Earunder

I know one dealer, who advertises over 150 cars, pays around £9,000 but sells 30% of his stock every month from AT alone. You tell him it's too expensive and he'll laugh. If it works, as it does for the majority, and more importantly gives you a ROI then it's worth doing. IF it doesn't and in your case, mine too, then cancel. I cancelled mine awhile back as it was giving AT 60% of my profit from sales generated by them. Luckily AT were only responsible for 19-20% of my business last year (*even less this year) so it hasn't affected me. Don't get me wrong, I'm in no way defending the prices of AT but if they have customers that pay them what they charge who are we to say otherwise? Most companies in such sectors with a service operate in this manor. Look at Football Clubs for example. Ebay. Amazon. Nothing will happen with the prices if they have customers willing to pay them. Try telling some dealers to stop and come out of AT. It'll cost them thousands, some hundreds of thousands and more than likely shut them down. I get you're drive and spirit, I do, and I'm not berating what you want to achieve but you're tackling a monster with a huge axe like an ant with a twig.

Have I misread this? You have a golden goose if your paying AT £1,600 to advertise 60 cars. That's over £5,000 in the South East. We do this and have this in place for the last 3 years. In our area Motors was the worst value for money as they only sold 3 cars in the whole of last year. CarGurus was most value and AutoTrader 2nd.

XF's are notoriously common for DPF issues and EGR faults. Amount we've spent on replacing these is obscene. DPF's can be regen'd quite easily on these but pre 2010 and high miles (80k +) I wish you luck as it's more than likely a replacement.

Lovely jubly... Little tip... Buy MB-Retail - Sell PCP (<- 30 days) (Price check and you'll see a little trend, not spelling it all out) Ahhh the BMW's... Thought they may go the same way but been stuck with a few late ones... 1,3,4,5 and 7 series stuff sitting about, going to re-evaluate the pricing monday if no takers this weekend. Not tried 2 series though as they make bloooooooooooood

90% of everything I've seen has made over CAP Clean + fees + delivery. I've managed to pick a few pieces here and there (12 this week, still in need of 20+ more though) It's interesting to see so much go for so high, something isn't right as it hadn't gone like this and stayed like it for a 3rd month running without the book prices shooting up, which they haven't. My only assumption (OR conspiracy if you will) is there is just simply a shortage of decent stock. I'm sure it's not down to the new people, or the smaller dealer desperate for stock as that doesn't explain the consistency for 3 months. The auctioneers are running a lot of the cars more, and shooting the prices up quicker and I've seen many a dealer over the last few months fall into the trap and make a last bid when you can tell by the auctioneers voice he couldn't believe he got a bid out of it. They tend to be joking about this a lot over the mics too, quick frustrating. If it were just the one AH I'd be moaning like a school girl about it but it is literally both big ones. Luckily we have enough in stock to last another month but it is going down as we can't replace it all. If you can hold off do so, as always the market will come down and you don't want to be stuck with over priced stuff you can't move on.

I'm not sure what garage will complete a PDi for you. That means their putting their name to your car which can cause a legal nightmare. If you're not sure what to put on a PDi it's pretty simple. Stuff you know. I've mentioned in another thread what you should be able to do. Have a quick search

I just find it odd, that since November the prices have gone through the roof but nothing seems to be selling. They're not even discreet in running the cars now, just blatantly obvious... Starts at 7 then 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 - 7,800 within 1 second and it's at cap clean. I do find it quite amusing that someone online always gets suckered into the bid though. WHY bid? I find it strange dealers want to pay so much and earn so little. It's tough enough when you get them at a decent trade value let alone paying over the top. Mind you HROWEN at Blackbushe had some decent reserve prices yesterday.

Always constantly running over CAP, not just running, sprinting! It's crazy insane. What are BCA doing with all these cars? Been on Manheim for the past week as BCA got too annoying although some Vendors were not too bad but I couldn't get any small cars (Fiesta, Polo, Jazz). Managed to pick up a few from Manheim this week, no Jazz's though all under CAP average. Gob smacked. PLUS - Delivery was cheaper!!! Just wondered if anyone else has given up on BCA UKCGR sections?

Don't get involved in HPi - CAP... The termination period is 12 months! On any price increases you still have to pay the price increase even if you cancel! Such a shoddy company now!

Wingly... go in style

Quoted us like £330 for 120 cars... Said no thank you... They do at the moment but that's because they have been doing this for years. People said brokers won't last when the FCA took over... Well they have and they seem to be doing ok from where I sit. I have no problem with brokers, we use Evolution as our sub prime as they only prop to a maximum of 4 lenders after doing a `soft search`. That for me is good for a broker. You go to gocompare, and all the other comparison sites and they submit your data to 30+ insurance companies that credit check you! That's unreal and not in the best interest of the customer. If a customer checks their insurance on a car then decides to go ahead with that car immediately after, if the finance company judge by credit rating alone that will hike the interest up to the customer... TCF??? I don't think that is, but you don't see gocompare and all these comparison sites getting a rollocking. I know it's a soft search and only stays 40-60 days but it doesn't matter as it still shows in the time the customer applies for finance on a car and like I say if your lender uses credit rating alone, it doesn't see the drop or reason just the lower rating from the credit searches by the insurers.

