NOACROSS

Busy here in the New Forest. All sorts of price ranges too weirdly and some heavy diesels finally! Yay! I guess we all get our turn! Trouble is- it’ll soon be bill day again!

They don't half get through reps! In our area anyway. (or used to at least when I was with them). Horrid job- I bet they get a load of stick -as they're the face of the company- as hopeless trying to call anyone whenever I tried.

So did Blockbusters ;o)

I use the FREE price guide on Hpi (search free Hpi valuations) and also the FREE one on Autotrader, plus will often see what WBAC says. We have a Manheim and a BCA account so obviously we get the CAP figures listed for anything we’re interested in. There’s so many cars on there you can often get a close guide price of anything you need to know. Also, we use RAC Passport check to ‘Hpi’ the cars coming in and that gives CAP values too. I don’t subscribe to any guides or Dealer Portal Price tool as they give it away free to the public as I say on their site. we are def not the cheapest so I take it all with a pinch of salt.. It’s funny, all the places you haven’t had luck with work really well for us- especially eBay Motors Pro (with best offer enabled) However Gumtree is hopeless.

I wouldn't agree it's scare stories at all, just peoples honest opinion who have been in the trade many, many years. Autotrader definitely didn't work for us in the end- not for the outrageous costs. We just ended up selling (maybe) a couple more a month, but it just paid their bill if we were lucky. We stock 3- 20k cars. Lots of people are rightly angry about their extortionate costs. I was angry because I remember them begging us to come on board many years ago when they started 'digital'. It was a pound a car from memory. Umesh is right- the vast majority of ads on there are trade. They would be lost without us but they really don't care. My main bug-bear was they don't really give you any bulk-buy discount and the site is cluttered with ads, sponsored ads, non-relevant banners and is hopeless. How many more price increases will people wear?! Hey- it's only my opinion (and that of many others) I know, but there will always be differing opinions. I'm just giving my point of view and experience of saving a fortune by cancelling without much loss to sales if any, and am just passing this info on for others to consider - as I'm sure they will with your opinion and make an informed choice from there. That's one of the great things about this forum in that you can share your ideas, knowledge and experience for others to heed or not. We still get people telling us they came from Autotrader and we haven't been with them for over a year! Plus just because the customer ends up on an autotrader site, it doesn't mean they started there. People don't just go to www.autotrader.co.uk but rather google search for the car etc and then click on a link from there. You also get pop up ads, banners etc for people to click through using other much better platforms like Car Gurus, Facebook, X&M, etc which are targeted to the browser. Plus, if you have an Autotrader website, they will end up there and think they 'found it on Autotrader' when that's not the case. This game is hard enough nowadays without Autotrader bleeding you dry/continually encroaching on your margin or stealing your finance business and getting you to pay for sponsored listings or telling you your cars are too expensive/ encouraging a price war/race to the bottom that is unsustainable. I agree though, you're right Umesh should cancel too. Others should just weigh it all up for themselves. Those that are happy with Auto Trader will carry on and should promote how pleased they are: those who aren't and won't should continue to shout their experiences from the hilltops, if it hasn't worked for them and want to share the savings they've achieved by leaving.

Daylight robbery. So glad I left them. Autotrader that is.

Agree totally. And love Fusions too. Even the semi autos do very well. Especially up to £3495. It’s great when you get a nice little PX earner and decent mark up from no outlay. Or when something comes in filthy with no history and it valets up a treat and you find the history in the seat pocket ;o)

You’re right and I’ve said all this to the ‘customer’. He just thinks we’re desperate to sell and I’m gonna take his daft offer. He still would have bid the same if he couldn’t find anything to moan about. :o) I’ve only had the car a month. Someone else will come along and not spot the valance (I didn’t and it’s nothing) but will sort it. The alarm message and parking sensor is something I’d usually do at sale, as they often have a little shopping list don’t they? It’ll need a new mot and Pdi. I bet the next customer is OK with this but we’ll see. Maybe I should do it now- just seems trivial-but the anoraks on this sort of car can be fussy. We’ve all had them.

No deposit - no sale. Idiots.

I’m soooo with you there!

Because we are paying for it I guess. They should have given it free or subsidised it to their dealers initially as said above. I have had a couple of enquiries and what’s looking like one sale-but it’s not signed, sealed and wrapped up yet. I spoke to the rep and they’re not budging on price it would appear. I think they’ll have to though, but what do I know.

Ha, no. One of the sensors not working and it sayalarm system service required' on the dash at start up. The lower valence is slightly misaligned -according to the customer. We would of course rectify this at the service and mot and said as much The car is lovely. My issue was, even at his daft prices to fix- where did the 3-3500 chip come from/how does it make sense in his world !

Gumtree yes. eBay certainly not. Long as it’s not on an eBay auction.

Is your website an AT one? Weekly I still get people telling me they saw it advertised on AT. We haven’t been with the idiots for well over a year!

