Earunder

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Posts posted by Earunder

  1. Posted

    9 minutes ago, David Horgan said:

    There isnt any long distance selling if you have a showroom/ pitch open to public access , we always ask for a copy of their driving licence with that delivery address on as well . 

    Are you sure?  Soooo many stories out there of dealers being hit with a DSR claim / refusal.  

    Luckily we've not been hit so far, yes a warranty claim here and there but not to the extent of a full refund including delivery costs within 30 days.

  3. Posted

    Ebay is there just for brand awareness and to keep popping up on customers searches.  We don't reply to Ebay messages as it's pure drivel full of time wasters and people making silly offers or messages like "best price?".

    Your stock levels should perform well on AutoTrader and CarGurus.

    I wouldn't do anything else apart from them and a decent social media campaign on Facebook.

  4. Posted

    19 hours ago, Joshua said:

    To be financially strong, you need to focus on money management and also give time to learning even you can learn with TypeMyEssays.com whenever you feel like learning or when you have time, there are many peoples who can help you in this matter with alot of positive responses though

    there are many peoples...  Ahhh brothers... this is where you went wrong.

    On 6/28/2018 at 8:29 PM, PSJ said:

    I hold roughly 20 cars in stock  value £3,000 and £10,000

    how many fainsnce applications would I accept ? 

    Just applied for FCA credit licence 

    Too many factors to say how many you will accept.  You could get 100 applications on a 60 plate Fiesta and only get 1 person accepted but they can't afford the repayments.  You never know.

    On an average, most independent dealers do around 30-35% of their sales via Finance.

  5. Posted

    It's pretty straight forward to be honest.

    Deliveries we use Movex or deliver ourselves if not too far.

    We request payment to be made 24 hours prior to delivery date.

    We send a video of the outside and inside of the car showing all and any marks / scratches / cosmetic defects.
    We do a brand new MOT with all our vehicles and a PDi.
    Movex also do a Cosmetic PDi on collection and delivery.

    We only take a deposit (£250) but don't take full payment over the phone.  Bank Transfer only for the remaining balance.

    You must make sure you're red hot on your DSR, CSR'2015 and ROW.  If you're not and you're unsure on anything, don't get involved as it can bite you in the bum selling to the wrong customer who will pull your pants down.

    • Like 1

  6. Posted

    Average figures from what I and a few others have figured out are:

    Standard Package:  £85 - £110
    Premium Package:  £135 - £160

    Prices are per car, per month and including VAT.
    All including Dealer Finance.
    Excluding any other charges or products.

    Compare that to:
    CarGurus - 100 cars = £450
    Ebay - unlimited cars = £245
    AA - 120 cars = £495
    Motors - 100 cars = £175

    Try to find out if CarGurus are advertising strongly in your area on social media and Adsense.  If they are then that's a no brainer.  They've been our best ROI for about 4-5 months, but they do tend to change their advertising focus so you must ensure you keep on top of tracking it and complain when your response goes down.

    2 minutes ago, Earunder said:

    Average figures from what I and a few others have figured out are:

    Standard Package:  £85 - £110
    Premium Package:  £135 - £160

    Prices are per car, per month and including VAT.
    All including Dealer Finance.
    Excluding any other charges or products.

    EDIT - The other 3 "price plans" / "packages" from Auto Trader are useless so don't bother.

    Compare that to:
    CarGurus - 100 cars = £450
    Ebay - unlimited cars = £245
    AA - 120 cars = £495
    Motors - 100 cars = £175

    Try to find out if CarGurus are advertising strongly in your area on social media and Adsense.  If they are then that's a no brainer.  They've been our best ROI for about 4-5 months, but they do tend to change their advertising focus so you must ensure you keep on top of tracking it and complain when your response goes down.

     

  8. Posted

    Ok, so this is a new one!

    Today at Bedford there were cars that appeared to have come from Manheim???  Not bad stock lines but no reports on them though.

    I know the BCA prices have been making a good few hundred over the Manheim prices since November but surely not enough for another AH to put cars through...  Conspiracy theories please...

    Being Bought Out?
    Testing a new selling strategy?
    Getting rid of the cr@p stuff that have issues?
    Marketing Strategy?  It got me and a few others talking about it.

    Guess we shall find out in a couple of months.

  9. Posted · Edited by Earunder

    12 hours ago, Del Boy said:

    What kind of success rate are you guys having when the opening line (over the phone) is ‘hi, what’s the best price on this car?’

