Nick M.K.

Allow them some room to make "a bit" of profit :-)

Mechatronic unit refurbed is only £290ish from ACTronics and 1.5 hours labour to replace. DSG clutch pack is £350 from TPS and 2-3 hours labour from memory.

What year, engine / gearbox, mileage and did you mean to say Multitronic rather than Mechatronic? If you really meant Mechatronic how was this diagnosed as the shudder is more likely to be a clutch pack?

Easiest resolution is to try and ask the dealer to refund them less a small amount for usage. The kind of dealer that hides write off damage will usually just say **** **F! Second easiest (assuming you can not sell a Cat D car) is for them to try and sell the BMW privately for close to what they paid for it. Luckily because the car is so old but not quite a classic the difference in values may not be massive and there is always someone on the market after an e46 Convertible. The next option of course is for them to start legal proceedings against that dealer to recover the price they paid for the car.

Good question this, from a new trader. An obvious benefit is that the VAT Man can not come and say that you waited too long to register and try and back-charge you. If you like to add value and get VAT invoices for everything that you do to your cars (repairs, bodywork, parts, wheels, tyres, advertising etc) AND your margins aren't huge you might as well register now. If however you don't have a lot of costs to claim back there is not much point in paying 20% of your margin while you are allowed not to pay it for another few weeks / months.

AD, I don't touch mechanical stuff, I don't want them for me. I want to give them to one of the mechanics I've used for many years to save him the welding, chiseling and all the other stuff he normally does. He likes his tools but I know he won't spend £100(+) on this :-)

It wouldn't be, he is nearer to Heathrow than to Kensington & Chelsea. 40 flats in K&C would be a nice exit strategy for a small independent dealer though...

The cheapest Dynomec set I found now is around £170 and they have no option to buy online on their website, no pricing either. Will call them on FRI pm when they are in a good mood to try and spend a hundred quid with them :-)

A friend of mine with a nice corner lot in West London is thinking along the same lines but he wants a flat for each car currently in stock. The planning department has already said yes to 24 flats but he wants a high rise with nearly 40 :-)

Nothing wrong growing your business with minimum corporation tax and investor dividends to pay :-) Unless you are that investor of course...

If you have a close-up photo and the customer loses the locking key you can supply them with a replacement depending on the car make. For a nominal fee of only £49.99 plus postage.

Did you mean to write "are" VAT registered?

Nissan dealers used to offer to buy even old Navaras with the chassis rust, then scrap them. I don't know if they still do. You can book it in your local dealership for a free check and wait to hear what they'll offer.

Yesterday I needed to buy one BMW alloy wheel quickly and found one on eBay not far. £60 (just a bit dearer than a weld repair on a cracked one). Pressed Buy It Now, paid him with PayPal and collected it within a couple of hours. No haggling, no best offers. When I went to collect the guy said that he sells bits on eBay all the time and he never had someone buy so easy. He gets emails all the time, best offers, retractions of offers etc. The only platform generating more grief for him was Facebook :-)

If you have ANY chance to make money dealing in used cars certain models / engines / gearbox combinations should be absolutely off-limits. There should be cars that you just shouldn't look at. Just one of many many examples of a half-decent car, a good seller that you shouldn't have on your pitch: Nissan Navarra.

Yes, agree, their prices also depend on the numbers of auction stock so when their own stock at BCA reduces their prices increase. My personal answer to this would be "I could, but I hope I don't have to".

Absolutely, as long as everyone knows that WBAC's initial valuation is between CAP Average and CAP Below and prices accordingly. To quote them: "We analyse more retail advertised prices every day than anyone else to make sure we truly reflect the market" I assume this to mean that they have "robot algorithms" that go through retail adverts.

CAP is, more than ever. When WBAC, WWAC etc use it to buy (and by extension - the general public when they sell) and the big auction houses use it to sell with auction volumes bigger than ever, I can't see how we can ignore it. As other people above mentioned - AT's automatic price tools and especially those by CarGurus are so mickey mouse that sometimes give me a £2K difference on a £7K car. If you use CAP and don't adjust for optional extras it will never look right to you on bigger prestige cars.

https://www.cap-hpi.com/ There is a contact form to complete here for them to get in touch and open you an account. http://extras.cap-hpi.com/caphpicheckcta

I use CAP and do my valuations through the HPI trade website. I have a package which includes a certain number of checks and valuations.

It's impossible to predict this for a small independent without knowing their stock profile, location and many other factors.

Under the Margin scheme, Yes.

Not exactly. And let's call it a Buyers fee, not Indemnity fee (see 8.4 in my post above): No Buyers fee: Buy for £10000, sell for £12000, pay VAT on £2000 margin. With Buyers fee: Buy for £10000, add £300 buyers fee, sell for £12000, pay VAT on £1700 margin. The lower margin to pay VAT on gives you your saving.

If you get a £300 fee which is VAT inclusive and you don't get an invoice for it the only way to recover that VAT is when you pay less VAT on your profit margin. When you didn't make a profit that opportunity is lost. I should've made it more clear that you don't have a choice David, because BCA don't issue a VAT invoice for the fees even if you wanted one.