D&M

Saab 9-3 B204 turbo 11months mot Full history etc Clean tidy car! V reg After finally extracting some more info from the guy, offered him a generous £400 (CAP Clean £190) he was mightily insulted. He was giving me the oppertunity to buy a future classic. A quick browse on Facebook Marketplace, I find the advert the guy bought it from. He's had the car only a couple of weeks, bodywork is battered. The price he paid for this future classic a couple of weeks ago..... £440 ono

We haven't retailed any write offs, but would have thought is would be a bit easier since the new catergories ame in... Well, easier for cars that have had light damage at least. A Cat S marker surely would be the kiss of death for 90% of people. Before, with C and D, you couldn't really tell how severe the damage was as it was in relation to the value of the car vs repairs (although I guess knowing the date of the write off could give an indication - but only an indication) The new system seems much simpler N= Non Structural, S=Structrual.

The AA is £15 a month for the two of us on personal cover, and includes a tow to our choice of destination. Unlimited callouts too. I think the speed just depends on how local the patrols are to you. I think they aim to be with you within 40 mins, which isn't bad. But I think if you are stranded in a live lane or somewhere dangerous, you are prioritised and they come out quicker. Touch wood, we haven't had to use them.

We're with AA - I asked, and have confirmation that they cover motor trade vehicles and told us to take out personal cover. Green Flag however, do not - as we found out sat in a car park with the bonnet up! They had changed their policy T&Cs a couple of months earlier.

We had one this morning on a Lexus we have, wanted £990 off the asking price. Plus free delivery to Scotland We are based in North Devon!

Usually try to improve or tweak something - then immediately ruin it. Boom - Instantly there is something to do!

We've got just under 1000 sqft, can fit 7 inside (8 if one is a Smart car!) with parking for 3 outside. No seperate office room, but a desk to complete paperwork and a W/C washroom.

I'd say with a Polo, it'd be more important to have an AUX input or Bluetooth.

I don't know why you'd bother offering an incentive. We were told by a Yell.com rep that we should just make reviews on behalf of previous customers. When questioned about the legitimacy of that practice, we were told that its OK as we are only writing 'what they would have said' So, by that standard you can put that £10 per fake review you leave in a pot and go out and get leathered at the weekend!

The 2.0 Auto is the £540 tax one. This one is £290 for a 1.6 with just 105HP - How they've managed to get a 1.6 to be so slow, and such high emmissions I don't know. The Lacetti has a little provenance - it was Top Gears car for a while, wasn't it. When we worked on a pitch we had a Lacetti hatch, got the rear bumper painted - swiftly followed by me backing it into a tap sticking out of the wall, and partner backing it into anoth car. They must have put magnets in the paint on that thing We find it so hard to choose a car for ourselves, we try to buy something - but we buy it cheap and its worth £x retail - makes no sense to keep it! As long as it starts, drives and the heater works we are happy. Shame customers don't have the same low expectations!

I don't want to make you all jelous, but we are cruising around in a Chevrolet Tacuma 1.6. Seriously though, we just use the shittest car we have taken in PX to run around in - we're lucky enough to live only a mile or so from our unit so its only a 10-15 minute walk, and the PX is there if we need to go anywhere.

We had that on an Astra van not so long ago. Had to drill the stuff as even petrol wouldn't dissolve it! Engine was breathing through a straw sized hole - went like a rocket when it was cleared out though!

Call them and find out.

Tells you on the letter how to display trade plates correctly. In the windows isn't the correct way. Trying to display them correctly has had plenty of threads about it.

We've got a rubber brush from our AutoSmart rep - works a treat https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0039FYRAM/ref=asc_df_B0039FYRAM58573470/?tag=googshopuk-21&creative=22122&creativeASIN=B0039FYRAM&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309819532054&hvpos=1o3&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3382553255567681709&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045293&hvtargid=pla-564287837468

The guy we used to work for offered the same for a 2.7 Hyundai Coupe, sold almost instantly after advertising it with 6 months tax!