    I’ve had it loads recently and they’ve been nothing but time wasters 

    0% - Put it this way, I don't put any pressure on our guys if they don't answer these queries.  I prefer to not deal with them as they are more often than not wanting something for nothing.  Wheels done cause 1 has a slight scratch, a panel sprayed because there is 1 stone chip on it, 2 years warranty upgrade for free, etc.  They are usually on site for about 2 hours, taking up a salesman time and more often than not mine as they haggle for more.  Someone else can deal with that.  

     

  10. Posted · Edited by Earunder

    4 minutes ago, the old novice said:

    Am just in process of applying for my plates.

    OK,so this might be a piss brained idea but can you can remove the existing reg plates and display those in the car window and simply attach your trade plates in the now vacant aperture?

    Display of trade plates

    A trade plate:
    • should be displayed in a vertical position
    • must be visible and easily readable from a distance between 18 to 22 metre
    • can be displayed anywhere on both the front and rear (rear only for motorcycles)
    • cannot be displayed inside a vehicle
    • must not cover the vehicle’s existing number plates (except for motorcycles).

    Make of it what you will.

  12. Posted

    15 hours ago, trade vet said:

    What I don’t understand is how are AT allowed to charge wildly fluctuating rates for different customer accounts for offering the same platform service.I have never heard of anyone being charged anywhere near the equivalent of £11k for 70 cars per month.I think Earunder would be better off using an agency if you can still do that.

    As I said, I do quarterly checks on where our leads and sales come from and I am lowering our package with AT as it is too expensive to keep 3/4 of our stock on there.  

    Maybe it's the area I don't know.  It equates to £139.41 p/m per car including VAT which is from what I have heard, under the local average for the package we are on.  Still absurd, I agree.  Smaller cheaper cars that sit around for 3 months means your selling at cost or a loss, makes no sense, but that's been this industry for the last 18 months.  Getting crazy now though with the AH prices with the majority over CAP clean.

    On the heavier vehicles I never had any concerns due to them selling every 6 weeks but now the margins are shrinking and turn around days rising it means the advertising costs are going up even without the April price increase.

  13. Posted

    38 minutes ago, trade vet said:

    72 @11 grand per month,I think you need big refund,they are ripping you off.

    They are ripping off everyone but it's the only platform that gets customers for vehicles over £15k over the line.  Put it down to trusting the platform, the huge brand awareness of AutoTrader, I don't know.  I can't remember the last time a customer that bought a vehicle from over £15k came from anywhere else other than Auto Trader / Recommended By A Friend / Existing Customer / Local Customer.  This and the fact we have spent thousands on our own Brand Awareness, Local Advertising, Social Media Advertising and SEO.

    From what I've heard from other dealers advertising around my level we are all on pretty much the same, although some aren't with Premium and are on Standard.  I do believe there are still some different prices for different parts of the country or for those who they think HAVE to do it.  I'm not quite sure why dealers don't ask dealers at the AH what packages each are on.  For me and a few I know, we are always discussing expenses and deals we get from Lenders and every now and then AT pop up in convo.  Should seriously get talking with each other, otherwise everyone is just assuming everything without knowing the full story.

    One of the dealers I know swears by AT and advertises 100 vehicles, only dealing with cars between £3k and £15k but only uses AT and a free Facebook page and doesn't spend on anything else.  He has been around for the best part of 20 years also and seems to be doing very well still.

    I've always said, it works for some and not others and am a firm believer in that "motto" as it's very true.  We came out of AT about 18 months ago but noticed our heavier cars were not moving as quickly and after 3 months out decided to go back with a 30 number advertising package with just our highest priced cars and low and behold, they moved quicker with a higher margin.  Due to that we moved back to an 80 car package within 6 months and have been on that now for over a year.  As I mentioned previously though I'm looking at other potential advertising sources now as the margins in this industry are getting smaller and add to that the incoming price increase with AT something has to change or give.

    I will in no way say AT is the be all and end all by any means.  There are dealers out there with no AT who do very well for themselves off social media and SEO alone.  We also spend A LOT using those mediums too and they do provide very good ROI.

    8 minutes ago, CRW said:

    That's where I am, around 15-20 units, but in the £4k to £10k bracket, anything heavier is buy to order.

    Run it by myself, working 7 days a week, by which I mean tied to the site unless i'm away collecting.

    Always aspired to go bigger, but these days can see the benefit of holding steady. Have never advertised with AT or had any contractual form of advertising (Gumtree, Ebay etc).  Perhaps I have missed out on something, who knows.

