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EPV
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Posts posted by EPV
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He's probably doing a bit of urban, combined with the odd dual lane carriageway, 50mph type thing. Knowing where he lives and works, as he only uses it to get to work.
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Sold a 2009 petrol 2.0 VW Passat DSG Highline to a chap and his wife 4 weeks ago. Just took a call from him, stating he was very unhappy. Here we go I thought, gearbox time..
Nope. Apparently he can't get the OBC to read above 22.7 MPG. When he test drove the car it was showing 36.1 (not that it makes any difference but I let him continue) so he's adamant something is definitely wrong. When he arrived to first look at the car, he brought his own DIY diagnostic machine. I let him plug it in, I had nothing to hide but it probably should have given me a clue as to what I was dealing with. But he was pleasant enough and didn't haggle on the price, just left me his shitter of a Mondeo in chop.
Anyway, I asked him to brim the tank, record how much he paid per litre and drive it to near fumes so we can check what he is actually getting in real world, to determine whether it's the OBC or something else.
So, in preparation for his call in a week, what would you be thinking in this situation? I want to be prepared to deal with him professionally and properly but this isn't as easy to resolve as a knocking suspension part (black and white case of me fixing the car end of) and is based on so many variable of what ifs.
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Fortunately for me I don’t have to rely on other people to tell me what’s working (in their opinion) or rely on the public’s memory as I can just pop onto my portal on AT and the call logging service that eBay MP provide and see where my calls are coming from. It’s really useful for me as I can see what advertising is expensive and what’s not!
I don’t think it’s about resolving the debate Noacross, what works for you works and same for me.
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15 minutes ago, Mark101 said:Good shout Matt
How weird....this just came through by email.
Try these James, I have a £12k limit with MBNA
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Thanks mate. I have a £12k limit on one Amex, a £20k limit on another and a £9k limit on a barclaycard. I have access to a credit line I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t leaving myself open to a problem down the line. My accountant confirmed what you have said so that is the way I will go I think.
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29 minutes ago, Mark101 said:I'll put you down for AT then
I know very well the reasons for each portal but I for one have lost track on this sort of vote AT vs. Ebay vs.......
That’s sort of my point mate.
There is no point in keeping track of such a thing. The probability is that AT will “win” because it has a larger audience, larger customer base so in all probability it will “win” the poll. Does it mean its right for you? Perhaps! But you won’t learn that from a poll of a handful of dealers.
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2 hours ago, Mark101 said:Not if you keep records - you can trace where the money has come from, so I wouldn't worry - how you fund your business is up to you and your credit cards are your credit line - you will be paying for the privilege but even at 1.4% on say £5,000 is only £70 - do you really think an O/D will be cheaper 1) paying for the facility whether you use it or not 2) monthly interest and 3) would the bank even extend £5,000?
Go one stage further, get two cards - draw £5,000 off the first, then balance transfer to the second on 0% for 18 months - 2 years.
Thanks for this, really useful to know!
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Sorry Mark, I have no idea what this will prove. As you say, there are plenty of opinions and a one click answer will prove nothing other than some people will say EBay, some AT, some their own website and so on.
It won’t prove anything useful, particularly if you’re looking for an answer on which platform YOU should use. All you can do is read opinions and make your own mind up.
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41 minutes ago, NOACROSS said:You can have as many high quality images as you like on ebay, if you use a program called Autavia (I think this is its name.) A friend of mine always did it this way and when you open up the advert description, the extra pictures are there- but you get (I think) 20 anyway so that's enough for me).
I see others using it quite often when I'm looking on there.
Just because a customer says they found you on AT, doesn't mean they actually did or started there. We still get people telling us they saw us on AT and we've not been on there/with the robbing bastards for years! (broken record, sorry.)
You’re right, that’s why I use call tracking both for AT and eBay, gives me an accurate way of tracking where my leads and ultimately sales come from.
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6 minutes ago, Rory RSC said:It does - Just bang it in your own card machine and then withdraw as cash / bank transfer to pay for cars. Got to find ways to make stuff happen in this job not ways not to.
He is right about overdrafts btw -plus its cheaper to borrow personally than as a business.
Dead on 50 retail Cars sold for March. Best month yet been amazing particularly when you consider a couple of patches of bad weather.
Lets see what April has to offer, best of luck to all.
Interesting idea, however a couple of things that have popped into my mind;
Not sure what card machine retailer you use but I get charged 1.4% transaction fees for accepting credit and debit cards, includes Amex.
If I have received money into my bank account, and the revenue decided to investigate me for whatever reason, would these deposits in my business account not be viewed as income? I’m assuming they would be? If so they would be subject to vat and tax?
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8 minutes ago, Mark101 said:Have you taken the AT package as well James or do you PAYG like me?
Personally speaking, and this is in relation to the format not the number of viewers or the profile of viewers - Ebay may allow less pictures but it has limitless characters for the description whereas AT (only speaking from PAYG) is "almost" like the very old days of 27 characters or less - I haven't had to write PAS, EW, EM, RCL for years, I find that bizzare having to create acronyms nowadays.
