Jimbo

Hi guys trying to pitch this right on the financials as we are looking at getting a new rental on a yard for our business we will be looking to keep 10-15 cars in stock once we move. Locations we've highlighted are good for access although not highly visible from the main road so not really going to get tonnes of passing trade. May i ask roughly what you think acceptable rates for a pitch hosting 10-15 cars? do any of you pay per sale for your agreements on the rates? If so can i ask roughly how much per car sale (£50-£100 etc) or is it mainly just a flat rate per month? thanks in advance massively helpful

The cheaper stuff sub £3k still gaining half decent interest. But the cars over that literally ground to a bit of a halt. Hence just a quick check in to ensure we arent missing a decent platform to list them on! AT, ebay and facebook is it for now. Will look into motors to see their costings

The going seems a bit slow at the moment (maybe its just me!) i use autotrader and ebay for the main ads. I also occassionally try facebook and friday ad. I look on autovillage and cargurus but dont seem to be able to list cars on there. Motors.co.uk - is that any good? How much do they charge anywhere else thats good to try? i have cheaper cars around the £2k-£2.5k mark which usuallt sell fairly quick. Although the stuff around £5k-£6k seems to stick around too long. Thanks in advance

Thanks. I do have an accountant onboard now but i always do my spreadsheets from previous business and give him the spreadsheet, bank statements and reciepts and he does the rest Thanks mate i was just wondering if im on the right lines so i can keep ontop of vat and tax i need to pay are my sums right in first post as to how to set it all out and account for it?

Hi guys another vat question sorry i think i will prob exceed £85k turnover in this first year - prob not that hard when you sell a handful of £5k-£10k cars!! i am keeping a stockbook spreadsheet where i list all the details as per lawgistics and record margin and record vat on that margin now i have my accounts spreadsheet which details all other stuff like web design, adverts, prep stuff. Am i right to put all my expenses with any vat associated in my outgoing tab. And then incoming tab im listing all the cars sold. But instead of allowing the auto vat sum to do 20% of the sale price of the car im overwritting it with the margin vat from my stock book figure. This should then give me a spreadsheet showing all my expenses and the vat ive paid. Then other spreadsheet showing all vat i need to pay via margin scheme. And lastly a little sum to subtract off my expenses vat from vat i need to pay from sales. Have i got that right? Dont want to make mistakes early ********** quick 2nd question; how do you reconcile bank account with cash coming in ? For example if you sell a car for £1,000 cash and pay £400 of that cash in and use the remaining £600 to buy another car it wont match your sales spreadsheet for that day as youve used some money to buy more stock in cash ************** many thanks!!!

Thanks. are the fields i put above for my stock book spreadsheet or do i need more info

Bollingtons for me. Superb so far and great price

Planning for next year and possibly going vat registered. I have just about got my head around the margin scheme but also read you need to keep your accounts plus a stock book can this stock book be a simple xcel spreadsheet or does it literally have to be a book? Currently ive set up a spreadsheet but is this enough info.... date bought / price paid / make model / reg number date sold / sell price / profit and then all your expenses and prep work goes on your normal accounting spreadsheet right?? lastly, is Xero a good software to use that also helps keep vat and margin vat easy to note and keep on top of??

Will do thanks you. Can i ask where you're based Thanks for all the replies and yes gather its a bit of an open ended question!! would rather not deal in auctions as i have this vision of everyone just wanting same cars and coming away empty handed every time or paying over odds will keep building relations with local dealers and also look at private side thanks guys

Hi guys being in my first proper year of trading i am really enjoying it so far...! i have a decent sales background in and out of car sales and work extremely hard on customer service side of things. Main issue is getting a decent supply of stock. I dont want to use auctions so looking at other avenues this may be an age old secret and no one will want to share but what are the best routes to try to gain stock? i have an agreement with 1-2 local traders to buy their trade ins which is great but i usually sell out before they have more stock. Got a meeting lined up with a main dealer to buy some trade ins which would be great. But where else? Do you make trade offers to private sellers on ebay and AT? What about dealerbid? Thanks in advance for any advice

Called hpi today. She said lots of people are on these old style (much better) tarrifs but they cant offer these deals your on anymore :-(

Hi yeah just something to seperate sales of cars coming under margin vat and another spreadsheet for all other ins and outs under normal vat? until i need to register for vat i'll just use my normal basic spreadsheet ive used for other ltd companies would be good to know though as vat threshhold wont take much to pass

Thanks. I have been emaling them constantly and best offered was £40 a month for 5 hpis with valutations or £72 for 10hpis with valutions plus a £72 setup fee neither sounded like good value to be honest can i ask what "plan" you're on with those rates and if its a contract setup