     

    I wouldn't say you've missed out on anything.  Only advice/recommendation I could give would be to try a 5 tier package, (Pay as you go I think, not sure but call them and see) then only advertise your oldest stock.  That way you've got the photo's, the video, basically everything ready to go.  Use them as like a last resort and see if it helps move the cars that seem to stick after 61 days or whatever you're release days are.  You've got to always try advertising platforms, advertising mediums, etc to see if they work.  Budget for a 3 month stint and if you can afford to, then try it and see.  Some will pay off, some won't.  Don't stretch yourself.

    At the current climate, I wouldn't recommend jumping into getting more overheads, as I mentioned previously I'm looking at ways to cut our over heads as I can see a testing time for the industry this year.  Hopefully I'm wrong, but with the prices at the AH's at an all time high and the retail prices still dwindling it usually only leads to 1 thing.

  14. Posted

    1 minute ago, CRW said:

    I think the term "bonus" might be taking it a bit far!

    What price sector of the market are you in?

    On those figures, I would have thought its costing you the profit on the first 7 deals each month, just to cover the AT bill? 

    If it works for you, well done, but I don't envy you.

     

    Yeah the "Bonus" cars are a silly gimmick to make you think you're getting a good deal.  We all know we're not haha.

    From £4k upto £30k.

    Yeah, overheads are a killer, literally got to move a car a day.  Mad that 1 advertising platform accounts to 1/4 of your monthly expense.

    Always times when you think I can earn more money with less stress having around 15 cars doing it on my own and by appointment.  

    Unfortunately anything over £15k doesn't seem to sell anywhere else at the moment, although the stock turnaround has gone from an average of 45-55 days to around 75-90 days with less bonet margins.

  15. Posted

    3 minutes ago, NOACROSS said:
       26 minutes ago,  MattR said: 

    11152.68 (a month)?? how many cars is that??

    72 + 8 "Bonus"

     

    F.Me. Ouch! Different world. 134 grand a year to AT.  Wow. I’m sure I was ‘only’ paying 4 grand a month to the robbers for 50 plus. Was a few years ago mind. 

    It must work for you I suppose. Or at least has until recently. Or perceived to have been. 
     

    Yeah, I’d be seriously questioning how to spend a fair bit of that elsewhere- but then you seem to be of the same conclusion. 

    Yup it is pretty insane.  I do a (And so should everyone, can't recommend it enough) quarterly review on all our advertising platforms and AT currently sits 2nd for ROI, although dropping due to the margin changes.

    We will either be downgrading the premium and upping our numbers or downgrading our numbers and keeping premium.  Main thing I can point out as a little tip is that there is no point advertising all of your stock on AutoTrader now with their relevance order as if it hasn't got over 35 pictures, a video, priced at a maximum of 97.4% then it won't get seem with decent views.  Don't listen to the reps motto of "If it isn't advertised, it isn't seen" as that's "irrelevant" with their new "relevance" search... Don't know if you saw what I just did there.

    It's all Hit and Miss really as it depends what stock you have to what stock your competitor has at the time of advertising.  There's times a car comes in and out within 48 hours due to no one else having it locally and someone looking at that point in time and then there's other times when I buy it and no one has it to the time it's advertised there's 20 available.  All Hit and Miss and ifs and buts with a slight bit of general good luck.

     

  17. Posted

    On 1/4/2020 at 3:13 PM, SuperSteve88 said:

    Hi All 

    Im fairly new to this so not sure if this is the right place to post but we are considering launching a new platform for car dealers all over the UK. 

    The question is what do you actually want and how much are you willing to pay for it? 

    There has been a lot of negative feedback about the price of Auto Trader etc... but what is it you guys actual want/ need ? 

    No point re-inventing the wheel or creating something now one is interested in so to cut through all the BS..

    What do you want (in as much detail as you can)

    How much do you want to pay (A number please) 

     

    As others have said, unless you have a starting block of, let's say 200,000 vehicles advertised to start you off or a multi million pound backer I wouldn't waste your time.  There are hundreds of free advertising sites out there that have been lost into emptiness due to the competitive field that this is.

    My current spend with AT is £11,152.68 inc VAT per month (Includes Premium, Dealer Finance, Lead Generator @ £200.00 p/m - which we are kicking this month) but the ROI has been shrinking due to the margins in the industry going down significantly in the last 18 months.  It hasn't been helped with the big supermarkets now focusing on finance retention and working off their finance commission as a primary source of income and moving vehicles on for a "over head cost margin".

