mike101

+1 there are plenty of cheap Chinese knock off tools out there, they may work but they may also cause a lot of damage!

Private plate swaps can mess up the MOT history too.

+1 - I missed the over the phone title yesterday. Hard lesson for you for sure.

Chip and pin or card details over the phone?

Very quiet on the phone - but have 10 on the board in 5 days so not complaining.

+1 for genuine sensor - the frequency will be wrong on the Euro one.

Always used Jepsons - great support too.

+ 1

James Dillon’s courses are excellent - I’ve done a few. Technical Topics in Bridgwater.

Yes - find it very good. Has a few snags but most software does. Doesn’t handle margin scheme vat so you’ll have to do manual adjustments but it’s not the end of the world to do.

We offer 3 months on engine/gearbox for mechanical failure. The reality is we cover lots of things as a goodwill gesture. It’s a tricky conversation when someone asks about warranty to say it doesn’t come with one - but you have your CRA rights. Stupid really as there CRA rights are much greater in reality - but there’s a danger in highlighting the CRA too much imo.

It’s a masterful plan - I can’t believe no one ever thought of it before?! ☺️

If you have reached out to him already ie made him the offer to inspect and refund then you just need to wait for him to respond. Sometimes (it’s happened to me on a few occasions, although not when it’s gone as far as this) you’ll never hear from them again as they can’t be assed/know they are in for a hiding as you’ve called their bluff. Just make sure you get your paperwork right in the future and save yourself the agro!

Yours is a tricky case - not helped by the fact that you didn’t get your paperwork right at the start ( not trying to be rude, just factual based on what I’ve read above) The reality is (as seemingly proved above) that going to court is a lottery, many judges will side with the retail customer and your best bet is to try and avoid it. That said, yours is an unusual situation but if it were me I’d be trying to reach out to the customer, resolve it as best you can and move on with your life/business.

This - screamers are part of the game. Deal with them professionally and move on. It’s hard not to take it all personally sometimes though and end up spending valuable energy trying to prove a point. I’ve been guilty of this many times.

That’s a proper tale of buyers remorse! Some people are such drips - hopefully Volvo are helpful and don’t give you the normal ‘health check’ drama’s of half worn brakes being dangerous etc

Sounds a bit confused to me. Your stock is a current asset and sits on your balance sheet normally valued at what you paid for it. You can either take the money for the fuel out if funds allow or let it sit in your Directors Loan Account. You can then choose to take this out or if it works out to be tax efficient for you, you can charge the company interest for using it.

That’s the point with this example - the fault was there, the dealer didn’t do his job well enough and got taught a pretty harsh lesson! I doubt he’ll do it again.

Misshapen tyre?

It’s an interesting point that we can’t help but take it personally when someone whinges. I try not too but it’s hard! You end up taking it home with you and it’s easy to let it take over your life sometimes when you get a few in quick succession. Does anyone have any interesting thoughts about how to be more philosophical about screamers? I tend to now wait and give a measured response rather than balling in with my first thoughts which often aren’t very polite. I also find it’s easy to get drawn in to tit for tat point scoring rather looking at the bigger picture of getting them off your back!

Tricky one as it’s one of those grey area cases where a lot will depend how reasonable the customer is. Unless you have an independent (AA/RAC etc) report at the point of sale or you can prove misuse I think you’ll struggle to completely wriggle out of this. Latent fault at the point of sale is how it would be considered. I’d get it back, assess and chuck a second hand box in it if you have to.

From an accounting perspective - advertising is an expense not a cost of sales. Doesn’t matter if the cost is variable - plenty of expense costs are variable.

I think the info you track will depend on your business and your size. All successful traders will have a ‘feel’ for it - I’m just a bit OCD on numbers. For me: Long term (Financial YTD vs previous year) Income, Cost of Goods Sold, Expenses, Operating Income. Medium (monthly) Unit Sales, Lead Conversion ratios. Short term (daily/weekly) Sales pipeline, enquires This week we were quiet but still ended up with 4 on the board. That makes me as happy as doing 10 when we are busy. I see it a bit like football ie if you grind out the win in a poor match that’s what makes the difference over the course of a season!

Quiet week but still a good month overall. I wonder if Black Friday has an impact this week? Did anyone run any promotions today? We supply parts too and have done well today on that. Not tried BF discounts on cars yet but I see some are. Might consider next year.

Hard luck. Friends and family curse! Do it for nothing and watch it bite you. I say no to friends now (they’ll be telling you a year later that they just had to replace a bulb on THAT car you sold me!) Family is tricky - just had to do a HG on a farm truck I sourced for my mum 6 months ago so I share your pain.