Thanks i asked hpi about an account but you habe to take a min of 5 hpi / valuations a month at around £40 a month plus £75 setup fee but each valuation you do has to also do an hpi check which is overkill just for pricing a potential part ex then each hpi check over 5 cars is £4.20 o top each

Would u say CAP is worthwile for year 1 to get to grips with market conditions etc? £620 for the year plus vat and then maybe go without the following year

Evening guys does anyone have an example or template cash book ledger i could be emailed please. Or a spreadsheet used to detail the car sales in and out and the general sales in and out please

Cheers guys think i may have to bite the bullet and go for a year of cap and see how my general pricing knowledge is in a years time to see if i still want to fork out for it i think it'll definitely help to know if im buying cars at the right trade price to leave enough profit in the retail price all well and good looking at Autotrader prices but they also vary a lot and just because a car is £5k on autotrader still doesnt mean it will actually sell for that

Where do most source their cars from in thatcase mate Is this really accurate at all? Apparently all price guides online like autotrader, parkers etc etc are completely useless from what i read no?

Hi thanks very much i was planning on using a spreadsheet for my books. Detailing all purchases (cars and all other expenses) and another tab for all my incoming sales is there a basic tax accounting spreadsheet anyone can share/email to me? sounds like i need a spreadsheet just for car sales in, another for car sales out and another 2 for general purchases and general sales excluding cars like mots i do for clients and any other incoming revenue Thanks. The business model is to buy/sell cars but also offer other services. - I would like to charge a commission to sale/return clients cars - do you know the general rate for this? Is 10% of sale of their car fair? - i would like to charge a commission to find cars for people. Is there a going rate for "finders fee"? Im assuming any commission for this will be on my seperate "normal vat" spreadsheet not the margin one?!

Thanks guys yes fairly new and appreciate knowledge over time is key how much is the basic glasses app? do most dealers buy from auctions then if not through bigger dealers?

Hi guys Spent a couple of months researching which tool to use. They vary so much between these supposidly big 2. I will probably be pricing up maybe 20 cars a month via clients offering part ex cars plus when i go to garages to look at the trade ins they have available. Of those 30 cars i'll probably be buying about 5-10 a month so i didnt really want the hpi cap package which means you have to hpi each one - i'll only hpi the 5-10 i actually buy. Glasses offer £620 plus vat for unlimited valuations. Cap now also do a £620 "valuations anywhere package for unlimited valuations but on their one you have to pay it all at once. Is it true that cap prices are more accurate? would the best route to go for me be the Cap valuations at £620 upfront then just buy hpi's as/when needed rather than sign up for cap hpi and be spending around £140 a month?! to run the business properly i personally cant just use autotrader prices to gauge part ex and retail prices at the moment

Morning Jim thank you so much for taking the time to reply its very kind can i just ask why vat is £166 on a £1k bill and not 20% of £1k which i thought would be £200 So effectively every single used car trader and garage are on the margin vat scheme? Hmrc made it sound like it was really hard to be a part of it. Problem i was having as asked in question 4 was surely anyone not in the margin scheme cant operate (If you sell a £60k GTR you would have a £12k vat bill but only have made £4k for example). Is no one on a traditional "vat on turnover"? i was trying to work that out yesterday thinking about a friends £30k car i was going to offer SOR and make around £1k commission but then though "oh crap vat on that £30k sale is £6k so i'd actually be £5k down!!! Just to clarify, if you offer other services such as mot's that goes on the seperate vat spreadsheet for income not on the margin one?

Hi guys been reading the forum for months but now trading i have some specific questions i cant get my head around. Some experienced insight would be great please i am currently trading from home but looking at potential small sites to use. First query is about vat. Just Selling a couple of £4-5k cars a month will put me over the threshold. I have read about the vat margin which is great but; 1- do you keep one set of accounts for just the purchase and sale price of each car and pay the margin vat on all profit? 2- do you then keep a seperate account/spreadsheet for all other expenses in and out like trade plates, insurance, stationary, advertising outgoings and other business incomes like mot and servicing and then pay normal vat (minus costs) on all that turnover? 3- if you buy your stock from a fairly large independent dealer are you still ok to qualify for the margin vat scheme? 4- if you arent in margin scheme how is it possible to make any money on selling cars once vat registered. Example - buy a car for £8k and sell for £10k. £2k profit. But the vat due on that £10k sale is £2k unless im missing something!! 5- if you offee sale or return do you account for the whole selling price as shown in question 1 or just the commission you earn? 6- what are the markets normal commission rates to offer clients when doing sale or returns? I was thinking 10% of sale price with a £1k minimum base rate. Im so keen to get this right and make a real go of the business but some of these q's are really frying my brain! thanks in advance J