private punters years ago. I know it works for some but I got sick of getting my time wasted by lying bastard private sellers misdescribing cars. WHAT. If you're sourcing stock that just needs a wash, the camera pointing at it & advertising you could probably manage 40. However, a handful of cars that need repairs/MOT/valet/servicing/paint etc. soon slows the job down. I run by appointment only so at least I don't have a full time job sat in a unit/showroom waiting to pounce on customers. One quiet week (and there's plenty of those at the moment!) sat dossing about waiting would send me mental & if the first punter was a tyre kicker I'd probably strangle them!

The auction houses treat us like shit on their shoe. I accept they have large overheads but their fees in relation to their minimal customer service beggars belief. It also boils my piss when, Manheim in particular, add their Surecheck fee. Personally I think the checklist is so minimal as to be a joke, the bronze & silver aren't worth the paper they're written on AND I've seen checklists with 32 out of 37 passed with the comment "engine noisy" - why the hell do we want to pay extra for stating the bloody obvious? Last week I had the misfortune of wasting half a day of my life at the block & a few of us got into a conversation (after getting sick of the auctioneer bouncing bids off the wall - I think the fire extinguisher bought about 20) about what they've done for us all. Apart from a very occasional breakfast when they're desperate for buyers the answer was "sweet f.a.". That is unless you count the stench of piss from the toilets as a bonus.