Nick M.K.

Are you telling me that the £200 (+Vat) per set I've paying for the last few years has been a waste :-) This is the million pound education I was talking about in another thread...

Zebra and Blue keep getting mentioned so I'll talk to them both on Monday. We actually use Mallard every now and then and they often decline. We just did a deal today and Close said no (CCJ 4 years ago), Mallard also said no, First Response approved at a lower amount and luckily this customer could come up with the much bigger deposit required.

Your target audience is a 40-55 yo man (or a lady) that "always wanted one" and will most likely p/x something like a Mondeo or an older 3 series. They will appreciate a car that stands out and has a bit of wow factor. When they call you they'll tell you that they've looked for a few months and that your car just "stood out". Until you try it you'll never know :-)

I have attached a photo of an XF in Grey with the wheels in Grey just to give you an idea of how it looks. Depending on the wheel design it could improve the look of the car and make it stand out. Also attached is a photo of my £5600 TT I mentioned in another thread with the most basic 17" wheels that we refurbed in black. 113% increase in ad views compared to silver. And this is at £8K.

When you refurb wheels and have a colour choice what do you go for mostly? Again, assuming an exterior colour that goes with anything. I used to hate black wheels, now everyone wants them!

Yes, pay as little as you can, re-sell for as much as you can, learn how webuyanycar make their money so you have an answer ready when the customer pulls out their WBAC online quote...

I think the worst I've had was a couple of years ago on a Merc S350CDI that I bought for a friend (nothing in it for me after he settled his finance less than a month in) and he was super happy with. The only problem was that we'd paid £14K, a grand over Cap Clean and the service printout with 5 services, 5 main dealer (no book on the newer model) turned out to be from a Merc A180. They said that our correct printout will be sent through the post. It was, with 2 services only. I talked to the branch manager and they just wanted the car back (matey didn't want to give it back) although I said to him we can always buy it again for less. In the end the vendors Mercedes Retail offered £500 and matey accepted. Still drives it happily...

I was thinking more about the near-prime buyers that still get declined by Close because of stuff like "affordability" (they can afford £190 per month but can not afford £230!) or even "lack of trace". We are just outside London and get a lot of applications from people that have been in the country 4-5 years, however the lender can only "trace" them to a certain address for 1-2 years and is unwilling to lend. Even a couple of extra acceptances every month can boost my bottom line.

I like their systems and the ease of proposing, the only thing I don't like is when the buyer is "approved" but they will only lend say £6K on a £10K deal and my customer has no hope of finding a £4K deposit...

Did a deal last week and they had a 2002 BMW 330i that they owned from new, 80K miles. The stack of paperwork for their car was two inches thick including their original purchase invoice for £40000. Came in p/x at exactly 1% of it's original price.

We are with Close and currently send the declines to First Response or Moneybarn. I would rather use a brokerage though, someone with a reasonably good success rate but not CF24/7 or Zuto. Last month I have 42% declines so quite a lot.

That's quite a compliment Simon, thank you! I am sure the forum will accept me eventually.

Re-read that post again, that's not what it says: Absolutely right. I wish there were forums with as much info as this back in the days when I was starting up. Would've saved me a million pounds. Literally a million. Expensive f***** education :-)

I am a reasonably new member of this forum but I've done the job a long time (not as long as you but long enough). You'll be pleased to know that both me and my accountant are very good in our respective fields. It was another forum member that wanted details of your court run-ins with BCA, as I said earlier I'd rather take £66 and concentrate on what earns me the most than take corporations to court over £264.

In short - NO. If you accept the rejection the customer is entitled (what an ugly word!) to a full refund AND you have to collect the vehicle from them unless your invoice or terms and conditions specifically state otherwise. If you don't want to accept the rejection you can only offer a repair as a gesture of goodwill.

Why bother? I got them to pay me something. Leave the court action to people with more time. If someone knows something in a certain field I'll listen. I am sure you will too.

I too could've done with one back in the day but didn't have one. Would I go back 13-14 years and do it all over again? On my own? Hell yeah... Remember what Steve Jobs used to say: "The journey IS the reward!"

Yes of course. From day one pretty much. I am still welcome on their forum too :-)

You need to learn a hell of a lot but part exes is up there, yes :-)

For now I am shouting about it. Hopefully they pick up on it.

You don't like the commissions? I'd do every deal on finance if I could. In fact I've seen AT adverts that say "only available on finance" in the attention grabber.

I bought the first in Nov 2017 (64 reg, 4100 miles!) for £17K. Cap Clean was £19K, I don't remember what below was but it would've been more. Private seller. Second in Jan 2018 for £16900 (15 reg, 35K miles), Cap Clean was around £16400 so overpaid a little. There were only 5 in the whole of BCA Then in Feb 2018 there were at least 30 i3s so my next one came in at £16K (15 reg, 20K miles) which was approx £1500 under Cap Clean, again not sure what below was. Then the killer. A 60K miler (huge miles for this car, 64 reg) for £12K with Cap Clean of over £14K. It was in retail condition too. And the last two in March and April, £16K and £18K respectively, similar miles around 20K, both 15 reg but one much higher spec then the other. Interestingly it's the lower spec car that gets more views at the moment... Go figure... Also I'll tell you what I bought today: A 65 reg Abarth, 19K miles, stunning spec, black wheels, EML on, Cap Clean £8700, mine for £7900. Not quite Cap below but normally they go a fair bit above CC.

It depends on your stock profile as well, not just the price bracket. A few years old prestige car with high spec typically goes to a finance buyer who "always wanted one" and is kind of tired of waiting to save the money for it. Something like a diesel Astra will usually sell to a cash buyer. Both could be priced at £7-£8K. I think in the £3-4K bracket it's important to be able to take part exchanges. People just want out of their Clio 1.2 with the leaky sunroof and you saying "yes I'll take it" gives them a huge reason to buy your car. Also, a £100 Clio could sell overnight for £500 and make the whole deal that much better. For you. Even if you scrap the thing you still don't lose.

This was the official legal advice. I'd rather trust Lawgistics than not. They were, until recently. New office, new phone number and new claims handling system now.

In the past I've specifically asked Lawgistics how easy it is to take BCA to court. They said it is very easy but usually when one company takes another to court it is expected to stop trading with it, buying from it or supplying it. So you go to court, win or lose - your account privileges will go. Agree about the fobbing off though.