lastyboy

I keep spreadsheets of every month of every year i have traded. Goes back to my main dealer days of handing in commission sheets i guess. Very surprised to see the last 3 Novembers have been exceptional and this so far has been no exception. My service and MOT bay is my main income stream and i only stock about 10 cars but have done 8 so far this month and had some good profits on them. Just need to buy a few this week now.

I take payments on debit and credit cards and will continue to. If i think the customer could be an awkward sort i just dont sell them a car. I personally think if everything is prepped up how it should be, you shouldnt have too many worries.

Pretty much nailed that spot on.

A fantastic and polite introduction. I run both sales, MOT bay and servicing. Good luck to you both.

Continental do a VDO scanner . Was shocked what it could do for the money. Currently on sale at £599 through Hinkleys and someone else. Reduced from £1500. I bought it simply because my oldest mechanic is 60 years old and he struggles with some of the newer scanners and this is the easiest machine I have ever used.

I think they are quite a good car. I am only 1.5 miles from a big Fiat dealer though and they have 30 to choose from. For that reason ive had a couple that stuck and i wont buy again unless cheap. That said i had a stunning Fiat 500 abarth convertible in the summer and people flocked to buy that.

Got a lady who has just written off her 2008 Nissan Note 1.6 Auto. So if any of the people who use this forum happen to have a 2011 to 2013 Nissan Note petrol Auto that they would be willing to trade I am looking for one. Sensible miles. Between 4-5k to me. I do really well with these Notes but i know some people dont like them. Message me if you have one to trade. And yes I know there is a buy and sell forum on here but no one really seems to use it hence positing here. Thanks LB

I couldnt say for sure but I would hazard a guess that the egr was fouling/failing and stopped the DPF from regen. Agree on first thought Dave?

Trying things different can be good. Only issue is whether or not you can buy enough stock to do that something different

I think its quite good . Just looked it up. I am not breaking any records but had a pretty good October with a real early flourish and then this past week. Bit in the middle was a bit dead.

Ride it out. Ive discounted in the past and then been gutted when i cant get stock in a few weeks time.

I had several people come in today , 1 whose bought and several booked for tomorrow. Also bought some real nice and varied stock recently so im optiistic.

I totally agree with this. But i enjoy being a master of all trades.

Bicycle chains are thicker than the 3 cylinder 1.0 Corsa chains. No wonder they dont last long. However the correct oil and changed regularly is the most important.

Totally agree with this. If that Scirocco was recent Mark, VW have been refunding EGR valve/ cooler repairs on some models if you replaced the part with genuine.

Very similar set up to mine.

What i cant understand is 1970's Mercs seem to do 300,000 miles easily on a timing chain yet modern stuff struggle to go much past 100k on a chain.

Yes some later VAG group cars can be troublesome. BUT with so many Skodas, Seats, Audi;s and VW;s around, spares are so plentiful its very rare to find a horrific bill in my experience but you have to mechanically know what you are doing to keep the prices on repairs down. Ive not had many issues with Mercs nor BMW's apart from that shockingly pathetic and evil 1 series "Prince" petrol engine that in my experience goes with the 1.9 CDTi Fiat/Vauxhall engine as the worst 2 engines ive encountered in the past 10 years.

Totally agree. My £150 battery tester was one of my best ever purchases. ANY modern car with electrical fault codes, the very first thing I do is test the battery. Any voltage drop can play havoc with electrical systems. I sold an Audi a few years ago. The customer brought it back to me about 8 months later. The ABS light would flash on for 30 seconds with an audible warning after starting. He didnt expect it under warranty but was worried because the Audi main dealer told him either strip the dash or possible abs pump failure. I put some jump leads on the original battery and started the car. No abs warning. Put on a new battery and the car has been fine ever since. Customer could have spent a grand or more with Audi.

Agree. Very few code readers can get anywhere near the genuine IDS tool. However if you buy an ELM327 cable i highly recommend getting a free copy of FORSCAN. Very good Ford program.

I think ebay will now flood facebook market place as Motors ( too my knowledge ) is the only car platform that feeds directly to it. LB

Although the battery seems fine get a good battery tester that can test AGM batteries. If the battery is in less than stellar condition, the first thing to pack up is the stop start. IVe replaced 4-5 BMW batteries that start perfectly but fail the AGM test on our tester.

There is nothing wrong with selling a car with a slight lip on the discs or quite worn pads but we have seen so many cars come in recently been sold with absolutely knackered discs that no way were servicable a month before. We even had a Land Cruiser come in the other day with a caliper problem and the selling dealer had put 1 rear disc on the back and left the other side knackered. If you sold the car and you know the brakes were reasonable when it went out then you do have every right to claim its wear and tear.

Fair play. We all see things differently.

I agree but the 10 days before a budget has been quiet for me almost guaranteed for nearly 20 years.