EPV

Until the change the DSR's (which is unlikely) then I can't see many dealers being confident about offering this. I have done this a few times and it works well but I don't offer an organised DSR so I won't advertise that I do.

Ok, well you did say above that as the buyer for the firm, you are struggling to find decent cars with a margin after your recon costs. You were offered the advice (good advice imo) that you should look to increase your prices where applicable (the example of the only one in 60 miles being a good example) but you have stated that you prefer to work to a certain marker on AT with the intention of selling the stock quicker, turning more cars etc. Straight out of an AT Masterclass, some good advice in those classes I've found! As the buyer for the firm, you're no doubt expected to get the cars as cheaply as possible. Someone else presumably is in charge of recon, another in charge of selling and so on. You all have your own difficulties within your roles. Mr recon says to you "you're paying to much for the stock, by the time I've minted these cars up there isn't enough margin" and you're thinking "what are other dealers doing, I'm thinking we're minting up too much and how can I possibly pay less for the stock when everyone wants it" Vicious cycle. As a one man band I don't have these concerns or musings, if when I get a car delivered, it's got a marginal bumper scuff, or an alloy that is on the borders or nibbled/smashed then I just spend the £60 or £40 and get it done. But what I do make sure I spend time on, is looking at what my competition is. I try and source cars that I have very little competition and even then I believe I can present better than them and steal the customer who is looking for that make/model/derivative. I try to aim for a price that gets the "good" marker because it does influence buyers but if you think the vast majority have a clue in the differences between good, great and low then sorry, they don't. They still think the cars are over priced, still want to chip, do a deal, get something off. But if I have a car that I know or believe will be popular, and I'm the only one, or one of two, then the marker means nothing to me and I'll put it at £500 above the good price marker. Don't take this the wrong way but I can see you have been schooled in the AT way, price to 98% of market, turn more stock quickly so you can rinse and repeat etc. Maybe you think that it's the only way, the best way etc but I don't think it is. This is coming from someone who is a complete AT nut. I use all their tools, speak weekly with their performance partners and sidekicks and have been to a couple of master classes. I think you need to have a word with whoever sets your prices and ask them to stop being so lazy and just pricing to 98% of the market and do some proper research into what your competition is, for each car and price it accordingly. There are ways to increase margin, add value etc and cutting costs or standards isn't the way imo. Not for what I sell anyway. You cannot physically reduce the price of buying cars, You are doing your bit by as you say, scouring the internet and working hard to find the gems. Whoever does your pricing is being lazy and not putting in as much effort imo. Good luck either way mate. I agree entirely with you mate.

So you’re saying you’re struggling to find cars with acceptable margins in them and you would rather price cheaper (not right because the right price is the sale price) sell cars quicker and use that money to buy more stock and repeat. I can see a flaw there mate. You want fast selling cars for cheap. There’s a long queue.

Not strong? Leave it out you’re one postcode away from a yam yam

If I'm just interested in one car I'm not going to sit in front of a screen for an hour or so waiting for it to come through. Or, if I know I won't even be at the screen, that's when I use proxy bids.

If it means I'm the maiden bid

Shhhh.....

That's it in a nutshell I think. It's vague, doesn't help you but ultimately it's very true. I pretty much mint cars up but I enjoy it, take the time to make them irresistible to someone interested and my ration of sales to viewings is about 95%. I would hate it if I was showing someone a car thinking to myself "please don't notice the bumper scuff, please don't notice the bald tyre, please don't notice the smashed alloys, please don't look in the glovebox as it's caked in crumbled peppermints" I ask for top money relatively speaking for my stock, so I think people are entitled to expect something that looks 3 years old when it's 8 years old. Do a smart repair course and do it yourself! Wait until you're stocking 12-15 and selling your forecourt regularly, you wonder how you have time to piss never mind paint

Firstly ring the garage who did the 2017 service, confirm it as genuine. In an ideal world he's falsified the whole lot of it but that seems unlikely. If 2017 and 2015 are genuine and he's just doctored out the 2016 part, which shows the belt being done then chances are whoever did the service in 2015 or 2017 or both, would have done 2016.

