Nick M.K.

Sometimes payments get flagged for additional security. The customer may get an automated phone call, text or email asking him to confirm the payment instruction. Sometimes customers miss these and it takes a while for the bank to release the funds. Chances are after he spoke to his bank again you will receive this payment today.

I think from 2010 onwards BT was standard on the E Class, they all should have it (even without COMAND). When you press the TEL button there is a message Ready for Bluetooth Telephony

Maybe he is starting to pair it from the car's menu. It's best to start from the phone's own Bluetooth menu. Does he get to any stage anywhere where the car is finding his phone or his phone is seeing the car?

Can't be as easy, I just spent 50 minutes on the phone with my accountant to go through a month's worth of transactions, she actually needed to complete my annual accounts earlier than usual to get everything in line. She uses Sage, I send her all invoices on paper and some Excel files. She says that most accountants are stuggling with it, not just VAT or car sales related.

Absolutely. Delete all old phones already stored in the system as it supports a maximum of 5 I think.

Yet us dealers pay HUGE fees to the auction houses and don't walk. Because even with the fees added the purchase still makes sense. Car supermarkets and low cost airlines have demonstrated over the years that customers will absolutely pay the fees (exorbitant amounts in some cases) and even if some "walk" most will buy. For a small business however it's a great selling point to not have fees. We have bigger margins and lower costs than the supermarkets so we can live without the fees. Also huge potential for bad reviews and trolling on social media. Find some Facebook adverts for the British Airway AmEx credit card which has £195 annual fee, make yourself a cuppa and read the comments* (*I have that card. Gives you almost 30000 avios points which I use for 5-6 flights in Europe every year. But people don't know and scream about the fee.)

Stone chip on a bonnet will not make any difference to a modern day buyer’s decision. If they walked away it WASN’T because of one stone chip on a bonnet. I’ve never steamed cleaned an engine bay in the 14 years I’ve been selling cars and it definitely hasn’t lost me much (if any) business. Get some water in an engine ECU, let if freeze overnight, see what happens:-)

You definitely can’t charge card fees. You can of course charge a £150 fee to set up the finance but you have to charge everybody and offer to refund it in full if the customer chooses your finance provider instead of their own.

And employ a solicitor sending demand letters and threats to the insurers.

££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££ Remember, to some people used cars are just as bad as written off cars. "I feel like wearing someone's old sweater" blah blah blah. It's all about money. Just about THE ONLY reason for example I often fly from Stansted airport and often fly on Ryanair. ££££££££££££££££

These days this strategy is the optimum solution for everybody!

An insurer needs to provide a courtesy vehicle for up to 60 days sometimes, even longer. An accident management company (i.e. a legal firm) makes their money from that car rental that usually provides "like for like" but prestige vehicle, for example an Audi A1 instead of your damaged Fiat 500. Same size of car but commands a rental premium of £100 per day. Now, if you have to have that Fiat with the scratched bumper waiting A MONTH to enter a bodyshop that's £3K already spent before the respray even started! It's easier, quicker and more viable to write it off and either send it to scrap auction or let the owner keep it for a fraction of the price. There is money in that market but it's not for everyone, the customers that can benefit HUGELY from a Cat N car are the ones that buy newer very low mileage cars, still in warranty which most manufacturers (not all) will still honour and then do a lot of miles in the space of a few years which devalues the vehicle massively anyway (write off or not). No finance on write off cars so makes selling slightly harder.

I haven't seen the stock but could it be linked to this: https://www.british-car-auctions.co.uk/About-Us/Latest-News/2016/29th-November---BCA--PSA-UK-SIGN-OUTSOURCED-REMARKETING-DEAL/

Do you mean that you currently buy a van + VAT, then sell it without the ability to add VAT on top of the sale price? It might be better to stick to margin vehicles (even margin vans) for the couple of months that will take you to reach the threshold. Then you can actually have some benefit of not having to pay that VAT. As it stands if the answer to my question is YES you pay that VAT in advance without ability to recover it.

If you picked it up cheap privately you could nick it for even less at an auction. Don’t waste valuable time travelling to buy privately when the auctions are FULL of stock from private sellers and virtually any bid is considered these days.

Noooo. They are even worse :-)

And with a BCA car that's half the battle won right there! Driving out of the barriers without immediate mechanical, electrical or electronic surprises.

It is Arista. This was the name of my insurer until last year when they were bought out by Ageas. Still says Arista on my Certificate.

I always say that the car sold after HUGE interest for the full asking price which in hindsight probably was too low. If we get something similar in the next couple of weeks we’ll give you a call but it was a rare find and it will be a matter of great luck. Then the next dealer that gets their call can make the easiest sale ever... professional courtesy of sorts.

And that’s a US company so double whammy.

Call Lisa Cowley on 0117 9058869, this is the helpdesk that deals with it. It’s always been her that I talked to so I assume it is a very small helpdesk.

I hate it when an advertiser has this complicated pricing structure that infuriates everyone, even me on the cheaper option. They assume one dealer will never find out what another pays.

Yes I am with them but use midportal.org.uk directly. I have a set of login details: username, password, DA code and passphrase and it works well.

£227 combined up to 20 cars

6 mths deal for 15 cars is £230 so cheaper than last year.