EPV

He started out wanting £2500, I talked him round... And yes , plugged into diagnostics, test driven extensively etc. Have since driven it 40 miles and seems sweet as.

I know things are cheap up norf but AT and Car Gurus have it at £4,700 and it’s £2,650 cap clean so Christ knows what cheap is if sub £4K ain’t!

What do you value that at then?

Tower Hill is a shithole. Besides, it’s a Sunday. Go to a few bars in Canary Wharf or Liverpool Street on a Thursday, they’ll be rammed.

Yes it is and I reckon it's valves too. I had diagnosed a misfire in cylinder 5 so I'm having a compression test done and full diagnosis before I got reaching for the rope. Aaaaand it's up, 90 mins after signing it over... https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201808049141817

Not yet no, i’m having a full wet and dry compression done and if it’s a head gasket, well, better than a full recondition. Hopefully some good news a-comin-next week. It’s in and I bought it. Airbag light on (sensor issue imo) and it could probably do with the brakes doing but I chipped him another £150 so I got it for £1750, cap below is £2150, proper retail is £4500. I’m still torn what to do, even if I prep it right with new brakes and a clean(ish) ticket and put it up for £4K i’ll still see a grand out of it which is good money but i’m still convinced it will stick! I dunno, maybe I should give it a shot as ultimately these things could sell well for me and unless I try I’ll never know....

I’ll definitely make a decision when it comes in. As you say I have storage issues in the sense that I can afford to run a forecourt of 10/11 cars. My average days to turn number is 32. That works for me as it means I can work with 10/11 stock until I can afford to expand and still provide a wage for myself. If I had 2 cars with a likely 60-90 day turn on them it would make pulling a wage AND saving to expand a lot more difficult. I get AD’s and your advice, as I said I don’t give all px’s away but the signs are that this car will stick. If I can release my money out of it and pay strong money for cars I know I can charge strong money for and sell quickly that’s what I have to do for now. Oh, I don’t want to seem ungrateful. I take every scrap of advice I can get from everyone on here.

Yes, 2-3 months easily is too much for me. I’d rather release my money and put it into something I know will turn in 30-60 days tops. There are certain cars i’m happy to retail as I know they will sell quickly. I took a 15 year old petrol e320 Estate recently and doubled my money on it, in 20 days. I knew it would be popular. There are two very similar touregs Within 50 miles of me, one dealer has had it for 54 days the other 72 days. Both are priced fine and presented well enough. Those kinds of signals suggest to me this one I potentially have will take 60-90 days plus. I can turn two cars in that time. If this was a petrol low mileage toureg i’d think differently. Besides you said yourself, it took you ages to flog yours and you’re diesel country down there.

Will he be telling us that in order to make a profit we must sell for more than we pay, next?

That’s my only concern, I can see this one sticking for 60-90 days easily enough. Block it is I think.

Very nice!

Sage advice perhaps.

Potentially taking one of these in chop, agreed a sensible price over the phone with the billy (below cap below) but anything I should be aware with these beasts? 2.5TDI,124k. Obviously a test drive/diagnostics will be plugged in etc, take that as read, just any shared experience with these would be greatly appreciated.

£2000 commission? Selling Bugatti’s?

Refer to my fish/shoal analogy. In fact, I think I might copyright it and sell a poster version for people to pin up in their offices.

70 in stock and only one sold? Blimey.

Its a 13 year old car mr customer, in excellent cosmetic condition, of course it’s had paint. I can show you a 12 year old car that has a dent and scrape in every panel, would you prefer a more original car?

Best of luck, as BHM says it’s a potential boomerang as I have started to learn...

I had a bloke wanting finance on a 14 year old X5, up for £5,500, he had a £200 deposit. Let's just say I talked him out of it.

I'm kind of with Nick on this one, I don't really have a desire to know exactly how much I made per car, it will be somewhere between x and y. I like to know bottom line over a period of a few months, this business isn't linear. That said I do keep a close eye on costs and how I can reduce them.

How do you deal with website and advertising costs Mark? I have a few items I call overheads as they are non Car specific.

I have a separate sheet for stock book mate.

Single tab for each live car. Costs plus car purchase cost (SIV) less sale value is gross profit, carried forward to a summary sheet. That can then be used to calculate VAT and corporation tax or whatever you need to pay. When a car is sold, hide the tab, leaving the live cars and summary sheet only. Single tab for each live car. Costs plus car purchase cost (SIV) less sale value is gross profit, carried forward to a summary sheet. That can then be used to calculate VAT and corporation tax or whatever you need to pay. When a car is sold, hide the tab, leaving the live cars and summary sheet only.

How would that work? Sorry mister you can’t have the car as you’ve failed the prop, that’ll be fifty quid please, ta.

Well without lamenting the point, others have said plenty but the reason you’re not getting phone calls is your presentation is pretty shit. As I said, desirability, price, presentation. You’re failing somewhat in the third. Stains on the boot carpet? Looks like someone has slung a cup of coffee over the carpet in there. Stains on the back seats? The engine bay is full of leaves and it looks a dirty engine. Don’t bother putting up pictures of dirty engine bays. What are you hoping for there? Also, it’s silver. Which isn’t helping. Dont expect to sell that anytime soon. By the way, 150 ad views over a week is 20 per day which is fuck all. I have BMW X5 that is generating 110 PER DAY. So don’t think too much of 150 per week. People are looking and seeing a stained, tired looking old shitheap next to a bog. And unsurprisingly, they are closing your advert down and looking somewhere else. No one says you have to sell mint Porsches but if you’re going to sell cars and wonder why no one is ringing then please do open your eyes and see stains on seats and toilets in the background. Not even the pikiest of Punter will buy. Cheer up, you’re lucky, you can get a can of upholstery foam and find a better photo spot. The x5 i’ve had hundreds of clicks has developed a misfire that’s likely to be a head gasket. I’d say i’m probably feeling Bluer than you mate.