BHM

GOOD!!!!! Once they reduce down to that level you know they’ve ‘switched off’ to coming back to you. It’s very unlikely he’ll be back in touch. In the unlikely event he’s on the phone again just verbally abuse the c*** - and I’m NOT joking. Youve dodged that bullet. Well done.

I’d of already told him I’m doing f.a., you’re on your own. 1500 miles in 3 months with them boys. Hmmm. Can’t supply you with the current registration no. Hmmm. If/when the reg. no. arrives the first thing I’d do is check the no. of keepers. If it came in I’d check the engine’s the same one. There’s always a tale with them lads.

I finally got rid of mine at 3 months once I cut the balls off the price. 1.4 Diesel, 5 door, FSH, 105K (too much for small cars apparently) & had even been cambelted early. Never again, of no f***ing interest to anyone except greedy horrible c***s with no money.

I’ve not done an eBay search for your car but pattern DPFs have collapsed in price. Months ago I got caught out by a 2005 Focus 2.0 TDCi, replacement aftermarket DPF for £130, worked perfectly. It looked a well made job too! Not like the usual shit cheap exhaust. Also had a dickhead emailer last week asked about DPF replacement costs on an XC70 - when I searched eBay I was amazed that the prices for Volvo’s finest start at about £140! I don’t know why I answered this twat because, of course, a proper Volvo man phones, but that’s another subject.

It’s easy, you either fix it or you don’t. I had a Squeeze Green Fiesta - good luck.

What happened to this? I’ve just tried it and the site appears to be blocked. To be fair it was an excellent resource to have on the phone to give a guide to a punter’s car that’s was of your normal type sold.

Years ago I did similar on a much smaller scale - those were the days when you could ‘have it off’ on eBay but as Arfur says you had to get involved in some immoral bidding practices In the end the private man got more & more cautious & nowadays is shitty frightened of the uncertainties of buying via auction - years ago many believed the old ‘Won’t need much for its next MOT line”!! However, as Arfur says (this is beginning to sound like a love in) the bidders we were left with were plastic traders, Asians, Nigerians, white tracksuit trash, the usual midnight dreamers and complete & utter arseholes - the stress of dealing with such riff raff & not being able to challenge them when they cocked on a deal infuriated me. The ingratitude of the public was also staggering. I’d imagine Sterling Cars business model sails close to the wind but it appears more or less upfront, I wonder about funding issues but as they’ve been going years in various incarnations I guess money’s not a problem. God help them dealing with the greedy & penniless nowadays - they deserve a bloody medal!

I write clearly on my proper shitter adverts (usually p/xs beyond help or cheap shite locally via Dealer Auction that I can flip quick for a fast buck) that the buyer either takes; A) as a trade sale, proof required, copy of proofs taken, log book given etc. OR as a retail sale, sold for repair, no warranty given or implied, instructed to trailer away, log book dealt with on site. Getting ANYONE to sign as trade without taking copies of proof is a waste of time if something bad happens. Until recently I used to just take the money, sling the buyer the keys, no receipt & tell them not to contact me again but I realised that there are more & more imbeciles buying on price alone who are just hoping the car will be ok. I suspect at the back of some of these characters’ minds is they’ll return if a disaster happens, unfortunately even I’ve realised that nowadays a man’s word is no longer good enough. Now if the advert hasn’t put them off, or my straight talk hasn’t put them off then they still have the mental hurdle in signing their rights away - it concentrates a few minds. I actually get people on the phone trying negotiate out my “trailered away” terms!

You are absolutely correct. Half of them can’t afford their drinks on a night - these young ’uns are buying drinks on plastic & you can bet they aren’t eating into an existing balance. There’s much truth in the old saying about poor people waste money - the biggest wasters are those with nowt. Chicken & egg? Sort of?

A 9 year old French hatchback is hardly a major financial decision is it!?!!!

If the word BOTH spring to mind you are correct. I’ll have to let my buyers know. I must be doing something wrong, I thought perhaps it’s my honest descriptions, competitive pricing & straight talk that gained me sales. At this point I’ll bow out because we all know I’m not going to agree with most of you on this. I’ll enjoy reading grown men almost in tears over negative reviews soon......

Two words spring to mind; Why bother?

A few, admittedly they’ve all almost gone. Also if you’re lucky on DA you’ll have a local dealer you can usually rely upon to underdescribe the good points due to them being lazy ba*****s (makes a change to the usual shysters on DA!). People turn up their noses but personally, as a man with next to no overheads, I’d happily just knock out 2 or 3 p/x turds every week. A trader laughed at one of my £999 gems, until I showed him the invoice for the £100 it cost me. It’d be lovely putting £3K across everything as many claim to do, but those cars don’t sell immediately and there are always big overheads to consider. I’m frightened of the new window tax I’ve heard is coming in - I’ve started bricking ours up.

