Mistermuttley

Some people just love texting and dont like phone calls. Reel them in, ask for the cars reg,mileage,mechanical and bodywork condition and if v5 is in their name. from that you can say you can give them a reasonably close valuation. people are strange, have had quite a few text conversations which I think are going nowhere and then out of the blue a viewing and sale is done. Always worth following a lead even if it doesnt look that promising.

I was thinking just get shot of it back to them. but with the sniff of a decent profit i think it went to my head! Hopefully they will reimburse me for the costs i have incurred to prep it, cheers tv. I'm wondering if the last owner pulled a fast one and got shot of it before it hit the register.

Bit of a strange one this, bought a little Fiat 500 multijet from Manheim B'ham on jan 4th.Sorted quite a few jobs,seat repair,clutch master cylinder,hatch handle etc. Car at auction was declared not on Vcar. Now its got a fresh clean ticket I put it into AT portal for a price guide, todays retail is around £3600. Once i click next, up pops Cat N! I have had a good look around the car and there is nothing obvious with the panels as to why its Cat N,every panel looks original and there is no filler in them. Called Manheim yesterday and they see it is on their Experian as Cat N and they will look into it and call me back. Well they have rang today to say it was entered into their auction on the 3rd and was not on Vcar then,I bought it on the 4th. The car was entered on the Vcar on the 11th of Jan. They are going to get back to me tomorrow when they have had a chat with the vendor. To be fair to Manheim B'ham the girls in the office are really good. As it stands the car plus tip was nearly £2200 and I have spent around £200 prepping it. I was going to retail it for around £3300 for a quick sale and have a margin of about £900. But as its Cat N that's kind of out the window now. So I assume that they are going to offer to buy back the car, or give a discount off the car tomorrow. I just wondered what would you guys do in this situation? My thoughts are ..... 1) just hand the car back as its Cat N and may be tricky to sell. Would they then give me my money back for parts/mot as I have upgraded it? 2) Ask for a hefty discount as its a Cat N, maybe 1/2 cap clean valuation and sell it as a Cat N. If i got it for say £1400 with tip plus £200 refurb I am in it for £1600 total and selling it for £2500 would give me a similar margin as if it wasn't a Cat N car, i.e. £900. Any help/ideas appreciated.

Just thought I would post an udpate on this as I have now had the Seat repaired. Joe at Trim Tec is a real nice old school guy and has done a great job. Dropped off the seat on Tuesday and just picked it up. The leather is perforated and has a slight grain to it compared to the original, but this was pointed out to me by Joe before he started and he cut a sample of leather off a roll so i could compare it. So its not a perfect match but looks so much better than it did. And the price? just £50. To trim a seat for that seems a cracking price for me and in future if i see something with a rip on a seat now, it wont put me off from making a bid on it. can thoroughly recommend him. Thanks for the heads up from Blenheim car sales.

I like them and buy them, but i do find them slow sellers.Typically i get anything from 08 to 13 plate. As others have said Lounge models sell quicker and alloys help. Check the door handles and also check the rear hatch release as the pins that secure the handle come out and you can then unlock the boot with the keyfob but not with the handle. Easy fix though ,just take off the handle and re-insert the pins and oil them.There is a youtube video showing this. If you have a battery tester check the battery condition as well as a weak battery can give you steering fault and start/stop fault messages. Watch out for the 95bhp multijet version as if you have to replace the glowplugs its a turbo and cat' off job as they are in the way of the glowplugs.

hopefully the Trim Tec guy recommended will be able to sort it, its always nice to have a few good specialists who can sort out issues like these.

I'm going to look at another but i will 'definitely' call you back, still waiting for those calls. Maybe their battery died.

thats not cheap, might look into seat repair training! wish it was just fabric seat, got a kit for that which has come in handy a couple of times. Leather is much trickier though

did think that ,can get a seat for around a ton, just wondered if someone could work their magic on it. Nice one, cheers for that. Will give him a bell and see if its something he can do. If he can then its really impressive, will let you know how it works out.

Just bought a fiat 500 multijet sport . quite a nice thing but the drivers seat bolster is torn.I just wondered if anyone knew of a good seat smart repair company near Wolverhampton. As it is perforated leather i dont hold out much hope of someone being able to fix it, but it seems a better first step than just replacing the complete seat. Does anyone know someone?