I’m on a contract.
As for text vs photos, give me the photos all day every day. People buy things online from pictures and reviews. They don’t buy a car after reading a spec list, especially stuff that’s taken from granted like electric mirrors and power assisted steering. Does anyone under the age of 40 even know what that is, anyway?
Just my opinion mate, i’m a complete novice in this game so what do I know.
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1 hour ago, trade vet said:Charging start ups that much could be considered an anti competitive practice.AT trade pricing is all over the place when you consider some pay £3000 for 50,some appear to pay more and some a lot less for the same.I hope they get fined millions.
I don’t really understand this viewpoint. AT hold the vast lions share of online visits per month. They charge what they think they can get away with, of course they do. That’s business isn’t it. The rep asks him/herself what they think their customer will put up with. This isn’t a cartel, like one motor insurance company having 80% of the market share and charging what they like knowing full well people HAVE to have insurance to get to work, to feed their children, to pick them up from school. This is a competitive market place they work in, it just so happens (by luck or hard work on AT’s behalf) that they have the ears and eyes of the large share of the car buying public. You want your car put in front of them? Ante up.
Would I like it if it were cheaper? Sure, of course.
I’m 6 weeks through an eBay package which has cost £650 to date. I’ve sold zero cars. By that same token, i’ve sold 6 cars through AT. How expensive is AT in my eyes? Not as bloody expensive as eBay that’s for sure!
People make eBay work. How, I don’t know. When I market a car I do my Ad on AT. I then go to eBay and copy and paste the description, attention grabber etc from AT to eBay. So the adverts are ostensibly the same. Except eBay only let you have 20 images, so it’s an inferior advert. But make it work, people do. For me though, if I want to sell cars, as quickly as possible, there’s one place I can do that. It ain’t eBay, it ain’t motors and it ain’t car gurus. What they charge me is incidental. It works for me.
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1 hour ago, Mark101 said:Well, they are not having my £750, that's crazy.
I can have their top ad on PAYG for about £60 3 weeks, I don't even have enough stock to reach £750.
And for comparison - what about Ebay - same sort of package please.
£480 a month for 10 cars, 3 month contact. Cheaper if you have a years worth, about £325 a month I believe.
Also, you can’t really compare AT and EBay. That’s like comparing Mercedes with Dacia. I’m not talking about whether you can make money from eBay advertising vs AT, plenty do well from eBay and power to them but AT get something like 9 million visits a month. eBay get a million or so. eBay “should” be half the price of AT.
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31 minutes ago, Mark101 said:Thank you EPV - Just looking at your website actually, looks fantastic!
Thanks mate.
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12 minutes ago, Mark101 said:Hi-jack Alert - sorry
Anyone know what the minimum package AT will accept?
I am advertising a couple on AT but cannot link website or put our logo on the page - I guess you need to sign up for that.
Rationale: I'm thinking of continually listing 2-3 cars on AT and hopefully with a website link, some traffic will be directed to where they can find more. Particularly good when you have multiples of a particular make/model.
A long shot but my fledgling business cannot carry big costs such as AT on a fixed term.
Thanks, Mark
5+2 bonus cars so 7 in total. About £750pm
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10 minutes ago, Mark101 said:I ran a business turning over between £12m-£15m (I was only an employee but the MD). We had had an overdraft facility of £1m for 10 years or more - never reached the limit but operated within it. As a consequence of the 2008 credit crunch, banks had to call in as much of their credit lines as possible and overdrafts are generally an easy target (i.e. as soon as there is a credit balance in your account, they can switch the facility off). For example, if your bank has issued a record number of loans/credit cards/mortgages etc - they have to work on the fact that if everyone fully utilised their lines, there needs to be "enough" in the pot. Whether you use you O/D or not, banks have to ensure they have your maximum amount available. I recently had my O/D reduced from £1,000 to £400 (on my personal account) for this reason - I had never used it.
In your case, credit card would be my preference.
Credit card doesn’t allow me to buy private stock, which is a big part of my stock I process! So it all points to an overdraft. Hopefully there won’t be another 2008 crash!
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13 minutes ago, Mark101 said:Hi EPV - I think we have a similar sized business at the moment (albeit you present your photos far better than me, something I am addressing). If you want my simple advice (from past experience) do NOT use an overdraft - at any time the bank can call that in (they did it to me on a £1m facility and it hurts). If you really want funding, which is clearly to give you flexibility to grow - get a personal loan of say £25k over 60 months - you can dip in and out of whenever you want and ultimately, one way or another it gets paid off - meaning you'll have "accidentally" expanded your investment pot and depending on how the business is doing, you could repeat.
See I think the opposite. Assuming I could get a £25k personal loan (unlikely) then I am bound to pay back xyz a month, no matter if I have a great month or terrible month.
With an overdraft, I can as you say dip in and out and only pay for what I use.
I cant see a single reason why a bank would withdraw the facility unless I was defaulting in late payment fees etc.