    We're in the process of re-structuring and lowering overheads as I think this year will prove quite a testing time for most of us in this industry.

    On a good note for us, Ebay will be launching their new platform this year which I've been looking forward to since their bought out Motors.  That should be good news for our advertising costs.  This in my eyes would mean lower costs all round due to CarGurus, Ebay and Autotrader all plying for our business like it used to and should be!!  Even Exchange and Mart and The Loot don't even bother in this field.

    That alone should give you a brief, and to be honest enough insight into this industry and to maybe try something different.  

  18. Posted

    12 minutes ago, tradex said:

    £17 sheets for a pizza,:o

    ....was it a Florentine but with a Faberge egg on it:D

    Let me re-phrase it... I feel lonely and now skint... HaHa

    I did get a drink and some potato wedges...  #Winning...  Should have opened up a Dominos haha

  19. Posted

    4 hours ago, Stalker said:

    On a different note... I had a nice Pizza from the restaurant over the road from this garage.

    Was quite nice.

    Just had dominos thanks to your comment... Couldn't decide on lunch then you helped solve my issue.  Was starving too.  Home Alone Deal £16.99... I feel lonely.

  22. Posted · Edited by Earunder

    2 hours ago, Jack Regan said:

    Get your feet off the desk ... and send some more fake email leads .

    This gave me a good old chuckle for the day. Ta for that!

    As for a sensible comment on them, we've never had a solid ROI from them and as I stated before I refuse to support another company imaging the way of AT with unjustified price rise after price rise.  From the stats on their website to the stats on AT, only 7% of CG customers DON'T visit AT, just as a heads up.  The stats are available all online for you to view.  My view is am I going to miss that 1 potential customer?  Not really as in reality I'm just covering the yearly over head from being with CG.

    Try them, if it doesn't work then cancel.

    I have pretty much tried everything and anything related to advertising our cars, our company brand and all our services.  Everything is trial and error, as there is no wrong, there is no right.  It all comes down to ROI and NOT what the talkative sales person says on the phone or shows you in pretty pie charts.  Try it, if it works -> Wohoo, if Not -> Cancel.

    At least you know yourself.

     

    EDIT - If they want you to trial it for more than 3 months, that should say all it needs to say.  Any reputable advertiser that is confident about the leads they send you would offer you 3 months or less.  Most nowadays are 30 day / 1 month contracts.

  23. Posted

     

    22 hours ago, Lakeside said:

    Seams like for once I’m busier than everyone else for a change. Selling plenty but I can’t buy, being seriously out priced at the block for over two weeks now.

    Haha nice.  Yeah prices still haven't dropped. 

    18 hours ago, NOACROSS said:

    Lots of bored motor traders out there, giving ‘just that bit more’ than the next guy. 
     

    Pretty normal/average month here, but everything is a work up. Lucky not short of stock as buying sensible seems impossible. 

    +1  Yeah I've noticed that a lot. 

    Picked up from Blackbushe, mostly all just standing around pretending to be rich and famous
    Picked up from Paddock Wood, packed! No one really bidding.
    Finally Enfield... Lots of "eager and young new style traders" who seems to have forgotten their manors.

    19 hours ago, Grantlfc81 said:

    E class £800 over cap clean and I had already sold it.... had to let it go even though it was a guaranteed deal....

    what I don’t understand is.... people paying massively over cap

    clean but auto trader isn’t reflecting this. Where is the money going?!

    Well the prices on AT have risen slightly in the #SPOILERALERT "less popular" makes / models... 

    The more popular makes and models will always be the race to the lowest price.  Doesn't matter if your competitors one is a pig and yours is spotless with your nan as the previous keeper and 1k miles in 5 years, the pig will always bring home the bacon.  Can't believe i just made that saying up, pretty impressive.  End of the day the pig will get 20 people turn up to view it because of the price, 19 of those customers, realize it's a pig but it's the one that only cares about price that buys it.

  24. Posted

    If you're in London then obviously a No No.

    Outside / Skirts, 50/50.

    Ulez clamping down again to the "inside M25 area" by 2021/2.

    As Nick above said, people who want the big heavy german engines are still buying and don't really car about the costs of owning the car and are more interested in getting a good deal on the car than anything else.  Sold a Jaguar Portfolio 30k on the clock on a 13 plate, no Ulez, he wasn't fussed but because it was a good price and had every possible extra fitted to it inc rear entertainment.

    • Like 1