NOACROSS

Looks awesome Dave (the view, not the idiots knackered spring) How do you heat the place? Oil fired radiators and log burners?

Are you sure the chain hasn’t stretched. I had this on one a while back.

Good stuff. Gotta be happy with that from 28! We’ve done a couple more than you, but with more in stock. Let’s hope February continues in the same vein. (Rory will come along now and say he’s done 45 and skink our battleships ;o)

(Only slightly) off topic: I was speaking to a local estate agent this morning (I know they lie) and we got on to cars etc. and what I do/where the site was- and he said ‘does anyone still advertise on Autotrader?’ I said ‘yes, loads do but not me as they’re robbing greedy bastards’..as I do. I then wondered about Rightmove etc. Apparently it cost them about a grand a month to advertise up to 50 properties with photos and all that similar thing to Autoraper. He was moaning about that! Anyway, who owns Rightmove? I wondered if they could successfully Segway into the car market as they clearly have the brand and market share. I would have thought it wouldn’t be too difficult a thing for them to do.

I hate Autoraper with a passion and do absolutely blooming fine without them, but EPV is correct. I wouldn’t even bother considering mentioning them or targeting them as you won’t get near their penetration. However, you are right about Google being clever and stepping on long tails/bringing your ads up. More and more people I sell to are simply searching in the google bar. Good luck to you though. We sell a fair proportion to the local community, but that is more due to us building the brand I think over many years, although used cars in my area’ is a big search hit. Umesh is right also, in that these companies do not listen to us as we are not their cumstomers or the target customer. That is the punter. Find and Fund were /are a prime example of what not to do. Car Gurus works OK for me also, but I know this isn’t true for many others.

This is one of the (many) reasons I stopped advertising with them a couple of years ago. No particularly fair or sensible bulk-buy discount. (That and many other reasons we’ve done to death on here previously I won’t go into again just yet for fear of stirring it up again ;o)

Brilliant. Surprised he doesn't want to be a motor trader and start a site up. (Sorry Lucas, couldn't help myself)

We do well with these- particularly if you can find a n auto. Apart from the above mentioned issues, they have a Landrover-esque front hub set up where it's a fixed ball stub axle(?) where the gubbins slide over the sphere. These rust and can be a killer if need to replace it all. Scottish Dave or someone else might be able to put the above into non-t**t language. ;0)

I’ve tried to watch this a few times now. You’re right. I’d be just about to do the first bit maybe.

I think Lucas should start a thread and ask for help etc just on that one thread (and not add another for a while? Rather than posting a new one every uptime. In the Private Lounge anyway. I will enjoy helping him if I can and, will be a fun read. Obviously the heading is ‘Mates!’ :o)

An obvious observation maybe but: Not used Shopck myself but did look on it once and got annoyed/bored/angry very quickly. For me the problem with that and Gumtree is the way it lists items as a scrolling ranking list by date and time. If your car is four pages down because it was listed two or three weeks ago plus, then I think people either don’t see it or they assume it’s an old ad and probably sold. Most enquiries I get from Gumtree start with ‘is this still for sale?’ Imagine Autoraper and others listing by this default. I’m surprised Gumtree do it this way and they’re missing an obvious trick for car sales It’s OK for a listing for some old tat you’ve got to sell in your shed but for me is flawed for cars. They give you a few ‘bump up’ opportunities a month but doesn’t solve the issue.

I USED to see a load of traffic wardens at a site we had in town. Was a nightmare trying to get cars out or move the site around, as the minute you parked one on the (single) yellow lines, the bastards would be all over you and tickets were a constant headache. The people who run that site now actually leave three cars out front marked up at all times. Never get a ticket. Same with Trading Standards- are they about anymore in regards to hassling you for this sort of thing? Would it not just be a polite conversation asking you to add or remove something? On my print ads, I just list the Finance company small print, and put STS etc as Mark said. Life's too short to be constantly looking at your feet for holes in the ground. Gotta look up and enjoy the view. ;0)

Absolutely. I pointed to this in the fourth reply to this thread. It is not the same car that you sold them. Fair wear and tear yes, but after a collision- no. £3400 is far too generous. However- if you've agreed to do this, then it's probably best not to cause a potential riot by going back on it. Learn and move on I guess.

Many are called. Few are chosen Umesh. ;0)

Here on the south cost, the older generation make up a large part of the area- and even more so in the outskirts of the little village/town we are in- so this I think is one of the reasons it works for us. I'm not sure a quarter page is big enough- especially if you're appealing to the older reader. I always go for a half or whole page when I do it. A quarter might work for a 'cars wanted' ad though.

Yes- the analogy should be a big upside umbrella. :0)

Yeah- the older generation are internet-savvy for sure. Well most of them. There are some (plenty of our customers) who refuse to get involved and their phones are old /tiny old Nokias. The print ad works on two levels for us: It definitely raises your brand profile and awareness in the local and wider conurbation. Same as all the really important to do SEO work (we use the excellent Click Dealer for that and the Facebook that I also don't really understand). It's hard to measure the 'guaranteed results' as it is a fishing trip that is on going where you've gotta keep casting your net and ensuring your net is big and strong and being constantly cast and improved. I sold a car the other week to a nice 82 year old (VW Tiguan) who found us by typing 'VW Tiguan for sale" into the Google bar. I see it (and the odd press advert) as handing out thousand of business cards a day. I think it was Nick who said something along the lines of the internet being a rain shower, and you, your ads etc are like an umbrella- and your umbrella needs to be as big as possible. (This is why I also leave sold car on the website ages and, infact, I'm very slow to even mark them as sold. Have sold many cars to customers interested in the sold ones this way, as you often have something coming in to suit, or something already in stock)

We do well with the weekly local rag advert. However, the clientele in the area are ‘older’.

Uh. Will sell at a price. Nice and reliable. Hopefully you’ve kicked them in the unmentionables for it.

Sold plenty. Has it got any spec? Mileage?

Yay. Good stuff.

This. (Great minds JL:) We sell a fair few like this - well, it goes in fits and starts- but as long as you do the job properly there is nothing to worry about. Especially the non-existent DSRules. Lawgistics covered this subject a while back and if it's not a regular/ major part of your business then there is no problem. On delivery, the customer test drives and checks over and signs their life away, and then transfers the balance- so technically you could argue it is in fact not distance selling as the 'buying' is done on their doorstep.. The 'deposit' is also a 'reservation fee' and they pay the delivery driver separately where delivery is not included.

Exchange & Mart Car Gurus

What was the car they're trying to fund Mark? Who did you try?

Eurojag would/should be able to supply a used part. They're very approachable. I could be wrong, but I would have thought that when the window is open, you can remove a piece of trim and see the wire and disconnect without much effort. I would get my local friendly sparky to do it though and I doubt he'd charge me. As above otherwise if you want it working. Most people are unaware the glass opens as I say, so up to you.