Same old discussion of cost v reward. For me it was a no-brainer to dump them.

Yup. Agree totally. Just wish more would wake up and see the extortion for what it is. I meant by ‘stirring the nest’ that loads on here will agree with me and loads won’t. It’s an old moan so I should move on from worrying about it. Other people’s problems. ;o)

Do we like this one? Just had (snipped) email as below on an 11 grand car that the client/punter/gentleman viewed at length Saturday. Very polite though so that was nice.... ”....Good Evening. Have given the V70 some serious consideration I am genuinely interested. The rear parking sensors could be a simple sensor or a replace so anything from 150-650. The front lip needs rescuing as it’s quite untidy and that depends on the body shop options. The alarm service if it is the mass movement sensor is also 500 plus. I would like to offer you £7500-8000 for the car as it stands with the outstanding issues. I would genuinely keep it and cherish it.” He was so nice I almost wanted to say yes. ;o) I often wonder how much the public thinks we buy them for...

Hate. Hate. Hate. Greedy b******ds! So glad I dumped them -the best thing I ever did. (I can hear the hornet’s nest stirring...)

Yeah, thinking the same here. It's a shame. Did the rep or anyone say anything along these lines?

'It's not bargain hunt' love it! Should we have an award for best remark of the month competition? I don't really mind the offers to be honest. Mildly amusing and doesn't get to me. If you're super busy and flying then I could perhaps see it being annoying. Wish I was. Would be a nicer problem to have.

You're welcome - I just wish I was too busy to answer! ;0) I think if they are going to nick the reg numbers, they'll just drive past your house, or go to Tesco's car parks. You will alienate some buyers with cover plates- just my opinion though. Punters are often suspisious. They also need a reg to do a (easy) price comparison. I also (again somewhat controversially) wouldn't waste your money with Autotrader Highway Robbers- but we've debated this a lot on here before so I'll shut up now... Justina was mentioning you had one car 'including vat'. Did you understand this point? When you sell that car, you are stating that the invoice will show 20% vat as part of your total asking price, so a vat registered buyer could then claim back this amount of vat. I'm guessing you bought this car on the Margin scheme, so vat isn't applicable? Or did you buy it as an 'including vat' car? If you're not VAT registered I don't think you can pass on this vat element if you did. I may be wrong.

I would have left your sold cars (marked as sold) on your website as you only have a few. Would show some stability and trust. I’m weird about photos being the same for every car, same angles, same order, lots of shots etc and would recommended you find one location you like, whether it’s at home or a nice spot out somewhere, and photo everything there (and the video is a good idea but I’d have that after the photos.) I hate cover plates but I know others will say the opposite. Some customers will Hpi before enquiring for example and need the reg. although looks like you’ve only done it on the Nissan Note I don’t see the point in going on about the mot date currently and no advisories, and would offer a new, no advisory Mot at the asking price. Finally and somewhat controversial on here is the diesel issue: we can’t sell diesels for toffee (south coast) the last 18 month’s or so as have many others and have changed our business model to avoid them where possible. I see all your cars bar one, are diesel-something to consider. We have only done six cars this month and have 50 plus in stock- so I wouldn’t panic too much-just get used to it and prepare yourself for a long slog. Sometimes it’s just quiet It’s the best or worst job in the world, depending on if you’re selling. Rarely any inbetween. Good luck. You’ll need it! ;o)

Wow. Idiots are everywhere! Can’t see them having any recourse at all and would politely tell them where to go.

I It’s a trust thing no? Now DA is well established and everyone wants stock- prices are crazy as every home trader and his dog has a DA account. The dealer direct stuff is like when you see things from a non-franchised Dealer at your local auction -you run a mile. And there I would agree with you as in my mind it’s someone else’s trouble and once the hammer goes down you’ve bought it DA’s success works on (hopefully) honest descriptions and usually the chance to see the car and sit in it etc before paying. Also you get to know the good ones from not so good. I know it would work really well for us if we could list our px’s or overage stock on there. (Or a similar platform if it existed but trouble is, it isn’t as easy as it sounds to set up) The afore-mentioned S3 is a prime example of ‘some’ of us not wanting something when it comes in, only for it to make fortunes at the block. Same with the forum member with that high mileage Prius & I wouldn’t want either of them- but you may well do. It’s just old fashioned networking that seems to have died since the internet came along. Would any of you have bought it for more than the dealer could have got it in for/what WBAC gave. For sure. To be fair though, if I was a Main Dealer I’d much rather raffle it on DA than go back to the old way of a few traders vying for the px’s along with ‘drinks, and backhanders etc. I definitely don’t think every PX we get is crap, but one man’s meat and all that...and whether a car ends up being px’d with us or the Main Dealer doesn’t mean it’s good or bad.

Yeah, seen them at loads of miles and still going strong. You just know if you retailed one it’ll go wrong or the customers expectations will be an issue. Would be my luck anyway. Will be interesting to see what they do with it.