I still don't understand why someone would sign up and PAY for something that has no audience. MotoNovo really taking the `michael` out of their dealers on this one.

At the end of the day there is no point being bitter and arguing with ourselves over what another company are charging. Everyones comments and opinions on here are in actual fact mostly correct. On a cross subject along the same lines in my personal aspect I am an avid Arsenal supporter and until 3 years ago had a season ticket with my father and a few friends which would have extended to an additional 1 due to the coming of my son ( End on June ). We all cancelled our season tickets due to the insane prices and lack of "value for money" which Arsenal were so quick to throw down our throats as an excuse to charge so much. There used to be a waiting list (7 YEARS!) for the season tickets and even though we cancelled 3 years ago, this season already I've had 2 reminders of "Don't miss your season ticket chance for 2018/19 season..." It goes to show if you charge sooo much for soo little things will back fire. Arsenal stopped spending money on good players, over paid for average and now have a manager who dictates if and when he will go. That's just pure ignorance and a lack of business acumen and sadly for us supporters things are going to get worse before they get better. The point is that Arsenal are now not getting the income from merchandise, food sales, drink sales, etc from the crowd as it's getting lower and lower with less people turning up. Yes they still have the seats sold but they lose on the rest of the products to be purchased and in turn their performances will have an effect on the commercial deals that are due to be re-negotiated. Autotrader are not doing that, they are spending, they are trying to stay ahead with new products, like the finance search they just launched and spent millions advertising. Everything has cycles. At the moment and in the last 10 years AT have been on top and they have rightly been on top due to the amount of research and money they put in to be there. It's not luck, it's not chance it's them doing their job correctly and ensuring they have the audience to be able to promote themselves and in turn the dealers that advertise with them. They are a platform, nothing more and nothing less, but we don't have the budgets to do all these huge advertising packages. Yes they are expensive, yes I've cancelled with them as it worked out we were spending just over £1,000 per sale. Until you sit down and work out what the stand in value it costs per sale then you actually really do not know what it costs you to advertise with them. Like I say, everything has cycles and where they are they have to spend fortunes to stay there as it doesn't take long for a cycle to shift. I know many a dealer who love AT as they only advertise with AT. I know a few dealers who only advertise with Facebook. I also know a few, like myself, who advertise with CarGurus, Ebay, AA and Facebook and all do ok. AutoTrader is not the be all and end all, far from it. Just do your numbers and try other things as what works for one doesn't always work for all. AutoTrader are top, but that doesn't mean people stop then and there. They search like most of us do. When I book a holiday do I just go to Virgin? No I go to BA, Holiday Supermarkets and google for more as I want the best deal and to make sure I've checked out all my options. It's the same principle in everything involved in shopping. Hardly anyone just checks on 1 site. (PS - Sorry to throw a side subject of Arsenal in to the mix but thought it would be a good example)

1 million percent spot on!

Hahaha these people are priceless.... Ebay Advert, Car up for £13,900.... "Will you take £10k mate?"... "EDIT - Stands me in just shy of £12,400 and I'll service it when it sells, new MoT and add a warranty... It amazes me people still think we have 2-5k in cars... Idiots" Guys you've got to lighten up and see the funny side. I used to get insulted and annoyed, now I just pity them and laugh, sounds bad but that's what they deserve... Muahahaha

Haha lol oh hell no! It was from Merc Retail Group. Old Shoguns are always a risk factor with difs, oil leaks etc but this ones pretty good for an old girl with 100k barring the rear bumper scratch. Still have the dodgy trader section, although I can't moan as I use that to send my crappy part ex's haha. Saturdays are like gold mines Always even ourselves out from our clearance Part Ex's, I'd recommend it.

Fingers Crossed! Just getting the rear bumper painted up as it had a quite noticeable scratch down it (I'm going all out on this baby HaHa!) then we're in business to advertise it! Kids these days don't appreciate some of the cars that are good old gems, they're all smiles and overjoyed when they see 63,64,65 plate mercs, bmws, audi's etc turn up, but a little Shogun gem, decent nic, they have no interest. Still getting ribbed about it. We'll see who laughs last (PS - Please be me! )

Not sure about P/ex's as they've all been pretty good. Juke, Corsa and Polo. BUT I was very bored last Thursday and ended up getting a MITSUBISHI SHOGUN 32 DI-D EQUIPPE AUTOMATIC with 100k on the clock from Enfield... I don't know why to be honest but I've still got a smile on my face, even though the rest of the team are pretty gob smacked and say "you won't shift that!"