Bought a '57 PT Cruiser 2.4 - Advertised as manual so £315 p/a, no problem... After buying, looking throuh the pictures and can see 'N' on the dash.... Looked through the other pictures, not clear enough to see the gear selector or a clutch pedal. Shit - its Auto. £540 a year... We're going to have this one FOREVER. Very relieved when we went to collect and its got a clutch pedal.... The 'N' on the dash was because the car was facing North... Who the heck needs a built in compass?!

We went straight onto Gold, and had to buy 9 cars at hammer price of £1k + within 3 months to keep Gold for the year. Same as Manheim, when we applied we had to prove that we had a Gold BCA membership and they put us on their membership that was equal.

Right, that makes sense. We were totally the opposite - when we started, we were Manheim and BCA only. After a run of shit cars, we started to look at smaller, independant auctions and we buy mostly from there as their fees as so much less than the big 2. The independants we go to, they are usually smaller main dealer group part ex's, if you get their early enough you can have the keys to have a good look and they'll even take you for a drive around the block in it. We'd happily buy more from private, but have had so many experiances of seeing peoples old sheds, or traders acting as private that means it has got to be something worth paying attention to for us to go and see it. Unlike you, we are quite rural so private sellers are few and far between. Agree totally with the last bit. When starting, we were over-prepping way too much - I'm sure most here have done the same. And with time, you learn what's acceptable and what isn't, and learning what issues you can get sorted and ready to retail easily.

Indeed it wasn't - just putting our experiance down for the OP. Just trying to offer some experiance. Just pointing out to the OP that (in our area particularly) that he needs to be wary that not all private sellers are private, so a car that looks a good deal might not be. Just reducing risk further to his original post. I'm not really understanding the point you are making, as you say that you'd rather just buy from auction online as you don't want to travel to look at private sellers sheds but if you were to start again, you'd be doing just that.

Trouble with AT is that they give private sellers a price guide - so if someone is selling cheap, there is a reason for it! We browse the classifieds a lot, and the amount of cars we see advertised as private that were going through the auction last week is incredible. May be different in other parts of the UK, but where we are, every man and his dog is a plastic trader. Would rather buy from the auction - at least if you buy a nail you don't feel like someone has tried to leg you over.

We've had a couple of Cooper S They've all felt totally different to drive, even though they were all roughly the same year and mileage. All have been a pain to sell, with little margins. The lower end of your budget, you are buying a high performance hot hatch (read - thrashed) and as they are quite cheap nowadays, it's previous owner is more likely to have run it on a shoestring. They are the only cars that we have had people view each single one and walk away from. No faults with the cars - need to check insurance / ask the wife/mum/dad/dog/etc. All other cars, almost always sell on the first viewing. Don't know a huge amount about them, think the engines and boxes are pretty solid. Rear wishbone bushes are pricey to replace. ABS Sensors, Window Motors I think are pretty common too. The pre-07 shape (R53) Supercharged is the better. The turbo ones from 07 on have engine troubles. Great fun to drive though! - Wouldn't buy another to retail.

off the top of my head.... when browsing the classifieds, people advertising their cars as 'trip-tronic' instead of 'tip-tronic' I don't know why, but that one just really gets my goat. May be more to come....

£2490 See what happens, if you don't ask - you don't get. We look out for oddball stuff, you can just put a number on it and there will be someone out there who will have it! Any potential buyer isn't going to find another one.

Hear hear! Can't stand the place, full of wanabee traders and idiots who think that your retail car is worth the same as a similar model thats 5 years older, twice the mileage and a write off. Regularly browse to buy, and have got a couple of bargains from there. But have seen so many people advertising cars that are photographed in lane at BCA and claiming its been in the family for years. And you run the risk of upseting some of the delicate souls who offer you a ridiculous price for your car, then they and all their pals slander you all over the place for fun and word can spread quickly. Having said that, you get what you pay for with advertising.... But each to their own, if anyone is making money from Facebook advertising- good luck to you!