Just opened my eBay emails. 4 emails this evening. One simply says “800”. I assume that’s an £800 offer on the £1500 vehicle. Another wants £500 off another car, and my assurances that it’s perfect! The third “Hi would u consider a favourable swap on this”. Favourable to who I wonder!?!! The fourth had previously asked me “Wots ur bottom price mate” on a £2499 car, so I’d answered £2500. Here’s his response “???. You have it up for £2499....would you take £2000.” At least this character only wants £499 off!

Very good idea for those who don’t like dealing in shite. However there’s money in shite & often you can turn £250 into £1000 or a £600er into £1395. I like the GOOD shite that comes in as p/xs or I buy from lazy main dealers who can’t be arsed to wash the car or look in the glovebox for the FSH with a fresh MOT. You can’t buy shite at the block (God knows how anyone makes any money without killing or shafting over buyers) but there’s plenty of it available if you’re prepared to sift through it, drive it, prep it & advertise it correctly.

Nut Job, thankfully I don’t stock too many small cars so any upselling would be to a big old estate car or 4x4 & those greedy bastards would shit themselves at the road tax rates & MPG.

I’ve banged on about it & will continue to do so - it’s hard going & it’s only going to get harder over the next couple of years. The lack of pay rises, pisspoor jobs market (zero hours contracts etc.) really is taking its toll on the average hard-up family man in the street. Due to this I’ve seen a definite increase in stupidity, greediness & downright offensive offers - especially in cars around the £15-2500 mark. A year ago idiots wanting £500 discounts made contact via the internet - recently I’ve had a run of punters face-to-face wanting discounts of that sort of figure! At least it’s given me the opportunity to tell them to their face what I think of their shit offer & why my cars are more expensive than some dodgy c***’s on Gumtree. In order to maintain my sanity I do not do business by text, I only answer emails that are half-reasonable (even then I usually think I’m pissing into the wind), I speak very frankly to punters on the phone (I try to weed out the hopeless) and even when they turn up I’m on high alert for signs of stupidity which I immediately jump on to in order to sort them out. I’d hate to think I had bills to pay because I can understand how some in this trade would entertain these timewasters & parasites. The funny thing is because I take a hard(ish) line with punters those I sell to are generally pleasant people & my margins are up (small cars & the small car tossers excepted).

Yep, that market is f***ing horrible but unfortunately instead of getting rid of my ‘final’ two small cars I’ve picked up two more The imbeciles think because all they have to spend is £xxx that £xxx buys a new car. The greedy vermin (because that’s what many of them are) can’t or won’t pay for tyres/brakes/servicing/cambelts/valeting/paintwork the greedy vermin want everything included AND usually many years of comeback. How many times do you hear their pitiful bleatings “We only want it to last a few years”? A FEW F***ING YEARS!?!!!!! IT’S LESS THAN A F***ING PUSHBIKE AND YOU DON’T WANT TO PUT YOUR HAND IN YOUR POCKET FOR 3 F***ING YEARS!?!!!! What planet are these space cadets on? I absolutely f***ing hate the greedy c***s - they want a minter for their little darlings but can’t afford a minter. “The customer is always right”. What a load of absolute bollocks.

No, nice to deal with actually. The trouble is no one believes me.

All joking apart it doesn’t matter what colour, size, religion, nationality or sexuality punters are - there are good punters and complete arseholes amongst them all. Years ago Sunday teatime was a good do-er but it all changed & turned into dickhead’s day. I sell less units nowadays but have increased my profit per unit, I rarely do much business on a Saturday (although oddly enough did 5 one Saturday a few months ago) but as a one man band my trade is Mon-Fri, noticeably Mon & Tue after they’ve seen the shite on the local pitches at the weekend, and a Thursday by punters wanting to buy before the perceived weekend rush. A few a week does me tbh.

Better still ignore the stupid c*** and DO NOT CONDUCT BUSINESS BY TEXT.

I’d rather throw the unit in the bin & chance a secondhander courtesy of fleabay. No, I’d squared them up on the phone beforehand & warned then any shenanigans & they’d be travelling the 200 miles back home empty handed. A pleasure to deal with actually!!!

Yep. Also I just sold one to a couple of Asian gentleman so if it wasn’t the norm you could guarantee that would of been a basis for some hard negotiation

I’m out!

Why should he? There’s no point messing about with Johnny Foreigner when he’s making a nuisance of himself - just f*** him off. PS this of you who don’t ‘do’ Sundays shouldn’t break the rule. I do so once per year and EVERY time have regretted it.