Main alternative for me would be a personal credit card that I bought stock on and paid off each month.
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2 minutes ago, Mark101 said:See for me, a home trader - my expenses are seriously limited beyond what I already pay - arguably, a little more electricity and gas used. Adverts on Fleabay cost me £15 pcpm, so that is not here or there and as far as depreciation is concerned, negligible over max 90 days on the age profile of the cars I stock.
I find that if you wait long enough (within reason), someone will come along and buy the car if it is presented well and they like you. Despite the "general" public, there are still a few which will pay a little extra for added value, quality and ease. If someone wants to drive 400 miles to save £200 - go for it. If they want a car realistically priced, full MOT, freshly serviced, valeted and with a warranty - here's my details........
Having said that, I had a terrible March, so I'm probably completely wrong and you can ignore all of the above
Well, whatever you think is best! It’s your business after all. March was good for me I turned my entire forecourt over and i’m expecting to do the same again in April. After that, i’ll possibly look to get a credit line going (overdraft most probably) and increase my forecourt size.
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22 minutes ago, tradex said:A grand per unit, or double if in stock longer......you got Faberge eggs in the gloves boxes. Such margins are a thing of the past round here. Punters round here like cheap, and sadly too many value that over quality until it all goes pear shaped
We prefer to turm them over in less than 4 weeks, usually 2.
Well, i’m saying I could never get £2k out of a car, no matter how long I persevered with it! But £1k ppu is very achievable. My average ppu is £1100 and average stock turn 29 days.
39 minutes ago, Mark101 said:It is so difficult to source good stock at sensible money, so with this in mind - I need to maximise my margin on the good stuff I have got rather than "give it away" only be to be back in the same place of sourcing stock to "give away."
When it starts to get silly, i.e. I've had something for nearer 90 days, it's time to cut loose but If can see a good return and that takes 60 days, I'm a happy boy
Or double your stock and retain the same margin over extended period = same effect
Hmmm, not quite.
So each day, a car costs you money. Money in advertising. money in storage rent, rates etc. And a little depreciation. I’ve estimated that cost to be about £8 per day for me. So 30 days to turn is costing me about £250 in overheads. 60 days would cost me £480. If I let that go to 90 days, well you get the drift.
For me if a car gets to 40 days (i’ve only had two so far) then it gets moved on. I expect when I increase my forecourt size to 12-15 then i’ll either suffer smaller margins or an increased days to turn period but hopefully the higher turnover will provide more turnover.
All good in theory but in practice who knows!
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26 minutes ago, grant8064 said:I've never been too concerned over how many numbers we do per month. All about the margin for me.
I'm much more happy to do 50% less turnover with double the margin and half the potential screamers, half the paperwork etc. Maybe it's the wrong way to go about it but it works for us in the area we're in. Pretty fortunate we're not near any car supermarkets and whilst we're competitive we're certainly not the cheapest option but still shift enough locally.
I don’t think there’s a right or a wrong way. Personally I aim for a grand per unit and turnover in less than 40 days. If I doubled that turnover to 80 days i’d want to double the profit and i’d personally struggle to get £2k out of a £6k car. For me it’s easier to stock a quicker turning car with less margin than a longer turning car with more margin.
Whatever works, works.
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21 minutes ago, Linctrader said:I couldn't think of the correct term yesterday and it has bugged me all night...sling - the tyre slings the residue off.
I've used all kinds of applicators and amounts and regardless it ends up on the rear bumper and front arch/door bottoms after a few drives. Always looks amazing before the car moves off though and the tyre stays treated all week unlike many others.
Yes that’s right; sling off is the term! It’s weird i’ve never had that with megs stuff.
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39 minutes ago, Mark101 said:Personally (and I am working on seriously fewer numbers) - stock churn should be 60 days.
If you're turning roughly 50% of your stock every month, you are doing well and meeting my criteria - providing there aren't too many "stickers" in that mix.
Everyone has different criteria but unless you’ve got great margins in your stock i’d say 60 days is 20-30 days too long. I aim to turn my entire forecourt over once a month. My average turn rate is 29 days although like you I am working on far fewer numbers. That said the theory should be the same. If you have desirable stock, price it correctly and market it as best as you can, then an average stock turn of 30-40 days regardless of the size of your forecourt is a realistic aim.
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31 minutes ago, Linctrader said:i used to love this but found it creates a lot of mess when starts to flick off whilst driving. but no doubt it lasts and creates a good looking finish
You just have to get it on right. A sponge applicator and a thin layer does the job.
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Megs Endurance is the best stuff for tyres bar none in my eyes. Stays on for a week.
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Aren’t the snap on proper ones about £2k?
My first screamer
in General Dealer Chat
Posted
Yes, I have a PDI, signed by him etc. MOT was done on the 6th Jan.
It's not so much what he's entitled to etc, it's more a case of what is fair an reasonable and keeps customers happy without dancing to his tune. He was rabbling on about taking it to a main dealer and re-calibrating the OBC ffs.