Nick M.K.

Slit my wrists RIGHT NOW if I have to start selling Zafiras or Astras again. I hate the things. I hate the part exes that they bring, I hate how indecisive their buyers can be and how price sensitive they always are as if their life depends on that last £20 and how insulted they look when you mention finance... I love German cars, I am not scared of them, my last 5 or 6 personal cars have all been high mileage diesel automatic Mercs which have given me many thousands of miles of sterling service and I dread the day when we won't be allowed to drive them anymore. At over 5 years old they CAN BE very inexpensive to run and maintain if you bought well. When you are in traffic on or inside the M25 you really see how popular German cars are at least around London. On the flip side I want to see anyone's face when you call the Hyundai parts department and they tell you the cost for a complete mirror assembly for a Santa Fe for example :-) "Are you sitting down?"

Big dealerships like Sytner will always chase the manufacturer for Goodwill repairs on cars just out-of-warranty. In the last few months I've had an A/C condenser leak authorised (£1200 repair) and also a Range Extender wiring loom on an i3 (£800). I hadn't asked for this. The dealership knew the vehicles were out of warranty and chased BMW before even calling me back with Quotes. On the A/C condenser repair I had to contribute £120 for new A/C refrigerant, new type R1234yf

So my busy morning is exception, not the rule. Been emailing this chap since 7am responding to a few questions, the last one "can we view on Sunday". Yes you can, in the morning, until 12ish: "Ok. No problem would not be able to make that sort of time as we have a very small baby it would have to be probably an afternoon. Early evening. So if okay if still available next week will maybe come down next Saturday. Thank you for your time Sent from my iPhone"

The problem here is that they've driven it little and CRA will assume that a fault that presents itself in the first 6 months after the sale was there UNLESS the dealer can prove that it wasn't. ACE Engineers or DEKRA can provide an independent engineer's report but that may well say that the "chain snapped due to age-related wear and sudden breakage in the plastic chain guides which would've been present and developed at the point of sale"... BMW will not offer a contribution at over 100K miles unless the car is only a few years old. You can always offer to chase BMW for it but that's unlikely to be enough to make the customer happy. ££££ is what everyone wants.

You were already open when you supplied a 100K mile BMW (I sell them well too) but I would agree that you shouldn't rush into getting it back. If it arrives back to you, you will end up owning it. A good option if it comes to that (and if you have the stock of course) is to offer the customer another one of your cars in swap, one with lower value but similar size and condition.

@Dave2302, have you got DAS / Xentry? If I send you a MB Becker MAP Pilot Navigation module which is locked with a PIN, DAS should unlock it. Provided you have a 2011-2014 Mercedes with the Becker SAT NAV slot so you can plug it in?

I've seen before and after photos and can genuinely say that our guy is an absolute wizzard, he even manufactures very specific tools for his own use. "£50 for under 10 minutes of work? That's crazy!" No Mr Customer, the £50 are for the many years of learning and practice that it takes to be able to do what I do in under 10 minutes

Yes. It's quite common unfortunately. First get the exact mileage from your customer to establish how much have they driven it after purchase. If it's something reasonable like 2-3000 miles offer them a GOODWILL contribution towards their repair cost OR to buy the car back at a reduced price. Remind them of course that your warranty has indeed expired and that you reserve your right to have the vehicle independently examined to establish the cause for this failure.

I have a fixed package for around £80 a month with HPI. Gives me a fixed number of checks, valuations etc and works out at £2.50 for fill HPI check, £0.50 per vehicle ID and some SMMT data and £0.50 per CAP valuation. In addition I pay them optional £2.90 for Spec Checks which I absolutely need on higher value premium stock.

Wasn't James Bush from the old forum in Grimsby? Look up James Bush Motors and call him. Could you also tell him we miss his stories badly...

Bad for dealers that don't use eBay or Gumtree presently. That package costs around £400 pcm for 25ish vehicles. Similar Motors package costs less than £100. What they will probably do is amalgamate all three platforms into one package which will cost approx 1/3 to one-half of the AT cost so will not be cheap. If you currently use eBay and Gumtree and also Motors it should make no difference.

From the early nineties?

Are you kidding??? It's enough that I pay their buyer's fees, I refuse to pay their catering prices until I get a Black account. I meant something more reasonable like 2% of the sale price.

I use several mechanics, one of them is mobile and when you get him in a good mood his work is top quality. He delves mostly in older classic stuff, drives really old bangers for personal transport but is also quite capable with the mechanics on modern vehicles. Used to work for a Ferrari independent in Wembley years ago, that company was in the papers when it went bust. I use him for timing belts, chains, VANOS, interior electronics etc. Today I took him with me to a bodyshop 15 miles away because I had two vehicles to collect and he didn't have other jobs booked. I waited for them to finish one car and gave him the other to drop off at our place. A 2009 Honda Insight, a very nice looking thing (condition, not design)... He calls me a few minutes later from a local petrol station. "Bud, there is something very wrong with this car. Keeps stalling on me. Every time I hit traffic or stop at a junction it just stalls. The engine stops by itself. It doesn't have a start/stop system and I think it might be the CVT gearbox. When it stalls I turn the key off and then back on again and it fires first time. That's why the car was at BCA!" If by now you have guessed that this was the very first time this mechanic was driving a hybrid car you guessed correctly. How he managed to avoid them for the past 10 years being based in London, I'll never know. The boys from the bodyshop hadn't laughed so hard since the last time I tried to get them to do my bodywork for £50 a panel...

Did you mean "you ARE missing a trick"?

I got the compliment, thank you and I returned it like I usually do :-) The stocking facility I use is from 2016 and before that I used another provider from 2014 so not new. I wish I had it back in 2005 but you live, you learn...

I haven't been overly negative @Arfur Dealy, I am actually doing it and have done for months but as I reported it does NOTHING MORE than my photos, my ads, my website, my reviews, my everything else already does... In fact if I was to do a single video your style pointing every stone chip and every lipped disc on £10-£17K cars I am confident that it will lose me sales. Or margins. Or both. Your process as good as it is, works due to your very low pricing. What it does for you is filter your buyers instead of just attracting them. You would get more people, more calls, more viewings without the video. The video is a polite way to say "Here it is, it's used, it has marks etc so if you don't want that please don't come." It's genius. But has limitations. I also look at the other type of videos that show a 2 year old 4000 mile car without a single scratch or wear mark and I think for them that might work better but since that isn't really my market (I love adding value, not paying top £ for stock) I think I won't go there just yet.

+1. When the phone rings and the customers want £10K finance plus their "I know you don't want it" Honda Jazz CVT that they've had for 6 years and want "at least £300 for it" they have my undivided attention and I even close the browser window with this forum page.

No problem. My apologies in advance if his wife's next car gets supplied by us :-) If it happens I will pay you our usual introducer's bonus of course.

"Of course I can SIR, I can name you in the CarDealer forum..."

They don't feel right even when they are 100% right so yours two were probably fine. Definitely rebuilt with new mechatronics at those miles. In the US they have 10 year 100K mile warranty. Shame they didn't extend it here.

I am not sure how to answer this. CAP. The price guide. Online.

Once you use it to buy, it's difficult to disregard it when selling. It doesn't account for options so it's best to use a combination of CAP and Autotrader when selling (if you list on AT of course)

Selling from the roadside requires a street-trading license from your council. Can you guess how easy it is to get one for selling cars?

NOOOOO I use CAP, swear by it, webuyanycar.com and tghe large auction houses also use it so it's more relevant than ever. Do not look at Parkers and don't always go for the so called Retail Back pricing because you might be missing out on profit.