DBDlloyds

Thanks Nick, that’s a breath of fresh air, at Aston’s the cars are started by the individual drivers and driven straight in leaving you no time to test anything. You are not allowed in the cars even when static with the ignition off. I know it wouldn’t stop buying troublesome cars but would certainly give you a bit more of an idea.... Cheers Dean.

Hi guys, Had my first visit to BCA Enfield yesterday and had a pleasant surprise. (Usually frequent Aston Barkley ) Got there early to view the cars I had selected as possible purchases and as usual axed 50% of them straight away. Anyway, waited for the auction to start and to my surprise a guy came out and walked along the line opening the cars and starting them. This allowed the traders time to get in the car test the clutch and other bits and pieces before it went through the hall. If this is BCA std practice it would have saved me a few expensive purchases in the last few months from other auctions. Anyway, as good as the above is I didn’t win a car as prices achieved were very high ha ha. I suspect this isn’t the norm but if anyone can confirm that would be great, Cheers, Dean.

Hi JKG, Its no problem trading from home as long as you are not putting price boards in the window or making a nuisance of yourself. You will be fine....

Hi JKG, Good luck to you and you are doing the right thing. Get yourself out of the house and get involved and you will soon be on your feet again. When you say you got a Job working from home what we’re you doing ? Along side helping someone why don’t you buy a couple of cars and start again slowly, do all the prep yourself and that will soon fill your time. best wishes Dean.

Welcome...

Happy new year all... Have a great evening and an even better 2019...

Hilarious....

Hi Wow, First of all I would like to welcome you to this forum. It is invaluable to any new starter. All I will say is please listen to the guys above, they may seem harsh but there feedback is born form experience. I am relatively new to this business and had a very similar idea to you but on a much, much smaller scale. The truth of the matter is you can make money from cheapies but it is very time consuming to get cars you have purchased for £400 to a position that they are ready for retail. In 15 months I have only had one car in this price range that I have been able to retail without a lot of prep and time. I do still sell cars at the lower end of the market and make some money but it is definitely not a business model you could ever do on the scale you are talking about. Spend a bit more, prep well and make a higher margin per sale. To be fair this is just basic business sense... don’t be a busy fool. In order to make a decent living you would have to sell cars that are not fit for retail and this is a recipe for disaster. regards Dean.

I agree with you on this.... for me the only impact the recent legislation has had for me is to increase the calls it seems. It is difficult as we have to answer calls in case it’s a potential sale opportunity. The trouble is the crafy buggers are ringing from mobiles now. For me I find it massively annoying, especially when you are quiet as you answer hoping it’s a punter and you get some bell piece asking about the accident you have recently had......

Welcome, I too have just entered my second year of trading and have experienced all of the above. I decided to stay with Bollington’s insurance for a second year although like you my premium increased. where are you guys based ? regards Dean.

You have the luck of the gods ha ha.... I must come to BCA with you so some of the good luck rubs off....

You will only be paying 40% tax on anything earnt over £46350. You will be paying 20% on anything from £11,850 to £46,000

Hey Grant, you are 3 miles from me... please send the busy this way but you can keep the crazy ! Ha ha.

This is for the basic advert... if you want the sponsored and mobile view priority it’s even more money. I have found that if you pay for the premium advert it’s worth it, but at the normal basic price i.e not sponsored I have better success on EBay Classifieds. It is very much dependent on cars. Honda - Volvo buyers will certainly look on Autotrader.

On the stock front I am back out trying to buy privately as I am struggling at auction. All I can say is it is logically a nightmare with private sellers blatantly lying about condition and even mileages. The last two I have viewed have had between 4 6 thousand miles more than advertised and been poo. The thing that amazes me is they do not give a shit. They are rude and don’t care if you buy their car or not.... 2 so far this month but low stocks...

Thanks Dave...

Thanks for your time... It’s really weird, by depressing the throttle half way and cranking it over it starts straight away and runs with no issues...

Yes Diesel...

Cheers Nick

Hi, thanks very much for this. Mine is different, it restarts fine when hot it is only from cold or cool engine stat ups.... Thanks again

Hi guys, I am having problems with a Honda 2.2 CDTI 2006 manual transmission.The car has covered 131,000 miles but got 12 main dealer stamps book. Car drives nicely but it does not like to start unless you depress the throttle pedal while cranking the engine. All that happens if you dont put your foot on the throttle is, it fires up, shudders and dies. As I say, as soon as running she runs smoothly.... I just wondered if this was something you guys had come across. many thanks....

Welcome to the forum Pete & good luck.

Great minds and all that. let see how they go. If they are good news let’s keep it to ourselves ha ha.

Morning James, I am based near Chelmsford in Essex so not far from you. I have been trading for a year now and my strategy has changed a million times. I started going to auction, got burnt a couple of times so decided to buy privately. After a few months I realised that this is a non starter. Logistically a nightmare because if I do buy the car I need a lift to pick it up, and more often than not you turn up to a car that is total poo. You ask them all of the right questions to be met with exactly the problems you have asked about. They then plead ignorance that they didn’t understand what you meant. Utter pricks... So, I am now doing exactly what Simon intermated in the post above. I pick a selection of cars to view at the auction, slim them down to what looks reasonable and bid on them.... most of the time I am massively out bid on these and end up buying something totally different. On Monday I ended up buying a Kia Sportage which is something I would never have considered to be fair. It’s a gamble as I have no idea if these are good news or not but it was worth a punt. Your company is set up very differently to mine in terms of Prestige. I would love to be where you are but it does limit you a bit.... This is the toughest thing I have ever done in my life and I love and hate it in equal measures some days. Overall I believe I can and will make a success of this but where I will be in a years time in terms of stock and strategy is nobody’s guess... Best of luck Dean.

Where are you Del, I am in South Woodham....