BHM

Anyone else have problems with their flaps sticking?

Even when the cars are parked neatly in a row I still fail to spot damage - the latest is half a front bumper hanging off & mangled. I blame car blindness - looking at too many cars. Honestly, I’m f***ing useless. As for Megane cabbies I remember once assuring my mechanic that ALL of the windows worked when I’d checked over the car, I was 100% certain. When he removed the door panel he phone to ask how certain I was as the window was chocked up with wood

You’re a wind-up merchant.

It’s not something I like to do but I wouldn’t automatically poo poo the idea - this industry is about risk/reward so if the risk is low for a few quid return I don’t see a great problem on an older bit of stock, especially if you are more ‘trader’ than ‘shiney showroom’. Tbh I see more of a problem with owners who think they can palm off any shite & don’t understand why we spend money on preparation to sell or the need for us to make a profit. You may wish to go the ‘advertised on behalf of customer & it’s them you are buying from’ route. I’d say you should insist on it being MOTed & prepped to your standards (however good or bad your standards are) but if it’s priced right the great unwashed won’t give a toss & will sign any invoice put in front of them. Any comeback & you can offer them the comfort of two fingers. Well, that’s my two penneth worth.

I use that on some of my adverts

(From the past) I can’t remember where but what was said was; “it’s been a popular car” - a 12 owner car. “a morning’s work to put right” - the car had been on the receiving end of a wronged wife/girlfriend. No glass in it, interior damaged, every panel kicked in & a few choice words sprayed on the car

Even when you answer ‘Yes’ for a laugh theshe cnuts don’t respond, unless it’s with a barrage of ‘Cambelt?’ type questions - they’re just shitty arses. My answer would be no answer. Sorry, but isn’t the opposite true? I thought pitch lads, like main dealers, need to answer even numpty that contacts them whereas us one-man-bands can ignore people as we see fit.

Location comes into it but I also think stock profile, rather than just the price plays a part. You’ll have a damn sight better chance selling £10K 4x4s from the door than £10K Clios, Corsas etc.

I’m withdrawing from this discussion.

It’s amazing how this basic fact motivates people. If it’s left up to local govt employees & their ilk the country will be stasis for the next two decades. Working from home is going to be the norm for SOME companies, staff will appreciate the lack of travel time & costs (although that will be traded for being spied on in their homes but they’ll have little option) & those companies will surely have no need for their once full offices/call centres etc.

To be fair it clearly states it’s a service designed for motorists who have lost or damaged their log book. It’s hardly rocket science to work out they won’t be sending them out willy nilly to any Tom, Dick or Harry who claims to of just bought it from the block.

Lied about ownership, lied about history....

Too right if he’s dealing at the cheaper end. That is unless he likes dealing with the fussy as f***, big-talking, Champagne taste, lemonade money brigade.

They used to mint them up to sell them........ then rather than minting them up they started declaring all faults at the block........ then 6 or 7 years ago they started auctioning them like everyone else by declaring sweet f.a.! I had some good do’s years ago out of ex-service cars, they were cheap & the public loved them - especially fluorescent yellow ex-NHS Focuses! Now it’s a lottery buying them, they ain’t cheap & the Average Joe doesn’t want them.

Hahaha, I remember when this wheeze came in & being offered it, “Ideal for performance cars” was the guff, something to do with less expansion due to heat if I remember correctly. What a load of fucking bollocks. Rather like Manheim’s Checkpoint fee.

I’ve often said the ones we buy on eBay are probably the exact same ones stolen from the cars

The days of main dealer stock being prepped to the hilt are long gone & they aren’t afraid to sell cars with Stevie Wonder paintwork repairs. Tbh many of them can’t even be arsed to wash off a car for punters with an appointment. I was at a Renault dealer the other week & they were showing punters a car jammed in round the back in the compound - I overheard the Mrs say she couldn’t really see the car properly .

My in-laws are dead so I don’t have that problem.

What puzzles me is why people think that some fella with an obd & a laptop is far better at programming the ECU than the manufacturers who invest tens & hundreds of millions in R&D. Some of these characters then deciding to promote themselves to pro-status & adjusting the fuel-air ratios must be responsible for fucking a few engines.

With cheapie punters from my experience there are generally three things that sour punters when looking at a car (although old 4x4 buyers are more realistic). 1) A reference to corrosion on the MOT. 2) A reference to an oil leak on the MOT. 3) The fuel light on at the start of the test drive. It’s ok if it illuminates on the test drive but if it’s on when they first sit in it they start whining like the rear diff on an old Vauxhall Carlton. (If selling a small car with 1, 2 & 3 you’ll have it ‘til the day you die ).

Mike Brewer feel free to comment here It’s because Place In The Sun & all other house buying TV programmes refer to their offers as ‘cash offers’. In the good old days a cash deal meant pound notes, no receipt, f*** off & don’t come back. Alas, in the space of a few years “cash deal” is spouted by every Parker’s Guide expert meaning “I want some money off, here’s my card & I’ll squeal like a rutting pig if an issue arises”.

The average PAYE man, irrespective of intelligence and/or professional qualifications does not understand. If the average Joe Public understood this there’d be no little for the dole.