Haven't got a dash cam myself although i keep meaning to get one. This guy is very clued up on them though and does good in depth reviews of them.....http://www.techmoan.com/what-is-the-best-dashcam/

Same here, he has shown me a video of him teaching in class and watching him control a class of about 30 kids 13-14 years old was very impressive. He is only 19 and i said to him well done its something I couldn't do myself. I think as a teacher you need to be pretty unflappable and calm when the little shits i mean angels give you grief! I can imagine me as a teacher with an empty classroom as all the kids are in detention! Its funny how certain jobs suit certain people. I just like getting my hands dirty and fixing stuff, more hands on than academic.

dont know about the pipe as his mom has given up smoking and that would be a bridge too far, but i might see if Kia do accessories for him like a tweed jacket with elbow pads.

My son likes his beer (student) and he did mention getting a new car with his student bursary as he will get 10k bursary in his last year. he asked my opinion on decent cars after he had mentioned he likes bmw 1 series and scirocco's. Steered him clear of those as it sounds like another corsa in the making. I told him a 3 door Ceed would be decent ,say 2014 low miles and warranty remaining for about 7k, thought he would like that.......he then comes back with what do you think of Golf Gte's, he was thinking of spending 18k on one. Like what seems a majority of kids he is very brand conscious which isnt like his parents. Because he is getting the Ceed for free now he has agreed to save the 10k for a house. To me though it seems amazing that kids these days are willing to get massive loans just for a flash car, my son included, luckily we have talked or more likely 'bought' him round! Its got aux in and usb, but he likes spotify so has already mentioned a new stereo for it. Kids!

I know but it was his choice, I had a kia a fiesta and a 207. after driving all 3 he preferred the kia. Thought he would pick the fiesta but i think he likes the idea of the Ceed as its low mileage,diesel and full service history. He is at uni studying to be a maths teacher ,so he has probably done the figures in his head! Yes its completely free for him,jammy sod. Wish i got something like this at his age. Its got aux in and usb, but he likes spotify so has already mentioned a new stereo for it. Kids!

Thanks for all the replies. I'm not limited and I'm under the vat threshold as its a part time job for me. Doorstepper but all taxes duly done, I'll invoice him the full amount of £3150 and the wife can pay it into my account and I'll then just withdraw it from the business and pay her back. Got to keep the paper trail!

Hi all, my sons Corsa has started to have a nasty rattle on the top-end. As its old and miley I have decided to give him a car from stock. Its a Kia Ceed worth around £3600 but I want to make no profit on it as its a gift. It stands me around £3150 all in. What would be the best way to sort the paperwork for this. It might be obvious but Im not sure how to play it? Any suggestions appreciated.

Go for it. Just had a look on At and they are all 4k plus . You cant lose with this one. Even if its a sticker you could drop it to silly money at 3k and it should go quick then and earn you a tidy profit. Wish i got px's like this!

If asked for a discount then depending the cars interest I might tell them the car is well priced but i can give them £50 off for a full tank of fuel. If not happy with that then i dont mind chipping £100 off if 1)i think they are going to walk and 2) its a sticker of a car that I'd like rid of. I'm sure I earn less margin than most of you on here ,but its enough for me and the customer always feels like they have won if they get a small discount.

Ahhh cheers

What oil was it for £45? that does seem a really good deal

Hi,just thought i would post a deal up at eurocarparts at the mo. Shell helix ultra 5w-30 is reduced to just 32.49 but with the code BLACKFRIDAY at 50% off its just £16.25 a can. Great oil for £16.25, free same day delivery too, got 4 myself! And no i don't work for Eurocarparts!

Have a 207 on cg at the mo. Have had 5 emails requesting info/test drive. Replied to all of them and got zero replies. Got the missus to make an enquiry on it and my reply went straight to her spam folder. I'll still advertise there as its free and I'm tight but if sites like car gurus want to establish themselves they need to allow phone numbers in the ads. Maybe then sell the ads cheap just to grow their customer base. Someone needs to challenge Autoraper.

Amen!

Realise that what im buying is what the large outlets are all stocking,bread and butter stuff and I've been cutting my profit to match/beat them. Best to leave them to the mainstream stuff and as said by a few here find my niche,cheers.