Nick M.K.

And they didn't help with the registration? Really odd...

Fortune favours the brave :-)

A good example, a 2006 Jazz CVT that I bought two weeks ago from a Mercedes Retail sale at BCA, last owner since 2007, 90K miles, clean as you like but needing a complete rear bumper respray. Cap Clean £1600-1650, mine for £900, so around £1200 when fees and paint are included. Sold on SUN during the football match for £2750. This Jazz didn't fit my usual stock profile at all but the margin and ROI did.

I still can't see myself doing video only but in the last several months I started to offer a personal video that I send to the customer's phone on WhatsApp. It is actually several videos, interior, exterior, boot, history & paperwork and I send them on request when a customer gets in touch and they want to travel from a long way away (most of my customers do). By the time we get to that stage all my prep is complete and the car looks just as good in the video as it would in my first pictures which I do as soon as it comes in before most of the prep.

+1 on the voltage regulator (I think it's built in the alternator, can't replace separately) or the IBS (intelligent battery sensor) if fitted.

+ 1 but at Blackbushe with 1200 cars and more every day there is always 3-4 I could buy. Each of my provisionals lately has been given to me for my bid. I guess when some prices are ££££ over book vendors are not bothered about giving the odd one cheaper. What I will say is that in the last year I can not go to a BCA auction with a 10 car "shortlist" and hope to buy one of them. You need to be very open and very flexible about what you buy.

Arfur meant over 50% of the voters, that was NOT 50% of the country (not even close) and this is where the problem was. Still is.

I thought I was brave with some of my stock choices but I am not THAT brave :-)

Getting a forecourt and charging more and two different things. Most people that see your stock online will not know that you have a forecourt and the locals walking past the forecourt will price-compare on their phones. Why not increase some of your current prices (especially on something sold) and measure difference in response?

It looks like American style tipping culture is finally finding it's way in our industry. Great to hear! Can't wait for the times when 15% becomes the norm :-)

Something lighter after all the doom and gloom with difficult and awkward customers wanting better than new cars for ££££ under the asking price... What sale has stood out as your easiest?? I have a couple from the times I offered free delivery (thinking of doing it again) but the one that really stood out was on a black diesel Focus p/x for £4000, a day after I advertised it a chap rang on my mobile, said that he found our location without making an appointment first and can he "please" buy it? 2 minutes later he knocked on my office door not with his hand but with an envelope full of exactly £3990, he said that he doesn't "check oil" or "do test drives", doesn't haggle and he put the asking price less £10 (for some fuel) in the envelope so do we have a deal? Of course we did. I thought at first that maybe a mate was pranking me but my buyer was as serious as they get.

Hi Dave. In short. No. But the trade plate rules are so misunderstood, so often changed and so leniently enforced that I absolutely would. IF your Mercedes is on SORN (and it should be if you've owned it for a while and it's not taxed) it will be better (still illegal!) if you cover your existing plates with your trade plates in which case you can not get a ANPR fine. You are actually allowed to drive your Mercedes to it's pre booked MOT with no MOT or tax so if your bodyshop does MOTs just book one and change your mind once you get there if you didn't drive past any cameras.

Do you offer finance? If yes have a word with your rep. Your prime finance company will be able to give you a stocking facility at 3-5% annual interest. This is the cheapest way to fund your stock, cheaper than using your own money.

You and me both (wondering AND paying)

Plenty of eBay sellers out there that simply sell on eBAY, then order from the main dealer at half the price and ship out to customer. Are you in the habit of checking dealer prices before ordering an eBay "bargain"?

David (quoted you from Simon's earlier answer), I export the picture file to my desktop and while exporting I reduce the image size and jpeg quality to go under the 0.68 MB file limit. Then just attach it as normal.

Me. Engine lights on some models, kerbed alloys, scratches on bumpers, dents on doors and small rips on leather seats my favourite fixes which devalue the cars by A LOT at auction but take me only a couple of extra days to get ready (and I add even more value in the process such as changing the colour on the wheels for example). I'll take a two-three day delay in getting a car to market if I can buy it for or under CAP Below over one that will go to market a couple of days faster but cost ££££ over CAP Clean. At the end of last month my phones went absolutely crazy for this 65 reg Abarth I bought £1K below CAP Clean only because the EML was on. It was an O2 sensor but it didn't matter because the car is still under the manufacturer's warranty so it cost me £0 to fix it. Being collected by the new owner on Sat.

You and the vendors both :-)

CCL was the old name for the FCA registration, then they changed the rules. There is no CCL anymore. Your cost for getting set up will be £100 or £500 if you will exceed certain finance income threshold (which you won't at the beginning)

I could've written that myself, word for word. For the first few years of my trading I didn't offer finance because at the time the "consumer credit licence" was £1500 or so and I had no idea about the commissions. The cost now: £100 :-)

No offence taken here. Sometimes my other half needs more than a couple of mojitos and SHE had a choice 20 years ago when we met. "Life is like a box of chocolates (or like a WBAC auction sale). You never know what you'll get"...

David, don't use proxy bids if you can help it, the auctioneers will just run you to your top figure every time. Bid "live" online of you can.

They are both prime lenders but Blue has different tiers. First Response was recommended very highly for subprime on a thread here recently.

GOV site not connected with the system for Mercedes. You can check with any dealer even without doing a service there and chances are it will be recalled for Airbags. Annoyingly they call it a "steering column" recall...

We are in the wrong business aren't we :-)