MattR

I do recall you've mentioned it before.... and the rat is a bit harsher than 'fat c**t!

Your parents christened you 'fat c**t@???!!!! Sorry Mark, Couldnt resist

The thing is, you cant always tell who is wasting your time. I had an email enquiry last week which was a part ex lead through AT, Details of car, I looked it up on dvla MOT history, it had failed its MOT a week before on corrosion. I called the customer, she said, 'I might come down saturday, but I havent seen one of these (my car) before, and I'm on holiday in a week so not in a rush to buy, probably make my mind up when I'm back in 2 weeks'. She rings on saturday morning to say 'I'm on the way'. I'm not full of hope on this but still do it right - check theres a bit of fuel in it, clean it off, all paperwork ready to inspect. She turns up, and asks about the price on her p/ex, which she hasnt brought with her (for obvious reasons, but she still hasnt told me that). I just say I wouldnt want it because of the MOT fail. So we take my car out for a drive, little haggle on return, deposit taken and car has gone this morning. So from someone who knew nothing about my car, and was telling me she wouldnt be buying on the day(or even in the next fortnight) to fully paid and gone within 48 hours. It would've been really easy to dismiss this out of hand. Unless youre really busy or taken the AD route, give them all a chance. they will let you down. But sometimes they will (pleasantly) surprise you. Sometimes the lies they tell you are good ones!

Welcome and good luck with your new venture

Offering customers a quid for their swapper. And them accepting. Then telling them to leave the tax in the screen at handover

If they ask, tell them. If they don't, don't. Most punters understand very little about cars. Don't complicate matters. To be fair, I'm surprised they didnt ask if the cambelt had been changed......

Great. Now Nacman has over 25 posts.......

Make sure she has the reg doc before you refund her

the idiots entertain me when im having a sandwich.

0345 1110002, helpdesk

I think that, under the circumstances, your offer to complete the work yourself rather than getting someone else involved, would stand up in front of a judge if it ever went that far. In the meantime, a simple, firm but fair letter or email stating the simple facts; You will not authorise repairs which add up to almost 3 times the vehicle value. You will consider the repairs if the car is returned to you. I do think your best way out of this is a refund. Everyone runs a tight ship but you have to have a float. she will not go away after this repair. there are 2 sorts of people who buy 2 grand cars. I think this customer is in the category to avoid.

£155 too expensive.

re advertise. If it sells to someone else and theyve paid you, tell the cypriot not to bother coming. If it doesnt sell to someone else, and he turns up, its gone anyway. Until you refund his deposit, youre quids in.

VW do have a database with service etc recorded on it. One of the traders near to you can access the service details.

And if the privateers werent there, who would buy the cars sent in with banners such as 'dealer p/ex' or 'trade to trade'? Trotting up gets it closer to the sale price, its a brave auctioneer who trots past reserve. Can you imagine how long it would take for a car to go through if they didnt get it started with a couple of bids off the wall?

That could earn you a few beers on here!

well said. following the above guide reduces the pool of cars you can buy, but reduces the risk of working for nothing

Hi Tradegirl - you move further away from somewhere and you get closer to another - if you're going to be close to the M6, put on your ad '5 mins from Junction (*) of the M6'. IT ALL HELPS. For your price point I dont see an issue. you're probably quiet because it really isnt over busy for anyone. If you only have 4 cars ready, thats all you can sell. Ive got 13 cars on AT, I came back off holiday on friday evening and the phone has only rung once so far. So dont over analyse the area stuff, People will routinely travel an hour for a car without batting an eyelid. And lots more for a more unique one.

Hi BHM apologies, Ive been away and the beaches of Sardinia were more of a draw than logging on to Forum.... I had a month free on the Enhanced package. The benefit to me was that the ads had more prominence on CG than the free ones and my phone number was on there. I also had proper contact details for the email leads that came through (1 of which did generate a sale). I also had a situation where I missed a call made by someone from a CG ad and instantly got an email from CG explaining I had missed a call from this number and that it was in response to a CG ad ( a good feature I thought). I had the package for a full month (June) which was a poor one for me - I sold 8 when I normally do 14 -18 per month. Of those sales, 1 came from Car Gurus. The rest were AT/my AT website and walk on (and I asked the walk ons where they had seen it too - no CG response). I also had a CG enquiry who wanted to buy but couldnt get through on finance. That could've made it 2 deals on the month. At the end of the trial I was offered a package for 230 per month, which I have declined and gone back on to the free package. I attempted to get a hefty discount from them on the basis that if it worked for me I would extend beyond a 6 month contract but got nowhere. I think they probably stand the best chance of taking on AT, but I dont think they are there yet. However, the question I always ask myself is if I wasnt on AT, then Joe Public will see my cars on another platform ( I think this is the logic NOA has), so maybe I'd have sold 4 or 5 in June from CG. From my experience of the others (that arent AT) - Motors, Ebay, Gumtree etc, I would say CG has impressed me most. I just dont think they give me enough to give me a sustainable business if they were replacing AT or justify extra spend when the job is a bit quieter (and Im taking time off during school holidays). I'm sure I'll be talking to them again in a few months time.

Has scrap gone up again?

WOW. A contribution from a newbie!

Close always get a mention.

You could talk to the Mrs!

I'd say theres always a point. some will come back to you, many won't. I would be stunned if anyone on here can claim to have never, ever sold a car to someone where the enquiry started as an email. Although it seems rare for it to go all the way through without meeting them or talking to them, many deals do start as an email.

Take it off sale for a week, reclean, re photo, price differently (sometimes my hits go up if its say 3487 rather than 3495) and change the strap line. Make sure the colour shows well in the pics (i've had it a couple of times and sold well), I guess as a CAT N, it has to be well priced vs other cars locally, but theres a bum for every seat.