James Baggott

So glad you both enjoyed it so much!

I think they slowly disappeared. I haven't heard anything from them ever since...

Great to see this forum being used for what it was intended - help and advice for others!

I was about to post the same link to Rebecca. It's well worth hearing Nigel's comments on investment in the motor trade http://tradeplates.tv/live/tradeplates-tv-live-episode-6/

Haha. No nothing like that. Purely I can help book rooms if you email me. Easier than dealing with it here and clogging everything up

Drop me an email to james@blackballmedia.co.uk and I'll help you out

True gent Jim

There's a lot happening at Whittlebury hall the night before - might be a good place to stay. We have a few rooms left at £144pp if you want one get in touch.

What is wrong with the beard?! To be fair, it has now gone...

This is a Car Dealer Magazine forum. As such we'd appreciate it if you didn't post links to other publications. Hence the moderation.

I'll be on the next one shouting my mouth off do you can all laugh at my grey hair

Don't forget to tune in at 3pm today! Lots of excitement around the office today as we get everything ready

That's impressive service. It's nice to see business carried out properly.

On the subject of Auto Trader, did you see the return Apax made on their investment... beats an ISA... http://cardealermagazine.co.uk/publish/private-equity-group-apax-sells-almost-its-last-auto-trader-stake/108293

Having worked in local papers for a long time and seen their classified advertising and motors sections dry up I find this very interesting. Local newspaper readers are predominantly older, retired people who have always bought the paper. Do you know any 18/30s who buy a local paper that they haven't been mentioned in? Doesn't happen these days. With that in mind I would be interested to see what response dealers got from these adverts in local papers and whether they were different to who we believe read these publications. Any dealers out there using local papers already that could comment?

Go for it!

Great news!

We've got Facebook speaking at CDX16 this year about how they can help dealers. They'll be giving a key note speech at the May 24 event. Tickets are free and available here https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cdx16-car-dealer-conference-automotive-industry-expo-tickets-19946892693?ref=ebtnebregn

New dealers are very welcome, as I've pointed out in previous threads. However, it is up to the members if they want to respond, not us administrators. We've simply moved these questions into their own section to avoid clogging up the forum with FAQs, as requested by our members. You'll know if they want to help if they answer a thread...

We had one of those as part of a trading up challenge. Didn't sell quite as quickly as I'd have hoped!

Any others? I'm finding this thread very interesting indeed...

*rushes off to speak to accounts about our fuel cards*

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions. I've decided to give it a go and have today set up the Buy & Sell Trade Cars Sub Forum. If you want access to the site you need to simply email james@blackballmedia.co.uk with a copy of your current motor trade insurance certificate. This, I feel, is the easiest way to prove trade status. VAT numbers are impossible to check - Google it and you'll find that anyone can claim to have a number but there's no database online to check them against. Also, some people mentioned, and rightly so, that not everyone will reach the VAT threshold. So I'm going to stick to the above for now. I'll be closely monitoring it and seeing how it goes, but there's no harm in giving it a go. If you want access email me a copy of motor trade insurance certificate and I'll give you access. Let's see how we get on from there...

Hi chaps. Thoughts on this following this thread?

How are we going to know if a VAT number is real? http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/secret-life-of-the-vat-number-finding-out-whether-a-company-is-registered-to-collect-excise-tax-1489936.html Perhaps we'll have to ask for a copy of a VAT demand or similar? Suggestions?