Get hold of the garage that did the service in 2016. Likely to be the same that did it in 2015 or 2017 and if not, check out where the MOT was done in 2016 as they may have also serviced it. Once you have the evidence, send it off to him and tell him if he continues to persist in trying to extort you that you will sue him.

In a word yes. Dave said sometime ago that this was bordering on fraud and what he is now doing, effectively doctoring a service history on a car for deceptive purposes, is fraud. You should possibly seek legal advice and go from there mate. This bloke is clearly a complete chancer.

On occasion I have seen my proxy bid be the starting point, even if it's above cap average say. Quite frustrating. Proxy bids, on the whole work for me though.

We all tend to repeat the same old tired thing at times don’t we...

Hahahaha On the subject of surecheck, it's true. As BHM would say, you couldn't trust them to describe a lump of coal accurately. I've had an Audi A4 recently with "engine runs with a misfire" which seemed to fix itself with 250 miles of driving and a Mercedes with "engine doesn't operate as intended" which has to be the vaguest fucking description known to man. It may as well say " the assessor didn't really know what he was doing but just in case, we think the engine is broken"

No, it looks shit. One of the downsides to AT's format is they don't allow paragraphing, I've asked a million times for this but it seems to disagree with their in house IT nerds. Just keep the text interesting and don't worry about people getting bored and not reading the advert in full. If they are interested then they want information, if they want information give it to them. If you have to separate then use a string of hyphens. Even then I wouldn't do it. Just do a nice, interesting paragraph.

There's not much wrong with the background, pics 4 and 6 from the 120i for example are more than good enough. You'd be better off spending your time sorting the punctuation in the ad text, double commas and full stops, exclamation marks then a double comma etc.

Well they do say misery loves company

A little intro wouldn't have gone a miss! You're on stony ground here imo. The surecheck report just states whether the car engages in 1st and reverse gear, when the car is static. Which it does, so you say. It doesn't relate to the clutch or any noise from the box, unlike BCA's which does refer to the clutch itself. Whether you agree with the criteria on the surecheck and how they conduct it is academic, they do what they do and that's it. You did the right thing by not taking it and leaving it there, I'd say this will likely hinge on how much you buy from them, whether you have a good standing account with them etc. I'd say you'd have little joy taking them to court as they have probably not done much wrong.

You have to register for that I assume?

The video is awesome. Don't change that. You are light years ahead of plenty of large dealers who don't have a clue about online marketing. Seriously well done. The photos are excellent, the bokeh is fantastic and if you were showcasing a Lambo Huracan you'd be in demand for any dealership. There's nothing wrong with making an old banger look something it isn't, that's the point of online advertising isn't it. The issue with some of your photos is that you are showing dirty, worn parts of the vehicle (nothing unexpected, it's 13 years old) and there's no point in highlighting them. There's not much wrong with the adverts at all, just could do with a little more tyre shine, straighter camera angle and start looking at what you are photographing as you shoot. I don't mind the text, it's salesy but you're trying to convince someone that an old banger isn't. The reason your phone isn't ringing very often is because you have effectively, 3 adverts. If you had more cars, you'd have more calls. etc. Your online marketing is way above most dealers who have been doing this years. It's to be commended. A little more polish and attention to detail and you're there.

Just hang up and speak to someone else. I never have a problem with BMW. Just ask them for the name of the franchises and ring each one directly.

I'm not just saying this cos Nik's a mate but any Bulgarian I've met has been top notch. Sold a Jag XF to one, he wanted it, paid for it, left me a good review ain't heard from him since.

Mercedes are difficult about it all. You need the V5 in your name, or, V5 and proof of purchase. Audi and BMW are much easier to deal with. Ring Mercedes UK, ask them to confirm if the car has been through their franchises and how many times. They won't tell you anymore than that I reckon. When you have the V5 and proof of purchase, if you email it to MB UK they will send you the history. Failing that, find yourself a good indy who has access to MB's systems and reward him for such information...

Because AT don’t want a load of sold adverts sitting around on their platform screwing up their data that they sell to gullable divs like me

Depends on the car I think. Some people see their purchase as something they will sell after a year or two so they are thinking of resale value. Someone buying a car they are going to be driving for the next 5 years don’t want to think a 100k car will have 150k on by the time they are finished with the car and can’t sell it.