ASP

There you go-learnt a new phrase today! Cheers Arthur, much appreciated. Out of interest, is it standard practise to ask the customer first what they see as a fair valuation for their car, or do you go in with a fixed price and stick to it?

Happy new year guys...just a quick thought I've had over the Christmas period. I've got a couple of cars at the moment which are more than likely going to attract somebody looking to PX their current vehicle. Being relatively new to the game, and having only stocked first time buyers sort of cars, I've never actually taken a car in PX (although every advert I've placed since I started has said PX welcome). Trading from home and keeping my overheads low, I don't use CAP or Glasses, and use autotrader search within 60 miles of my home to value the cars I buy at the block. Just wondering how you guys value PX's in the same situation as me. Do you simply do what I normally do, search AT to find retail price and then deduct to get the margin I want from their PX? I will of course be retailing whatever comes my way. Cheers in advance

I can imagine this will have an effect on auction buyers fees too. Surely they'll need to cover the lost surcharge by raising the tip for everyone, regardless of how they're paying

Happy New Year chaps

Good luck Grant Hoping to be in your position in a couple of years time after an overall successful first year of trading full time. Unit looks good Arthur. Is the plan to keep your model the same, customers buying on the basis of your vids or are you going to be changing that? I assume you tax and keep your cars on the roads around where you live currently?

They've got to make a living though I guess, what use is the pipe work without he bleed screw? ive had similar issues on a mini R50 looking for the plastic trim which goes around the bottom of the bumper and they would only sell the whole bumper. Again, main dealer part for around £50 (half of what breakers wanted for a whole bumper)!!

Cheers Grant, useful to know. Like you said, even when I'm prepping cars, I usually find new parts, if you shop around, to be as good value as used from a breakers. Esecially seen as my nearest breakers is around 20 miles away!

Interesting views guys - cheers. Seems like most of you work on similar 'rules' Am I right to assume that you can replace parts with used ones? They don't have to be new?

Agreed-a failing battery would be very annoying from a customers point of view. Interesting views guys - I wasn't PDI'ing when I sold that car, but I now use Lawgistics pads which are great, and touch wood no issues thus far. One thing which really riles me is when people text or Facebook message with issues, I find that so faceless, would prefer a call any day. I replied to a Facebook message from a lady complaining that the Mini she bought was loosing coolant, with my usual message asking them to call me to discuss further and I never received a call or any further contact from her. I assume she was trying her luck and she didn't have the bottle to call!

Recently had a guy call back a couple of weeks after buying a 2007 Astra. He'd had problems with his battery and had had to jump start the car on several occasions. He was polite and not really asking for anything but advice on what to do. I suggested he went to get the battery voltage read and go from there. Turns out the battery was completely dead (probably the original). He then called back and asked if I was willing to help towards the cost of a new battery. I offered to pay half (£40) as I put away £100 from each car for this sort of situation. Now, I made it very clear that it was a goodwill gesture and that I wasn't liable for consumable items like this, but he was nice about how he dealt with it and he left me a cracking review via Auto Trader, and was really surprised and pleased that I was willing to help. So my question is, how much goodwill do you guys show towards customers? Does it very much depend on how they go about it, do you offer none at all (give them an inch and they'll take a mile). I also feel that a small goodwill gesture like this MAY prevent him from coming back if anything further happens (perhaps a bit naive there!!)

what is your website Kenji?

You’re right Trade Vet, that clause is in the contract

Thanks for all your responses guys, it’s much appreciated. My figures might seem odd, so let me clarify a few things. I’ve only very recently starting investing in more expensive vehicles, I’ve spent most of the year buying sun £1000 vehicles, hence, I’m not yet at the VAT qualifying level. I was increasingly finding that, almost every car I was buying at this value needed serious, expensive work doing. I do everything myself, but clutches and gearbox on axle stands are not pleasent and very time consuming! I do everything myself, valeting, mechanical work etc. Im going to get rid of the three I’ve got and go backo the drawing board, search the private classifieds etc. When I’ve looked before, it seems that private sellers want close to retail money on the cheaper cars, so I guess your profit has to come from the negotiation. Whatever you can negotiate, will be your margin. Spares and repairs is something else I’m going to pursue, I’m not scared to get stuck in and I like the idea from Rory about specialising in a couple of models and really getting to know common faults. Having been hit with a couple of Corsa D head gasket failures from auction, I know them fairly well! And sorry for the gross and net confusion-business is new to me, but I want to do it properly. My overheads, although low to many of you, are still significant. £245 monthly trade insurance, plates, website management/email account I have a £3500 overdraft in the business account so this could be utilised. I think it’s only around £20 a month too

Cheers for the response...Trade Vet - I'm on the cusp of VAT registration currently - 3/4 cars and I'll be over 85k. Currently, it's almost impossible to give a weekly figure. I've been netting a minimum of £600 per vehicle, £100 of which goes into my self funded warranty pot. I'm only selling between 4/6 a month, which doesn't leave much of a wage once expenses have been taken out! Cheers Mojo, when I started out full time, I was only buying cars at £1000 or less including buyers fees, which allowed me to turn over more stock, but I was getting so many pricey problems I've now moved onto silver check assured, newer, lower mileage, FSH, pricier cars and fingers crossed, haven't had any major faults with cars bought Completely agree, feeling very uneasy with everything in these three cars. When you say blocked them, do you mean you put them through auction S&B?

Evening Chaps, Since going full time in March of this year, things have been going well (Selling bread and butter small hatchbacks and first time cars from home). However, I am struggling with cash flow and finance as a whole. Currently, I have three cars (10k invested) advertised and until one of them sells, I simply do not have the money to buy any additional stock (frustrating, seen as I have plenty of space for upto 10 at home). Essentially at the moment, I don't really have a business. As people have said before, it needs to be a production line, selling and buying X amount per week, not as and when I have the money because I've sold a car. Just curious really as to how people started, perhaps similarly from home, and how you funded your initial investment. I know 10k is nothing in this game, but that's what I had at the time and I wanted to give it a proper go full time after years of dabbling part time (Before you ask, doing everything by the book!) Two options really, look into getting some sort of finance (business loan) or go back to work for a year or two to raise what I would otherwise have borrowed. Thanks in advance guys, Alex