Nick M.K.

Actually having looked at your website it's quite nice (ClickDealer sites usually are).

Now we are both truly confused aren't we :-)

Sorry, I didn't understand this?

Best car I owned, a 2007 CLK220 CDI, bought in 2012 at 175K miles for around £3900, sold in 2016 at 251K miles for £3500 (and it was a very quick sale). The biggest thing it needed replacing other than tyres and brakes was a split boost pipe, around £60.

+1, collected the deposit in the evening with 4 minutes of added time remaining.

Of course. Try buying a bargain car with outstanding finance... The seller has had 7 viewings, 7 people as soon as they found out about the outstanding finance walked away and all he wants is finance settled so his monthly payment stops irrespective of the value of the car. So a £6.5K car could be yours for £4200, all you have to do is pay the finance company over the phone with the seller listening. Private buyers just don't dare do that because they think "if it's too good to be true..."

Love the numberplate on the BMW

You can actually register with them straight away to get some of the admin out of the way and when you get the FRN number you can start proposing deals.

From memory I think it took 5 weeks until I got my FRN registration number.

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.