Mark101

It's quite easy to rack up a few owners - demo (1), first real owner (2), sold to dealer, maybe registered? (3), second real owner (4), dealer, third owner, etc (5). This is how I sell it and a direct copy and paste of my response to my last customer whim asked about number of owners: Customer: Concerned about number of owners: Me: I completely understand; what I would say is that often a multiple owner car is good news - what does everyone do when they get a new car? They clean, polish, service, get new tyres - all that lovely stuff. Single owner cars often start life like that, then the owner gets complacent, forgetful and the car just becomes a mode of transport. Does that help?

Barely a Mars Bar these days

I stand by my comment - get some Type 1 down - probably the cheapest option and this stuff comes usually varies in size from 50mm down to dust and will compact down almost solidly - it is after all what is used under blockpaving and tarmac driveways. Can be quite dusty until you've had several good rainfalls just to warn you. Work on 1 ton to every 10m2 This is the stuff under my Land Rover in our woods - approx 3-4 tons there.

I have done well with the two classics I sold (in the end). Series Land Rover saw the usual jokers - viewed and asked if I would end early for £10k and when I said yes (I wanted £8k) he said he would go and have a think about it and called me every day to say he still wanted it - never did buy it, someone did buy it for £8.5k so still happy. Other was a Rover P6 V8 auto - paid £3,500, resprayed it myself and sold for £9,000 a month or so later. I really rate Ebay for classics and odd ball stuff - I suppose that’s because AT doesn’t really have much of a classic presence? (About to be put right here)

Type 1 MOT stone (I was in construction trade) Travis Perkins, Buildbase, EH Smith etc - in 1m3 bags about £35-40 delivered (approx one ton)

Results from the short survey for those who are interested. I suppose the results were predictable reading the above posts. Not used the portal under "other" - are they any good? ANSWER CHOICES– RESPONSES– – Autotrader 53.85% 7 – Ebay 30.77% 4 – Gumtree 0.00% 0 – Motors 0.00% 0 – Pistonheads 0.00% 0 – Exchange & Mart 0.00% 0 – Facebook 7.69% 1 – Other 0.00% 0 – Responses Other (please specify) 7.69% 1 RESPONSES (1) TEXT ANALYSIS TAGS ? s Add Tags Filter by Tag Showing 1 response fuck off twat 4/3/2018 7:11 PM Didn't start a new thread in Private Lounge because it is Anonymous anyway.

trade vet - top idea If I were you (and I don't know how deep your pockets or credit lines are), I would set up a rival WBAC (big signage/I thought about setting up webeatwebuyanycar.com) - inviting people in and value their car, I generally tell people that I will pay 10% more the WBAC (after their final valuation) upto £5K and 5% thereafter. Then, regardless of what dealers are saying (or not in this case), put them for sale at sensible money and you're on to a winner - either trade or public?

I think it's an R56 Andy - why not PM SuperMini?

No one needs to rely on anyone’s opinion but most people on here have tried and tested many methods and are far more experienced than me. I would be a fool not to consult what has been an extremely helpful and transparent group of fellow traders, add that to my own findings and maybe, just maybe I come up with a winning cocktail without wasting money where others have tried and been disappointed.

Yay - I got something right - off to tell the wife

Is this yet another thing that has changed since I last offered finance - I am sure I applied for a CCL online and it came through straight away in 2003/4. I used to self finance my cheapies on the basis that the odd bad deal wouldn't break me.

Good shout Matt How weird....this just came through by email. Try these James, I have a £12k limit with MBNA

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.......

Because there are so many opinions on this and they got lost in the vast number of threads, I have created a survey which requires just a one click answer: Click the link (not done this before so bear with me). Please just tick the one box which you consider to be the best portal to advertise cars, you can decide on the criteria for "best" https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/FB9XV2T I will post the results in the Private Lounge after 48 hours (as I cannot embed this survey as I am not a site administrator). If you prefer not to take part, I understand but this must be the simplest way for a comparison without all the emotive comments.

The one I use wouldn't have time, they are always full to the gunnels and the money they take makes me think the money laundering is a front for the car wash

I think that is why disused petrol stations are favoured - they probably used to have a jet wash facility with staged drainage filtration.

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.

Fantastic - well done, hope April follows suit

They will always want collateral - Your stock is not suitable security as you could sell it all and do one very quickly. In their eyes, if you're not prepared to secure a loan in that way, why should they take the risk. We're all the same, convinced we can make it work if only we had a spare £500k - when we are asked to back up our enthusiasm, we start to think of all the negatives - just like a funder.

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.

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.

Thank you EPV - Just looking at your website actually, looks fantastic!

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

I thought it sounded too good to be true - can you tell I'm no mechanic!

Some of it is great - mainly due to the web. The ability to transfer money, bid on cars, sell cars, register online, tax online etc - all in the blink of an eye - that is a great improvement and V5's tend to arrive within a few days, not the old 2-3 weeks. What I really struggle with are the low margins. I used to have a grand in everything from £300 bangers to £7,500 decent stuff. Best ever was a Volvo Wedge (think 480 ES) paid £295 at auction, low buyers fees - washed and sold for £1,295 in a week. I miss that! Thanks for all your help justina3 - I really do appreciate it.