BHM

Does the customer have any mechanical understanding? If I were a betting man I’d bet by “cutting out” what your customer is referring to is the TC cutting the power and NOT what we’d all think of as cutting out. Ask him if he is having to restart the engine with the key/button & my guess is the answer will be ‘no’.

What a bellend. Since when has rubber been a good conductor of electricity?

Nowt to do with Covid19, that's always been the case. I don't know but I assume i's so if they need to do any maintenance they can do it whenever they like at their leisure.

Isn't the key worth more than the car?

Too bloody true!

Yep, even on an oldie I struggle to get away with a fine arc on the back window. On the windscreen they just make the car look a complete mess.

I must confess I’ve not seen one in years.

Will a rubber gimp mask with the zip closed be acceptable attire in shops & on public transport soon?

That’s not DSR is it? Surely if THEY are having it collected, as opposed to you delivering, then DSRs don’t apply. Their appointed collector is responsible for inspecting & accepting the car on their behalf - at least that’s what I write in an email to anyone thinking of arranging third party collections.

Too true! There’s no dealing with a numbskull like that.

Cos he’s retired

I could be talking out of my arse but I reckon if you’ve got a self employed work mentality & ethic you’re in with half a chance (the other half’s the cars) but anyone with a PAYE mentality is fucked from the off buying/selling cars.

The days of turning away a punter without a p/x & instead preferring to wait for a nice swapper aren’t a luxury many can afford nowadays.

How times change. It wasn’t that long ago cash meant pound notes, no receipt, f*** off & don’t come back. Nowadays a cash man means a bank transfer, receipt & then chance his arm for as much comeback as he likes. On a serious note, Mr VW wants an hour’s UNACCOMPANIED ramp time, plug-in his pal’s obd reader, brought another pal’s trade plates for his test drive, he’s laying the law down “Ok” , then if he’s satisfied he’ll then make a reduced offer. Who the fuck is going to entertain this cretin? I cannot think of a single person who would do so.

That’ll be the chap who had a website & took an interest in the CRA before he’d even bought one car First & foremost this job’s about cars, not fucking about with website graphics when you’ve got a handful of cars.

Very true. Let Cazoo entertain him.

....and fiddling the spirits. I’m with you on this, if you’re paying someone to PROPERLY nail together damaged shite you can’t make any money. However I’m sure the lads throwing them back together themselves (plenty of cable ties, sledgehammer chassis work & Roy Orbison paint jobs) make a shilling.

Yep. Although this sounds sarcastic it’s absolutely correct. You can talk this job through until the cows come home but the best education you’ll get is when you start buying & selling.

You might get a better response in the private lounge rather than everyone discussing their business practices for all to see.

Really? You’re letting customers on 18yr old cars grind you down over one key. No offence intended but you need a course on managing the aspirations of punters on old cars. ‘Screamer’ springs to mind.

More like an increase

+1. I can sell just about everything I can lay my hands on anyway, tbh it’s a bit embarrassing because whenever anyone comes around I’ve space for 25 but constantly only have 4-6 at any one time. It looks like I’m going bust. The law of supply & demand. When supply is low prices will always be up. Any buyers that don’t appreciate how a market works won’t buy, but there’ll be those that do. They’ll always sell for a few quid profit. However there are plenty of people, even shopping at the lower end of the market, who realise there’s a catch. In my experience many of these customers have a tale of a past ‘cheap’ purchase & don’t wish to repeat the experience .

The main problem at the moment is buying but..... ....all of a sudden the cheapie buyers are cheaper than ever & I've had a few customers downgrading to my £3-4K stock due to redundancy.

Mind you, the potential new buyer wasn’t bothered until he found out because, by the sounds of it, he was clearly unaware. Sometimes ignorance really is bliss. Looking at the type of owners these cars attract nowadays & the traffic lights Grand Prix they participate in I’d be surprised if half of them haven’t been nailed back together at some point.

I guess it’s not a £2999 Focus but nothing would surprise me. I’m afraid greed and/or incompetence are in every walk of life, even present in car main dealer groups!