EPV

I'll be slightly unpopular with the older dealers on here and say that if you don't have a good grasp of technology, websites, photos, videos etc you will struggle. People buy cars from the internet these days and unless you're going to set up a roadside pitch (seems unlikely as a start up) then the internet is your showroom, therefore you must be better than everyone else or at least, aim to be. I think you need to consider how you're going to advertise, where, what etc before going to an auction and buying a car. It's good that you have lots of time, you will need it when starting up properly in this industry but if a complete novice like me can do it, anyone can. That said I have found the best way to learn is to fuck something up and try again, so whilst I'm saying consider all the above, there's nothing wrong with getting yourself a car to sell, fixing it up, looking around at what other dealers do and taking the plunge. Good luck,.

There used to be a garage local to me that named themselves BMWise. They were an independent BMW specialists and repaired nothing but BMW’s. BMW asked them politely to change their name, which they refused, they then started court proceedings which were resisted initially but upon realising the David and Goliath proportions, the garage saw sense and changed their name. I think this story along with TV’s story tells you alot about how huge organisations protect their brand.

Depends on the customers really. If they’re whining and moaning just refund them and sell it to someone else. If they’re whining now, when you’re effectively replacing bits of the car to save them from doing it, what will they be like when they do take the car? “The clutch doesn’t feel right” or “it’s making a funny noise” or “I can hear it at night crying it’s in pain” You’ve planted the seed that something is wrong with the car and that’s what they have in their mind now. Technically they haven’t taken ownership so they can’t reject it but I don’t think this is about technicalities it’s about a business decision for you.

My application has been accepted, pretty quick really, about 2 weeks overall!

That’s cheap. Ask if he wants to move it to north west Kent for me?

Presumably landlords don’t want cars pissing oil all over their floor and leaving a mess when the tenant has gone. Obviously we know differently and you would treat it like a showroom but that’s what they’re thinking I suppose

I’ve given up on the idea of having a unit, outdoor compound and portakabin will be as good as it will get for me

I suppose if you’re getting trotted up that’s the price you pay for the convenience of proxy bidding. I know full well that it goes on and I reckon i’ve been a victim but at the end of the day, you set your max bid for a reason (I.e. you think you’re going to make a profit) so although it’s frustrating it’s just part of the game.

You’re buying from the public mate, expect the worst and put a contingency into your max bid.

They’re like rocking horse shit, especially down my way (Kent)

Not my bag but good pitch cars I suspect especially one that’s white with grey/black wheels and an MSport.

The 1 series will certainly be popular.

If you don’t know where you are, worse still on a ferry, spelling is the least of his concerns!

Another reason not to rely on guides! I think twerp was just having a joke mate, being, well, a twerp.

Lol

This business is like fishing. If you cast your line, you may wait a while before a shoal appear. You haven’t done anything different to what you did when you were catching but now you’re not. Or even more specifically, you’re fishing for pike but all that’s swimming past your bait is bream, and they’re not looking for fish to eat they’re looking for bread. Sooner or later a couple of pike swim nearby and attack the bait together. You can’t control when the fish shoal past your bait but what you can control is making sure your bait looks tastier and fresher than the chap in the next swim to you. Thats why this business isn’t linear, x per month x per week. There’s only so many fish and lots of anglers. But if you get your bait seen by all the hungry fish and make it look better than everyone else’s bait, you’ll catch more than everyone else.

Part ex I reckon!

Probably for your stock profile I expect, I tend to sell saloons and estates to family types. I agree though you have to adapt but i’d rather have a 3 minute conversation with someone than a 3 day one.

I just ring the customer. Even if they prefer to be emailed. In my opinion anyone seriously wanting a car will know they will have to speak to another human at some point.

That’s really kind of you to say TV and means a lot to hear it coming from a seasoned vet like you. I’m lucky I have an eye for detail and enjoy the presentation, not necessarily the work but the presentation. Obviously as a door stepper I have to make sure i’m better than everyone else or at least most others to have any chance of getting people to come out. AD has been really helpful to me and I have definitely adopted plenty of his business in mine. Along with Nick from Lovely Cars and Rory from RS, these are successful men who are to be listened to, along with the elder statesmen of this forum like yourself.

Not really no. Exchanges are for traders. By the time the market is liquid, the early bookmaker prices (which are quite often badly wrong) have been corrected. The “value” has gone at that stage. Usually by 12pm theexchange market is liquid and decent bets can be struck. But as I say by then, mistakes are gone and the prices on the exchanges generally reflect a horse’s true chance. If you want to make proper money you need to bet when the odds are wrong and that is overnight and early morning which means you need runners. But keeping a tally of all their accounts is time consuming and ultimately people just want to win every day so even finding runners is hard.

I am good at betting on horse racing and if it was easy to get a bet on (I had 12 people putting on for me at one stage) I could definitely run that as a sideline but keeping on top of it all is a full time job. I have thought about just having a smaller operation and nicking a few grand a month but I think I need to make sure the car sales business is running as smooth as possible and besides it’s been a good month so far for me so I don’t know when i’d get some time anyway. But something like that would be ideal. Computer based.

Update: At the recommendation of my regular garage (one of the technician there has an E90) we changed the oil. The owner of the garage said if the previous service was done using cheap shitty oil it could be manifesting itself as low pressure oil at high speeds, something they have seen before on these cars. They put in the correct oil and a 70 mile drive later by myself at speeds between 50 and 80mph and not a sign of a warning light. The tech also checked the strainer and said it looked clean and no signs of mashed up timing chain guide. I'm sceptical that this won't re-appear once sold but ultimately that's also me over thinking things.There were a few codes, one relating to the NOX/Catalytic Converter being sulpherised but after the aforementioned long drive this didn't come back. I've got 2 punters lined up to buy it when it's ready (just having a new MOT) so I'm going to repeat the long test drive again early next week but if the codes don't reappear and the low pressure warning light doesn't come back on I feel I've done as much as I can and it won't keep me awake at night when sold. Thanks again for all your helpful suggestions.

I don't know how you could do anything as a sideline, even when it's quiet you have to be ready to show a billy a car when they call so it's not like you could get involved elsewhere.

Yeah, righto. As if any of your “competitors” wanting to copy you would scratch their heads and wonder “if we wanted to know how much cars are up for sale for online, where should we look?”