Yeah the sneaky slimey worms. Just learnt our HPi contract is a 12 month cancellation notice too!!! Talk about double whamey! Needless to say I've kicked the wally who signed it and it's a stark reminder for me not to let other people sign contracts when they can't look at simple sodding terms and conditions before signing something. PS - On another note and subject - Check your HPi contracts guys and girls, you'll be shocked like I was. How do these companies get away with practices like this and this industry thinks we're the bad guys? Beggars belief!

We signed up with iVendi at the end of last year to run finance calculators on our site. Be very careful when dealing with this company! It's very very sneaky. Meant to be a 6 month early come out clause in the contract, first contract came over with 24 months on it!!!! Should have read the signs then and there and chipped them off. 2nd contract came over with products I didn't even ask for!! After speaking to a few other dealers who have a ClickDealer website, it seems iVendi have done this for some time to others too. I'm looking forward to the next AT workshop which I shall be attending at Brands Hatch in the next few days to spread the awfully shoddy and sneaky practice of them. CodeWeavers now have my contract, cheaper and they actually took the time to go through how their platform works, iVendi said they would call back in a few days when there were applicants and data to show us how it works and didn't bother. Rep / Account manager doesn't call back or answer emails... Can't see iVendi being around for long with this sort of behavior and customer service.

Never been pulled over for using trade plates out of hours. As long as the car is insured for personal use and you are named under your motor trade policy you should fine IMO.

I think we're going about this entirely wrong. We should all change our headers to Advert Like: £14,795 "Price? Try Me!" Message From Buyer: Best Price Cash Message From Us: £16,000 Message From Buyer: But advert says £14,795 Message From Us: But you started the barter? This is how it works, I go high, you go low, we even out at £15,500 Now I've typed it, it's not that funny... Maybe I need this weekend off HaHa!!!!!

Well, I bought the wife a car on Tuesday, delivered Wednesday and sold it yesterday, I couldn't do this again if I tried... She's not very happy but that kinda made my week! Other than that just over 1 a day so far this month, 109 in stock, still need stock which is the main problem at the moment. Price indicators always make me chuckle. When you get that customer that comes and in asks for "Good Price" I almost always want to raise the price from the great marker to the good marker on AT just to see their face when it goes up a couple of hundred. I love the hagglers, they do make me chuckle.

Chancer. From what you have said, don't be concerned he has no right for refusal in this circumstance. It's upto you how you deal with it, but I feel he's going to be awkward... Demanding a refund after 10 months... Seriously, how did you keep a straight face? He's trying his luck. If you're not legally clued up you should sign up with Lawgistics as I've heard glowing report about them. Posting this on an open forum asking for advice is NOT the greatest of ideas. This time I'd advise you to get in contact with either the FSB (Federation of Small Businesses) or Lawgistics. Over the next few months, treat this as you're first legal stand point and start reading up on the CRA, DSR and Sales of Good Acts. They are you're friend and bible and you should know this stuff.

Oh the 'I want a refund because...' excuse... Firstly, PDi's are pretty useless and can not be counted upon as a piece of evidence of no fault. They can be used but not always relied upon in a legal standing due to the customers lack of knowledge in the industry. The most obvious is an MoT and any modern(ish 2000->) cars have electrical systems that can and will emit a light on the dash to make a fault / error known. This will then fail on an MoT. If it passes with flying colours that is your backup of no fault found. You can then include your PDi checklist as well as the service you performed (or had done) on the vehicle at the point of sale to strengthen your case of no fault at the point of sale. You also get rights too and don't forget that. A customer can not buy a car then demand a refund on false grounds or simply because they don't like it after 20 days. It has to be a legitimate reason but you also get the chance to repair the fault, not once as there is no SET PERIOD but it has to be repaired in `reasonable time`. Reasonable time is down to perspective and in court it is down to one individual, the judge. If your claiming you couldn't change a bearing on a golf for 2 weeks, that's obviously not reasonable, whereas if you said it took you 2 weeks to diagnose the EML light, order an injector and replace the glow plugs within a 2 week period all the time offering the customer a courtesy car then (again individual perspective) in my opinion this swings in your favour as it shows you're doing everything physically possible to put things right and treating the customer fairly. This is where it's down to the individual dealers and how they want to come across, treat their customers and go forward. Don't forget you will never EVER keep everyone happy. You can warranty a £500 banger for a year, spend £1,000 on it over that period on repairs for them, then after 14 months their pads go they will still moan if they are THAT TYPE of customer. Unfortunately for us most people are far to quick to scrutinize in this industry.